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Wilbur Burnham and Gothic Revival Stained Glass

© Sue Kimbel

A special project came into the studio recently and the work involves constructing windows for a new house in an old-world style. Four of the diamond light panels feature medallions by two famous glass artists - Charles Connick and Wilbur Burnham. The project not only provided a great learning opportunity through researching these two men, but also allowed me to closely inspect examples of their actual glass work. I talked about Connick in my last article, so here's the scoop on Burnham.

Burnham founded his studio in 1922, in Boston, as did Connick. Burnham's first commission was for an architect named Ralph Adams Cram who was inspired to develop gothic design trends of the 16th century for more modern times. Cram designed a number of cathedrals, several buildings at West Point and also was the supervising architect at Princeton University. He designed a new chapel there in the 1920s. Both Burnham and Connick worked on projects with Cram - Connick even dedicated his book, Adventures in Light and Color, to Cram.

A great web site on one of Burnham's commissions is the report on the windows of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio. The cathedral has over 40 large stained glass windows that range in age from the 15th to the 20th century. Some of the windows were produced in England and Germany. The report specifically focuses on the windows Burnham Studios produced because they are the most accessible windows to be easily observed and studied.

You can also get an understanding of how such a project is designed and developed by reading the letters that were exchanged between the client and the studio.

The Burnham medallion I was privileged to work with is a great example of his philosophy of the design and crafting of stained glass windows. In a 1935 article in the journal Stained Glass, Burnham expresses his views about the importance of the medieval tradition in the harmony of the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow, with the complementary orange, green, and violet typical of his windows. His studies of medieval windows demonstrated that reds and blues should predominate and be in good balance. Burnham also noted that windows should maintain high luminosity under all light conditions.

I also particularly like the lead work in this piece. In the close ups, you can see how the lead lines taper and curl. It looks like one piece of lead was cut down to a gradual taper. You may also notice, that in addition to the vibrant blue and red colors, the rest of the piece looks clear in the bright sun light. But in the closer view on the work table, you can see that some of the areas that apprear clear are really very subtle colors. The clear glass is also an antique type with the striations you find in that kind of glass.

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