An Túr Gloine (; Irish for "The Glass Tower") was a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

for stained glass and '' opus sectile'' artists from 1903 until 1944, based in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, Ireland.

History

An Túr Gloine was conceived of in late 1901 and established January 1903 at 24 Pembroke Street,

, Ireland, on the site of two former tennis courts. It was active throughout the first half of the 20th century. Affiliated artists included Michael Healy,

Evie Hone Eva Sydney Hone RHA (22 April 1894 – 13 March 1955), usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist.Nicola Gordon Bowe (May 2009)Hone, Eva Sydney (1894–1955) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online edit ...

, Beatrice Elvery, Wilhelmina Geddes, Catherine O'Brien,

Kathleen Quigly Kathleen Quigly (6 March 1888 – 15 August 1981) was an Irish stained glass artist, illustrator and painter. She was also a metal worker and jewellery designer. Life Kathleen Quigly was born in Dublin on 6 March 1888. Her father was Richard Qu ...

, and founder Sarah Purser. The original impetus for the project, spurred by the Irish cultural activist

Edward Martyn Edward Martyn (30 January 1859 – 5 December 1923) was an Irish playwright and early republican political and cultural activist, as the first president of Sinn Féin from 1905–08. Early life Martyn was the elder son of John Martyn of Tullira ...

, was the building of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

cathedral in

Loughrea Loughrea ( ; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The town lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains, and the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the town's skyline. ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, which was to become St. Brendan's. Purser and Martyn hoped to provide an alternative to the commercial stained glass imported from England and Germany for Irish churches and other architectural projects. Purser's knowledge of French and English medieval glass, together with her social connections and organizational skills, were crucial to the success of the cooperative. A writer for '' The Studio'', a magazine of

fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

and

applied art The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Unive ...

, called the recently formed An Túr Gloine "perhaps the most noteworthy example of the newly awakened desire to foster Irish genius," describing it as "at once a craft school, where instruction in every detail connected with the designing and production of stained glass is given to the workers, and a factory from which some beautiful work has already appeared." The writer also extolled the economic benefits of an Irish glass industry to supply churches. The studio is regarded as part of the Arts and Crafts Movement,Ellen Mary Easton McLeod, ''In Good Hands: The Women of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild'' (McGill-Queen's Press, 1999), pp. 55 and 68 (note 24
online.
/ref> but was infused also with the contemporary spirit of Irish revivalism and drew on the artistic tradition of Celtic

manuscript illumination An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

. Ireland became an internationally renowned center of stained-glass art at this time, to a large extent as a result of An Túr Gloine.Terence Brown, ''Ireland: A Social and Cultural History, 1922 to the Present'' (Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 7
online
''The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture'', p. 542. The studio was run by Purser until 1940, and she was succeeded by Catherine O'Brien who ran it until 1944. After which time O'Brien bought the studio and leased a large section of it to Patrick Pollen.

Relation to literary culture

A commission for An Túr Gloine occasioned an outburst of criticism in ''Samhain'' magazine from the Irish poet

W.B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

on how the " bourgeois mind is never sincere in the arts":

Works

The following table provides examples of work commissioned from the studio or created by individual artists associated with An Túr Gloine.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:An Tur Gloine Irish stained glass artists and manufacturers Glassmaking companies of Ireland Defunct glassmaking companies Defunct companies of Ireland Manufacturing companies based in Dublin (city) Manufacturing companies established in 1903 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1944 1903 establishments in Ireland 1944 disestablishments in Ireland Design companies established in 1903 Design companies disestablished in 1944