William Willet

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This article is about the American artist. For persons named William Willett, see William Willett (disambiguation).

William Willet
West Point Military Academy
MovementAmerican Gothic Movement
Patron(s)Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh; First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh; William McKinley; Ralph Adams Cram

William Willet (November 1, 1869 – March 29, 1921) was an American

opalescent
pictorial windows which were the rage at the turn of the twentieth century.

Career

Married Couple, 1915
Leaded Stained Glass Window designed and fabricated by William Willet
Duty, Honor, Country c. 1910–1911
Sanctuary Window
Graduate Chapel, West Point, New York

A descendant of

murals
.

In 1896 he married Anne Lee, daughter of the Reverend Henry F. Lee, of Philadelphia.[1] In 1897 the couple moved to Pittsburgh, where Willet served as art director of stained glass artist Ludwig Grosse's stained glass firm from 1897 to 1898, before establishing his own studio, the Willet Stained Glass Company, in 1899.[2]

Inspired by European work and the

Charles J. Connick termed the "Early School" of stained glass artists, Willet, and fellow craftsmen Otto Heinigke and Harry E. Goodhue, are credited with renewing America's interest in traditional medieval materials, techniques, and aesthetic.[5]

He is responsible for making the first

Neo-Gothic architect Ralph Adams Cram who would later serve as a patron for many of the Willet's works.[7]

In 1910 Willet won the commission for the Great Sanctuary Window in the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Willet beat out Louis Comfort Tiffany and many other accomplished designers of the day.[3] Following its completion, the project for the design and fabrication of the Nave and North windows was awarded to the Willet studio. The commission, which spanned three generations of Willets over a period of sixty-six years, remains the longest continuing commission in American history.[8]

Other windows Willet designed are those of Mather Memorial in

Germantown, Pennsylvania; St. Matthew's Catholic Church, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.[9]

Death

He died on March 29, 1921, at the age of 52. Following his death his wife and partner, Anne Lee and their son Henry continued with the Willet Studio which today is recognized as Willet Hauser Architectural Glass. He is buried in Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, New Jersey.[10] At the time of his death, Willet was considered one of the most important stained glass artists in America.[9]

Examples of William Willet's work in stained glass

Corning, New York
.

See also

The Cadet Chapel, United States Military Academy
Corning Museum of Glass
Old First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, New York[permanent dead link]
William Willet on askart.com
Willet Hauser Architectural Glass
Photos of Princeton University's Procter Hall
Description of the Great West Window, Procter Hall, Princeton University by William and Annie Lee Willet

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Willet.
  1. ^ "Stained-Glass Art Loses Its Master", The Ornamental Glass Bulletin
  2. ^ Willet, Anne Lee and William Willet. Book of Results of the Willet Stained Glass and Decorating Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1921
  3. ^ a b Waggoner, Shawn. "Crosby Willet and Willet Stained Glass Studios: Three Generations of Glass for the Ages", Glass Art, Jan/Feb 2003:55
  4. ^ Watts, Harvey Maitland. "William Willet 1869–1921", Stained Glass: A Quarterly Devoted to the Craft of Painted and Stained Glass, 29:3 (1934):64
  5. ^ Tannler, Albert M. "Ralph Adams Cram and the 'Early School' of American Stained Glass", Connick Windows, June 2004
  6. ^ Starrett, Shirley. "A Visitor's Guide: Historical and Architectural Facts." First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. 2004:4
  7. Time Magazine
    , October 11, 1937
  8. ^ Parente, Leigh Anne. "The St. Martin's Commission. The Willet Stained Glass Studio's Largest Commission (Yet)." The Stained Glass Quarterly 101:4 (2006):278.
  9. ^ a b "Stained-Glass Loses Its Master", The Ornamental Glass Bulletin, 1921–22
  10. ^ "Anne Lee Willet, 1867–1943", Stained Glass Quarterly, Spring 1943
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