review by Rolf Achilles

WINDOWS OF KANSAS CITY

Dozens of superb windows were created by Charles J. Andrews in and around Kansas City from the 1890s until 1954, yet he remains almost unknown, even in his home town. His situation is not unique. Stained glass windows can be seen almost everywhere in the United States, in restaurants and churches, in synagogues and museums, antique shops and homes; there is ample opportunity to research and photograph, yet it is rare to find information on them that is researched, reliable, and readable as well as superbly photographed. Windows of Kansas City, by Bruce Mathews, is such a collection in book form. It’s a trove of information, superbly edited by Lynn Mackle, designed by David Spaw, and published by Kansas City Star Books that could as well have been titled Wonders of Kansas City and Vicinity. Mathews presents a study that sheds light on flashes of new wealth and aesthetics that make clear what these flashes did to lift the artistic sensibilities of a city, a region above the self-consciousness of say, collecting paintings or sculpture, or founding a museum. Mathews researched and photographed many windows, often hidden away in plain view. Along the way, he selected windows in more than 75 places as guides to what is there in abundance. Only a few cities and regions in the US have been subject to such detailed surveys of their stained glass. Of course, there are windows by the usual end-of-the-19th-century East Coast starglazer — Tiffany, but Mathews balances this common knowledge with a most impressive gathering of artists and studios, both current and historical, that are local, regional, or national and deserve recognition, too. He also ferrets out European studios almost unknown on Continued on Page 28. 10

The Stained Glass Quarterly

Windows of Kansas City by Bruce Mathews

The Dole Institute Opposite: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Windows of Kansas City Continued from Page 10 this side of the Atlantic. Mathews makes Kansas City and other nearby cities fascinating stained glass centers. Who would have known? Historians and others interested in stained glass windows often don’t have an easy time of it. Web sites devoted to sacred spaces or historic buildings in general rarely do more than mention that there are windows in a building, and even when there are pictures of windows, their artists/craftsmen are usually not named. This may not reflect a lack of information as much as it may be a fear of opinion on the visually most beautiful attributes of most interiors. This fear is aided by many academics when they produce publication after publication praising the same few designers and reproduce photograph upon photograph of the same windows and declare them the uniquely glittering beauties of their time. This gives the nominally informed the impression that there are or were only a few studios/artists/craftsmen ever producing beautiful windows worthy of comment at any particular time. 28

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And, there is usually no mention of the fine work being done now. Then, of course, there are the artists/craftsmen themselves who did not sign their work because they identified themselves as craftsmen who labored within a guild system where only the master signed work. This practice migrated to the US and continues. Yet, even Tiffany Company’s lamps are now being discovered to be the work of individuals, women at that, and not designed and fabricated by the hand of the Master who owned the company that carries his name. There are countless Victorian, Queen Anne, Prairie and other styled windows fabricated through the 1930s that were integral to their modest or stately houses and apartments, cemeteries and chapels, schools and libraries, offices, and clubs that are now anonymous. Many are unique and strikingly innovative in their abstract compositions. Others are identical in fabrication, choice of glass, and style, even when installed in different cities and fabricated by different studios.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Opposite: Fort Leavenworth Command & General Staff College At the start of their existence, each of these windows, too, had an author whose name was on a bill or invoice now lost. With so many obstacles, writing about windows seems a thankless task, yet some people face the challenges. Mathews stands out. The details Mathews weaves into his narrative are astounding. His brief biographies of several local stained glass designers help us better understand their artistic environment. A typical biographical narrative evolves out of a window in St. Andrew Episcopal Church, Kansas City, by Herman J. Schladermundt, an American stained glass artist whose remarkable windows are often overlooked, even when they are the Glory of Missouri in Peace windows in the House chambers in the state capitol in Jefferson City. Mathews also presents such rarities in America as windows crafted by the Skarda Studio of Berne, Switzerland in Continued on Page 66.

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Windows of Kansas City Continued from Page 28.

Jewish Community Center 1905 for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Kansas City; or windows such as the 29 by Thomas John Bower Pain, an executive and designer with the Campbell Paint & Glass Company in Kansas City, in St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, that are decidedly local but of a quality that can easily stand on a national stage. No project is too small for Mathews. A very recent window for Saint Luke’s Hospice House depicts a tree inspired by a Tiffany window was designed by Gene Roper, a Kansas City artist, and fabricated by Barbara K. Fegan. And, sometimes Mathews explains in detail how the winLeft: St. Luke’s Hospice House

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Opposite and following pages: Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

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Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art dow came to be, from patron to artists to fabricator. One such example is a fine recent composition designed and signed by Lyn Durham, in-house designer for 70

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Conrad Pickel Studio, for Holy Family Mausoleum. Mathews subjects many windows to much welcomed, fascinating details,

especially the more recent ones, where the documentation is most extensive. One such detailed explanation are the two great windows at the heart of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas, in Lawrence, dedicated in 2003. One window is 32 feet tall and depicts Dole’s hometown of Russell, Kansas. The other, towering the full height of the building, is an American flag. Both windows were designed by Gery Peck of Split Rock Studio in Minnesota, fabricated by SGO Studio of Roseville, Minnesota, while the glass itself was made by Youghiogheny Glass of Connellsville, Pennsylvania. Mathews clearly displays his broad passion for stained glass and research. Now it’s time for others to follow his scholarship and passion in their own communities.

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