Keith New: East Window
Title: East Window
Artist: Keith New (1925–2012)
Location: St John the Baptist, Ermine, Lincoln (C of E)
Date: 1963
Designed in 1962 and installed in 1963, Keith New’s East Window was commissioned as part of Sam Scorer’s design for this ‘Googie’-style church with a vestry block on the east side, located in a post-war housing estate in Ermine, Lincoln. New had previously worked with Scorer on a similar church design in Welwyn Garden City, a project which was later aborted; Scorer designed New’s Wimbledon home.
New’s design is abstract with red predominating in the centre and strong blue and brilliant green flanking it to the left and right. Clear glass is used extensively to frame this striking design, making the building seem larger than it is. The parish archive states that the window is ‘closely linked with the total building – hence hexagonal shape of the interior reflected in the three large hexagonal shapes.’
‘The rich red and crimson shape dominating the centre of the window is the mystery of God, withdrawn and within the tabernacle (see Isaiah 33:20-21). The tabernacle reflects the closed eyes of God signifying his unrevealed presence. Flanking the central shape are two smaller shapes representing the open eyes of God, a sign for the revealed will of God in the incarnation of Christ – the Word made flesh. The right hand shape with a green background symbolises the Nativity, and the left hand shape with a blue background symbolises the Baptism of Christ.’ (Keith New)
The East Window extends across three sides of a hexagonal nave (measuring 5.9m tall at the centre and 16.5m wide). It consists of leaded unpainted coloured glass and flashed glass, made with student help in a studio at the RCA. With a tight budget of £2000 for the window, coloured glass was cheaper to use. This is inserted into 0.6 x 0.9m panels, with varying lead widths used. The window is in a good condition having received minor repairs. The church is now Grade II* listed and has a hyperbolic parabolic roof. (Diana Coulter and Robert Smith, Keith New: British Modernist in Stained Glass, Sansom & Co., 2018)
Keith New was born in London and studied graphic design at the Royal College of Art. In 1948, he joined the stained glass department at the RCA and was commissioned to design windows for Coventry Cathedral by Sir Basil Spence. Other commissions for windows include the Royal College of Physicians in London and many churches. New was a significant pioneer in modernist styles in glass design and an innovator in technique. In later life New painted large-scale landscapes of the British countryside using oil pastels he had made himself.
Further Information
Medium: Glass and lead
Permanent display
See Keith New’s East Window on the Ecclesiart map here.
Other artworks in churches by Keith New: east window of the south choir aisle (1965), Bristol Cathedral; east window (1962), Church of St Nicholas Cole Abbey; nave south window (1958), Holy Trinity Church, Coleford, Somerset; Science & Philosophy windows (1966), Glasgow University Memorial Chapel, Glasgow; nave window, Coventry Cathedral; All Saints Church, Isleworth; the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Tunbridge Wells; Christ Church, Calgary (Canada), Norwich Cathedral.