William Gordon: ceramic mural of the Life of St Aidan
Title: The Life of St Aidan
Artist: William Gordon (1905 – c. 1993)
Location: St Aidan, New Parks, Leicester (C of E)
Date: 1959
Nominated by Christopher Johnson
A remarkable exterior mural painted on ceramic tiles by the relatively unknown artist William Gordon. The church was designed by Sir Basil Spence (one of two in Leicester) whose preference for commissioning artists of some calibre is exemplified at Coventry Cathedral. Here, in this budget-limited post-war church, his faith in one artist to produce such a large and impressive mural emphatically shows his perceptive and encouraging patronage of artists of different ilks.
Gordon treats the large surface area with a consistent degree of detail, using fluid and gestural brushtrokes of colour albeit in a muted colour scheme that compliments the church architecture. Many of the tiles are painted with a freely drawn box or crosses in strongly constrasting tones which build up to make a rhythmic and joyful array. The depictions of Aidan are beautifully drawn and show him as monk and missionary (from Iona he travelled and founded Lindisfarne Abbey) as well as with his bishop’s crozier. A watery blue is used throughout and particularly in a wave motif above and below his saintly representation. Gordon also used painted ceramics on the door panels to represent the four gospel writers.
About William Gordon (text from the https://www.sculptureplacementgroup.org.uk/): William Gordon was a ceramicist who took up the running of the pottery The Walton Pottery Co. in Chesterfield pre and post-WW2. The Walton Pottery closed in 1956 and focused on the creation of industrial ceramics often working in an architectural context and worked with contemporaries including Sir Basil Spence and the Spanish Ceramicist Artigas, a collaborator of Joan Miro. Notable commissions included the 1958 Basildon Bus Station Mural (now lost) and The Thames and Hudson’s Steps located near the British Museum. Gordon’s work is also included in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. According to online sources, despite Gordon’s work now quite collectable though he remains largely overlooked as an artist.
Further Information
See William Gordon’s Life of St Aidan on the Ecclesiart map here.