Frederick Wilson (artist)


Frederick Wilson was a British stained glass artist best known for his work with Tiffany Studios. He was a prominent designer of ecclesiastical windows in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Biography

Frederick Wilson was born in Dublin, Ireland to English parents, Charles and Elizabeth Wilson. The family eventually moved to England and Wilson and his six siblings were raised in both Liverpool and London. Although little is known about Wilson's early artistic education, there is evidence that he attended the South Kensington School, which was associated with the South Kensington Museum.
In 1891, Wilson married Mary Gwladys Morgan, and the following year they immigrated to the United States. The couple had three children: Gladys, Sylvia and Beatrice.

Career

Frederick Wilson's career designing stained glass spanned more than 50 years. He was "known and accepted as an important artist in his field" during his lifetime, and his work had a major impact on how American ecclesiastical stained glass looked around the turn of the 20th century.
Perhaps best known for his work at Tiffany Studios, Wilson also designed windows for at least five other firms, including: Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London, England; Alfred Godwin and Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Gorham Manufacturing Company, Providence, Rhode Island; The Los Angeles Art Glass Company, Los Angeles, California; and Judson Studios, also in Los Angeles.
Over the course of his career, Wilson was a member of several professional arts groups, including the Art Club of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the American Federation of Arts, and the Architectural League of New York.
Wilson likely began his artistic career in England in the 1870s. He was heavily influenced by the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, and incorporated ecclesiastical subjects in his designs from a young age.
In 1892, Wilson and his wife Mary emigrated to the United States. He soon found employment at Alfred Godwin and Company in Philadelphia. However there are no known Wilson designs executed by the company, and by 1893 he began working for Tiffany Studios.

Tiffany Studios and later career

Wilson was among the most prominent and prolific designers at Tiffany Studios, and was the first in-house designer in the Ecclesiastical Department. He likely joined the firm sometime in 1893, and that same year exhibited one of his designs using Tiffany's name at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Wilson was awarded a gold medal for work under his own name at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, France in 1900.
In 1897, Wilson became Tiffany Studio's chief window designer. Two years later, in 1899, he was appointed the head of the Ecclesiastical Department. During this time he maintained his own studio in Briarcliff Manor, New York, and would often work there instead of at the Tiffany Studios factory in Corona, Queens.
Wilson left Tiffany Studios in 1923. He moved to Los Angeles to work for Judson Studios. There, he received commissions for his work across the state, including a commission from the Judson family themselves on the death of William Lees Judson, the founder of the College of Fine Arts of the University of Southern California and the father of Judson Studios founder, Walter Judson.
Wilson's final commission was for a series of windows to be installed in Garrett Memorial Chapel in, Jerusalem, New York. He completed the designs for the windows in 1931, but did not live to see their installation in 1932.
Wilson passed away in March 1932 in Los Angeles.

Selected works