Henry Holiday: His Stained Glass Windows for Gilded Age New York

Henry Holiday (1839–1927) was a polymath who counted figures such as Lewis Carroll, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Emmeline Pankhurst as his friends. Most significantly, he was unquestionably one of the greatest stained-glass artists of the Victorian-Edwardian period, yet his considerable achievements have not received the recognition that they deserve.

Taking Holiday’s commissions for New York State churches as its focus, George Bryant’s ground-breaking study places the artist’s transatlantic accomplishments in the context of the social, artistic, religious and economic shifts that shaped his success in the US during America’s Gilded Age – a period where existing social hierarchies were challenged by new money and European immigration that ended with the outbreak of the First World War. Also providing a clear understanding of the technical and aesthetic differences that set Holiday's stained glass apart from that of his contemporaries such as Edward Burne-Jones, La Farge, and Tiffany, Bryant's truly original publication, based on substantial archival research, makes a significant contribution to our understanding of nineteenth-century stained-glass design and Henry Holiday's important achievements.

George Bryant is a historian, author and former architect based in Philadelphia. He is a recognised authority on Henry Holiday. His interest in Victorian architecture and art dates back tohis student days at the Bartlett School at University College London. Since then, he haspublished articles in Architectural History,TheJournal ofStained Glass, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Common Bond. George has givenpresentations at national and international conferences and for the Society ofArchitectural Historians, the Victorian Society of New York, the New YorkLandmarks Conservancy and the Chestnut Hill Conservancy, as well as theAmerican Glass Guild.