Keith New (1926-2012) was a pioneering British modernist stained glass artist in the 1950s and 1960s, yet this volume, by Diana Coulter and Robert Smith, is the first mono-graph devoted to his work. Divided into two parts, the first examines New’s career, whilst the second comprises a comprehensive catalogue of his stained glass.
Fig. 1. The book cover.
New’s career was launched with the 1952 Royal College of Art’s commission to design the nave windows for Basil Spence’s new cathedral at Coventry. Designing three of the cathedral’s spectacular windows, he was brought to the attention of other prominent ar-chitects as well as artists and critics such as John Piper and John Betjeman.
Many of New’s subsequent commissions were also for churches, whether post-war re-builds or in medieval buildings, but alongside these were commissions in significant pub-lic buildings as well as schools. New executed a total of 34 commissions, five of which have been whole or partly lost. Through privileged access to the New family archive as well as record office research, the authors have compiled a Catalogue Raisonné of his known designs, both executed and unrealised.
New’s short career in stained glass parallels and reflects the excitement generated by the 1951 Festival of Britain. When the Prost-war rebuilding programme came to an end in the mid-1960s, the demand for colourful (and expensive) stained glass also diminished. New found alternatives in leading Foundation Studies at Kingston School of Art, and in a return to painting, an activity that had always sustained him.
The volume will be available for purchase in early 2018. For enquiries, please contact Orca Book Services Ltd, 160 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Abingdon OX14 4SB. Tel. 01235 465577 or email direct.orders@marston.co.uk.