Keith New

A monograph on this stained glass artist

Keith New (1926-2012) was a significant pioneering British modernist stainedglass artist in the 1950s and 1960s. This is the first monograph devoted to hiswork. It examines New’s career in the first part, while the second partcomprises a comprehensive catalogue of his stained glass.New’s career was launched with the 1952 Royal College of Art’s commissionto design the nave windows for Basil Spence’s Coventry Cathedral. The threemanteam, led by Lawrence Lee, included Geoffrey Clarke, another pioneer inthe medium. Each artist designed three windows. The commission broughtNew to the attention of other prominent architects, including RobertMatthew and Denys Lasdun, as well as artists and critics like John Piper andJohn Betjeman.Many commissions were for churches either in post-war rebuilds or inmedieval buildings. Alongside these are examples in significant publicbuildings as well as schools. Altogether there were 34 executed commissions,five of which have been wholly or partially lost. New’s short career in stainedglass maps onto the excitement generated by the 1951 Festival of Britain.When the post-war rebuilding programme finished in the mid-1960s, thedemand for colourful and expensive stained glass also diminished. Alternativedirections led New to lead Foundation Studies at Kingston School of Art andto return to painting, an activity that had always sustained him.