Bringing you a Scottish Stained Glass artist on the blog today in the form of Gibson Morton,
"The Water Sprite" from 1896 by William Gibson Morton.
If you feel your heart soar as you look at this – DO NOT WORRY – it is a standard effect that these beautiful colours have on us mere mortals.
Quoting from Pollokshield’s Heritage:
“William Gibson Morton was born in Glasgow on 2nd December 1871. He was a renowned stained glass artist who specialised in interior decoration, stencil work and sign writing.
He attended the Glasgow School of Art from 1891 to 1895 and was recruited as an instructor in the Technical Studios in 1897. As a free-lance glass designer he undertook commissions for many Glasgow firms including Oscar Paterson, John C Hall and Hugh McCulloch & Co.
One of his most accomplished and celebrated commissions was his 1902 ‘art nouveau’ interior glass designed for his friend John Hall for Miller and Lang, and made in Hall’s studios nearby in Rutherglen Road, Gorbals, that includes mermaids, whales and seabirds and has been described by Michael Donnelly as ‘some of the most adventurous domestic glass of the decade, truly modern in concept and compares favourably with the best German and Austrian glass of the period.’ It is here you can find the Water Sprite.
The interior also incorporates rare repoussé copper door furniture in the ‘Japanese manner’.
Morton was subsequently employed as a tutor in Decoration and Sign writing in the Decorative Trades Department of the Glasgow Royal Technical College where his companions included E A Taylor and George Logan.
In the late 1920’s he became principal of the Decorative Trades Institute and held the post until he retired in 1938. In 1912 Morton commissioned builder George Eadie and Sons to construct a 2 storey Arts and Crafts villa to his own specifications which included a studio and examples of his stained glass at 3 Tinto Road, Glasgow.
Morton passed away at his home aged 74.”
Jo McLaughlin
June 2021