Alfred Drury (stained glass artist)

Alfred J. Drury
Alfred J. Drury
Born	1868
Died	1940
Nationality	English
Known for	Stained glass
Movement	Arts and Crafts movement

Alfred J. Drury (1868–1940) was an English stained glass artist, most notable for his partnership with Mary Lowndes of Lowndes and Drury.

Work

Drury worked as a foreman at Britten & Gilson's, a firm which developed Norman Glass, a slab glass that was used by Christopher Whall and his followers.^[1]

Lowndes and Drury

Another Britten & Gilson employee was Mary Lowndes whom he met in 1893. Together they founded the firm Lowndes and Drury in 1897 and were located at 35 Park Walk, Chelsea. In 1906 they built and opened the Glass House in Lettice Street, Fulham, London, which "provided a purpose-built stained-glass studio and workshop for independent artists."^[1]^[2]^[3] Christopher Whall and Drury designed the building that became a centre for prominent stained glass artists.^[4]

At The Glass House, Drury particularly focused on the creation of stained glass pieces. Together, Lowndes and Drury commissioned for design, painting and creation stained glass projects.^[2] Whall, Robert Anning Bell and Wilhelmina Geddes all produced work there.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Instructor

On or before 1901 Drury was a teacher's assistant for Whall at the Royal College of Art. Then, in the 1900s Drury taught at the London County Council (LCC) Central School of Arts and Crafts and Royal College of Art.^[3]^[5]

By 1916, Drury taught at the LCC Central School of Arts and Crafts with Karl Parsons, where:^[6]

The stained glass students, who work in beautifully lighted classrooms on the top floor, are carefully instructed in the technicalities peculiar to their branch of the arts, and are required, in addition, to devote a sufficient time to drawing from draperies, plant forms, and the life.
— Charles Holme, Arts and Crafts (1916)^[6]

Gallery

Lowndes & Drury, She hath done what she could, 1901, in St Peter's Church, Henfield, West Sussex.
Lowndes & Drury, English stained glass, 1912, in Taplow, Buckinghamshire

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Emmanuel Cooper. (1986). “The sexual perspective: homosexuality and art in the last 100 years in the West.” London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mary Lowndes. Archived 2013-07-09 at the Wayback Machine Sussex Parish Churches. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lowndes & Drury, stained glass workers: records. Archives hub. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
^ Cherry, Bridget and Nikolaus Pevsner "The Buildings of England. London 3: North West." Yale University Press. p. 249. ISBN 0-14-071048-5.
^ Great Britain. Ministry of Education. (1901). Education: being the report of the Ministry of Education and the statistics of public education for England and Wales. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 293. [cited 12 September 2012].
^ ^a ^b Holme, Charles (1916). Arts and Crafts; a review of the work executed by students in the leading art school of Great Britain and Ireland. London: The Studio. p. 10.