Keith New

Viewable windows New’s stained glass includes:

Three nave windows in Sir Basil Spence’s Coventry Cathedral (1953–62) East window at Sam Scorer’s St John the Baptist Church on the Ermine estate in Lincoln (1962) Glass appliqué in Robert Matthew’s Commonwealth Institute building (1964), now the Design Museum

Other windows by New:

Wesley Methodist Church, Cambridge (also 1964)

There are designs in:

St James the Less Church in Bethnal Green (1959) Wren’s City of London church, St Nicholas Cole Abbey (1961) Reigate Heath church, Window design for a tin tabernacle showing “The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit” (1970) New displayed early talents for drawing and graphic design. He attended Sutton and Cheam School of Art from 1942–1945. His dynamism brought him to the attention of John Betjeman, Basil Spence and John Piper.

When the RCA secured the commission for the ten nave windows at Coventry Cathedral, New left Corning and returned to the RCA to execute the green windows, representing youth, as well as one of the multi-coloured windows. Space was made available within the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) for their design and execution as each was 70 feet or 21.3 metres high. Each artist could only work on their designs for two days a week. The first six windows to be completed were exhibited at the V&A in 1956, exciting visitors to anticipate the completed building. New supplemented his work on this significant commission with part-time teaching at the College and developing a growing portfolio of other projects, including two panels for Buckler’s Mead School in Yeovil

The busy artist craftsman In 1958 New took up a fellowship at Digswell House in Hertfordshire, an exciting initiative created by the educator Henry Morris, which brought together artists and craftsmen, typically at the beginning of their careers. The artists rented accommodation and used studio space to develop new techniques and work on commissions. It was certainly while there that New, inspired by the second stained glass fellow, Tom Fairs, explored the potential of glass appliqué. This technique used cement and epoxy resins in lieu of lead and the finished product could be more subtle than dalle de verre, often referred to as slab glass, a format which New is only known to have used once in a lost exhibition panel. For less wealthy parishes or for schools, glass appliqué was a more affordable option than painted and stained leaded glass. Few of New’s glass appliqué projects survive, due to the failure of the epoxy resins, which research has subsequently shown to be sensitive to ultraviolet rays.

Between 1958 and 1963 alongside the experimental projects, New worked on several important painted and stained leaded glass designs, including the clerestory windows at St Mary’s Church in South Ruislip (1958), Our Lady of Zion Girls' School in Highgate (1965), now La Sainte Union Catholic School Sheffield Cathedral, lantern in glass appliqué (1965-66, now lost) University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel (Gilmorehill Glasgow University Chapel).

For larger windows, such as Bristol Cathedral, New required a bigger studio, so he rented space at The Glass House, the Fulham base of Lowndes and Drury.

Change of direction A number of circumstances stimulated New to change direction at the end of the 1960s. A key driver was the challenge of maintaining momentum as a one-man band, no matter how skilled and inspiring his approach. by the late 1960s it was German artists, such as Johannes Schreiter and Ludwig Schaffrath, as well as advances in glass manufacture that led the way.

Robin Darwin, the Rector of the RCA, supported the role of stained glass in the early 1950s, was responsive to the changing enthusiasms of the 1960s art and design world. But in 1968, the stained glass department was closed, becoming "Light Transmission and Projection".

By then New had found his way to the Kingston School of Art as a teacher and the Head of Foundation Studies. At the same time New returned to landscape painting, primarily using acrylics and pastels which he made himself. The paintings he created were quite often large and for the most part displayed calming views, rarely featuring human figures, if at all, and predominantly in shades of green and blue.

In addition to his works in glass and his paintings, New created jacket designs for books published by Michael Joseph, and designed sets and costumes for ballets such as Reflection, put on by John Cranko at the Sadler's Wells Ballet School.

Keith New died 14 February 2012. The Service of thanksgiving for his life was held in St Mark’s Church, Wimbledon, site of his last glass commission, a nave window, constructed in 1968–9 for designers Humphreys and Hurst.