Ella Condie Lamb: J & R Lamb Studios

"The Visit of the Shepherds"
design for a stained glass window
by Ella Condie Lamb

"When Ella Condie married into the Lamb family, she also joined the family firm of ecclesiastical art workers, the J & R Lamb Studios, and at once became one of their most important and respected designers of stained glass windows, painted and mosaic murals, and other works. 

One cannot help but wonder if she had any true idea of how vast an enterprise the Studios was. Entire interiors of churches, mausoleums and chapels, interiors which required altars, mosaic domes, choir stalls, pews, as well as stained glass windows, were commissioned. Materials were of the finest quality: Venetian mosaic, Italian and Irish marble, carved oak, ebony and rosewood, myriad forms of stained glass ('We have specially imported quantities of Antique, Iridescent and Venetian glass, including opalescent and hand-made glass') and intricate metal work of all types.

In 1899 they were invited by the United States government to represent the United States at the Paris Exposition of 1900 in the art of stained glass - one of four studios called upon. The monumental window, 'Religion Enthroned,' designed by Ella's brother-in-law won the unusual prize of two gold medals, one to the Studios for execution, and one to Frederick for the design. The window was a superb example of what was called the 'American School' in glass, a revolutionary technique invent by John La Farge.

As a designer for the Studios, Ella began collaborating with Charles and her brother-in-law, Frederick. She had to keep rigorous requirements in mind when given an assignment, and, of course, be subject to the opinion and criticism of the client since the initial cartoons [detailed drawings done in actual size used to execute its construction] could be seen and criticized. Her design had to be so clear in every detail that the team of craftsmen, glass cutters and mosaic setters, would have no doubt as to what she, as the designer, meant. There was no place for mere suggestion or ambiguity. She achieved simplicity, universality, and controlled power, no matter the subject assigned to her. 'Strongly drawn and vigorously conceived figures' - that contemporary assessment is an accurate description of her work. 

That her approach was considered skillful and was highly regarded by fellow artists in the field, is apparent in a letter from Edwin Blashfield, who became a muralist for the Library of Congress and president of the Society of Mural Painters:

My Dear Mrs. Lamb, The other night at the Mural Painters, the photographs of your angels especially attracted me as having style and feeling and seeming very fitted to what they were intended for, church or chapel decoration. I thought that you had done very well a thing very difficult to do well at all...'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Ella's Certain Window" by Barea Lamb Seeley.)