Leonard Evetts' Centenary (1909 - 1997)
John Laidler outlines the life and work of this famous stained glass artist.
Leonard Evetts was described in his obituary in The Times in October 1997 as “the most prolific stained-glass artist of this century”. It is, perhaps, of particular significance to Society members that he produced the majority of his work from his home in Woolsington, near Newcastle upon Tyne.
He was born in Newport, Monmouthshire. His father was a respected local builder who passed on to the young Leonard his interest in sign writing, painting and a love of architecture. Leonard, aged 18, won a three-month scholarship to the Royal College of Art (RCA). Later, he won one of only four National Scholarships to attend the RCA from 1930 to 1933. Here he studied calligraphy under the famous Edward Johnston and stained glass under the influential stained glass artist Martin Travers. From 1933 to 1937 he lectured at Edinburgh College of Art, from there moving to the Department of Fine Art at Kings College, Newcastle as a lecturer in design. Apart from wartime service, he remained there, ultimately becoming Head of Department, until he retired in 1974. From the 1940s he undertook stained glass and other commissions and carried on with these after his retirement.
He was happily married to his first wife, Jo, for 46 years until her death in 1983. He then lived alone until he married his second wife, Phyl, who is a great, great, great niece of John Dobson. During his later life, under her husband’s tutelage, Phyl Evetts worked with him. She reports that “We had a joyful ten years together working on over forty windows and spending holidays sketching and painting”.
Photo by kind permission of the Craster family
Leonard Evetts carried on working throughout his long life and completed his last commission, a window in St Peter’s Church, Craster, in memory of the mother and uncle of N&N member Rosemary Gibbs (see picture opposite), just ten days before he died. Although mostly known for his magnificent stained glass windows, Evetts produced a wide range of artistic output. In a Catalogue of Works in “Leonard Evetts Master Designer” (published privately 2001) his work is categorised as: I Ecclesiastical Stained Glass; II Lettering; III Heraldry; IV Miscellaneous, which includes much ecclesiastical work. In addition he was a talented and much-respected water colourist.
Evetts completed some 300 church windows throughout Britain and abroad, including over 100 in Northumberland and Durham. The outstanding contribution of his artistic work for the Church of England was recognised in 1995 when he was awarded a Lambeth Doctorate by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
City and County
August 2009
