The Stained-glass windows
of Emmanuel Baptist Church Alexandria, Louisiana.
Rose Window
For the next few weeks, I intend to write about the notable
stained-glass windows of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Alexandria, Louisiana. They were created by the Jacoby Stained Glass
Company of St. Louis, Missouri and designed by James Blackford. There are only
a few windows designed by James Blackford in America. More about him later. Emmanuel Baptist has several of them.
First, I’ll give a brief history of the church.
On September 6, 1881, the first Southern Baptist church was
formed with twelve charter members and named the Alexandria-Pineville Baptist
church. They met in Pineville, Louisiana
on second street near the red river.
In 1896-97 the church moved across the river to Alexandria
and changed its name to Emmanuel Baptist church. Their second sanctuary was completed and
dedicated.
In 1916, the church building burned. The congregation met at the Rapides Opera
House (Which later became the Paramount Theater.)
In 1918 a three story Educational/Sanctuary building was
built on the same property. The
sanctuary was on the second floor with a three-sided balcony. This was their
third sanctuary.
On September 10, 1950, the present sanctuary was built and
dedicated on the corner of Jackson Street and Fourth where the second sanctuary
had been before it burned.
In the late 1940's it was decided that there would be stained
glass windows in the new sanctuary.
A committee was formed – after all Baptists are known for
forming committees for about any occasion.
I’m sure that somewhere in the archives of the history of Emmanuel there
is a record of the committee members. I'm sure that the chairman was probably a
Bolton, (although, I speculate). I
picture them gathered all together on the first floor of our three-story
educational building, which we call Weems Hall, formerly the Fellowship hall,
as they thought deeply about the new sanctuary that was to be built and how
they wanted it to be glorious for the community as well as a tribute to
God. I'm sure there was discussion as to
whether they should have a fund-raising campaign or if individual members would
cover the cost of such windows. Well,
the windows were eventually purchased by the church with plans for individual
members to purchase all or part of them as memorials. A plaque was to be placed under each window
to indicate who purchased it and to whom the memorial was for. As the discussion became more verbal, I'm
sure they formed another committee to decide the design of the plaques. Since Jacoby Glass Company would not allow the
church to place a plaque under each window until all the windows were completed
and installed and since it was unclear as to what windows would be purchased
and when, the committee decided that the plaques would be at the back of the
sanctuary.
Our beautiful Gothic Sanctuary was to have twenty windows
total. After discussions with Jacoby
the designs were agreed upon by the committee and work began in St. Louis,
Mo.
The lower section would consist of Jesus' life from the
announcement of his birth until he ascended to heaven, while the upper windows
would depict the parables.
However, there was a fly in the soup. Somewhere the ladies of the Women's
Missionary Union noted that the building would be missing a window on the West
side, opposite the bell tower. There
were nine windows and the bell tower on the East side but only nine windows on
the West side. There was a blank spot
toward the front of the sanctuary opposite the bell tower. There needed to be an extra window to balance
the space and it should highlight the Women’s Missionary Union. I can imagine
the discussion that went over that little flaw.
And I can imagine that there was a discussion. into the night during a
business meeting. Well, as anyone knows,
you do not cross the WMU ladies when they have a bee in their bonnet. They immediately began raising money to
purchase one more window. Which they did and helped plan. This window, although similar in design to
the others on the upper level had its own individual features which I can
discuss later.
The WMU window
So, because the ladies
of the church stood their ground, there are twenty-one windows at Emmanuel, not
twenty as the church originally planned: nine on the west side, ten on the
east, the rose window above the entrance and the baptistry window behind the
choir loft.
The stained-glass windows:
The stained-glass windows were installed when the present
sanctuary was built. They are traditional leaded stained-glass windows placed
in chronological order. (This is rare for stained-glass windows to be placed in
this order.)
On the lower level, the east windows are considered the Advent
Windows while the west are considered the Easter Windows.
The upstairs windows
are of the parables.
These windows were designed and cartooned by James
Blackford, a master craftsman who came from England to work with
Jacoby. They were painted by Tom Dixon who also came with
Blackford from England.
According to Jacoby company, there are only a few noted
Blackford-Stained Glass windows in America: St. John's Episcopal
in Ft. Worth, Texas, Emmanuel Baptist, Alexandria, Louisiana and St. James Episcopal in Wichita, Kansas.
The Baptistery window. The words, JACOBY-STAINED GLASS, ST. LOUIS, MO. is signed in the lower right side of the
Baptistery window.
I realize that not everyone will be interested
in the following, but it is important.
All these windows were fabricated using
handmade, mouth blown antique glass (antique class was required to be 100 years
old) and painted in the traditional Trace and Matte technique of
glass painting: Using the drawing as a template, the glass is
selected and cut, and each piece of glass is individually painted using glass
paint. The paint is then fired, heating the glass to approximately 650 degrees
centigrade in a furnace. When all the glass has been painted it is assembled
into panels by bending the ‘H' section strips of lead around the pieces of
glass and soldering the strips together where they meet.
The style of these windows is a mixture. The
figurines and robes are in the Munich style. Most Munich school windows have a very
distinct characteristic. The figures are highly realistic, painted in a German
Baroque style. (See the
figures in the above windows.)
The borders, background, symbols, and the
quotes are a modernized version of the Gothic Revival style.
Gothic Revival Style was one of the most influential styles in the 19th century.
Designs were based on forms and patterns of the Middle Ages. (You will see this style next week
when I show the complete windows on the lower level.)
Some of the antique glass is “flashed” which
means that the base glass color (usually clear) is fused to another thin
layer of color. This enables the glass artist to sandblast or acid-etch one of
the layers to create special color shading and effects in a single piece of
glass. There is some use of silver stain which is a
combination of chemicals blended with pipe clay and applied to clear glass.
(usually silver nitrate or silver sulfide) Pipe clay is a fine white clay.
Producing a strong clear yellow was difficult
in early stained glass because it relied upon the careful control of heated
furnace. The introduction of silver stain in the early 14th century
provided a solution to this difficulty, and allowed greater flexibility in the
way in which color could be used. It enabled a more flexible approach to glass
painting, allowing, for example, the hair of a figure to be painted on the same
piece of glass as the head. It was also used to highlight details.
Most of the glass that is used in the windows
from the Jacoby Art Glass Co. is antique glass made in the traditional pot
metal method. (When the glasses are
in a molten state in a metal pot, chemicals are introduced to create the
different colors. Then a gather (a soft blob of glass) is attached to the end
of a blowpipe. A glass blower blows the glass into the shape of a large
cylinder about 30 inches long. The cylinder is detached from the pipe, the top
and bottom removed, and scored along the side. The glass is then put into an
oven where, as it is heated, it uncurls, and becomes a flat sheet about 30
inches by 30 inches.
Because of the way it is made, by hand and by
utilizing mouth-blowing techniques, there are faults (streaks, bubbles, and
striations) in the glasses. Also, the glass is not of uniform thickness
throughout the entire sheet. The streaks, bubbles and striations break up the
light as it passes through the glass creating vibrant highlights that make the
glass seem to sparkle. The varying thickness makes certain areas of the glass
seem deeper and richer in their coloring. You can see these bubbles, streaks,
and striations in these windows.
Since each sheet of glass is somewhat unique,
the antique glass allows the glass artist a very large pallet with which to
work. He can use the glass as it is, or he can paint the glass with glass
paint. With acid or sandblasting, he can etch the glass to create more than one
color in an individual glass. He can stain the glass, or he can plate the glass
(superimposing one or more glasses over a base glass to create a special color
or visual effect).
Well enough of this art class. On my next blog I will show the five Advent windows
and I’ll highlight some of the Christian symbols and their meanings.
© Nippy Blair 2015.
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