J&R Lamb Studios

Frederick Stymetz Lamb. Religion Enthroned. Stained glass window, . Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Irving T. Bush in memory of his father and mother, 29.1082. Creative Commons-BY-NC.^[1]

J&R Lamb Studios, America's oldest continuously-run decorative arts company, is famous as a stained glass maker, preceding the studios of both John LaFarge and Louis C. Tiffany.^[2]

History

The J&R Lamb Studios was established in 1857 by brothers Joseph (1833-1898) and Richard Lamb (1836-1909) in Greenwich Village in New York City. They had previously left Lewisham, England to come to the United States with their family since their father, a landscape architect, was engaged to work on Niblo's Garden, an exhibition hall and open-air theater.^[2][3]

Originally, the company also did mosaic, murals, and other work for churches, temples, residences, government and academic institutions.

The firm was chosen by the United States government as one of four studios to represent American achievements in stained glass at the Paris International Exposition of 1900. They won two prizes for their window entitled Religion Enthroned designed by Frederick Stymetz Lamb (1862-1928), the third of Joseph's sons.^[1][3] Frederick's brother, Charles Rollinson Lamb (1860-1942), a renowned City Beautiful theorist and architect, shaped the studio's aesthetic and intellectual character and business.^[2] Frederick became its head of design and supervised the firm's team of skilled craftsman.^[4]

Ella Condie Lamb, the wife of Charles Rollinson Lamb, was a well known artist and stained glass designer, also winning a medal in the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 for her oil work, "The Advent Angel".^[5][6]

Studio owner and family member, Karl Barre Lamb (1890-1969), was president of the Stained Glass Association of America 1954-1955 and an elected fellow.^[7] Lamb descendants ran the studios until his death.^[2] Under Karl B. Lamb's leadership, the studios relocated to Tenafly, New Jersey after The Great Depression.^[3]

In 1970, Lamb Studios artist Donald Samick bought the firm.^[2]

With the death of the stained glass artist Katharine Lamb Tait (1895-1981), the daughter of Charles Rollinson Lamb, the Lamb family was no longer involved with the studio.^[8]

The Library of Congress is the repository for the Lamb Studios Archive.^[2][9]

Studio location history

Cf. Lamb Studios Archive: Background, Library of Congress

• New York City (1857-1934)
• Tenafly, New Jersey (1934-1970)
• Northvale, New Jersey (1970-1979)
• Philmont, New York (1980-1997)
• Ridgewood, New Jersey (1998-2001)
• Clifton, New Jersey (2002-2007)
• Midland Park, New Jersey (2008-)

Selected works

Design drawing c.1927 by Katherine Lamb Tait, J&R Lamb Studios, for a stained glass window called Arts Education, Froelich Memorial Window in the Newark Museum

• Main Protestant Chapel at Camp Lejuene (stained glass) 10 stained glass windows designed by artist Katharine Lamb Tait and installed in 1948 ^[10]
• Church of the Ascension (New York) (choir stalls)
• Church of the Saviour (Syracuse) (altar)
• Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library, Watertown, New York. Charles Rollinson Lamb, artist-architect; interior decoration by J&R Lamb Studios.^[11]
• Hugo B. Froehlich Memorial Art Education Window, donated in 1927 by the Manual Training Teachers of Newark to the Newark Museum. Designed by Katherine Lamb Tait.^[12]
• Plymouth Congregational Church (later Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims), Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York.^[13]
• Sage Chapel at Cornell University (mosaic)
• St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral, Buffalo, New York - Installed in 1961-1962 stained glass windows with depictions of the Saints designed by Katharine Lamb Tait of J&R Lamb Studios, Tenafly, NJ.^[14]
• Stanford Memorial Church, Stanford University. Stained glass designed by Frederick Stymetz Lamb.
• Tuskegee University Chapel, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama. The chapel windows, known as the "Singing Windows," designed by J&R Lamb of New York and installed in the 1932 chapel renovation, portrayed eleven beloved Negro spirituals.^[15]

References

1. "Religion Enthroned", Brooklyn Museum collection description. (alternative view at Britannica)
2. Lamb Studios Archive - Library of Congress
3. Seeley, Barea Lamb, "Lamb Studios History", Encyclopedia of New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, 2004. Cf. pp. 452-453
4. "Frederick Stymetz Lamb", Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery
5. "Lamb, Ella Condie (1862 - 1936): STAINED GLASS ARTIST; MURALIST", Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
6. Wood, Wallace, "The Advent Angel, by Ella Condie Lamb", The Century Magazine, Volume 47 Issue 2 (December 1893)
7. "Past Presidents of the Stained Glass Association of America", Stained Glass Association of America.
8. "Obituary: Katharine Lamb Tait, Designed Stained Glass", The New York Times, August 13, 1981
9. Lamb Studio Archive photo collection - Library of Congress
10. Camp Lejeune Window
11. "Dedication of the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library", Watertown, New York, 1903.
12. "Design drawing for stained glass window called Arts Education, Froelich Memorial Window" - Lamb Studios Archive, Library of Congress
13. "Building of the Day: 75 Hicks Street", Brownstoner, December 2010
14. "South Clerestory Windows - St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral", Buffalo Architecture and History
15. "History of the Chapel", Tuskegee University.

Further reading

• Burstyn, Joan N., Past and promise: lives of New Jersey women, Syracuse University Press, 1997. Cf. p.163, biographical entry for the artist Ella Condie Lamb (1862-1936), the wife of Charles Rollinson Lamb.
• Gold, Jeffrey, "Stained glass restoration keeps 150-year-old studio humming", Associated Press, March 25, 2007
• Kaufman, Joanne, "Miracles of Resurrection", The Wall Street Journal, 29 May 2007
• Lamb, Frederick Stymetz, "The Architectural Discussion: A reply by Frederick Stymetz Lamb", The Craftsman, Volume 8, April-September 1905. Cf. pp. 804–808.
• Rose, Elizabeth Terry, "A Window on American Art: Symposium Focuses on J&R Lamb Studios", Library of Congress, Information Bulletin, January–February 2008
• Seeley, Barea Lamb; Raguin, Virginia, "150th Anniversary of the J&R Lamb Studios: Afternoon Session", Library of Congress, November 28, 2007
• Bergen County Panorama, Writers' Program, New Jersey, Work Projects Administration, Hackensack, N.J. : Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders, 1941. Cf. pp.238-239, 272, &c. on the J&R Lamb Studios and family members.

External links

• J&R Lamb Studios website