Katharine Lamb was born in Alpine, New Jersey and became a stained
glass and mosaics designer, painter, muralist and illustrator.
She obtained her art training in New York City at the Cooper Union
School of Design, the National Academy of Design, the Art Students
League, and also at Academie Colarossi, Paris.
She was married to Trevor S. Tait for more than 50 years. They had four children. Her professional career lasted sixty years. From 1922 to 1926, she was a teacher of design at Cooper Union Women's Art School. She began
designing for J.& R. Lamb Studios (founded by her grandfather in
1857 in NYC) in the early 1920s and later became head designer.
The firm is still the oldest stained glass studios in the US,
celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2007.
She was a member of the Stained Glass Association of America, National
Society of Mural Painters and National Arts Club. She did
commission work for numerous churches throughout the US, including
First Baptist Church, Richmond, VA (all the nave windows); Old
Mariners' Church, Detroit, MI (all); and the U.S. Marine Corps'
Protestant and Catholic Chapels (all nave) at Camp Lejeune, NC.
(See partial list below)
Sources:
Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Art and Antiques,
American Artists of Renown, Dictionary of International Biography 1971),
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art
Additional information submitted March 2007 by Barrie Tait Collins, daughter of the artist
KATHARINE LAMB TAIT: COMMISSIONS (partial listing)
STAINED GLASS WINDOWS (* = major work)
*First Baptist Church, Richmond, VA (all nave)
*Old Mariners Church, Detroit, MI (all)
**U.S.
Marine Corps’ national chapels AT Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, NC (all
nave, rose & entry windows-Protestant chapel; all nave –
Catholic chapel.
*Tuskegee Institute Chapel, Tuskegee, AL (“The Singing Window”-spirituals)
St. Giles the Abbott Church, Farnborough, Kent, England (one two-light)
* St. Andrew’s Memorial Episcopal Church, Detroit, MI (11 windows)
*First Presbyterian Church, Mt. Vernon, NY (1 window)
Canterbury School, Chapel of Our Lady, New Milford, CT (6 windows)
*Calvary Methodist Church, Dumont, NJ (20+ windows)
* St. John’s Episcopal Church, Hollywood, FL (11 windows)
Appleton High School, Appleton, WI
*First Presbyterian Church, Tenafly, NJ (chapel, all)
*All Saints Episcopal Church, Detroit, MI (all)
Ogden Memorial Presbyterian Church, Chatham, NJ
St. Peters Hospital Chapel, Charlotte, NC
All Saints Chapel, Morris, NY (6 windows)
* Church of the Advent, Kenmore, NY (all)
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Riverside, CT (3 windows)
St. John’s Church, Butte, Montana (3 nave)
*St. James Episcopal, Richmond, VA (3 nave)
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Noroton, CT
Puget Sound Navy Yard (chapel), Bremerton, WA
*Presbyterian Church, La Peer, MI (12 windows)
Columbarium Room, Ferncliffe Mausoleum, Ardsley, NY
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, VA
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Green Castle, IN (rosette)
*Christ Church, Roanoke, VA (12+ windows) Church of the Atonement, Tenafly, NJ
*All Saints Episcopal Church, Birmingham, AL (24 windows)
Grace Episcopal Church, Gainesville, GA (9 windows)
MOSAICS
*Canaan Baptist Church, Washington, DC (chancel cross)
Salem-Lutheran
Church, Brooklyn, NYC (reredos)
*Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Central
Park West/65th St. NYC
*First Presbyterian Church, Watertown, NY
(chancel cross)
Copyright, 1985, Barrie Tait Collins. (Revised Feb. 2007)
PUBLISHED ARTICLES AND ARTWORK BY KATHARINE LAMB TAIT
Churchman, Nov. 3, 1917 – “Patriotism and Craftsmanship” (illus.) Cine-Mundial, Feb. 1922 –“Cronica Infantil” (illus.)
*New York Times Book Review/ Magazine, June 11, 1922-“The Children of Paris” (illus.)
*The World Magazine, April 23, 1922 – “Flappers: Inspiration of the Modern Age” (illus.); July 9, 1922 – “The Male of the Flapper Species”(illus.)
*The Younger Set, Aug. 1922 – “The Parisian Café” (illus.)
Junior Home Magazine, Dec. 1922- Nov. 1923 – monthly calendars with illustrations
*New York Times, March 4, 1923 – “A Child’s Day in Court” (illus.)
*The Duodecimal Bulletin (The Duodecimal Society of America), January
1952 – “The Ecclesiastical Symbolism of the Dozen”
ARTICLES ABOUT KATHARINE LAMB TAIT
(*=major)
*New York Evening Post, May 24, 1932 – “Madonna and Child/Katharine
Lamb Tait Could Pose for One of Her Own Stained Glass Windows” - with
illustrations
New York Evening Post, Aug. 7, 1934 – “Stained Glass Spirituals are
Latest in Church Art” - with photo of KLT
Berkeley Daily Gazette, Aug. 29, 1934 – “Art Clears Last Conservative
Hurdle by Entry into Churches,” – with photo of KLT
*New York Times, April 23, 1939 – “Styling Stained Glass Windows
‘Exciting’ for Katharine Lamb”- with photo of KLT
*Stained Glass (magazine), Spring 1941 – “Women in Stained Glass”
The Sunday Journal (Tenafly, NJ), Dec. 26, 1948 – “Who’s Who in
Tenafly: Katharine Lamb Tait” – with photo of KLT
The Ave Maria, Dec. 8, 1956 – “How a Stained Glass Window is Made”
with KLT photo
Stained Glass (magazine), Summer 1959 – “102 Years Young / A Modicum
of History from the J. & R. Lamb Studios” by Craig Kendall – with
photo of one of 22 KLT windows for the U.S. Marine Corps' two chapels
At its Camp Lejeune base, NC
* Newark Star-Ledger, (NJ) Mar. 6, 1960 – “She Creates Beauty in
Stained Glass”-photo
The Record (Bergen Co., NJ), Dec. 31, 1962 – “Church Dedicates
Colored Windows” (Dumont, NJ)- photo of one of 21 KLT windows there
*Stained Glass (magazine), Spring 1969 – “The Singing Windows of
Tuskegee”/photo
The Glass Workshop, May/June 1969 – “Lamb Studios” – photo of KLT
The Sunday Record (Bergen Co., NJ), May 23, 1971 - “Firm Lives in
Past – and Profits by It” – photo of KLT
*Marine Corps Gazette, Dec. 1980 – “Memorial Windows: Camp Lejeune’s
Stained Glass Masterpieces” – photos of KLT and windows, inc. cover
photo
**Stained Glass (magazine), Spring, 1981 – “The Last Stained Glass
Lamb: Katharine Lamb Tait” by David Adams – with photos of KLT and 5
windows (4 in color)
*Time Out New York, Feb. 20-27, 2003 –Review of American Bible Society
"Reflections on Glass" exhibition, NYC,Dec. 13, 2002 - March 15, 2003)
with details on KLT and her stained glass entry , “My Covenant
of Peace I Give To You” (in honor of United Nations founding; lent by
Corning Museum of Glass)
"The Archangels of Lejeune,"
Stained Glass," Fall 2008, by Barrie Tait Collins (10 windows located in the Protestant
Chapel, U.S.Marine Corps base, Camp Lejeune, NC)
Material updated and copyrighted 2009, by Barrie Tait
Collins |