Patrick Pollen (12 January 1928 – 30 November 2010) was a British

stained-glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

artist who spent most of his life working in Ireland.

Early life and education

Patrick La Primaudaye Pollen was born in London on 12 January 1928, the second son and second of six children of

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

and Daphne Pollen (née Baring). Arthur Pollen was a sculptor of religious works, and grandson of John Hungerford Pollen. Daphne was the daughter of Cecil Baring, 3rd Baron Revelstoke, who purchased

Lambay Island Lambay Island (), often simply Lambay, is an island in the Irish Sea off the coast of north County Dublin, Ireland. The largest island off the east coast of Ireland, it is offshore from the headland at Portrane, and is the easternmost point ...

and employed

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

to restore the castle there. Daphne was a painter of religious matter. Pollen attended St Philip's preparatory school in

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

, then Avisford, near

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much la ...

, and finally

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition. It opened in 1803 as a boys' school. It is near the villa ...

, going on to serve

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

. He attended the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

for two years to study painting, going on to work at an art school in Paris,

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

Stained glass work

In 1952 Pollen's father took him to see

Evie Hone Eva Sydney Hone RHA (22 April 1894 – 13 March 1955), usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist.Nicola Gordon Bowe (May 2009)Hone, Eva Sydney (1894–1955) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online editi ...

's Crucifixion and Last Supper window in Eton College Chapel. Upon seeing it he announced "That's what I want to do." He moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

to study with the stained glass cooperative Evie Hone was a member of,

An Túr Gloine An Túr Gloine (; Irish for "The Glass Tower") was a cooperative studio for stained glass and '' opus sectile'' artists from 1903 until 1944, based in Dublin, Ireland. History An Túr Gloine was conceived of in late 1901 and established Januar ...

, which was run by Catherine O'Brien and she and Hone became his mentors. When Hone died in 1955, she left him her brushes. His early work from the 1950s is mostly in Britain, including a window in a private chapel in the

London Oratory The London Oratory, officially the Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London, is a Catholic community of priests living under the rule of life established by Philip Neri (1515–1595). It is located in an Oratory House, next to th ...

, three windows for a chapel at Whitchurch, and a crypt window for

Rosslyn Chapel Rosslyn Chapel, also known as the Collegiate Chapel of Saint Matthew, is a 15th-century Scottish Episcopal Church, Episcopal chapel located in the village of Roslin, Midlothian, Roslin in Midlothian, Scotland. The chapel was founded by William Si ...

. Pollen worked for two years from 1957 on 32 windows for the new Cathedral of Christ The King, Johannesburg. He made the windows in Dublin, then shipping them to be assembled in South Africa. Pollen created the mosaic of ''St Joseph the Worker'' and windows for

Galway Cathedral The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas (Irish language: ''Ard-Eaglais Mhaighdean na Deastógála agus Naomh Nioclás''), commonly known as Galway Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ire ...

. In 1963 Pollen created a memorial window to Catherine O'Brien in

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Irish: ''Ardeaglais Theampall Chríost''), is the cathedral of the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the e ...

. He took on Helen Moloney as an assistant from 1960 to 1962. Following

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilic ...

newly designed churches featured less stained glass, and Pollen found he was receiving less commissions. As a consequence Pollen and his family moved to the United States in 1981. They settled in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

but there was very little work there and in 1997 they returned in Ireland, living in his wife native

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

Family

Pollen married sculptor Nell Murphy in 1963, with the couple buying a house in Dublin in which Pollen had his studio. Murphy worked in plaster, clay and stone, her works often features in churches with that of Pollen. They had four sons, Peter, Ciaran, Laurence and Christopher, and a daughter, Brid. Pollen died on 30 November 2010 in County Wexford.

Other works

* Six windows in

Ballinteer Ballinteer () is a small southside suburb of Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland, extensively developed from the late 1960s onwards. The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Ballinteer was 15,6 ...

Roman Catholic Church, Dublin. * Windows for the new church at

Lifford Lifford (, historically anglicised as ''Liffer'') is the county town of County Donegal, Ireland, the administrative centre of the county and the seat of Donegal County Council, although the town of Letterkenny is often mistaken as holding this ...

, County Donegal (1962). * Three windows for a church at

Milford, County Donegal Milford or Millford, historically called ''Ballynagalloglagh'' (), is a small town and townland in County Donegal, Ireland. The population at the 2022 census was 1,076. The '' Tirconaill Tribune'' is headquartered here. History and name Loca ...

(1960). * Memorial window in

St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast Belfast Cathedral, () also known as St Anne's Cathedral (), is a Romanesque architecture, Romanesque-style Church of Ireland, Anglican cathedral in Donegall Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is unusual in serving two separate dioceses (Dioc ...

, to soldiers of Irish regiments killed in the First and Second World Wars (early 1980s). * Four-panel Epiphany for

Foster's Almshouses, Bristol Foster's Almshouse () is a historic building on Colston Street, Bristol, England. The almshouse was founded by a bequest from the 15th-century merchant John Foster in 1492; his will can be read online.Evan T. Jones (ed.)'‘Will of John Foster, ...

(1968).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollen, Patrick 1928 births 2010 deaths Artists from London British stained glass artists and manufacturers People educated at Ampleforth College Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art

Early life and education

Stained glass work

Family

Other works

See also

Further reading

References