Tribute to Joe Tilson, RA (1928-2023)

Rosslyn Chapel Trust would like to pay tribute to the leading British artist Joe Tilson, RA, who has died at the age of 95 and whose wonderful stained-glass window in the Chapel was commissioned by the Trust in 2021 to mark its 25^th anniversary.

Joe Tilson was one of the leading lights of the British Pop Art movement, having studied at St. Martin’s and the Royal College of Art in the 1950s alongside Peter Blake and David Hockney. In 1955 he was awarded the Rome Prize, taking him to live in Italy for a year, a country from which he drew a lifetime of inspiration and where he met his beloved wife Joslyn.

The Earl and Countess of Rosslyn, who established Rosslyn Chapel Trust, were inspired by Tilson’s series The Stones of Venice and his award-winning stained-glass at the 2019 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition to commission the Rosslyn Chapel window.

Lady Rosslyn said: ‘The result has been universally admired and will remain not only as a celebration of this chapter in the Chapel’s rich history, but as a testament to the talents of a modest and much-loved British artist’.

Read more about the Chapel’s Tilson window via this link – Tilson window

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