E. A. Taylor
(1874 – 1951)
Ernest Archibald Taylor was born in Greenock, the son of an army major. After training as a draughtsman at a Clyde Shipyard, he joined Wylie and Lochhead in 1898 as trainee designer, attending the Glasgow School of Art part-time (1898-1903) and furniture design classes at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. He was an Instructor in furniture at the School of Art from 1903 until 1905, also working on various private commissions. He left Wylie and Lochhead around 1905, moving to Salford to work for George Wragge where he designed stained glass windows. Through the 1920s and 30s he concentrated on his landscape painting, writing for The Studio, designing book covers and painting pottery. His furniture designs are often elegant and include stained glass inserts, pierced decoration, roses and split hearts. His work comes up at auction, mostly paintings, furniture and stained glass. He was married to fellow Glasgow Style designer and artist Jessie M. King.
For Wylie and Lochhead, circa 1900. Galleried back inset with a stained and mirrored glass panel, enclosed by shaped uprights, also set with stained and leaded glass depicting corresponding flowering foliage in green and blue, the sloping fall enclosing a fitted interior above two short over three drawers with silvered ring handles, the whole raised on stile supports with pierced brackets. Image Courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull, Fine Art Auctioneers
Image Courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull, Fine Art Auctioneers
Image courtesy of Great Western Auctions.