John Hutton (artist)

John Hutton (8 August 1906 – 28 July 1978) was a prominent glass engraving artist from New Zealand, who spent most of his career in the United Kingdom.

Born in Clyde on the South Island of New Zealand in 1906, Hutton married fellow artist Helen (Nell) Blair in 1934 and they made England their permanent home in 1936.

[1] In 1947 Hutton designed his first large scale glass engravings – a series of four panels depicting the seasons, for the restaurant area on the passenger ship RMS Caronia, built for the Cunard White Star Line.

Taking over a decade to complete, the immense screen, designed in glass and bronze by construction engineer Ove Arup, measures 70 ft high by 45 ft wide, through which light pours to fill the cathedral (its actual orientation being to the south) as well as providing the physical link to the preserved ruins of the destroyed medieval cathedral opposite.

The finished design was fixed to the rear of the glass panel, which was engraved from the front using Hutton's homemade, handheld griding wheel.

Hutton created glass engravings of the National Library and Archives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: 37 panels over three floors with a principal theme of world literature including larger-than-life figures of Cervantes, Shakespeare, Molière and Tolstoy.

Above the entryway to the non-denominational Chapel of Thanksgiving a large engraved window features a deeply-cut, three dimensional dove surrounded by circular surface effects.

"[13] In 1960, John Hutton created 24 panels to commemorate the discovery of the ruins of the Temple of Mithras on the site of the now demolished Bucklersbury House.

At the Civic Centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, he created a glass screen representing some of the great inventions of the city, and figures from local mythology, with his son, Warwick Hutton.