Clodagh Finn: Recalling Sarah Purser and her towering ambition

A Walter Osborne portrait of Sarah Purser, who may have had the largest fortune any Irishwoman amassed by her own unaided efforts, thanks to an investment in Guinness.

Sarah Purser, artist and founder of An Túr Gloine (the Tower of Glass), the stained-glass cooperative which opened its doors 120 years ago on New Year’s Day, still has the power to inspire — and distract.

I set out to mark the anniversary of a pioneering studio that brought together artists such as Harry Clarke, Evie Hone, Michael Healy, and Wilhelmina Geddes, but found myself getting ambushed by the details of the extraordinary life of its exuberant, determined, and criminally under-the-radar founder.