modern stained glass

related page:
stained glass - development and techniques, also rose windows

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from medieval glass to dalle de verre, or slab glass

In medieval times, the manufacture of stained glass was an esoteric craft involving glass-blowing. The quality of the glass varied greatly, in consistency, thickness and so on. The surface varied, bubbles of air were trapped in the glass, the colour varied, and since those days, acids in the air and rain, and from pollution, pitted the outside surfaces over the centuries. This can be seen in the whitening of the surfaces.

You may think that all this variation is a problem, but far from it. These variations are a good part of what gives old windows such character, sparkle and glow. In fact, restorations over the past century have often done more harm then good, as some of the life has been removed from the windows. However, as knowledge grows, restorers are now often doing a better job.

Eventually, the old handcrafts involved in glass manufacture were replaced by metal molding and glass flotation. The product became consistent, most of the bubbles were removed, the surface became smooth and the colour evenly distributed. This ended up in a product lifeless from the point of view of the finished window. This product became known, in a monumental misnomer, as ‘cathedral glass’!

So the glass makers have had to learn all over again how to produce a more appropriate material and result. As modern science catches up with medieval craftsmen, the palette of the stained glass artists is now becoming good enough even to incite the envy of a 12th century monk.

Added to the range of glass available, there is now a great modern innovation dalle de verre, or slab glass. This material has opened up the possibility of embedding the inch-thick glass in concrete or resin. As glass expands at approximately the same rate as the concrete, these windows can be made to be structural, as well as damned impressive.

To add still further to the lively colour and light transmission qualities of this glass, the craftsman deliberately chips the inside surface of the glass, with a hammer, as can be seen in the photo just below.

The stained glass shown here is at the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer, La Cotinière on the Île d’Oleron

great contemporary stained glass artists

Unfortunately, great stained glass artists are few and far between. The best I know is Gabriel Loire, who has unfortunately died recently at a great age. The best example of his work in England is at St Mary’s College Chapel, Strawberry Hill, near Twickenham, using dalle de verre. His son Jacques, and I believe his grandchildren, are now involved in the business, which has a shop next door to Chartres cathedral. However, his descendants are not yet in the same class as Gabriel.

There is a prime example, in a single window, of Chagall’s work at Chichester cathedral. He has also glazed a complete church of twelve windows at Tudeley, Kent. There are also several windows in Metz cathedral, but these I have not seen. It tends to be more interesting to see a building where the modern stained glass artist has been responsible for glazing all the windows. Thus, in Britain, you may have a better impression of Chagall at Tudeley, despite the small nature of the project. But Chagall’s definitive tour de force is the twelve magnificent windows at the chapel of the Hadassa Medical Centre, a little way out of Jerusalem. In America, the best example is the smaller Union Church at Pocantico Hills, about thirty miles north of New York City.

Matisse has created an impressive chapel at Vence in Provence, designing practically everything within it, including the stained glass windows. (Its visiting hours are limited, so check carefully before visiting.)

Painton Cowen has produced a very useful directory of stained glass in Britain .

reims eight-hundred year anniversary glass

After the depredations of the centuries, I wonder whether the controllers of Reims have decided to reduce this great cathedral to a rather sad museum of modern stained glass artists. Metz and Nevers also appear to be suffering this fate. Another sad age that values its own vanities above the sensitive restoration of these great old buildings.

Three of the six windows by Imi Knoebel for Reims cathedral.

For the occasion of the eight hundredth anniversary of the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Reims, the German artist Imi Knoebel has been commissioned to design six stained glass windows to replace the existing neutral glass. These windows, with an area of 128 m², are being placed in the absidial Chapel of the Sacred Heart, to either side of the monumental stained glass by Marc Chagall, installed in 1974. The Knoebel windows will be opened to the public on Saturday, 25th June, 2011 at 11am.

Knoebel believes his design “returns to the original chromatic language of the cathedral, producing a symbiosis between old and new. The color gives quality, weight and balance, with colours as well as luminance”. Knoebel’s windows look to me a rather poor reference to Fritz Glarner.

The six stained glass windows were made in close collaboration between the artist and a group of glassmakers, the workshop of Simon Marq at Reims, and the workshop of Duchemin, Paris. The windows are financed to 1.3 million € by the Champagne-Ardennes Region and the Ministry of culture, together with substantial donations from the GDF SUEZ Group, Louis Roederer Champagnes, the local Caisse d’Epargne Bank, as well as some anonymous donors.

marc chagall

There is a prime example, in a single window, of Chagall’s work at Chichester cathedral. He has also glazed a complete church of twelve windows at Tudeley, Kent. There are also several windows in Metz cathedral, but these I have not seen. It tends to be more interesting to see a building where the modern stained glass artist has been responsible for glazing all the windows. Thus, in Britain, you may have a better impression of Chagall at Tudeley, despite the small nature of the project. But Chagall’s definitive tour de force is the twelve magnificent windows at the chapel of the Hadassa Medical Centre, a little way out of Jerusalem. In America, the best example is the smaller Union Church at Pocantico Hills, about thirty miles north of New York City.

Windows by Marc Chagall at Reims cathedral. Image: travelpod.com	One the twelve tribes of Israel windows, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centre Synagogue, just outside Jerusalem. These very impressive windows are beautifully presented in a simple square building, three on each side. Dimensions: 3.38 x 2.51 metres.

recommended reading

A guide to stained glass in Britain by Painton Cowen, # Michael Joseph Ltd (June 10, 1985) ISBN-10: 0718125673 ISBN-13: 978-0718125677 amazon.com / amazon.co.uk

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cathedrals 5: photographs, Laon
cathedrals 6: Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon
cathedrals 7: Notre Dame of Lausanne
cathedrals 8: how a typical cathedral changes through the ages
Lausanne rose window - photo-analysis
Cambrai cathedral
Soissons cathedral
cathedrals in Lorraine - the Three Bishoprics
cathedral giants - Amiens and Beauvais

Germans in France - Arras cathedral
Germans in France - Reims cathedral
Germans in France - St. Quentin cathedral
Germans in France - Noyon cathedral

email abelard@abelard.org

© abelard, 2006, 23 february


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