Article in Neues Glas/New Glas N° 2/00
On the occasion of an exhibition in Chartres, Thierry Boissel provides fundamental thoughts about the situation of contemporary stained glass.
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The history of architecture is at the same time the history of the perception of light. Windows, their shape and size are secure references for the respective periods and styles of architecture. Windows can be filled with translucent or transparent materials, sometimes with both. Such "interventions" seal the apertures and still allow light to have an effect in the building. Light has a strong symbolic character. Since it is a basic necessity of life, it is natural to pay homage to it and human beings have always worked at making this visible.
The transparent, translucent, and perhaps colored filters make light visible,
illuminate a building, and protect it from the weather. An early example of the use of this simple system is the gothic cathedral La Sainte Chapelle built by Louis IX in Paris about 1240.- Stained Glass
- Glass design, glass windows, art of glass in architecture, church windows, architectonically integrated glass art: these are all terms that attempt to describe or define a certain sphere of activity by some artists. But what do these terms mean? The question as to definition may seem trivial and superfluous at first, but becomes relevant in my own work with light in architecture. Just mentioning the term "stained glass" surprises many people. In France this term is associated with La Sainte Chapelle or the works by Marc Chagall. Since a few years ago it also evokes Conques, a town in south-west France lying on a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, and works by Pierre Soulages. Then comes the pitying question whether there are even that many churches still being built today, that one can live from this. Some architects clearly react with irritation. They become pale, dizzy, get goose bumps, and stammer: "But I am not building a medieval church. I am building a school, a train station, an airport, or a city hall!" I myself have meanwhile learned to consider the person I am speaking to and use the term "stained glass" rather more cryptically.
