Twentieth Century Stained Glass

Kazuni Ikemoto 1985

Stained glass of the twentieth century is best characterized by a lack of any distinctive style. Ultimately dependent upon developments in architecture, the stained glass profession of today has found itself in both a precarious and innovative situation. Much of the stained glass production between the world wars and immediately after was intended to replace the hundreds of thousands of windows destroyed in these wars. Many artists simply copied the windows and styles that had already existed, but by mid-century bold innovations were carried out by famous artists whose themes were often secular in nature. Matisse, Braque, Leger and others broke the traditional figurative mold of earlier times with their abstract and semi-abstract designs, works that would become art in their own right.

Eventually, the diminishing number of churches built throughout the second half of the century led to the decline of the large stained glass studio run by master craftsmen and constantly rejuvenated by apprentices. The bastardization of residential architecture with the explosion of suburban "boxes" also left little room for innovative decorative work. Urban skyscrapers and modern office buildings, however, provided a unique new setting for the glass artist. The corporation had replaced the cathedral as the center of cultural and moral values, and much of the glass created for those venues reflected the austerity and abstractness of the corporate world. In recent years peoples' obsession with dining out has also created a new market for decorative glass in restaurant facades and interiors.

The small stained glass studios of today, often dependent upon restoration commissions for survival, continue to experiment with new techniques and designs. Similar in scope to the Romantic Movement of the nineteenth century, a yearning for transcendence from an impersonal, mechanized world has begun to take place in modern society. With this intensified desire to travel beyond the average-everydayness of contemporary life, stained glass will again provide both the saint and sinner with a vision and a refuge.

Creation and Day of Judgement Windowß

Central Snynagogue. London, 1964