STAINED GLASS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 831, 27 November 1929, Page 14

STAINED GLASS

POPULAR IN FRANCE

In a good many French houses just now the stained glass window is tending to take the place of the picture. Stained glass has been used fairly continuously in France, whereas in England it has gradually fallen into disuse since the riot of coloured glass which used to decorate the Victorian conservatory or hall door, or resolved itself into virulent representations of Rebecca at the well and kindred subjects in houses of a larger type. The French stained glass window is rather different. It is not a revival at all, but a pioner effort in the direction of cubism. It falls into two categories, one of which tends to be turned out in large quantities. Fortunately, this is generally in delicate tints, such as gold, grey and blue, with a good deal of black to give it the triangular forms demanded. The other is generally pictorial, on modern lines. Sometimes the subject is religious, but in the new conception of the word, artistically; sometimes it is primitive, the colouring of the various flesh tints being well suited to the transparent medium. On the whole, the most successful stained glass windows are those which combine something of both types. The cubist medium is well suited to the breaking up of the glass by the lead into small fragments. It is severely conventional, and it approximates the older method of producing stained glass which is so successful in twelfth century glass. Also, It allows of modern subjects, such as motors and airplanes, the latter being given a suggestion of speed which could only be obtained perhaps by the triangular method.