CHAGALL. STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

Marc Chagall, as other famous artists of the twentieth century, has worked in various genres of the visual arts experimenting with different techniques, but no one has launched the monumental art of stained glass like him.

The stained glass windows

Mets, Saarburg, the UN, Mainz, Reims, Pocantico, Jerusalem, Nice, Zurich are witnesses of a complex work capable of covering dozens of square meters with a fineness of design, a chromatic harmony and a unique narrative power. Chagall had to start a symbiosis with a glassmaker master to realize the monumental work of the stained glass windows. His association with the master of Reims, Charles Marc, was essential to complete all the complex projects. Chagall, with the aid of Marc, used an old Cistercian technique named the “grisaille”, which involves the use of acid to give shades and materiality to the stained glass window after it is already finished and mounted.

Preparatory work

The book documents the enormous preparatory work and the various stages of designing and coloring the chromatic masses. The graphic work, a real triumph of shapes and colors, is finely reproduced, testifying the quality of a true masterpiece.

The long journey

The realization of a stained glass window is a long journey. From the preparatory work to the processing techniques of the master glassmaker and the final intervention of Chagall using the “grisaille”. The book shows many details of the windows and all the preparatory drawings to help the reader to understand the big picture.