Style Art Deco / Ref.0548

Cubist stained glass window

A window with two stained glass panels made with opaque and transparent glass. Together these two panels present a Cubist view of a saw mill: smoke bellowing out of tall chimneys, stylized logs, an axe on the left and circles that symbolize pulleys or mechanical industrial elements. The theme here is of an urban or industrial landscape and is quite similar to Fernand Léger’s work. The « white stained glass » used in this piece was developed in the 1920’s by Louis Barillet, alternating translucent glass with relief (diamond points, streaked glass, hammered glass) and opaque glass with a sheen (pink, white or cream colored) or black glass. In this type of secular windows, the main concerns for Barillet were adapting the design to the electrical lights inside the building and making sure the stained glass could be viewed from both inside and out. This highly modernist approach was perfectly in line with the preoccupation of the Art Deco artists of the time. < br / > In the early 20th century, the avant-garde pointed towards the abstract, geometrical and the functional. Abstraction was the means to cut away from the past: Futurism in Italy, Constructivism in Russia and Cubism in the rest of Europe became the principal sources of inspiration for the decorative arts. The geometrical stylization started in the 1920’s and peaked in 1925, during the International decorative Arts exhibit in Paris. < br / > Two geometrical styles coexisted in stain glass windows at this time: the purely decorative Art Deco style and a style more linked to Cubism interested in the essence of form. Both styles advocated pure forms with no ornamentation, often in black and white or very plain colors. As in Art Nouveau stained glass, lead lines play a strong decorative role.