Le vitrail dans les combats de L’Art sacré

Résumé 0

Contemporary stained glass is still mainly destined for religious buildings. In parallel with the public commission for historical monuments, it remains one of the principal artistic expressions in new churches with restrained decoration. However this important place accorded stained glass in the 20th century has been accompanied by strong controversies. With twenty years distance (1937-1957), two polemics arose concerning the insertion of modern stained glass in patrimonial sites. Between the two, the “quarrel of sacred art” certainly had for its epicenter G. Richier’s Crucifixion, but it is not without ties to the choice of stained glass windows in Bresseux, Vence and Audincourt… Without retracing the sequence of these cases, taking up the main elements of these debates within the revue, L’Art sacré, makes it possible to disentangle the threads that unite them beyond the apparently distinct issues. The options taken during these decades continue to shed light in many ways on the current state of stained glass.