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Historic Denver's offices have moved. |
| Stained Glass: From its Origins to the Present | |
Join us for an evening lecture and book signing of Stained Glass: From its Origins to the Present with renowned stained glass historian and author Virginia Raguin. The lecture is at the Tattered Cover, Lodo, 3rd Floor, 1628 16th Street, May 13th, 7:30 p.m. Stained glass has always been an art of inspiration and devotion, infusing space with a warm, magical glow, this book is a comprehensive and lavish review of the history, styles, designs, artists, tools and techniques of this much loved medium. Stained glass scholar, Virginia Raguin, brings years of study to this sweeping survey. With more than 500 color photographs featuring both classic and devotional works such as Chartres, Le Mans, and the Abbey at St. Dennis as well as modern creations by Tiffany, Marc Chagall, and the Bauhaus. Virginia Raguin was interested in stained glass early on. “I liked stained glass when I was a kid in high school,” she said. “I remember finding some term paper I’d written on ‘The Wonders of Glass.’” Fast forward 25 years, and Raguin came full circle when she was in Yale’s Ph.D. program for art history. “I was searching for a dissertation topic, and I saw strong possibilities of stained glass ensembles in 13th century France,” she says. Since then, Raguin, professor of art history at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., has become a renowned authority on the subject, preservationist and one-time director for the Census of Stained Glass Windows in America, Inc. A medievalist by training, Raguin emphasizes that understanding stained glass requires knowledge of peripheral subjects like art, biblical stories and history, church history, patronage and perhaps most importantly, architecture. “The crucial issue is the architectural setting so that you’re not just looking at an individual window,” Raguin says. Raguin is feverish about documenting great stained glass from coast to coast, and she encourages people who love their sacred buildings to make surveys, which can often be done through a diocese. “First you start surveying the field and take photos, you assign numbers. Then you assess the information you have when the institution commissioned the windows. Then continue to look further,” she says. The most fabulous stained glass on the planet? Hands-down it is the cathedral at Chartres, she says. “In terms of a complete ensemble, Chartres is a rare example of a 13th century cathedral that didn’t lose its stained glass.” But she points out many others, including Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, with its mid-19th century windows almost completely intact. |
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