Glass art refers to individual artwork made of glass. It varies in size from monumental works to installation pieces to windows and wall hangings to works of art created in studios and factories, including tableware and glass jewelry.
As a functional and decorative medium, glass was greatly developed in Assyria and Egypt. Invented by the Phoenicians, the glass was brought to the fore by the Romans. In the Middle Ages, the builders of Europe's great Norman and Gothic cathedrals took the art of glass to the next level with the use of stained glass windows as a significant architectural and decorative element. In the Venetian Lagoon, the glass from Murano is the result of hundreds of years of refinement and invention. Even today, it is still held as the birthplace of modern glass art.
Since then, many countries have produced and designed decorative stained glass all over the world. Here are a few lists of countries that are recognized for their contribution to the world of glasswork and a few names of their great artists.
Italy
- Guido Grilli – Atri’s Beloved Glassworks Artistic Director
Guido Grilli was an Italian painter, illustrator, and stained glass artist.
He was a native of Foggia who went to Florence to study art and pursue his dream as a painter. He had an active part in the artistic life and was able to set up his studio in Margutta and San Giacomo as well. He was also an illustrator for newspapers and magazines. His works appeared on the pages of the Catholic newspaper II Vittorioso and made various advertising, political, and religious posters.
Apart from being a painter and illustrator, Guido was able to pursue one of his other passions, and that was to become a stained glass artist. He became a renowned stained glass window artist in Atri, in the province of Teramo, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. His success in putting such magnificent artworks in stained glass windows made his name famous up to Hollywood, whose Chapel of the artists have the windows made from his cartoon designs. He was also appointed as artistic director of the Camper glassworks in Atri.
Death took him on the night of November 24, 1967, after completing and entrusting the cartoons for the rose window of the Church of San Pio X in his Foggia to the master glassmakers of Atri.
- Girolamo Mocetto (1470-1531)
- Silvio Vigliaturo (1949)
Australia
- Leonard French (1928-2017)
- John Radecki (1865-1955)
- Mervyn Napier Waller (1893-1972)
Belgium
- Jean-Baptiste Capronnier (1814-1891)
- Théodore-Gérard Hanssen (1885-1957)
Canada
- Guido Nincheri (1885-1973)
- Marcelle Ferron (1924-2001)
- Marius Plamondon (1914-1976)
Denmark
- August Duvier (1860-1928)
- Tróndur Patursson (1944)
- Arild Rosenkrantz (1870-1964)
Estonia
France
- Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
- Gabriel Loire (1904-1996)
- Jean René Bazaine (1904-2001)
Ireland
- Henry Patrick Clarke (1889-1931)
Israel
- Mordecai Ardon (1896-1992)
- Nehemia Azaz (1923-2008)
Latvia
Lithuania
- Marija Anortė Mackelaitė (1930)
- Kazys Morkūnas (1925-2014)
- Stasys Ušinskas (1905-1974)
Netherlands
- Jan Gerritsz van Bronckhorst (1603-1661)
- Dirk Pietersz Crabeth (1501-1574)
- Cornelis Cussens (1580-1618)
Russia
- Vladimir Berdnikov (1946)
- Yuri Ivanovich Bosco (1930-2019)
- Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
South Africa
Spain
- Arnao de Flandes
- Guillermo Larrazábal Arzubide (1907-1983)
- Arnao de Vergara (1490-1557)
Switzerland
- Ernest Biéler (1863-1948)
- Edmond Bille (1878-1959)
- Felix Hoffmann (1911-1975)
United Kingdom
- William Morris (1834-1896)
- Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898)
- Karl Parsons (1884-1934)
United States
- Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933)
- John La Farge (1835-1910)
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
