Because "In Suger's vision, light was the primary source of faith and divine inspiration", (12) this light was one agency of a powerful benevolent grace that fed the soul. On one external side it was ordinary and profane light that shone on everyone, even the heretic and the wicked (Matthew 5:45: "He makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good"), but on the other internal side the light was now consecrated and holy. But once it entered through the window it was transformed into lumen, new metaphysical light because the glass, now both wall and sacred boundary functioned much like the ancient temenos threshold of a classical sanctuary or poemerium. He understood lux, external light as physical, coming from the sun and nature, especially light shining outside the cathedral. "…Suger could somehow parse three different Latin words for light: lux. I've copied the important part here, but do go to the link and read the full article in context.Ībbé Suger and a Medieval Theory of Light in Stained Glass: Lux, Lumen, Illumination. Of course now I cannot recall which book the reference I read was, but I have found a great posted article by Patrick Hunt, who can describe it much better. So in hearing that which was already familiar, but seeing it dynamically portrayed in images was enough to take it to a deeper level. Sarah's lecture was accompanied by her seemingly limitless images. It's not new, but rather that hmm' moment I had reading one of my stained glass books, a long time ago, and just thought interesting, but didn't know how to utilize it in the moment. The other bit of this unraveling is the knowing I have come across this material, sometime before. The work one does for one self, where budget and time are not in the formula. The type of creative agitation that leads to new work, completely out of the usual scope. Sarah Hall, who has her lecturer cap on, is one of Canada's most well known stained glass artists, someone I've had to privilege to work for, so it is a delight to attend.Īnd it didn't take long to be reminded of something so familiar and yet so elusive that I have been in this delicious state of artistic agitation. Not so much to really study the history, but to perhaps round out bits that I don't know anything about and more importantly to just get into a crowd of like-minded people to allow for inspiration and excitement at this still dark time of year. I decided to take a stained glass history course at the Jesuit College in Toronto. Lux, Lumen and Illumination by Elizabeth Steinebach on February 5, 2010
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |