Johannes Schreiter

Johannes Schreiter (born 8 March 1930) is a German graphic artist,[9] printmaker, designer of stained glass, theoretician and cultural critic. Born in Buchholz in 1930, Schreiter studied in Munster, Mainz, and Berlin, before receiving a scholarship from Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in 1958. His invention of the Brandcollage in 1959 first brought him to broader cultural attention,[10][11][12] and in 1963 he became professor of Painting and Graphic Art at the Frankfurt/Main School of Decorative Arts, and later Rector of the same. He was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuze (National Cross of Merit), the highest civilian honour granted by West Germany, in 1979.

Johannes Schreiter
Born (1930-03-08) 8 March 1930
Buchholz, Erzgebirgskreis, Germany
NationalityGerman
Known forPrintmaking,[1] painting, stained glass, Brandcollage[2]
Notable workChapel of the Brotherhood of St. Johannes, Leutesdorf;[3] Église Notre-Dame de Douai; Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg;[4][5] Ulm Minster; Whitechapel Medical Library[6][7]
TelevisionDer Glasmaler[8]

Part of the influential Post-War German school of stained glass,[13] Schreiter's work is characterised by the exploitation of lead as a graphic rather than solely structural element;[14] the use of translucent, unpainted glass; and by a highly-developed and personal language of symbols. Regarded as occupying a position of pre-eminence in the stained glass of the 20th century, works by Schreiter can be found in historical and contemporary buildings, museums, and public and private art collections worldwide.

Early life

The 'Heidelberger Fensterstreit'

In 1977, Schreiter was commissioned to design a series of stained glass windows for the medieval Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg,[15] whose board had voted to replace 19th century temporary glazing and other additions to the building, one of the most significant Gothic churches in Germany, as part of a broader restoration and repair of the interior.[16] Between 1977 and 1984, Schreiter designed a programme of artworks, twenty-two windows, for the Church, whose intention was to reinstall stained glass throughout in a unified programme of glazing by a single artist: the commission was what would have the largest stained glass commission granted to a single artist at that time.[17] Considered one of the most significant works of stained glass of the 20th century, Schreiter's avant-garde designs incorporated references from science, medicine, philosophy, and the analogue technologies of the day[18] in reference to Heiliggeistkirche's history as former home of the Biblioteca Palatina. Cited as the first time in contemporary stained glass design "that maps, graphs, newspaper and television images were used as source material",[3] the windows were the subject of a dispute, cited as "the most intense controversy on record involving twentieth century stained glass".[4] This major cultural and theological dispute,[19] known as the 'Heidelberg Controversy', was concluded in 1986. In 1984, Schreiter's designs, previously argued out and tested within a working group including theologians, art critics and church attendees, were presented to the public, and the first of the designs was fabricated and installed in the Church: a window known as the "Physikfenster", marking the use of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima. The rector of Heidelberg University 'forbade the use' of these designs and, nine years after embarking on the programme, the project was terminated on June 23, 1986, with only one of the suite of twenty-two windows fabricated and installed.[20] Several individual windows from the cycle have since been produced under Schreiter's direction and based on the original designs, for other organisations, including museums, hospital clinics, and other churches.[16]

Selected publications
  • Hans Hofstätter: Johannes Schreiter: Neue Glasbilder und eine Einführung in die neue Glasbildkunst. München: Moos, 1965.
  • Birgit Schwarz: Johannes Schreiter: Das Glasbildernische Werk 1959-1980. Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, 1987. ISBN 3-926527-08-0
  • Luzia Schlösser: Licht Zeichen: Die Kunst von Johannes Schreiter. Deutsches Glasmalerei-Museum Linnich, 2019. ISBN 978-3-946278-02-3
  • Johannes Schreiter: Wortfenster. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2066-6.
  • Yvonne Besser: Religiöse Bildsprache der nichtfigurativen Moderne: der Fensterzyklus zu Psalm 22 von Johannes Schreiter in der Jacobikirche Göttingen. Verlag Otto Lembeck, 2009.
  • Gunther Sehring, Holger Brülls: Johannes Schreiter: Glasbilder – Collagen – Zeichnungen 1995–2012. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-89870-687-2.
  • Birgit Schwarz: Johannes Schreiter. Das glasbildnerische Werk von 1959 bis 1980. Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, 1987.
  • Helmut Schwier: Der Fensterzyklus von Johannes Schreiter in der Peterskirche Heidelberg (Schnell Kunstführer Nr. 2826). Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7954-6955-9.

Further reading
  • Hans Gerke: Die Heidelberger Fensterentwürfe von Johannes Schreiter. Wunderhorn, 1987.
  • Caroline Swash: Medical Science and Stained Glass: The Johannes Schreiter Windows at the Medical Library, the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel. Malvern Arts Press, 2002. ISBN 0954105516
  • Suite of stained glass windows designed for Église Notre-Dame de Douai, 1976.
    Suite of stained glass windows designed for Église Notre-Dame de Douai, 1976.
  • Design for the windows, of Stiftskirche Stuttgart, 2002.
    Design for the windows, of Stiftskirche Stuttgart, 2002.

References
  1. Marhenke, Dorit, ed. (1982). Deutsche Radierer der Gegenwart [German Etchers of the Present] (in German). Königstein: Kunsthalle Darmstadt/Athenäum. ISBN 3-7610-8121-9.
  2. Entwicklung der Brandcollage: Development of the fire collage [Development of the Fire Collage] (in German). Bremen: Kunsthalle. 1972.
  3. Swash, Caroline (2008). "On Johannes Schreiter" (PDF). Journal of the British Society of Master Glass Painters: 3.
  4. Mertin, Andreas; Schwebel, Horst (1998). "Der Heidelberger Fensterstreit: ein bürgerliches Trauerspiel in fünf Akten" [The Heidelberg window dispute: a civil tragedy in five acts]. Kirche und moderne Kunst: eine aktuelle Dokumentation (in German). Frankfurt: Athenaum. ISBN 3610091134.
  5. Mulder, Karen (24 July 2007). "From the Mirror of the Infinite to the Broken Looking Glass: Unveiling Beauty in German Glass Installations after the Holocaust". In Pursuit of Truth: A Journal of Christian Scholarship.
  6. Koestle-Cate, Jonathan (2021). "The Influenza Pandemic Window: Jonathan Koestle-Cate revisits Johannes Schreiter's scheme of windows for the Medical Library, Whitechapel". Art and Christianity. 5.
  7. Paterson, Rachel (January 2003). "The influenza pandemic window". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Elsevier Ltd./The Lancet Publishing Group. 3 (1): 8. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(03)00509-7.
  8. Mahn, Frank (18 November 2011). "Hommage an den Glasmaler: Peter Rippl und Eick Hoemann haben einen Dokumentarfilm über Professor Johannes Schreiter gedreht" [Homage to the Glass Painter]. op-online.de. Geschäftsstelle Offenbach. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  9. "Johannes Schreiter - Catalog of the German National Library". Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  10. Bardt, Juliane (2006). Kunst aus Papier: zur Ikonographie eines plastischen Werkmaterials der zeitgenössischen Kunst [Art on paper: on the iconography of sculptural material in contemporary art] (in German) (2 ed.). Frankfurt (Main): Georg Olms Verlag. pp. 179–181. ISBN 9783487130934.
  11. Juliane, Roh; Nestler, Paolo; Morschel, Jürgen (1971). Deutsche Kunst der 60er Jahre: Malerei, College, Op-Art, Graphik [German Art of the 1960s] (in German). Germany: Bruckmann. pp. 13, 267.
  12. Sehring, Gunther (January 2010). "Johannes Schreiter im Spiegel kulturkritischer Betrachtung". Neue Stadthalle Langen. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  13. Sowers, Robert (11 June 2021). "Stained glass - 20th century". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  14. Reyntiens, Patrick (1979). "Elements of Architecture: The Window". In Schofield, Maria (ed.). Decorative Art and Modern Interiors: Themes in Nature. Vol. 68. London: Studio Vista, Cassell Ltd. ISBN 0289708605.
  15. Gercke, Hans (1987). Die Heidelberger Fensterentwürfe von Johannes Schreiter (in German). Wunderhorn.
  16. Mulder, Karen L. (2005). "Heidelberg's window controversy: a cautionary tale". Material Religion. 1: 125–138. doi:10.2752/174322005778054465. S2CID 192176679.
  17. Bergmann, Sigmund, ed. (2009). Theology in Built Environments: Exploring Religion, Architecture and Design. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781412810180.
  18. Koestle-Cate, Jonathan (2016-04-20). Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace: Ecclesiastical Encounters with Contemporary Art. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-17847-7.
  19. Koestle-Cate, Jonathan (April 2016). Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace Ecclesiastical Encounters with Contemporary Art. Routledge. ISBN 9781317178477.
  20. Zink, Marcus (2003). Theologische Bildhermeneutik ein kritischer Entwurf zu Gegenwartskunst und Kirche [Theological pictorial hermeneutics: a critical draft of contemporary art and the church] (in German). Munich: Lit Verlag Münster. ISBN 9783825864255.
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