July 07, 2008
Frédéric Back
I've known of the animation of Frédéric Back for more than 25 years, so I was surprised when I found out he did stained glass.
I was doing a search on Flickr (for 'stained glass metro') and found this image of the Montreal Place-des-Arts Metro Station Mural. The Frédéric Back Glass Mural was the first commission for the Metro system, completed in 1967, and has a theme centered on the history of music in Montreal.
Make sure to check out the Frédéric Back website which is one of the most amazingly comprehensive websites for any living artist I've ever seen. I wasn't expecting to see anything beyond the animation, but his stained glass work is well represented. There is even a section devoted to his role in environmental activism.
Image from wikipedia entry for the Place-des-Arts commission
Detail - image from Flickrite marjolabiche
Detail - from the Montreal Metro Art Commission page -
Again, Frédéric Back is best known for his animated films, the best known of those being The Man Who Planted Trees (in full at lower resolution on Google video here)
Personally, I still think I like Crac even better. On top of that, it has a musical theme, just like the stained glass - just enjoy...