Stain Glass Window Study
Artist
Cady Wells
(American, 1904 - 1954)
Date1952-1954
MediumWatercolor on paper board
DimensionsOverall: 28 1/8 x 40 1/8 in. (71.4 x 101.9 cm)19-15/16 x 28 image; 21-15/16 x 29-1/2 paper; 28-1/8 x 40-1/8 ma
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of the Cady Wells Estate, 1982
Object number1982.16.17
DescriptionAbstract with black background divided into yellow window pane squares. In center coming in from left of image is a green, yellow, tan and rust mosaic pattern.eMuseum Notes
In 1952 and 1953, Cady Wells made to trips to France, where he visited Chartres Cathedral to study its stained glass windows. Wells sought a luminosity in his color suggestive of limited palette of medieval glass, and studies such as this were an attempt to translate the character of medieval glass into a modernist language. The grid Wells overlaid across the abstract form was a common motif in his work by this time, although he was likely making reference to the leading used to join different panels in the larger windows at Chartres.
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