Shining and Living

A Remarkable New Cathedral Window by Karlheinz Oswald

It is Spring 1999, and the late afternoon sun slants through the exhibition space at Derix Glasstudios, illuminating the glass within. This expansive space, usually filled with finished works for display, has been temporarily given over to another activity - the creation of a glass mural by artist Karlheinz Oswald for the newly renovated Cathedral in Juigalpa, in Nicaragua.

The floor is covered with panels, which are being painted with overlapping layers of enamel. The artist moves among them with a dancer’s grace, his impromptu choreography bringing his unique vision to life. The lines and images taking form on the glass are suffused with grace, lyricism and kinetic energy; and they hold an implicit message for anyone who still thinks “German stained glass” begins and ends with cool, controlled graphic compositions: Look again!

Now installed, Oswald’s window spans the front of the Cathedral along the mezzanine level, directly over the vast entranceway. Charged by light, the mural is alive with movement, passion and dancing figures, woven into a fabric of striking color. The scale is imposing - 38 feet wide by 14 feet high - and the finished window contains a powerful, sweeping, artistic and religious vision. At close viewing the individual glass panels have an uncomfortable, almost anatomical aspect. This is juxtaposed with images of dancers in positions that echo the Crucifixion. The combination is intimate, disturbing, exotic and compelling.

A look at the artist’s biography gives some insight into his influences, and the tremendous energy he brings to his work. Karlheinz Oswald was born on May 18th, 1958 in Worms and studied fine arts at the University of Mainz, Germany. His education there included portraiture, bas relief and metal casting for sculpture. In 1988, he began to study ballet.

Oswald’s artistic endeavors have led him to travel and study in Rome, New York and the U.K. His work in the visual arts and dance are deeply entwined, and have co-existed for many years. Rather than competing, his parallel interests seem to reinforce each other. Karlheinz has received numerous awards, citations and scholarships for his art, including the Guttenberg Donation from the city of Mainz and the Daniel-Henry-Kahnweiler prize.

His sculptural work, often of dancers, is in the collections of several German banks, and he was also commissioned for the exhibition “Hildegard von Bingen.” He created the bronze sculpture of Christ for the Cathedral of Mainz, and a portrait of Coubertain for the Olympic Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland. Some of his work can be seen on the Internet, at http://klangraum.de/Kuenstler/Oswald.htm. Since 1989, Oswald has executed ten projects with Derix Glasstudios.

The Cathedral in Juigalpa was built in the 1960's, and during the past two years has undergone an extensive renovation. The work was supervised by architect Willy Ellerbrock, of Paderborn, Germany. The Bishop of Nicaragua wanted to have a great artistic work in the church, and through the architects’ connections with the Bishop of Paderborn the new stained glass window for the Cathedral was financed. Karlheinz Oswald was already working for the bishropic, creating a sculpture of Cardinal Kresing. Impressed with his work, the director of the Diocese Museum, Dr. Stiegemann, decided to have the window designed by Mr. Oswald.

[[[In contemplating this unique and expressive window, one is struck not only by its artistry, but by the faith and courage of all the people behind its making. There are many things about stained glass that discourage risk, the most obvious being the cost of labor and materials. But there is also the amount of time it takes to make a window; the practical difficulty of redoing something that doesn’t work out as planned; and the fact that the finished piece becomes a permanent part of the building. Unlike a painting that can be put away until it comes into fashion again, a stained glass window could be there for generations.

What if we don’t take risks? What would our legacy be then? Most likely a devolution into a series of increasingly bland copies of copies of copies. What impresses me about Oswald is his willingness to take risks and advance the art of stained glass. Certainly when he put up his finished panels at Derix studios, they didn’t receive universal acclaim from the other artists present. His work represents a sweeping step away from the cool formalism that has dominated three decades of German stained glass.

The last word on this is Oswald’s: “My aim is to create a shining and living church window. Creation, figures, volcanos, lava, glow, darkness and luminosity; rhythm and order - all evolving into a picturesque experiment.”

Technique

The project consists of twenty-seven panels of 8 mm clear float glass, each measuring 4'4" by 3'11". The production time for the project was six months. All of the painting was done by the Karlheinz Oswald at Derix Studios in Taunusstein. Derix Glasstudios worked with Oswald to develop enamel techniques which were close to his painting style. Oswald says, “I wanted to paint directly on the glass, without the use of “technical scrolls.” The dancers - the male and female figures - are combined with freely colored opaque panels.” The result gives the panels a layered effect, closer to oil painting that to any traditional glass painting. Derix describes the technique as using “aquarellic” enamels which are sprayed and mixed on the glass. Each panel has successive layers of enamels that were built up until the desired color and opacity was achieved. The glass panels were fired at very high temperatures - to the point were the glass paint itself began to fragment. The fired enamels are roughly crackled and almost plastic in appearance, creating a textured relief on the surface.