There is a world that can be seen only through stained glas… - Brian Clarke

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There is a world that can be seen only through stained glass. It is like no other. The medium is thought to have been at its zenith in the Middle Ages – though the medievals had the advantage of Gothic architecture to respond to. I want to surpass the Middle Ages, not equal them. Surpass them with the new and irresistible: volumetric, spatial colour, transporting post-industrial godless man to the edge of ecstasy.

Brian Clarke

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English

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About Brian Clarke

Brian Clarke (2 July 1953 – 1 July 2025) was a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, polemical writings and lectures, and collaborations with major figures in contemporary architecture.

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Brian Ord-Clarke • Sir Brian Clarke • Brian Ord Clarke

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Originators like Brian Clarke:

Paul Klee Wassily Kandinsky Hans Hofmann Gerhard Richter Patrick Swift

Additional quotes by Brian Clarke

It is through painting that I understand how to view architecture, appreciate the rhythm of a poem, draw pleasure from the structure of a well-composed sentence. And it is through painting that the complexity of music makes itself understood to me. It is through painting, in fact, that I am.

The Spitfire and the Porsche and the battleship have something of perfection in their design. They are anonymous in their beauty, like the fleur-de-lys, and compelling, like heraldic ciphers of the 20th century.

My art is an art for the working class.

There is a world that can be seen only through stained glass. It is like no other. The medium is thought to have been at its zenith in the Middle Age… - Brian Clarke

About Brian Clarke

Also Known As

Additional quotes by Brian Clarke