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G2-21 Canterbury Tales
G2-21 Canterbury Tales
2018
Brian Clarke’s stained glass screen Canterbury Tales draws its titled from The Canterbury Tales, the seminal work by fourteenth-century novelist Geoffrey Chaucer. In the 2020 catalogue Brian Clarke: The Art of Light, Paul Greenhalgh writes:
"Canterbury Tales, likewise, celebrates the grandeur of medieval stained glass. In this case, the main image is the sower, a celebration of ordinary people, of work, and perhaps of the dignity of working-class life. The black outlines in these two screens give the impression of leaded glass, but as Francesco Brusatin points out, both are a completely transparent experience."
Brusatin described the process of making Canterbury Tales in 2018:
"We used sand-blasted little dots to do the visual job the lead used to do, in creating a dark area. Also, usually in a medieval window the glass had dark paint to create eyes and features. In this instance, it is dark red and blue blasted-in dots, of red and blue. There is actually no pure black within the glass itself. Brian’s blacks are really very deep purples."
This folding screen was produced with an innovative technique that eliminates the lead cames traditionally used to support and join stained glass, allowing the glass to interact freely with light and space. Canterbury Tales exists in an edition of 10 unique variants plus 3 artist’s proofs, published by HENI.