Brian Clarke, who is widely regarded to be the most important artist working in stained glass today, has been awarded a Knighthood in the New Year Honours, the first stained glass artist to receive the award for the artform which has played such an important role in the development of British art.
Across his fifty-year career, Clarke has consistently revolutionized and pushed the boundaries of stained glass. He has been commissioned to design stained glass for buildings across the world by leading architects including Norman Foster, Arata Isozaki and Zaha Hadid and has made great efforts to revitalise interest and respect for stained glass as a medium of equal importance to other art forms.
He received his first commission for a stained glass window at the age of 17 and he has worked in the medium ever since. His most celebrated projects include the Royal Mosque of King Khalid International Airport (1982), the Neue Synagogue in Darmstadt (1988), The Victoria Quarter, Leeds (1989), Lake Sagami Country Club, Japan (1989), Norteshopping, Rio de Janeiro (1996), the Al Faisaliah Centre in Riyadh (1997-2000), Pfizer World Headquarters in New York (1997-2001) and Linko?ping Cathedral in Sweden (2010). In 2024 he will work on a major commission for Bahrain Airport. Each project draws from the surrounding architecture and culture to create an installation that forms a defining part of the structure.
His work in stained glass, painting and sculpture has been shown widely throughout the world. Exhibitions include Phillips Gallery London, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, PACE London, PACE New York, Gagosian and Christie’s London. His work can also be found in the permanent collection of the V&A London, Corning Museum of Glass New York and Tate. His highly acclaimed show, “Brian Clarke: The Art of Light” was presented at the Museum of Art & Design in New York in 2020/21.
His many technical innovations in stained glass include the fabrication of freestanding stained glass panels which are devoid of lead. First shown in 2002 at the “Brian Clarke: Transillumination” exhibition with “Studies for Caryatids” and “Studies in Grisaille” series. This developed into the freestanding panels and stained glass screens fabricated with HENI. In 1994 he developed a new type of mouth-blown glass with architect Zaha Hadid for the Spittelau Viaducts Housing Project, Austria. His Stansted Airport design (1988) marked the first time in history of stained glass that an artist used computers to assist in the design and creative process of producing stained glass. His leadwork is a body of work without precedent in art history. These works reverse the traditional logic of stained glass windows, making lead the primary element of the work.
He is a Trustee of The Stained Glass Museum, Ely, an Honorary Fellow of Arts University Bournemouth, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Hon. Dr of the University of Huddersfield and Hon Doctor of Virginia Theological University USA. His awards include Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship (1974).
He was born in Oldham, Lancashire on 2 July 1953 into a working class family. His father, Edward, was a miner, and his mother, Lilian, worked at the local cotton mill. He immersed himself in art from the age of 12, receiving a scholarship to the Oldham School of Arts and Crafts, and later to the North Devon College of Art and Design at 15. He received his first stained glass window commission for a residential home, the start of dozens of projects that would take him around the world. A notable milestone was the 1978 exhibition, “GLASS/LIGHT”, co-curated with fellow stained glass artist John Piper and art historian Martin Harrison, the most extensive exhibition to date of stained glass of the 20th century.
In 2022, he designed and fabricated a series of large-scale stained glass windows for The Brian Clarke Church of England Academy, a new co-educational secondary school in Oldham which is named after him.. The windows bring light and colour into the building and radiate light and colour out into the community. Clarke describes it as a gift, not just to the pupils of the school, but to the town which shaped him and for which he feels a deep affection.
His current highly acclaimed exhibition, A Great Light is on show at Newport Street Gallery, London until 7th January 2024. The exhibition, presented by HENI, celebrates Clarke’s 70th year with an extraordinary collection of works from 2002 to the present day. It includes the artist’s spectacular latest work, “Ardath”, a 42m2 wall of mouth-blown glass, bathing the gallery in light and colour, as flowering meadow motifs build up a rich and dense tapestry in etched glass.
