About Glass Painting

Glass Painting is beautiful delight to our eyes. When glass and paints are combined, they create amazing works of art. The art of glass painting is becoming popular, especially with those who want to decorate their homes with an artistic touch. It is an art form consisting of applying paint to a piece of glass and then viewing the image by turning the glass over and looking through the glass at the image.

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

This art form has been around for many years. It was widely used for sacral paintings since Middle Ages. The most famous was the art of icons in the Byzantine Empire. Later the painting on glass spread to Italy where in Venice it influenced its Renaissance art. Since the middle of the 18th century, painting on glass became favored by the Church and the nobility throughout Central Europe. A number of clock faces were created using this technique in the early-to-mid-19th century.

Throughout the 19th century painting on glass was widely popular as folk art in Austria, Bavaria, Moravia, Bohemia and Slovakia. Unfortunately, during the inter-war period (1914–1945) this traditional "naive" technique fell nearly to a complete oblivion and its methods of paint composition and structural layout had to be re-invented by combining acrylic and oil paints. Also the style of painting and especially the themes had to be varied and adjusted to new perceptions of the world in modern times. Thus painting on glass started to become popular again since 1990s.

However, many painters of this genre affirm that abandoning that unique tradition of naivist approach to painting on glass is rather difficult. Therefore the painting on glass becomes a natural selection for refurbishing a new house built in a traditional rustic style. For example, the recently erected Catholic church at Radôstka in Northern Slovakia opted for having its Stations of the Cross on 14 large pictures – all painted on glass.

The painting can be realistic or abstract. Realistic reverse paintings are more challenging to create as one must, for example, in painting a face, to put the pupil of an eye on the glass before the iris, exactly the opposite of normal painting. If this is neglected the artist will not be able to correct the error as they will not get in between the glass and the paint already applied. No such care need be taken with the abstract form, but with this form there is not a good idea how the piece will look like until it is finished. This process is not like stained or leaded glass work in that it is not intended to hang in a window with light coming through the piece. Hanging on a wall, framed or unframed, with a lot of light directed towards the piece provides best viewing.

This style of painting is found in traditional Romanian icons originating from Transylvania. Recently this style of painting is gaining fame in its depiction of Hindu deities, especially in Southern India. These invariably involve a large amount of gold paint and colours, like red and green, for the gem stones adorning the deities. The most prominent step in this style of painting is that the gem stones on the different pieces of jewelries are painted first and then coated with gold to provide the jewelry effect. Acrylic paint is the commonly used painting medium and these involve very thin brushes and minute workmanship. This style of painting could rival the traditional Tanjore painting in the coming years with its stylish appeal and much lesser costs in the near future.

Painting History

Glass painting in India flourished in the late 18th and early 19th century`s platforming search for identity by seeking a style, a profound reorientation towards a changed world of art and artistry! Yellow pages from history of art whisper that the Chinese artists learnt the art of glass painting from Europe, the symbol of cultural monarchy. The flourishing trade relations between British East India Company and China had introduced and cultivated this form of art to India. The works of the Chinese artists was hugely praised by the Indian rulers and were patronised by the contemporary monarchs at Mysore and Satara at that time.

Painting History murmurs that the ongoing trend of glass painting first earned the crown of popularity during the rule of Panembahan Ratu II (1568-1646), the sixth sultan of Kraton Pakungwat, a long saga before the kingdom was segmented into Kasepuhan, Kanoman, and Kacirebonan palpable from the natural pigments consumed to produce the sunggingan that were admired back then. With time accelerating its forward march, natural pigments were substituted by synthetic pigments. The most popular brand is Kuda Terbang (Flying Horse), with turpentine used for thinner. Sugro helped popularize the use of paint and thinner; before then, painters used inkwells. The glass paintings crafted by Sugro, the other painters in Trusmi, Cirebon are Christianised as classical paintings owing to the objects and motifs that have been handed down from the past- various calligraphy motifs, wayang motifs, kratonan (paintings of objects relating to the kraton), batik motifs, and so on.

"Art, Undeniably, is conductive to happiness."

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

“Art is literacy of the heart”