The exhibition showcases glass works by Libenský for churches in Prague and Brno

Prague - The Museum of Applied Arts in Prague today opened an exhibition recalling the hundredth anniversary of the birth of glass artist Stanislav Libenský (1921–2002). It is called Via lucis (The Way of Light) and showcases works that Libenský created with his work and life partner Jaroslava Brychtová (1924–2020) for sacred spaces. Visitors will see their windows for St. Vitus Cathedral, for St. George's Monastery, or later windows for the chapel at Špilberk Castle in Brno.

The exhibition is part of a long-term showcase entitled Plejády skla, which presents that part of glassmaking from the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, known as authorial glass. This can take the form of objects, sculptures, installations, works integrated into architecture, and can also exist in the form of site-specific installations. With authorial glass, Czechoslovak artists achieved global success in the second half of the last century, and the duo Libenský-Brychtová are among the foremost representatives of this art.

The exhibition curator, Sylva Petrová, told ČTK today that the works of this duo designed for architecture are considered a fundamental contribution to the development of the phenomenon of world authorial glass. According to her, the peak among them is represented by the works they created during the reconstructions of sacred spaces, where their pieces complementing Gothic structures highlight their great sense of light. Both artists approached these tasks not only in a distinctly artistic way but also unorthodoxly: they framed them more as a general symbol of spiritual life than as specific liturgy, she stated.

The installation features large windows or stained glass in the chapel of St. Wenceslas in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle from 1964 to 1968 and a window in the chapel of St. Anne in the nearby St. George's Monastery from 1974 and 1975. It tells the story of the creation and character of seven stained glass windows designed and realized by the artists in the castle chapel in Horšovský Týn between 1987 and 1991 and presents the history of eight windows in the chapel at Špilberk Castle from 2001 to 2003. The windows from St. Vitus Cathedral are accompanied by other documents, including two preparatory large paintings by Libenský that indicate the true size of the windows. The nearly seven-meter-tall paintings were acquired by the Museum of Applied Arts this year for its collections.

In their stained glass works, Libenský and Brychtová also used a new technology of structured glass relief in open forms. Therefore, the exhibition showcases the lesser-known work of the artists and the connection between experimental glass art and the reconstructed significant historical spaces.

In the Via lucis exhibition installation, there are only three glass artworks. The two largest were provided to the museum on loan from the glass company Lasvit, while other objects can be seen in the halls of the Plejády skla exhibition 1946 – 2018.

The title of the exhibition, Via lucis – The Way of Light, is borrowed from a work of the same name by Jan Amos Comenius and suggests, according to the curator, the strength and enduring validity of the luminous legacy of these two glass artists.