Spotlight on the revival of sacred art in French-speaking Switzerland: 100 years of the Saint-Luc Group

During the first half of the 20th century, the art of stained glass experienced extraordinary vitality under the guidance of the Groupe de Saint-Luc. This Catholic artistic society, whose aim was to renew sacred art, was founded in Geneva in 1919, and went national in 1924 with the creation of the Société Saint-Luc. Its particularly active French-speaking section has left its mark on the heritage of the cantons of Fribourg, Valais, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Bern, Jura and Vaud, where the artists and architects associated with it build, decorate and renovate dozens of religious buildings. Among all the techniques mastered by the artists in this collective, the glass arts are given particular pride of place. Several leading artists in the art of stained glass, glass slabs and under-glass painting were part of the Saint-Luc Group, including Alexandre Cingria, Marcel Poncet, Emilio Maria Beretta, Jean-Edouard de Castella, Paul Monnier and Gaston Thévoz, and others such as Willy Jordan and Albert Gaeng. They used traditional stained glass techniques, while incorporating modern materials and aesthetics into their work, blending Art Deco, Cubism and Fauvism with medieval and Baroque reminiscences.

This project, funded by the CPOR and Loro Fribourg, aims to explore the work of these artists in the specific context of the revival of sacred art, to understand their artistic approach and the way in which they sought to integrate their creations into an overall concept combining architecture and decoration, in the spirit of complete works of art.

The project ended in autumn 2024, celebrating the centenary of the Société Saint-Luc. The results were disseminated in several ways:

• Records of the works were published on the online database vitrosearch.ch: https://www.vitrosearch.ch/fr/search?inventory=GSL
• Postcards have been distributed in the 35 parishes studied as part of this project. The cards carry a QR code that can be used to access the vitrosearch.ch files.
• Two complementary publications have been published and are on sale in bookshops or at the Vitromusée Romont shop. They will also be available free of charge from 18 November on the De Gruyter website:
  • Valérie Sauterel and Camille Noverraz, ‘Lumières nouvelles sur le sacré. Arts verriers du Groupe de Saint-Luc’, https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783689240004/html
  • Camille Noverraz, ‘Reinventing sacred art. The Saint-Luc Group (1919-1945) https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783111383781/html

Durée du projet : 2019-2024