DOI Artikel:
Sauterel, Valérie: The functioning and development of Kirsch & Fleckner's workshop in Fribourg during the first half of the twentieth century
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51154#0062
61
Despite being a good designer, Vinzenz Kirsch was
clever enough to know his own artistic limits. Therefore
the workshop chose to create partnerships with young
artists overflowing with curiosity and talent and attrac-
ted by novelty The realization of Mehoffer s first win-
dows was immediately successful. The workshop was re-
warded with a gold medal for the Window of Martyrs at
the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris.5 This partnership
with Mehoffer was an exceptional business card for the
workshop, and led to a great number of works being or-
dered in the canton of Fribourg, as well as in others parts
of Switzerland and outside the country.6 According to the
needs of the workshop and the artists’ time and resourc-
es, the workshop mainly worked with young independent
artists, who were just beginning their careers and were
about to start taking up stained-glass art.7 The first art-
ists who collaborated with the workshop were Raymond
Buchs (1878-1958), Jean-Eouis Fortuné Bovard (1875—
1947), Jean-Edward de Castella (1881-1966) and Henri
Broillet (1891-1960). A large part of the stained-glass win-
dows created by Kirsch & Fleckner have so far not been
identified with or attributed to an artist.
COLLABORATION
WITH RAYMOND BUCHS
The first local artist to work with Kirsch & Fleckner was
Raymond Buchs. He had close ties with the workshop be-
cause he had been there as an apprentice between 1894 and
1897. He may have been involved in the development of
Mehoffer s first three stained-glass windows in Fribourg at
the end of his apprenticeship.8 From 1898 onwards, he lived
in Germany and worked there in different workshops. At
the same time, he studied at the schools of Applied Arts
in Berlin and Dresden, then in Paris. He returned to Ber-
lin where he headed a graphic arts atelier from 1906, with
which he became very successful.9 Mehoffer s stained-glass
designs had only a minor influence on Raymond Buchs.
Thanks to them, he discovered Art Nouveau, a style that
he developed in his graphic work in Berlin and in the
stained-glass windows he created there. But this influ-
ence is much more discreet, or nonexistent, in his religious
creations in Switzerland.10 * The first certified stained-glass
window from Buchs with Kirsch & Fleckner dates from
5 Ibidem, p. 49.
6 A. Pasquier, ‘Du savoir faire du verrier’, pp. 103-104 (as in note 1).
7 A. Pasquier, ‘Le fonds d’atelier Kirsch & Fleckner et le vitrail ca-
tholique suisse de 1900 à 1914’, Dossier de la commission royale des
monuments, sites et fouilles [Art, technique et science: la création
du vitrail de 1830 à 1930], 7, 2000, p. 159.
8 P. Rudaz, ‘Les années de formation 1878-1911’, in Raymond Buchs :
1878-1958, peintre, Fribourg, 2001, pp. 13-14.
9 Ibidem, p. 15.
10 P. Rudaz, ‘Le vitrail: peinture sur verre et art nouveau’, in idem,
Raymond Buchs, pp. 19-23 (as in note 8).
4. Raymond Buchs, Project with a horse for the White Horse Café,
1897, Bulle (Fribourg). Photo: Vitrocentre Romont
1897. He created the two roses for the church Saint-Jean-
Baptiste in Überstorf. They represent John the Baptist with
the lamb [Fig. 2] and Joseph with the Child Jesus, both
signed and dated by Buchs. Perhaps they are his end-of-
apprenticeship work. Done in a historicist style, the motifs
were taken from model books that he might have found
in the workshop.11 We have discovered a lot of stained-
glass windows in the canton created on the same models,
11 Unfortunately, it was not possible to find these model books,
which were probably thrown away.
Despite being a good designer, Vinzenz Kirsch was
clever enough to know his own artistic limits. Therefore
the workshop chose to create partnerships with young
artists overflowing with curiosity and talent and attrac-
ted by novelty The realization of Mehoffer s first win-
dows was immediately successful. The workshop was re-
warded with a gold medal for the Window of Martyrs at
the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris.5 This partnership
with Mehoffer was an exceptional business card for the
workshop, and led to a great number of works being or-
dered in the canton of Fribourg, as well as in others parts
of Switzerland and outside the country.6 According to the
needs of the workshop and the artists’ time and resourc-
es, the workshop mainly worked with young independent
artists, who were just beginning their careers and were
about to start taking up stained-glass art.7 The first art-
ists who collaborated with the workshop were Raymond
Buchs (1878-1958), Jean-Eouis Fortuné Bovard (1875—
1947), Jean-Edward de Castella (1881-1966) and Henri
Broillet (1891-1960). A large part of the stained-glass win-
dows created by Kirsch & Fleckner have so far not been
identified with or attributed to an artist.
COLLABORATION
WITH RAYMOND BUCHS
The first local artist to work with Kirsch & Fleckner was
Raymond Buchs. He had close ties with the workshop be-
cause he had been there as an apprentice between 1894 and
1897. He may have been involved in the development of
Mehoffer s first three stained-glass windows in Fribourg at
the end of his apprenticeship.8 From 1898 onwards, he lived
in Germany and worked there in different workshops. At
the same time, he studied at the schools of Applied Arts
in Berlin and Dresden, then in Paris. He returned to Ber-
lin where he headed a graphic arts atelier from 1906, with
which he became very successful.9 Mehoffer s stained-glass
designs had only a minor influence on Raymond Buchs.
Thanks to them, he discovered Art Nouveau, a style that
he developed in his graphic work in Berlin and in the
stained-glass windows he created there. But this influ-
ence is much more discreet, or nonexistent, in his religious
creations in Switzerland.10 * The first certified stained-glass
window from Buchs with Kirsch & Fleckner dates from
5 Ibidem, p. 49.
6 A. Pasquier, ‘Du savoir faire du verrier’, pp. 103-104 (as in note 1).
7 A. Pasquier, ‘Le fonds d’atelier Kirsch & Fleckner et le vitrail ca-
tholique suisse de 1900 à 1914’, Dossier de la commission royale des
monuments, sites et fouilles [Art, technique et science: la création
du vitrail de 1830 à 1930], 7, 2000, p. 159.
8 P. Rudaz, ‘Les années de formation 1878-1911’, in Raymond Buchs :
1878-1958, peintre, Fribourg, 2001, pp. 13-14.
9 Ibidem, p. 15.
10 P. Rudaz, ‘Le vitrail: peinture sur verre et art nouveau’, in idem,
Raymond Buchs, pp. 19-23 (as in note 8).
4. Raymond Buchs, Project with a horse for the White Horse Café,
1897, Bulle (Fribourg). Photo: Vitrocentre Romont
1897. He created the two roses for the church Saint-Jean-
Baptiste in Überstorf. They represent John the Baptist with
the lamb [Fig. 2] and Joseph with the Child Jesus, both
signed and dated by Buchs. Perhaps they are his end-of-
apprenticeship work. Done in a historicist style, the motifs
were taken from model books that he might have found
in the workshop.11 We have discovered a lot of stained-
glass windows in the canton created on the same models,
11 Unfortunately, it was not possible to find these model books,
which were probably thrown away.