On Friday 5 June, Luxembourg + Co., London, will open Illuminations, an exhibition organised as a collaboration with Sam Fogg. Opening on the occasion of London Gallery Weekend 2026, the display explores the influence and relevance of stained-glass window making on modern art practices through the lens of two artists - Paul Klee (1879-1940) and Brice Marden (1938-2023).
The exhibition Illuminations includes a small yet varied group of stained-glass works that manifest such ideas, ranging from medieval examples from within and outside ecclesial contexts through nineteenth century pieces such as those attributed to the influential British designer Christopher Dresser (1834-1904).
Presented in dialogue with these pre-twentieth century pieces are a selection of watercolour compositions on paper by Swiss-born German artist Paul Klee. Appointed Master of Form (Formmeister) at the Bauhaus in 1921, Klee took charge of the stained glass workshop of the school along with bookbinding and, later, also mural painting. Klee became an important reference for many post-war artists who sought to explore illumination in their work, not least the American Minimalist Brice Marden, who was commissioned by the municipality of Basel to design the stained-glass windows of the Basel Cathedral (Basel Münster) in 1977. Already invested in search after the spiritual impact of colour surfaces and meandering lines, Marden spent nearly a decade working on his window compositions, even after the city of Basel decided not to pursue the realisation of the project. Unlike Klee, however, Marden’s Windows were characterised by a dark, nearly opaque treatment of the colour surfaces and devoid of any direct symbolic references.
Presented in conversation across historical and geographic contexts, the works on view in lluminations all draw on the physical, intellectual, and spiritual connotations associated with the practice of stained-glass window making.
