postcards from paris: Let The Light Pour In

Beside marble sculpture, one of my favorite art forms is stained glass. Delicate, colorful glass that wrangles the ephemerality of the sun, capturing and filtering its light and throwing color onto the floor or onto faces lucky enough to be standing before it.

Europe, to me, is the best place for stained glass, its cathedrals employing the art to heighten the experience of awe and respect for God. Combined with vaulted ceilings and the echo of a grand open space of stone and wood, there are few places that inspire more humility and quietude than a cathedral with grand stained glass windows.

Even the tombs of Père Lachaise make use of this art.

Growing up, I was fascinated with my mother's Louis Comfort Tiffany replica of "The Tree Of Life." Tiffany took a traditional craft and made it modern with his Art Deco designs. As an adult, I went to an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art celebrating L.C.T.'s work, and since then have truly appreciated this craft as a true art.

But France... you've really got this thing figured out.

Walking into a place like this... really makes you take a breath. And makes you quiet.

My favorite part of seeing a stained glass window is the brief moment when the sun is aligned just right, and pierces a portion of the colored glass, light searing unevenly through the window, and gleaming into the darkness inside.