Stroll through the modern stained glass windows of Emil Wachter and Louis Franchéo, accompanied by Daniel Laonet, speaker
The examination of these windows will aim to find a story told by an artist with difficult language. He put, together, words and abstract signs, but also more familiar images.
In 1968, Jean Vinatier, parish priest of Miramont-de-Guyenne and intellectual priest of the French Mission, asked Emil Wachter, a German painter, to design the windows of his church. The glassmaker Louis Franchéo, installed at Saint-Pardoux-Isaac, realized them. In the eyes of the visitor today, this ensemble seems difficult to read. There are familiar images, such as the Virgin with the Child. But, in reality, Emil Wacher has installed stained glass windows whose meaning is not immediately apparent.
For example, what do the two words, “yes” and “no”, written in the window of the small front door mean? How is Pentecost represented? These stained glass windows will certainly keep their mystery, but it is possible to perceive a message of great human significance. Jean Vinatier was a theologian, Emil Wachter was a theologian. To help us read these paintings, we have documents that will be presented to the public: the preparatory drawings made by the artist, preserved in German archives.
But these documents also have another interest: they will show how, concretely, the construction of Miramont took place in uncertainty, with repentance and going back and forth.