Max Ingrand (1908 – 1969) French Artist and Decorator

Maurice Max-Ingrand, better known as Max Ingrand (1908–1969), was a French artist and decorator known for his work in studio glass and stained glass windows.

Education

He studied under Jacques Grüber and Charles Lemaresquier at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs. In 1931, he married Paulette Rouquié (1910–1997). In 1931, he and his wife exhibited their glass etchings at the 21st Société des artistes décorateurs.

Biography

Ingrand began creating stained-glass windows after receiving personal commissions. He made his first church windows for Sainte-Agnès in Maisons-Alfort and participated in the 1937 design for Notre-Dame de Paris. He was enlisted in the military in 1939 and captured by the Nazis at Hoyerswerda in May 1940. Only in 1945 did he escape captivity and return. He married Marie-Alberte Madre-Rey, with whom he had two children, after divorcing his first wife in 1946. He was given the job of replacing 47 of Notre Dame de Paris’s stained glass windows after World War II.

In 1936, the French artist Max Ingrand executed a series of allegorical stained-glass windows that made a lasting impression on Gio Ponti, the founder of Fontana Arte. Ponti’s influence is evident: 18 years later, Ingrand was appointed Artistic Director of the company. The asymmetrical element incorporated into the shaft of this c.1938 floor light anticipates Ingrand’s postwar designs.

In 1968, he was elected president of the Association Française de l’Éclairage, the French scouting organisation. In 1968, he established Verre Lumière, one of the first businesses to manufacture halogen lamps.

Churches

Ingrand created numerous church stained glass windows during the late 1940s to 1960s (in some cases replacing windows that had been destroyed in World War II), including;

• windows in Pontoise Cathedral (1955),
• Strasbourg Cathedral (1956),
• the chapels of Château deChâteau(1957),
• Château d’Château,
• Château de Châteauceau and Château de Châten,
• Saint-Pierre de Yvetot (at 1046 m², the largest stained glass window in Europe),
• Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, Rouen Cathedral, Beauvais Cathedral, Saint-Malo Cathedral, Tours Cathedral, Church of the Jacobins, Münster Cathedral (1961),
• Liège Cathedral (1968), São Paulo Cathedral,
• St. Mary of the Woods Catholic Church in Chicago (1966),
• Washington National Cathedral (with Claude Serre), Cathedral of the Risen Christ (Lincoln, Nebraska) (1964),
• St. Dominic Church in San Francisco and the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.

Sources

Max Ingrand – Wikipedia. (n.d.). Max Ingrand – Wikipedia. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Ingrand

Peter Fiell, C. (2013, October 28). 1000 Lights. from https://amzn.to/3dXJr80

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