Franz Mayer of Munich

Franz Mayer of Munich is a German stained glass design and manufacturing company, based in Munich, Germany and a major exponent of the Munich style of stained glass, that has been active throughout most of the world for over 170 years. The firm was popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and was the principal provider of stained glass to the large Catholic churches that were constructed throughout the world during that period. Franz Mayer of Munich were stained glass artists to the Holy See and consequently were popular with Catholic clients. The family business is nowadays managed by the fifth generation and works in conjunction with artists around the world.

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History

Founder – Joseph Gabriel Mayer

In 1847, Joseph Gabriel Mayer founded the Institute for Christian Art in Munich, to make ecclesiastical furnishings. Royal commissions for the Cologne and Regensburg cathedrals drew Mayer to create a stained glass department in 1860. In 1865, a branch was opened in London, and in 1888 in New York City.
"Stylistically, Mayer's windows tend to contain richly colored scenes bordered by architectural frames consisting of pilasters, columns, architrave and elaborate canopies." It represents an aesthetic that was evidently prized in its time for its craftsmanship and opulence as well as for its ability to engage the viewer emotionally and spiritually.
Broadly speaking, the Munich Pictorial Style is Romantic and "owed much to the revival of religious painting – especially fresco painting in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance masters, especially Masaccio, Raphael, and Michelangelo – in Germany early in the 19th-century." "The studio often incorporated imagery from Great Master paintings as well as compositions of the nineteenth century, a standard practice in public decorative work of the era. For example, a window in the [Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (Charleston, South Carolina)|Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Charleston, South Carolina], installed in 1907 or 1925–26, shows the Transfiguration of Christ modeled after the 1517 painting by Raphael in the Vatican."

2nd Generation

Joseph Leonhard Mayer, sculptor and artistic director
Franz Borghias Mayer, artist and councilor of commerce

In 1882, the company was awarded the status of “Royal Bavarian Art Establishment“ by King Ludwig the II. In 1892, Pope Leo XIII named the company a “Pontifical Institute of Christian Art“. "Munich glass windows could be imported as art, i.e., glass “paintings” and—exempt from a high tariff on imported “raw” glass... the broad aesthetic appeal, economic advantage, and papal approval made Munich glass windows the overwhelming choice among Catholics in the United States."

3rd Generation – between two wars

Anton Mayer, academic painter
Karl Mayer, poet and merchant
Adalbert Mayer, businessman and strategist

In 1919, the company became a workshop for free artists such as Karl Knappe. In 1922 the neighboring properties on Seidlstraße 25/27 were purchased. The new building by the architect Theodor Fischer serves as today's company headquarters. In the years following 1933, the Mayer brothers successfully remain untangled with the affairs of the NSDAP. In 1939 the companies Mayer and Zettler combined, but production ground to a halt in 1941. In 1944, the staff had decreased from an original 500 to fewer than 20 employees.
Rapid renovations followed the war. Many of Munich's cathedral windows were restored by the company, such as the windows of the Munich Frauenkirche. In 1961, Karl Knappe designed a mosaic for the Assumption of Mary Cathedral, Hiroshima.

4th Generation – transition to international artist workshop

Konrad Mayer, son of Karl Mayer
Gabriel Mayer, son of Adalbert Mayer

In 1953, Konrad Mayer took over the representation in South America. From 1970 on, Gabriel Mayer pushed architecture-related works and the Middle East market, resulting in the realization of the Heart Tent by Bettina and Frei Otto at the Diplomatic Club Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In 1988, Gabriel Mayer founded a new workshop in New York with the focus on public art. From the 1990s, many projects with artist Brian Clarke were realized, in Rio de Janeiro, New York and more.
In 2013, Gabriel Mayer pulled back from the company's management board. In 2016 he was awarded the Bavarian Culture Prize together with Charlotte Knobloch.

5th Generation – present

Michael Claudius Mayer, mosaicist and businessman
Petra Wilma Mayer, Architect

Since 1994, the couple collaborated on Munich projects such as the Herz-Jesu-Kirche, Fünf Höfe and Path of memory, Ohel Jakob synagogue. Around the turn of the millennium, Gabriel and Michael Mayer revived the traditional stained-glass Munich/Mayer Style and thus the DNA of the house. The float glass department was newly constructed. In 2014 the company opened an office at New York City. In 2018, Petra Mayer founded the Chamber of Wonders, featuring editions and selected pieces from a selection of worldwide artist friends. In the same year, Franz Mayer of Munich realized a 400m2 mosaic for the New York City metro station World Trade Center station (PATH) with the artist Ann Hamilton.
Mayer's commissions include over seventy-six cathedrals, twenty-six of them in the United States.
Along with the stained glass, about half of the company's work is in mosaics. In the fifties and sixties, Mayer developed their own fiberglass mesh. Adhesives have also been developed to the firm's own specifications. The company provides installation and curatorial services.
Today, the company fabricates and realizes mosaic and glass projects in collaboration with renowned artists, such as Georg Baselitz, Kiki Smith, Shahzia Sikander, Brian Clarke, Doug and Mike Starn, Ellsworth Kelly, Jani Leinonen, JR, William Wegman, Nick Cave, Sean Scully, Jan Hendrix, Peter Beard or Vik Muniz.