Loire, Gabriel

Gabriel Loire, detail from The Crucifixion east window, Roman Catholic Church of St Paul, Whiteinch, Glasgow
Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Gabriel Loire (1904-96) studied at the École des Beaux-Arts before joining the Lorin stained glass studio in Chartres in 1926. Looking for more creative freedom he left in 1936, but a non-competition agreement prevented him from working in stained glass for 10 years. In 1946 he founded the current firm of Atelier Loire, rapidly building a reputation that took his work around the world. As Charles Pratt explains, “the rapid success of the Loire (firm) can be explained by the quality of its work, its rhythms, its colours, the expressive readability of its figurative stained glass windows and the emotionally charged but accessible vigour of its abstract .” Management of the studio passed to Gabriel’s son Jacques Loire (b.1932) in 1970, and to his sons Bruno Loire (b.1959) and Hervé Loire (b.1961) in 1991.

Sources:
Atelier Loire website
Gabriel Loire Les Vitraux/Stained Glass by Charles W Pratt and Joan C Pratt (Centre international du Vitrail, 1996)

This artist's work is mentioned at the following locations