Pinart, Robert, 1927-2017

Dates

• Existence: 1927 (date of birth) - 2017 (date of death) - 2017

Biography

Robert Pinart (1927-2017) was a French stained glass and dalle de verre artist, whose career spanned from the 1940s through 2008. He is known for his bold abstract expressionist style and for his mastery of stained glass coloring and painting. He contributed to important restoration work in post-World War II Europe, and he completed hundreds of original pieces for public and private, religious and secular organizations throughout the United States.

Pinart was born in Paris on April 1, 1927. He appears to have served with the French military in the postwar occupation of Austria. Pinart showed an early talent for the arts. After preliminary studies, he went on to study art at the Ecole des Beaux Art, and to work under several well-known French glass artists, such as Max Ingrand (1908-1969), Auguste Labouret (1871-1964) and Jean Barillet (1912-1997). Labouret innovated the dalle de verre method of stained glass window production, which strongly influenced Pinart. It was through these studios that Pinart contributed to the post-war effort to restore and replace damaged European stained glass. Of note, Pinart worked on the restoration of the Basilica of Saint-Quentin in Saint-Quentin, Aisne, France.

Pinart immigrated to the United States in 1951, and he was one of the first artists to use dalle de verre techniques in America. He continued his glass art career by first working for the Payne-Spiers studio. He went on to work for the Rambusch Decorating Company from 1952-1956, where he focused on liturgical pieces. Synagogues, churches, and related organizations form a major component of his portfolio, from his Rambusch days to his later career. His first freelance commission, in 1956, was the design of windows for St. Luke’s Episcopal Parish in Darien, Connecticut.

In addition to working with Cummings Stained Glass Studios, Wilmark Studios, and other well-known glass studios, he also worked with renowned American architects, such as Percival Goodman. The Stained Glass Association of America awarded Pinart its first Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. He was also a Senior Advisor for the American Glass Guild. In 2008 he completed his final commission, St. Aedan’s Catholic Church in Pearl River, New York.

Pinart was briefly married to the ceramicist Jean Nison. He died on October 1, 2017 in Nyack, New York.

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