Alois Johannes Plum (born
Mainz, 2 March 1935) is an artist working in
Mainz,
Germany, who has acquired a national reputation for his
stained glass, his paintings (esp.
murals), and his
plastic art. Plum has been active since the 1950s and his work decorates hundreds of churches and public buildings in Germany. He has created many characteristic stained glass windows in churches renovated or rebuilt after the destruction of
World War II, and is especially noted for his reinterpretation of historic sacred space[1] and his integration of glass and architecture with careful attention to the liturgical function of his art.[2]
Biography, career
Alois Plum was born in 1935, the son of Josef Plum (d. 1988), who is mainly known for designing ecclesiastical
paraments and especially robes and
mitres. Josef Plum was also a painter and graphic artist, noted for his religious imagery. Alois Plum was trained at the Landeskunstschule in Mainz from 1951 to 1955, and spent a summer studying in Salzburg with
Oskar Kokoschka. From 1955 to 1957 he studied with Georg Meistermann at the
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and since 1957 has worked independently in Mainz.[2] His first work as a stained glass artist was executed in 1954, in the parish church in
Niederrœdern. A notable early work was a
mosaic of the
Stations of the Cross in
Steinheim.[3] Perhaps his largest work to date can be found in the
Worms Cathedral, for which he designed, over three decades, a large number of stained glass windows; the earlier windows (dating to 1911) had been destroyed by allied bombing in 1943.[4]
Plum's assignments come from all over Germany. Sometimes the themes are dictated, sometimes he is free to choose, in which case Plum decided between figurative or symbolical representations. He is usually free in his choice of material, and his oeuvre includes works in many different materials, including traditional stained glass (set in lead), glass set in
concrete (Plum uses two different kinds: "Dallglas," an opaque
float glass, and "Antikglass," a
handblown glass),[3] and
glass brick.[2]
In 2010, Cardinal
Karl Lehmann,
Bishop of Mainz, praised Plum for his art and the service it performs to the greater good, in a book that explains the Catholic
creed and uses Plum's stained glass for illustrating elements of the creed.[5][6]
Stained glass windows and glass wall in
St. Christoph, Mainz (destroyed in WW2, partly rebuilt as a monument), 1964[1]
Stained glass windows,
Worms Cathedral,
Worms, 1966-1995.[4][9] Includes nineteen windows in the
clerestory, ten in the
ambulatory, and thirteen in the
nave, among others, adding a "highly personal interpretation" to the church."[2][10] Esp. notable is the "Valentine window" (1978), dedicated to
Saint Valentine of Terni.[11]