Gisborne artist exhibits Hinterglass art at The Aviary

Veronika Lambert with her Hinterglass art work she will be exhibiting at The Aviary at the Poverty Bay Club until June 3. Mother's Day on Sunday is 'Meet the Artist Day' with Veronika being available to talk about the complex art form between 10am and 2pm.

Wainui artist Veronika Lambert is showing off her reverse glass painting works this week and is ready to answer any questions from the public about the ancient art.

Reverse glass painting, also called Hinterglass, has existed since ancient times. While the beginnings of reverse glass painting are unknown, archaeologists found examples from as early as the Roman period.

In Hinterglass the painting is directly painted onto a glass plate and then viewed by turning the glass over. Unlike when painting on a canvas or wooden support the things closest must be painted first.

“In the case of a face, you would start with the tip of the nose, eyes and lips and then slowly build layers backwards, always finishing with the background,” Lambert said.

“On canvas this process is reversed, starting with the back, and working forward, finishing with the highlights. Viewing the Hinterglass painting through the glass front, gives much depth and great vibrancy to the colours.”

From the 1700s onwards Hinterglass was very popular in the alpine regions of Europe — Bavaria, Austria, and Italy.

It started off as decorations for churches and monasteries, but at some point, it moved towards folk art and was often produced during the winter months by tradespeople and farming families.

The elaborate paintings of the Middle Ages changed to simple colourful paintings often depicting saints and the life of Christ, its shapes outlined by a characteristic black line.

The paintings were then dispersed all over Europe. Traditionally the trader used a wooden backpack called a “Kraxn” to transport the fragile glass paintings by foot all the way from Germany over the Alps to Italy and Austria.

One little Bavarian town called Murnau, where Lambert was born, was well known for its quality Hinterglass paintings for hundreds of years.

She grew up with Hinterglass paintings in most living rooms, chapels, and churches.

Lambert said she loved the bright colours of the Hinterglass paintings of famous artists Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and Gabriele Muenter — all part of the impressionist movement The Blue Rider — who lived and worked in her little town before World War 2.

Veronika and her kiwi husband moved from Hawke’s Bay to Gisborne for the quality surf 12 years ago.

In 2021 she picked up brush and canvas inspired by the ocean and beautiful coastal landscapes.

She exhibited at the Gisborne Artists’ Society’s annual exhibition in 2022, at the She Shed Tour 2022 and her works are on show at the Aviary Collective (The Poverty Bay Club) in Gisborne.

After not being able to visit her parents and sister in Germany for years due to the Covid pandemic, Veronika and her family travelled to Bavaria over the Christmas holidays.

At a Christmas market she started chatting with a local Hinterglass painter, admiring the depth and vibrancy of colours of his paintings, and discussing the how to. At that point Veronika remembered that she had painted Hinterglass once herself as a child with some old and nearly-dried up paint. After hearing that Veronika is a painter herself, the artist jokingly refused to sell her his art saying she should try it herself and give it a go. And so, she did.

A selection of her Hinterglass paintings can be found in the Aviary Collective at the Poverty Bay Club in Gisborne.

The show started on Tuesday and will run until Saturday June 3. “Meet The Artist Day” will be on Mother’s Day, on Sunday, 10am to 2pm. Veronika will be at The Aviary Collective to answer any questions from the public.