# Munich Studio of Chicago

The Munich Studio of Chicago was a stained-glass window company that operated in Chicago from 1903 to 1932. It was founded by German stained-glass artist Max Guler.

## History

Munich Studio of Chicago was established in 1903, by German immigrant artist Max Guler (1870–1937). Guler studied China painting in his native town of Munich and had arrived in Chicago in 1896. He and his two partners, salesman L. Holzchuh and manager/bookkeeper Denis Shanahan, formed a soon-successful firm that hired numerous artisans and eventually made windows for probably 150 churches throughout the Midwest, until the Great Depression arrested church construction and put the company out of business in 1932. Guler and his key artisans thereafter worked for the Drehobl Art Glass Company of Chicago (still in business today), and Guler died in 1937.
Guler was a highly gifted designer of windows. According to Drehobl's son: “Guler was a short, stout man whose greatest enjoyment was to sit at his drawing board dreaming of new ways to express a Biblical event or quotation” in “pictorial windows beautifully grouped in rich, gorgeous colors.” Guler was also proficient in creating and painting windows, although he usually left that work to his master artisans, including: Peter Kugel, who specialized in portraits and flesh tinting; Herman Schulze, who painted landscapes, floral designs, cloth textures and drapery folds; and George Wieroeder and Joseph Lazar, who cut, fired and leaded the glass. These men worked together to execute Guler's beautifully detailed pencil drawings and watercolor renderings.
Guler's rich colors were achieved by hand-painting sections of glass (from France, Germany and the US) with glass paints: ground glass mixed with iron oxide, yellow stain and other colorants; then firing the painted glass in a kiln. Windows made with this detailed painting are known as Munich-style stained-glass, or Munich windows.
Munich Studio windows are characterized by the use of:
* rich jewel colors
* detailed painting of realistic details and convincing depictions of wood, stone, skies and botanically accurate plants
* architectural framing using depictions of pilasters resembling Gothic-style stone towers edging the sides, and ornate architectural canopies of pointed Gothic spires above the scenes that indicate the importance of the figures (much as fabric canopies identified royal persons in Renaissance paintings) and fill the tall vertical space of each window
* perspective: Unlike simple, flat scenes in Medieval windows, Munich Studio windows portray depth through the use of perspective painting, with some figures at forefront, others behind them, and often arched stone windows, beyond which distant landscape scenes can be glimpsed outside, a device commonly employed in Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings.
* Asymmetric placement of figures that adds movement to the scene, directing the eye from top to bottom and side to side

## List of projects

Partial Munich Studio catalog listings from 1910 to 1925 note thirty-two major church installations in Chicago; and ninety-six in churches in other Midwestern states than Illinois. Most of the listings below are from two Munich Studio catalogs in the Chicago History Museum archives (see below) unless otherwise cited, and list the churches in which windows were installed, or the priests who ordered them.
Chicago, IL: Our Lady of Sorrows (c.1900)
Chicago, IL: Presentation Church
Chicago, IL: St. Agnes (1905)
Chicago, IL: St. Bride Church (1910)
Chicago, IL: St. Bridget's
Chicago, IL: St. Dominic's
Chicago, IL: St. Jarlath's Church
Chicago, IL: St. Leo's (1914)
Chicago, IL: St. Margaret Mary (1924)
Chicago, IL: St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral (1915)
Chicago, IL: St. Philip Benizi Church (1904)
Chicago, IL: St. Phillip's (1916)
Chicago, IL: St. Veronica (1905)
Chicago, IL: (Fr. D.J. Cremins)
Chicago Heights, IL: (Fr. F. Grzes)
Des Plaines, IL: (Fr. J. Linden)
Freeport, IL: Chapel St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum
Keithsburg, IL: St. Mary's
Monmouth, IL: Immaculate Conception Church
Niles Center, IL
Quincy, IL: St. Peter's Church
Rock Island, IL: St. Joseph's
Rutland, IL: Sacred Heart (1910, now in Sacré-Coeur Retreat, Magnolia, IL)
Saumonauk, IL: St. John's Church
Walton, IL: (Fr. C.F. Conley)
West Brooklyn, IL: (Fr. M. Krug)
Woodstock, IL: St. Mary's Church
Anthon, IA: (Fr. Geo. Cooke) St. Joseph Catholic Church (1912)
Bellevue, IA: St. Joseph's Church (1910)
Anton, IA: (Fr. Geo. Cooke)
Cedar Falls, IA: St. Patrick's
Council Bluffs, IA: Chapel at St. Bernard's Hospital
Davenport, IA: St. Paul's
Dubuque, IA: St. Joseph's College New Chapel
Lyons, IA: St. Boniface
Mapleton, IA: St. Mary's
Marcus, IA: Holy Name Church (1916)
Mary Hill, IA: Visitation
Mt. Carmel, IA: (Fr. F.H. Huesmann)
Riverside, IA: St. Mary's Catholic Church (1906)
Rock Valley, IA: St. Mary's Catholic Church (1915)
Salix, IA: St. Joseph Parish (1926)
Sheldon, IA: St. Patrick's Church (1912)
Waterloo, IA: Sacred Heart Church
West Point, IA: The Assumption
Worthington, IA: (Fr. J.H. Schilmoeller)
Plymouth, IN: (Fr. J. Tremmel)
Arkansas City, KS: Sacred Heart Church (1920)
Concordia, KS: Nazareth Academy Sacred Heart Chapel (1907)
Horton, KS: (Fr. Jos. Hildebrand)
Kansas City, KS: Holy Name
Lawrence, KS: St. John the Evangelist Church (1924)
Maryville, KS: St. Mary's Church
Olmitz, KS: (Fr. John Huna)
Rosedale, KS: (Fr. A. Dornseifer) Holy Name Church
St. Mary's, KS: Immaculata Chapel
Victoria, KS: Basilica of Saint Fidelis (1916)
Winchester, KY: St. Joseph's Church
Adrian, MI: Adrian Dominican Motherhouse-Holy Rosary Chapel (1908)
Battle Creek, MI: St. Philip's Church
Detroit, MI: Chapel St. Francis Home for Boys
Detroit, MI: Our Lady of the Rosary
Fowler, MI Most Holy Trinity Church (1916)
Gross Point Farms, MI: St. Paul Catholic Church (1924)
Hudson, MI: Sacred Heart Church (1905)
Ionia, MI: (Fr. H.D. McCarthy)
Menominee, MI: St. John the Baptist Catholic Church (1921, now Menominee Co. Historical Museum)
Saginaw, MI: St. Joseph Catholic Church (1923)
Wyandotte, MI: Our Lady of Mount Carmel (1915)
Lismore, MN: St. Anthony's Church
Easton, MN: (Fr. C. Hennekes)
Hannibal, MO: (Fr. D.F. O’Sullivan)
Louisiana, MO: St. Joseph's
Montrose, MO: (Fr. William Hovestadt)
Billings, MT: St. Patrick Co-Cathedral
Bozeman, MT: Holy Rosary
Grand Forks, ND: St. Mary's (1914)
Grand Forks, ND: St. Michael's
Ewing, NE: (Fr. Joseph Rose)
Madison, NE: (Fr. E.S. Muenich)
Omaha, NE: St Patrick's Church
O’Neill, NE: St. Patrick's
Paul, NE: (Fr. C. Broermann)
Schuyler, NE: St. Augustine's Church
Stuart, NE: St. Boniface Church
Waverly, NY: St. James Church
Cleveland, OH: (Rev. John Becha, St. Adalbert)
Cleveland, OH: Holy Rosary
Cleveland, OH: Immaculate Heart of Mary Church
Columbus, OH: St. Dominic Church
New Berlin, OH: St. Augustine Church
Tiffin, OH: St. Joseph
Tiffin, OH: St. Mary
Tippecanoe City, OH: Immaculate Conception Church
Youngstown, OH: Sacred Heart of Jesus Church
Perry, OK: St Rose of Lima. Stroseperry.com
Ambridge, PA: St. Stanislaus Church (1929, windows relocated to Good Samaritan Church, Ambridge)
Cambridge Springs, PA: St. Anthony's Church
Conemaugh, PA: Sacred Heart Church (1923, now Church of the Transfiguration)
Moscow, PA: St. Catherine of Siena (1924)
Pittsburgh, PA: All Saints Church
Warren, PA: (Fr. M.J. Orzechowski)
Huron, SD: (Fr. D. Desmond)
Memphis, TN: (Fr. W.G. Scanlon) St. Agnes Academy?
Athens, WI: St. Anthony's Church
Decada, WI: (Fr. C. Flasch)
Luxemburg, WI: Immaculate Conception Church
Milwaukee, WI: St. Augustine's Church
Milwaukee, WI: The Jesu Church
Mineral Point, WI: St. Paul's Church
New Munster, WI: St. Alphonsus
New Munster, WI: St. Mary's Church
Sparta, WI: St. Patrick's
St. Francis, WI: St. John's Institute
Sturgeon Bay, WI: St. Joseph Church (1910)
Waterford, WI: (Fr. Thomas Hennessey)
Waterford, WI: (Fr. J.P. Pierron)
Mannington, WV: St. Patrick's Rectory

## Munich Studio of Chicago catalogs and advertising

* Munich studio advertisement
* Munich Studio advertisement