The art of Marc Chagall at All Saints, Tudeley
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All Saints, Tudeley is unique in having all twelve of its
windows filled with colourful stained glass by the celebrated Russian emigré
artist Marc Chagall. The windows at Tudeley are a memorial tribute to Sarah
d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, the daughter of Sir Henry and Lady d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, who
died in 1963 at the tragically early age of 21, in a sailing accident off Rye.
The family then lived at the fine Jacobean house Somerhill which is situated
nearby.
Why Chagall?
Chagall came to stained glass work relatively late in his long career.
Some of his finest work in the medium is at the synagogue of the Hadassah
Medical Centre in Jerusalem, depicting the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
(Images are available online here. The
Reuben window, in particular, is reminiscent of the east window at Tudeley.)
Sarah and her mother had been enthralled by the designs for these windows
at an exhibition at the Louvre in Paris in 1961. Chagall, a Russian Jew
by birth who spoke of Christ as "the radiant young man in whom young
people delight", was also an inspired choice of artist to celebrate the
daughter of a Jewish father and an Anglican mother. Sir Henry and Lady
d'Avigdor-Goldsmid first commissioned Marc Chagall to design the magnificent
east window, which was installed in 1967. Over the following 15 years, Chagall
designed the remaining windows, again made in collaboration with the glassworker
Charles Marq in his workshop at Rheims in northern France. The chancel windows
were finally installed in 1985, the year of Chagall's death at the age of 98
(replacing Victorian glass, now cunningly backlit by a specially designed
lightbox installed in the vestry, at the suggestion of Sir Hugh Casson.)
The only other Chagall glass in Britain is a window at Chichester Cathedral,
which is based on the theme of Psalm 150: 'Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord'. An attractively illustrated monograph entitled
"Chagall Glass at Chichester and Tudeley", edited by Prof Paul
Foster, is available from All Saints Church (or from Chichester Cathedral
bookshop). To quote from the preface by Dr Jonathan Sacks, the Chief
Rabbi, "The concept that Art can add spirituality is something that
goes to the core of all religions ... [Marc Chagall's stained glass] can but
serve to enhance the spirituality of the beautiful surroundings in which they
are placed, advance the fervour with which the Almighty is worshipped, and
increase the devotion of those coming under the inspiration of Chagall's
divinely-inspired talent." For
a listing of other places around the world to see Marc Chagall’s stained glass,
click here (Adobe PDF format).