Stained Glass and Chagall

in the Kent countryside

Marc Chagall was born near Vitebsk, Russia (now Belarus) on 6^th July 1887, the eldest of nine children, into a Russian Jewish family. His unique style of painting is his own type of modern art based on Eastern European tradition and Jewish folklore, filled with dreamlike figures and symbols. For the early part of his life he travelled between St Petersburg, Berlin and Paris but he eventually left Russia in 1923 to live in Paris. During the Second World War he escaped occupied France, fleeing to New York where he stayed for seven years before returning to France for the remainder of his life. Throughout his life he worked in the fields of painting, illustration, theatre design, ceramics, tapestry and stained glass. He came to stained glass relatively late in his career and I first discovered his stained glass work back in May when we were on holiday in Germany where we stumbled upon the incredible windows of St Stephen’s Church in Mainz.

Whilst researching the piece that I wrote about the windows  in Germany I discovered there are two sites in the UK where examples of Chagall’s Stained glass can be seen – Chichester cathedral and All Saints’ Church in Tudeley, Kent. My friend Jude just happens to live a mere stone’s throw away from Tudeley so when she suggested an outing I didn’t hesitate and early in August we got to see All Saints’ Church.

All Saints’ Church, Tudeley

When you approach the church in the village of Tudeley, there is little to give away the treasures within, but this unassuming looking building is the only church in the world where all twelve windows are designed by Marc Chagall. The transformation of what was a very ordinary, small parish church came about following a tragic accident. Sarah d’Avigdor-Goldsmid was the eldest daughter of Sir Henry and Lady Rosemary d’Avigdor-Goldsmid from Somerville House in Tonbridge, a magnificent Jacobean house that is now a school.

Sarah d’Avigdor-Goldsmid, photographed by Cecil Beaton

In September 1963, aged just twenty one, Sarah and a friend died in a sailing accident off the coast near Rye in East Sussex. The family wished to create something in Sarah’s memory and Sir Henry and Lady Rosemary approached Chagall to design a memorial window for their parish church. A few years previously they had visited an exhibition in Paris and seen Chagall’s windows designed for the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem. They were both admirers of modern art and the work they saw in Paris left a lasting impression on them. A stained glass window seemed a fitting memorial for their daughter and Chagall was an obvious choice. With Sarah’s father being Jewish and her mother Anglican, Chagall as a Jewish artist who regularly incorporated images of Christ in his work was perfectly placed to create the memorial. Although Chagall was reluctant at first, he eventually agreed and in 1967 the beautiful East Window designed by Chagall was installed on the altar wall.

The East Window - a memorial to Sarah d’Avigdor-Goldsmid

Chagall attended the dedication of the window and was so impressed by the simple interior of the church that had been fully refurbished the previous year due to generous donations by Sarah’s friends, he exclaimed

“C’est magnifique! Je les ferai tout.” (It’s magnificent! I shall do them all)

Chagall’s watercolour design for the memorial window

Chagall created designs for seven more windows for the nave over the next two years which were all installed and dedicated by 1974. His designs which were done in watercolour were made by the glass worker Charles Marq in his workshop in Reims in Northern France.

However the final four windows designed to replace the existing chancel windows remained in their packaging as removing the existing Victorian windows was controversial. Eventually at the suggestion of the British architect Sir Hugh Casson, they were removed to specially made, backlit light boxes and stored in the vestry of the church. The last four Chagall windows were installed in 1985 just six months after the artist’s death.

Despite the smaller scale, the windows in Tudeley are every bit as stunning as those in the massive church in St Stephens in Mainz, yet precisely because of everything being smaller it creates a far more intimate space where the windows are particularly unusual in that they can be seen at eye level. The touch of Chagall’s hand is evident in the marks and scratches that can be seen up close as well as in his signature. Not all the windows are signed and where some bear his name ‘Marc Chagall’, elsewhere we can see ‘Chagall’ or ‘Marq’ which refers to Charles Marq

The majority of the glass is blue, with the two windows in the south of the nave being worked in yellow representing the resurrection and new life. In a particularly colourful and vibrant window we can see birds flying joyfully through the air and angels, birds, beasts and fish can be seen throughout the church.

I can definitely recommend a visit to see the windows and the village of Tudeley is situated in the beautiful Kent countryside where I imagine there are lots of lovely walks too. I say imagine because we didn’t actually walk anywhere. Instead the four of us made our way along to the local pub for a rather delicious lunch and a glass of something cold. I can recommend that too for the perfect day out!

Chagall at work on the windows