Chagall's stunning stained glass, UK church

It is an ordinary laneway that leads to All Saints Church Tudeley in Kent, where an unremarkable church appears, although loved by locals. Enter the porch, lift the latch, push the heavy oak door and pass via the dark entrance into a realm of magic. Pools of mainly blue and gold light, flecked with crimson and green, shimmer on the ancient flag stones. They are the special stained glass windows by Marc Chagall on 3 sides that make this church unique. Why? It is a story of love, tragedy and art

modest All Saints Church Tudeley, Kent

Tudeley’s history is interesting. Until 1849 there was no large land owner close to this tiny village. Then in that very year, the Jacobean mansion Somerhill, the most important house around, was purchased by Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid. The years passed and the wealthy Goldsmid family expanded their estate and started taking a philanthropic interest in Tudeley affairs. But this interest did not include the little Anglican church since the Goldsmid family was Jewish. But all that was to change in the C20th when the Squire of Somerhill Sir Henry Goldsmid married an Anglican. Sir Henry kept his faith, but Lady Rosemary d’Avigdor-Goldsmid and the 2 daughters worshipped at church.

The Goldsmids lived a privileged, art-filled life. In 1961, Sarah and her mother visited an exhibition in Paris' Louvre where glass windows designed by Chagall for Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Centre synagogue were displayed. Both women were thrilled by these windows, and on her return to Britain, Sarah constantly talked about them. 

All Saints church Tudeley, memorial window above altar 
Meer

Alas two years later, Sarah (21) and 2 friends drowned in a sailing accident near Rye in Sussex. Grief stricken, but thinking of a lasting memorial to their daughter, the Goldsmids knew of Sarah’s awe of Chagall. Her parents approached the artist and asked him if he’d be willing to create the East Window in her memory. Chagall agreed.

Chagall was a very busy older man, plus there were two major problems to consider: 1. He’d never worked in England and 2. the Jewish artist had no experience of what might be acceptable in an Anglican church. Still, Chagall had always been interested in Christian motifs, and did agreed to the commission. Tiny Tudeley was en route to artistic fame. 

Lady d’Avigdor-Goldsmid met Chagall in Paris to discuss his design. Note that painter Chagall did not adopt the medium of glass until late in life. Perhaps as a lover of colour, he was only too well aware of what his palette could create. But Chagall already found a skilled glass craftsman in Charles Marq of Atelier Jacques Simon in Reims, who rendered the piece into glass. Marq interpreted Chagall’s windows as he had done with Hadassah windows, Jerusalem. Soon 2 workmen went to Kent to install the glass in a newly designed space over the altar.

Crucifixion, memorial window
Letter From England

Note that Chagall had been commissioned to design ONLY the church's East Window as a memorial; yet when he arrived for the dedication ceremony in winter 1967, he’d noticed that the church possessed 11 more windows, 7 with plain glass and 4 with coloured glass. If suitable arrangements could be made for the removal and reinstallation elsewhere of the existing coloured glass, then Chagall would create designs for ALL the windows. After much debate and many delays, All Saints Church Tudeley became the home of the 12 exquisite stained glass windows designed by Marc Chagall, the ONLY church so honoured.

According to Jewish Chagall, the windows were inspired by Psalm 8; he found the Bible captivating. Each of the 11 smaller windows is a work of art in its own right. They tell the Biblical stories of creation and show the artist’s delight in the natural world and in live beasts. See Adam and Eve, moon and sun, branches and leaves, doves and ducks, fish and butterflies, ass and a small Chagall self-image. A simple church in an ordinary area was favoured with complex art!! 

Windows with deep blue with green leaf, angel, moon, 

Wiki 

The East Memorial Window over the altar told the tragic story of Sarah d'Avigdor-Goldsmid; her ascent to heaven was symbolised by light blue waves and glorious gold and angels. They were all beautiful windows, but it is the memorial window that is the most absorbing. Blue was the colour that Chagall enjoyed using to represent love and Sarah’s tragedy. In the lower section Sarah appeared rocked in the dark indigo waves, while a figure represented all the mourners. Her mother was there too, beside a ghostlike Sarah and her surviving sister. Then look up as the sea’s blue lightened to become sky. Here Sarah was seen again, on a horse, Chagall’s symbol of happiness, being carried towards a ladder. Sarah went up the ladder and a crucified yet triumphant Christ awaited her at the  window’s apex, above them all. Thus life’s suffering and grief shown in the lower panels became the love and resurrection in the upper sections. 

In the sun, enjoy the window’s glory and notice the light swirling through the glass. The colours addressed vital consciousness directly, telling of hope and delight in life. The story was tragic but had been made into rather beautiful blue windows with glass and light. In a perfect testament of a mother’s love for her lost child, mother had commissioned a perfect memorial window.

Depicted in the sea, at the bottom of the memorial window, the drowned girl floated in the water. Then look up at a beautiful depiction of her resurrection. Sarah had loved to ride horses. For Chagall, horses and donkeys represented happiness, and, for him, red was the colour of joy. Sarah was riding a  red horse in Paradise!

Sarah riding a red horse in Paradise 
Letter From England

The church is open to art-lovers on Mons-Sats; on Sundays everyone is welcome to the church service.