‘… it has
been the great enthusiasm of my life and work to commission for the Church the
very best artists I could, in painting, in sculpture, in music and in
literature.’
This was the
concluding sentence of the rationale that Canon Walter Hussey, Dean of
Chichester Cathedral, provided for Marc Chagall as a brief for his stained
glass window at the Cathedral based on Psalm 150. This window was the
conclusion to the remarkable series of commissions by Hussey; firstly at St Matthews Northampton and then at Chichester Cathedral.
Bishop George Bell strongly supported the appointment of Walter Hussey as Dean of
Chichester Cathedral to take forward the commissioning programme he had
initiated there as part of his wider programme to reinvigorate the Church’s
patronage of the Arts. Other Anglican clergy such as Vincent McKenna, Moelwyn Merchant and Bernard Walke played their part in this work of reinvigoration but
it is Hussey’s commissions of William Albright, W.H. Auden, Leonard Bernstein,
Benjamin Britten, Chagall, Cecil Collins, Gerald Finzi, Henry Moore, Norman Nicholson, John Piper, Ceri Richards, John Skelton, Graham Sutherland, Michael Tippett and William Walton which stand out, in the fields of literature, music
and the visual arts, as truly significant in their own right and for the
reinvigoration of the Church’s patronage of the Arts. For his commissions at St
Matthews and Chichester Cathedral, Kenneth Clark memorably described him as
'the last great patron of art in the Church of England.'
Peter Webster notes that while ‘the period from the mid-1960s onwards’ in fact saw an
‘upsurge in commissioning activity’ and that, ‘emboldened by the examples of
Chichester, and Coventry Cathedral, authorities in cathedrals and in newly
built parish churches began to commission new works of art for those buildings,’
‘it was also the case that the high-water mark of the Church’s engagement with
the leaders in British art had in fact already been reached:’
‘Never again
in the twentieth century was the Church to achieve the same contact with
artists of the stature of Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland, and indeed
Hussey’s commissions as he neared retirement were of his own generation or
older. The art world became more and more fragmented, with a bewildering
variety of styles, each developing according to its own particular internal
logic. The church continued to commission contemporary art, but now of certain
styles amongst the many. Generally, commissions were confined to figurative
art, since the task of interpreting abstract work in a Christian way presented
considerable challenges. It had been the vision of men like Bell and Hussey
that the church should position itself in the mainstream of the nation’s life,
including its art. There had now ceased to be a clearly visible mainstream in
which the church could position itself.’
This more
difficult terrain to negotiate is, perhaps, indicated by the repeated refusal
of permission from the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England (CFCE) for the
application made by the Chapter of Chichester Cathedral to commission Jaume Plensa's Together for installation in
the Cathedral as the Hussey Memorial Commission. The grounds for rejection in
this case are to do with the perception of significant change in the character
of the space above the Arundel Bell Screen as a result of the installation.
New
commissions in settings where there is existing artwork/architecture have to
take into account issues of harmonisation or dissonance i.e. to what extent will
the new commission be integrated with whatever is already there or by being
dissonant raise questions about what is already there. Artworks integrated
within the life and architecture of a church are not viewed in the same way as
works within the white cube of a gallery space and this needs to be understood
and handled with sensitivity during the commissioning process. The result can
be a sense of overall integrity and harmony within a space which holds great
variety and diversity and where this occurs the whole and its constituent parts
image something of the Trinitarian belief – the one and the many - which is at
the very heart of Christianity.
In my view the commissioning process at Chichester and
the artist himself have fully taken these issues into account in their proposal
and the CFCE’s decision is deeply disappointing for all involved with this
commission. The impasse demonstrates that commissions for churches continue to
have significant potential for controversy. Having visited on my sabbatical art
pilgrimage several churches associated with commissions perceived to be
controversial at the time of their installation, such as Albert Servaes’ Stations of the Cross, Henry Moore’s Madonna and Child and Germaine Richier’s Crucifix, it seems to me that controversies of modern art, whether the reception of
the works themselves or that of their challenging content, are, with time,
resolved as congregations live with the works and learn to value the challenge
of what initially seemed to be scandalous.
Certainly, the mix of commissions here
- from the ‘riot of colour and symbol’ in the Piper tapestry to the glow of
Hans Feibusch’s tender Baptism or
from the harmonious whole that is the Icon of Divine Light by Cecil Collins to
the fractured energies of Ursula Benker-Schirmer’s tapestry for the Shrine of
St Richard – genuinely ‘invigorate and beautify the cathedral’ while
introducing variety and intrigue into the experience of visiting and
worshipping here. Tourists are encouraged to do both during their visit by
prayers on the hour and use of the leaflet ‘A Spiritual Tour of Chichester
Cathedral’ which has been designed to help people pray as they walk around the
Cathedral.
Hussey believed that ‘True
artists of all sorts, as creators of some of the most worthwhile of man’s work,
are well adapted to express man’s worship of God.’ When this is done
consciously, he suggested, ‘the beauty and strength of their work can draw
others to share to some extent their vision.’ This thought underpinned his
brief to Chagall for the window based on Psalm 150 and titled The Arts to the Glory of God which takes
as its theme ‘O praise God in his holiness … Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord.’
Charles Marq, Chagall’s collaborator on his windows,
wrote: ‘The triumphal quality of this chant is expressed by the dominance in
the composition of the colour red (red on white, on green, on yellow), broken
by a certain number of green, blue and yellow blobs. This is the first time
that Marc Chagall has conceived a subject composed entirely of small figures;
it is the people in festive mood glorifying the Lord, exalting his greatness
and his creation.’ The work, he suggests, communicates a ‘message of glory and
praise.’ (Chagall Glass at Chichester and Tudeley, Ed. By Paul Foster, Otter Memorial Paper No. 14)
Hussey,
who
had shown
an interest in the arts, music, drama, painting and sculpture from his school
and university years and who in his entry in Who's Who gave his sole recreation
as ‘enjoying the arts,’ ‘acquired animportant and varied collection of his own’ which, on retirement, he offered to
leave ‘to the city which he had done so much to promote as a centre of the
arts:’
‘Like many
others he was concerned about the neglect into which Pallant House, a fine
example of eighteenth-century domestic architecture, had fallen and, as Dr KME
Murray wrote 'his generous offer...was made deliberately as a means of securing
the restoration of the house and its opening to the public'. In 1982 Hussey was
present at the official opening of the house and saw his paintings and other
works of art displayed in the same informal domestic setting as they had been
at the deanery where he had taken so much pleasure in showing them to friends
and strangers alike.’
Pallant House, which has been described as ‘a jewel of a gallery’ and as ‘one of the most important galleries for British
modern art in the country,’ is now home to a Collection of British Modern art
frequently described as one of the best in the UK. with important works by Gino Severini , Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, John Piper, Graham Sutherland, Patrick Caulfield, Michael Andrews, Peter Blake and Richard Hamilton.
Bell and
Hussey also supported the development of a nationally significant collection of
mid-20th century British art by the Otter Gallery which forms an integral and
vital part of the University of Chichester. This gallery is home to an
extensive collection of art that includes works across all disciplines. It
offers a welcoming and accessible space for art to both its immediate community
of staff and students and diverse audiences beyond. Core to the gallery's
mission is its original intention to place art at the heart of people's lives.
By 2020 the Gallery intends to be a stimulus for research and learning,
exploring new perspectives and insights through practice, display
interpretation and engagement.
The
collection was started in 1947 when Eleanor Hipwell, head of art for the Bishop
Otter College, acquired three paintings from an exhibition held at the Victoria
and Albert Museum in order to display them in the University. Shortly
afterwards, Miss K E Murray was appointed as a new Principal. Along with
Eleanor Hipwell's successor, Sheila McCririck, Miss Murray pursued a determination
to develop a collection of contemporary art that would inspire and inform the
students of the University. The acquisition of quality work with inadequate
monetary resources was a demonstration of Miss Murray's persuasive persistence.
The support of Bell, who was Chairman of the Bishop Otter College Council, and
Hussey was vital in helping to promote acceptance of an acquisitions policy
that included controversial and challenging pieces such as Patrick Heron's
Black and White.
I visited
while a selection of the permanent collection was on display. Connected Collections enables visitors
to explore and contemplate the various aesthetic, historical, stylistic and
social juxtapositions between diverse yet inter-linked artworks and their
makers, inviting further connections and new discoveries of their own. Among
the ceramics on display, comparisons can be made between makers such as Alison Britton, Michael Cardew, Ewen Henderson, Bernard Leach, Eric James Mellon and
Lucie Rie, while oil paintings, watercolours and prints by artists including
Elizabeth Blackadder, Sandra Blow, Mary Fedden, Terry Frost, Graham Sutherland
and Alfred Wallis serve to highlight just some of the connecting themes between
two and three dimensional works.
On visiting
I was surprised to discover that the collection also includes Jean Lurçat’s
altarpiece tapestry The Creation in
the College’s Chapel and Geoffrey Clarke’s aluminium sculpture of The Crucifixion above the Chapel’s
entrance. Lurçat’s altarpiece here is a vast improvement on that at Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce du Plateau d'Assy which is entirely lacking in the menace
required for a tapestry focused on apocalyptic imagery. This tapestry has been temporarily replaced by screenprint produced by students and inspired by the tapestry. In this work the
accent is on beauty and wonder in a towering conception where seeds and birds
soar in heightened colours.
Clarke’s
sculpture, attached to the gable of the chapel immediately over the entrance
door, ‘incorporates the figures of the two thieves who were crucified alongside
Christ.’ The sculpture also ‘holds a nugget of glass, a symbol of the eye of
God.’ Clarke has used words such as ‘illumination; inspiration; light; kindling
of mind and spirit; vision’ to describe the work and was commissioned to create
this piece after completing commissions for the Cathedral.
Also
alongside the Chapel is John Skelton tau cross entitled Axis Mundi. Skelton created this work while in residence at Bishop
Otter College. The vertical block represents life and the horizontal represents
the after-life. Both sculptures feature on a sculpture trail around Chichester
- http://www.publicsculpturesofsussex.co.uk/files/Chichester-Sculpture-trail.pdf.
While
it is true that, Peter Webster notes, Hussey’s mode of patronage, which ‘depended
on a discerning patron, authoritative critic and notable artist working in
tandem, disseminating new art downwards to a grateful if uncomprehending public’
was a way of working which was, by the time of his retirement, ‘no longer fit
for purpose,’ it had nevertheless accomplished significant achievements across
a wider field than church commissions alone and had made a major contribution
to reinvigorating the Church’s patronage of the Arts.
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Leonard Bernstein -
Chichester Psalms.
