Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Union Church of Pocantico Hills

Monday I mentioned I went to a chapel that had windows funded by the Rockefellers with windows by Marc Chagall and one rose window by Henri Matisse (his last work he ever completed!). The Union Church of Pocantico Hills is just a few short blocks from their mansion, Kykuit and the family attended services there when they were at their summer house. Marc Chagall was first comissioned to do one large window and later returned to finish off the sanctuary. All 9 windows tell a different story from the bible. the first and largest window 'the good samaritan' in honor of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1960 -seen in the picture above at the gable end. The round window in the photo above is by Matisse

If Chagall wasn't already my favorite artist, he would be after visiting this church. The interior is awash in beautiful colors for an almost religous experience;the windows, like all of Chagall's work, speak to the soul. I like that the images here tell a story and aren't just pretty windows; respecting the tradition of stained glass in churches. I was unable to find a picture of the whole sanctuary unfortunately for the overall effect of all 9 windows-but I've attached a few pictures of individual windows. 'Joel' ''Jeremiah' 'Daniel'You can read more about the church and the windows online at
http://www.hudsonvalley.org/content/view/80/145/

10 comments:

columnist said...

Chagall must have had a penchant for stained glass, as I remember visiting a church in Zurich that he had worked on. I think the medium works well for him.

ArchitectDesign™ said...

Chagall apparently did a lot of works in Stained glass -all over the world. I didn't know how prolific his stained glass was till I did some research online. It's everywhere!! I need to seek out some more to visit now!

pve design said...

Oh, so glad that you were able to visit the Union Church. It is indeed a wonderful experience. So honored to have a bit of "Chagall" in our neighborhood.

ArchitectDesign™ said...

PVE, you are lucky to live in an area where the arts are so strong!!

Kwana said...

All I can say is wow. Another day trip for me is in the works! Thanks for posting these.

ArchitectDesign™ said...

Kwana, it's about 1 block away from Kykuit -you could walk!

Kwana said...

I should have when we were there but the DD was dead tired and at 14 I would have had to tranquilize her.

Topsy Turvy said...

I've never been a huge fan of stained glass, but these take the medium to a new level of artistry. Thanks for sharing.

-Lana

ArchitectDesign™ said...

these ones are different - you'd love them, Lana!

Philip Wilkinson said...

Beautiful windows. Thanks for pointing me in their direction.