New Visual Art for Chichester

Webster, Peter

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-36910-9_6

New Visual Art for Chichester

Peter Webster³

Chapter
First Online: 10 November 2017

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Part of the book series: Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700-2000 ((HISASE))

Abstract

Hussey’s commissions of new visual art and new music for Chichester cathedral are examined in Chaps. 6 and 7 respectively. Chapter 6 begins with an examination of what cathedrals were thought to be for, since their purposes were in question in a new way in the fifties and sixties. It then examines each of the works of visual art in turn: works by Graham Sutherland, Geoffrey Clarke, John Piper, Ceri Richards, Cecil Collins and Marc Chagall. As in Chaps. 3 and 4, it examines both the making of the works and their reception, and argues that, whilst highly effective in their own right, the works, as a whole, strike a less radical note than the Northampton pair from 1944–1946.

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Notes

1.
N. Yates (2004) ‘Change and continuity, 1790–1902’ in M. Hobbs (ed.) Chichester Cathedral. An historical survey (Chichester: Phillimore), pp. 121–122.
2.
[Cathedrals Commissioners] (1927) Report of the Cathedrals Commissioners. Part One: Report (London: SPCK). On the successive commissions on the cathedrals, see G. Turner (2011), ‘Cathedrals and change in the twentieth century. Aspects of the life of the cathedrals of the Church of England with special reference to the Cathedral Commissions of 1925, 1958, 1992’ (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester), passim.
3.
[Cathedrals Commission of the Church Assembly] (1961) Cathedrals in Modern Life. Report of the Cathedrals Commission of the Church Assembly, (London, CIO), passim.
4.
P. Welsby (1984) A History of the Church of England, 1945–1980 (Oxford: OUP), p. 162.
5.
Cathedrals in Modern Life, p. 4.
6.
Cathedrals in Modern Life, pp. 4–5.
7.
Cathedrals in Modern Life, p. 5.
8.
Welsby, Church of England, pp. 45–48.
9.
F. Colquhoun (1955) Haringey Story. The official record of the Billy Graham Greater London Crusade 1954, (London: Hodder & Stoughton), pp. 231–232.
10.
C. Brown (2009) The Death of Christian Britain. Understanding secularisation 1800–2000, 2nd edn. (Abingdon: Routledge), p. 188; see also C. Field (2015) Britain’s last religious revival? Quantifying belonging, behaving and believing in the long 1950s (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan), passim.
11.
Brown, Christian Britain, pp. 181–186.
12.
P. Webster (2015) Archbishop Ramsey. The shape of the church (Farnham: Ashgate), pp. 104–108.
13.
F.W. Dillistone (1956) Christianity and Communication (London: Collins), p. 16.
14.
See, for example, H.E. Root (1962) ‘Beginning all over again’ in Alec Vidler (ed.) Soundings. Essays concerning Christian understanding (London: Cambridge University Press), pp. 1–19.
15.
The printed papers from the conference, and Hussey’s notes, are at MS Hussey 138.
16.
W. Hussey (1968) Chichester Cathedral. (London: Pitkin).
17.
Hussey, Chichester Cathedral, p. 12.
18.
Hussey, Chichester Cathedral, p. 24.
19.
W. Hussey (1985) Patron of Art. The revival of a great tradition among modern artists (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson), pp. 100–101.
20.
The plans were enclosed with a letter from Potter to Hussey, 25 November 1958, at MS Hussey 165.
21.
B. Spence (1962) Phoenix at Coventry (London: Bles), p. 4.
22.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 103.
23.
Potter to WH, 21 June 1957, at MS Hussey 165.
24.
Potter to William Croome, 12 March 1957, at CERC, CATH/CS/CHI/1.
25.
Sutherland to Hussey, 19 September 1947, at MS Hussey 346; Sutherland to Hussey, 12 February 1948, at MS Hussey 346.
26.
Sutherland to Hussey, 5 October 1948, at MS Hussey 346.
27.
The letter refers to an oil painting, which may be Track Junction in the South of France, or Landscape in the South of France, both now at Pallant House: Kathleen Sutherland to Hussey, 21 October 1952, at MS Hussey 346.
28.
This was the Study of the Right Hand of Sir Winston Churchill: Sutherland to Hussey, 2 February 1955, at MS Hussey 346.
29.
Kathleen Sutherland to Hussey, 2 October 1958, at MS Hussey 345.
30.
Kathleen Sutherland to WH, 13 September 1957, at MS Hussey 345.
31.
Potter to WH, 21 June 1957, at MS Hussey 165.
32.
W.K. Lowther Clarke to WH, 16 July 1956, at MS Hussey 160.
33.
D. Coke and R. Potter (1994) ‘The cathedral and modern art’ in M. Hobbs (ed.) Chichester Cathedral. A historical survey (Chichester: Phillimore), p. 270.
34.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 104; Graham Sutherland to WH, 22 January 1959, at MS Hussey 345.
35.
Graham Sutherland to WH, 26 August 1958, at MS Hussey 345.
36.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 104.
37.
Graham Sutherland to WH, 2 June 1960, at MS Hussey 345.
38.
The difficulty of the composition was not lost on Colin Anderson, speaking at the unveiling: Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 110.
39.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 106.
40.
R. Berthoud (1982) Graham Sutherland. A biography (London: Faber), p. 231; A. Blakeney (2009) The Friends of Chichester Cathedral, 1939–2009 (Chichester: The Friends of Chichester Cathedral), p. 21.
41.
Kathleen Sutherland to WH, 16 May 1961, at MS Hussey 345.
42.
E. Newton (1961), ‘Commissions in context’ The Guardian, 7 April 1961, p. 9.
43.
Sunday Times, 9 April 1961, p. 9.
44.
Hussey, Chichester Cathedral, p. 8.
45.
Berthoud, Sutherland, p. 242; Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 111.
46.
Chichester Observer, 8 February 1963: cutting at Pallant House archive, Hussey file.
47.
Chichester Observer, 25 August 1961: cutting at MS Hussey 489.
48.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 111.
49.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 111.
50.
Berthoud, Sutherland, pp. 183–200, 242.
51.
Hussey, Chichester Cathedral, p. 8.
52.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 109.
53.
Berthoud, Sutherland, p. 250.
54.
Sutherland to WH, 22 October 1960, at MS Hussey 345, as given at Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 107.
55.
Sutherland to WH, 14 May 1960, at MS Hussey 345, as given at Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 105.
56.
Hussey, Patron of Art, pp. 129–130.
57.
C. Darwent (2014) ‘Geoffrey Clarke obituary’, The Guardian, 6 November 2014, accessed via www.guardian.com.
58.
Spence, Phoenix at Coventry , pp. 97–98, 103.
59.
Spence, Phoenix at Coventry, p. 51.
60.
Clarke to WH, 10 July 1952, at MS Hussey 363.
61.
Clarke to WH, 20 January 1959, at MS Hussey 363.
62.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 102.
63.
Coke and Potter, ‘Modern art’, p. 275.
64.
Clarke to WH, 14 July 1960, at MS Hussey 363; G. Clarke (ed.) (2016) The Bishop Otter Art Collection. A celebration (Bristol: Sansom), p. 58.
65.
F. Spalding (2009) John Piper, Myfanwy Piper. Lives in Art (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 105, 158, 178–183.
66.
R.C.D. Jasper (1967) George Bell. Bishop of Chichester (London: Oxford University Press), p. 129; Spalding, Piper, p. 172.
67.
Piper, foreword to catalogue for the exhibition ‘The artist and the church’, at MS Hussey 180.
68.
Spalding, Piper, p. 238; Henry Moore to WH, 24 October 1945, at MS Hussey 328.
69.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 49; Piper to Hussey, 11 November 1946, at MS Hussey 114.
70.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 127; Piper to WH, 2 September 1952, at MS Hussey 365.
71.
S. Martin (2016) ‘Designing Bobby Dazzlers. John Piper’s vestments for the church’ in S. Martin (ed.) John Piper. The fabric of modernism (Chichester: Pallant House), pp. 42–45.
72.
Piper to WH, 29 December 1954, at MS Hussey 365.
73.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 127.
74.
Piper to WH, 25 January 1958, at MS Hussey 365.
75.
Piper to WH, 7 August 1955, at MS Hussey 365.
76.
O. Matthews (1984) ‘Dean of Chichester. Rev. Walter Hussey’, The Antique Collector (April 1984), p. 62.
77.
R Berthoud (2003) The Life of Henry Moore (2nd edn., London: De la Mare), p. 130.
78.
Richards to WH, 7 September 1957, at MS Hussey 368; D. Coke and N. Colyer (1990) The Fine Art Collections. Pallant House, Chichester (Chichester: Pallant House) p. 24.
79.
B. Norman (1965) ‘The Swinging Dean peps up the Psalms’, Daily Mail, 9 August 1965: cutting at MS Hussey 358.
80.
Richards to WH, 11 June 1959, at MS Hussey 368.
81.
Richards to WH, 11 December 1959, at MS Hussey 368.
82.
Richards to WH, 20 April 1960, at MS Hussey 368; Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 128.
83.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 128; Richards to WH, 2 March 1961, at MS Hussey 368.
84.
Richards to WH, 26 March 1961 and 5 April 1961, at MS Hussey 368.
85.
Frances Richards to WH, 7 September 1962, at MS Hussey 368; Richards to WH, 8 August 1962, at MS Hussey 368.
86.
Blakeney, The Friends of Chichester Cathedral, pp. 20–21; Coke and Potter, ‘The cathedral and modern art’, p. 273.
87.
Piper to WH, 19 December 1955, at MS Hussey 365; Spalding, Piper, pp. 350–353.
88.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 121.
89.
Piper to WH, 9 August 1962, at MS Hussey 365.
90.
Piper to WH, 26 March 1963; Piper to WH, 24 January 1964; Piper to WH, 1 February 1964, all at MS Hussey 365.
91.
P. Shepheard (1991) ‘Bishop Otter College: the Lurçat tapestry’, in P. Foster (ed.) Chichester Tapestries (Chichester: University of Chichester), pp. 11–15.
92.
Clarke to WH, 14 July 1960, at MS Hussey 363.
93.
Berthoud, Sutherland, pp. 201–222. On Spence’s impression of the Northampton Crucifixion, and of Sutherland’s part in the difficulties of the project, see Spence, Phoenix at Coventry, pp. 58, 64–65.
94.
Sutherland to WH, 13 August 1957, and Kathleen Sutherland to WH, 16 May 1961, both at MS Hussey 365.
95.
R. Holtby (1994) ‘The Immediate Past’ in Hobbs, Chichester Cathedral p. 283.
96.
Blakeney, Friends of Chichester Cathedral, p. 22; Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 121.
97.
Piper to WH, 1 February 1964 at MS Hussey 365.
98.
S. Martin (2016) ‘Problem solving: the Chichester tapestry’ in Martin (ed) Fabric of Modernism, pp. 36–37; Piper to WH, 3 April 1964, at MS Hussey 365.
99.
Piper to WH, 30 January 1965, at MS Hussey 365.
100.
Piper to WH, 19 February 1965, at MS Hussey 365; Trevor Brighton, ‘The Piper tapestry’ in P. Foster (ed.) (1991), Chichester Tapestries.
101.
Martin, ‘Problem-solving’, p. 38.
102.
Piper to WH, 14 September 1964, at MS Hussey 365; Pinton Frères to Piper, 23 September 1964, at MS Hussey 365.
103.
Piper to WH, 23 November 1965, 17 April 1966, 26 June 1966, all at MS Hussey 365.
104.
Ethel M. Buvyer (Miss) of North Bersted to WH, 23 September 1966, at MS Hussey 366, as cited at Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 126.
105.
Edward Barnsley to WH, undated, at MS Hussey 366.
106.
Edwin Mullins, ‘Weaving a work of modern art’, Weekend Telegraph, 23 September 1966, p. 37; Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 121.
107.
Interview with David Burton Evans.
108.
R.M. Cazalet to WH, 7 January 1967, at MS Hussey 366.
109.
Brighton, Piper Tapestry, p. 20.
110.
I. Jones. and P. Webster (2006) ‘Anglican “Establishment” Reactions to “Pop” Church Music in England, 1956–c.1990’, Studies in Church History 42, pp. 429–441, at pp. 430–431; see also Chap. 7 on Leonard Bernstein and Bryan Kelly.
111.
R.M. Cazalet to WH, 7 January 1967, at MS Hussey 366.
112.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 125.
113.
Interview with Garth Turner.
114.
W. Anderson (1988) Cecil Collins. The quest for the great happiness (London: Barrie & Jenkins), p. 106.
115.
J. Collins (1989) Cecil Collins. A retrospective exhibition (London: Tate Gallery), pp. 31–33 and passim.
116.
Anderson, Collins, pp. 185, 58.
117.
Collins to WH, 12 October 1972; Collins to WH, 2 February 1973; Collins to WH, 26 August 1973, all at MS Hussey 364.
118.
Anderson, Collins, p. 106.
119.
Collins to WH, 26 August 1973, at MS Hussey 364.
120.
T. Devonshire Jones (1994), ‘Priest and Patron’, Art Quarterly of the National Art Collections Fund no.20, pp. 37–39.
121.
Interview with David Burton Evans.
122.
Typescript notes, as at MS Hussey 364, as quoted at Coke and Potter, ‘Modern art’ p. 278.
123.
K. Walker (1990) ‘Visual art in churches in England in recent times’ in J. Robinson (ed.), The Journey. A search for the role of contemporary art in religious and spiritual life (Lincoln: Lincolnshire County Council and Redcliffe Press) pp. 104–110, at p. 109.
124.
Coke and Potter, Modern Art, p. 278; WSRO, Cap 1/3/19 (Act Book of the Dean and Chapter of Chichester 1976), meeting of 26 April 1977, at p. 170.
125.
Potter to WH, 13 May 1977, at MS Hussey 165.
126.
Walker, ‘Visual art’, p. 109.
127.
Anderson, Collins, p. 109.
128.
R. Holtby (2002) ‘The Service of Dedication’ in P. Foster (ed.) Chagall glass at Chichester and Tudeley (Chichester: University of Chichester), p. 19.
129.
P. Foster (2002) ‘The commissioning’ in P. Foster (ed.) Chagall glass at Chichester and Tudeley (Chichester; University of Chichester), pp. 12–13.
130.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 142.
131.
J. Wullschlager (2008) Chagall. Love and Exile (London: Allen Lane), pp. 477–478, 490, 492–495.
132.
Piper to WH, 19 November 1967, at MS Hussey 365.
133.
Coke and Potter, ‘The cathedral and modern art’, p. 330, n. 56.
134.
Mullins to WH, 29 January 1970, at MS Hussey 423.
135.
Valentina Chagall to WH, 27 October 1969, at MS Hussey 359; Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 138. The dating of Hussey’s first approach is unclear, as neither his letter nor Vava Chagall’s response have survived. Hussey refers to the elapse of ‘a year or two’, suggesting that the approach was made sometime after the Tudeley windows were unveiled.
136.
Valentina Chagall to WH, 22 November 1975, at MS Hussey 359.
137.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 139.
138.
Hussey, Patron of Art, pp. 140–141.
139.
Marq to WH, 23 March 1977 and 7 April 1977, both at MS Hussey 359.
140.
At a meeting on 29 March 1977: WSRO, Act Book of the Dean and Chapter, Cap 1/3/19, p. 162.
141.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 144.
142.
Coke and Potter, ‘The cathedral and modern art’, pp. 278, 279; Clark to Hussey, 2 June 1977, at MS Hussey 401.
143.
Hepworth to WH, 13 June 1973, at MS Hussey 413.
144.
Moore to WH, 7 June 1973, at MS Hussey 331; L. Mason (2007) ‘Walter Hussey’ in Foster (ed.) Chichester Deans. Continuity, Commitment and Change at Chichester Cathedral, 1902–2006 (Chichester: University of Chichester), p. 142.
145.
Wullschlager, Chagall, p. 486.
146.
Wullschlager, Chagall, p. 487.
147.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 143.
148.
WSRO, Cap 1/3/19, Act Book of the Dean and Chapter, 1976, meeting of 5 April 1977, p. 163.
149.
Hussey, Patron of Art, p. 144; Coke and Potter, ‘The cathedral and modern art’, p. 331, n. 66; Clifford Hodgetts to WH, 31 January 1979, at MS Hussey 360.

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Webster, P. (2017). New Visual Art for Chichester. In: Church and Patronage in 20th Century Britain. Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700-2000. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36910-9_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-36910-9_6
Published: 10 November 2017
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