Works of art have abounded in our Cathedrals for a thousand years, and one only has to make the short trip to Chichester or Winchester to see some of the finest flowerings on man’s creative abilities.   The glorious carvings of St. Nicholas on the font at Winchester, or the panel showing the Raising of Lazarus at Chichester are just two of the oldest. Yet Chichester Cathedral is blessed with supreme examples of modern art as well, thanks in particular to two enlightened men.   George Bell became Bishop of Chichester in 1929, by which time, as Dean of Canterbury, he had already commissioned T.S. Elliot to write Murder in the Cathedral.   He was bitterly opposed to Hitler and Nazi Germany and publicly spoke out against the persecution of the Jews.    His speech in the House of Lords condemning the saturation raids on German cities in 1944 probably ensured that he did not become Archbishop of Canterbury on the death of William Temple.  He brought a Jewish refugee artist, Hans Feibusch, to England and commissioned from him wall paintings in several churches in the Diocese, including the Cathedral.   His Baptism of Christ was painted on the  south wall of the baptistery in 1951, and appeared very striking when I first say it five years later, although today it hardly looks truly modern.

 A year before his retirement, Bell was joined by a new Dean, Walter Hussey, who, as Vicar of St. Matthew’s, Northampton, had commissioned Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Henry Moore’s famous Madonna and Graham Sutherland’s Crucifixion.   He was obviously a kindred spirit, and quickly set about adorning the Cathedral with works that were strikingly modern.

 Leading artists of the time were engaged - John Piper, Graham Sutherland, Geoffrey Clarke and even the great Russian-born Jewish artist Marc Chagall, who spent much of his life in France, were all approached, and the results are richly symbolic of liturgical purpose, enhancing the architecture at the same time.

 The first of these objects to catch the eye is Clarke’s striking pulpit in the nave, but already the vivid colours of Piper’s reredos, right at the far end, catch the eye through the screen.   The screen itself had been taken down in 1859, an act which may have precipitated the collapse of the tower two years later, and was re-erected in 1961 as a memorial to the late Bishop, who died three years before.

 Piper’s tapestry, which was obviously influenced by Sutherland’s at Coventry and woven by the same French firm, depicts the Holy Trinity, and was installed in 1966.   It’s abstract composition has attracted criticism from some, yet I firmly believe that the juxtaposition of the strikingly new and the very old fabric of the cathedral is entirely successful, especially with the bare stone altar (by Robert Potter) immediately in front.

Not far away, in the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, is the red and blue painting by Graham Sutherland entitled Noli me Tangere.   It shows Christ appearing to her after the resurrection, and she desperately reaches out trying to touch him - the one piece of colour in an otherwise unadorned space.  Just across the retro-choir is the striking stained glass window by Chagall, installed in 1978, a year after Hussey’s retirement.   It vividly illustrates Psalm 150, “O praise God in his holiness”, in a series of cameos glowing with vitality and movement.  Between these two impressive and moving objects is the site of the shrine of St. Richard of Chichester and also the burial place of Bishop Bell.   Here we find another large tapestry, this time woven largely at West Dean, representing Anglo-German reconciliation and friendship, so very close to the Bishop’s heart.   This was the brain-child of Hussey’s successor, Dean Robert Hardy. Between them Bell and Hussey fully deserved the accolade of Sir Kenneth Clark:  “The last great patrons of art in the Church of England.”

Tom Muckley, January 2008

This article was originally published by the Petersfield Post

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