Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Matisse & Chagall Windows

For many years I have had on my "to see" list a visit to the Union Church of Pocantico Hills in the Hudson Valley near Sleepy Hollow, NY. This unassuming little chapel has Matisse's last window, a rose window in his signature "cut paper" style. The remainder of the windows in the church were designed and painted by Marc Chagall. Over the recent Christmas break my family and I had the opportunity to visit the chapel to see the windows. As the docent explained - "You've come at perhaps the best time of the year". At 3 PM on a Sunday afternoon the low winter sun shining through leafless trees flooded the chapel with light. The windows are beautiful. What I really appreciated as a painter was that they are right at eye level. You can see all of Chagall's brushwork and the meticulous details he "picked out" of the matt with needles & scrubs.
Since I hadn't written in advance the docents wouldn't allow photography but I later discovered that the Chapel has a Smart phone app with great images & videos about the windows. Here is the online version which you can also download to your Apple device through  Itunes: http://unionchurch.toursphere.com/pages/

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