Editing Marc Chagall (section)

==Stained glass ==
One of Chagall's major contributions to art has been his work with [[stained glass]]. This medium allowed him further to express his desire to create intense and fresh colors and had the added benefit of natural light and refraction interacting and constantly changing: everything from the position where the viewer stood to the weather outside would alter the visual effect (though this is not the case with his Hadassah windows). It was not until 1956, when he was nearly 70 years of age, that he designed windows{{citation needed|date=October 2023|reason=:fr:March Chagall mentions only ceramics and a baptismal font.}} for the [[Église Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce du Plateau d'Assy]], his first major project. Then, from 1958 to 1960, he created windows for [[Metz Cathedral]].

=== Jerusalem Windows (1962) ===

In 1960, he began creating [[stained glass]] windows for the synagogue of [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem|Hebrew University's]] [[Hadassah Medical Center]] in [[Jerusalem]]. Leymarie writes that "in order to illuminate the synagogue both spiritually and physically", it was decided that the twelve windows, representing the [[twelve tribes of Israel]], were to be filled with stained glass. Chagall envisaged the synagogue as "a crown offered to the Jewish Queen", and the windows as "jewels of translucent fire", she writes. Chagall then devoted the next two years to the task, and upon completion in 1961 the windows were exhibited in Paris and then the [[Museum of Modern Art in New York]]. They were installed permanently in Jerusalem in February 1962. Each of the twelve windows is approximately 11 feet high and {{convert|8|ft|m}} wide, much larger than anything he had done before. Cogniat considers them to be "his greatest work in the field of stained glass", although [[Virginia Haggard|Virginia Haggard McNeil]] records Chagall's disappointment that they were to be lit with artificial light, and so would not change according to the conditions of natural light.

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:UN Glass.jpg|thumb|''Peace'', 1964, a [[stained glass]] memorial at the United Nations, New York]] -->
French philosopher [[Gaston Bachelard]] commented that "Chagall reads the Bible and suddenly the passages become light."<ref name=Leymarie/>{{rp|xii}} In 1973 Israel released a 12-stamp set with images of the stained-glass windows.<ref name=Stamps>{{Cite news|last=Dunn|first=John F.|date=8 February 1987|title=Stamps; A Tribute of Seven Nations Marks the Chagall Centennial|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/08/arts/stamps-a-tribute-of-seven-nations-marks-the-chagall-centennial.html|access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref>

The windows symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel who were blessed by Jacob and Moses in the verses which conclude Genesis and Deuteronomy. In those books, notes Leymarie, "The dying Moses repeated Jacob's solemn act and, in a somewhat different order, also blessed the twelve tribes of Israel who were about to enter the land of Canaan... In the synagogue, where the windows are distributed in the same way, the tribes form a symbolic guard of honor around the tabernacle."<ref name=Leymarie/>{{rp|xii}} Leymarie describes the physical and spiritual significance of the windows:

{{quote|The essence of the Jerusalem Windows lies in color, in Chagall's magical ability to animate material and transform it into light. Words do not have the power to describe Chagall's color, its spirituality, its singing quality, its dazzling luminosity, its ever more subtle flow, and its sensitivity to the inflections of the soul and the transports of the imagination. It is simultaneously jewel-hard and foamy, reverberating and penetrating, radiating light from an unknown interior.<ref name=Leymarie/>{{rp|xii}}}}

At the dedication ceremony in 1962, Chagall described his feelings about the windows:

{{quote|For me a stained glass window is a transparent partition between my heart and the heart of the world. Stained glass has to be serious and passionate. It is something elevating and exhilarating. It has to live through the perception of light. To read the Bible is to perceive a certain light, and the window has to make this obvious through its simplicity and grace... The thoughts have nested in me for many years, since the time when my feet walked on the Holy Land, when I prepared myself to create engravings of the Bible. They strengthened me and encouraged me to bring my modest gift to the Jewish people—that people that lived here thousands of years ago, among the other Semitic peoples.<ref name=Harshav>Chagall, Marc. ''Marc Chagall on Art and Culture'', editor: Benjamin Harshav. Stanford Univ. Press (2003)</ref>{{rp|145–146}}}}

=== ''Peace'', United Nations building (1964) ===

In 1964 Chagall created a stained-glass window, entitled ''Peace'', for the UN in honor of [[Dag Hammarskjöld]], the UN's second secretary general who was killed in an airplane crash in Northern Rhodesia in 1961. The window is about {{convert|15|ft|m}} wide and {{convert|12|ft|m}} high and contains symbols of peace and love along with musical symbols. Chagall's own handwritten dedication reads: "''À tous ceux qui ont servi les buts et principes de la Charte des Nations Unies et pour lesquels Dag Hammarskjöld a donné sa vie''." 
["To all who served the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations Charter, for which Dag Hammarskjöld gave his life".]<ref name=UNChagall>[https://www.un.org/en/visitor-centre-new-york/peace-window-marc-chagall, United Nations Visitor Services, United Nations, UN.org] , retrieved 12 May 2025</ref> 
=== ''Good Samaritan'', Union Church of Pocantico Hills (1964) ===
In 1967 he dedicated a stained-glass window to [[John D. Rockefeller]] in the [[Union Church of Pocantico Hills]], New York. <ref name=Rockefeller>[https://www.rbf.org/news/pocantico-present-marc-chagalls-works-process-public-first-time-nearly-50-years, Rockefeller Brothers Fund], retrieved 12 May 2025</ref>

=== Fraumünster in Zurich, Switzerland (1967) ===

The [[Fraumünster]] church in Zurich, Switzerland, founded in 853, is known for its five large stained glass windows created by Chagall in 1967. Each window is {{convert|32|ft|m}} tall by {{convert|3|ft|m}} wide. Religion historian James H. Charlesworth notes that it is "surprising how Christian symbols are featured in the works of an artist who comes from a strict and Orthodox Jewish background." He surmises that Chagall, as a result of his Russian background, often used Russian icons in his paintings, with their interpretations of Christian symbols. He explains that his chosen themes were usually derived from biblical stories, and frequently portrayed the "obedience and suffering of God's chosen people." One of the panels depicts Moses receiving the Torah, with rays of light from his head. At the top of another panel is a depiction of Jesus' crucifixion.<ref>Charlesworth, James H. ''The Good and Evil Serpent: How a Universal Symbol Became Christianized'', Yale Univ. Press (2010) pp. 421–422</ref><ref>[http://dwquiltart.blogspot.com/2008/10/chagalls-windows-at-fraumunster.html Photo of stained glass] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708033511/http://dwquiltart.blogspot.com/2008/10/chagalls-windows-at-fraumunster.html |date=8 July 2011 }} at [[Fraumünster]] cathedral, Zurich, Switzerland</ref>

=== St Stephan's church in Mainz, Germany (1978) ===

In 1978 he began creating windows for [[St. Stephan, Mainz|St Stephan's church in Mainz]], Germany. Today, 200,000 visitors a year visit the church, and "tourists from the whole world pilgrim up St Stephan's Mount, to see the glowing blue stained glass windows by the artist Marc Chagall", states the city's web site. "St Stephan's is the only German church for which Chagall has created windows."<ref name=Mainz>"St. Stephan's—Chagall's mysticism of blue light", [http://www.mainz.de/WGAPublisher/online/html/default/mkuz-5v9lmb.en.0 City of Mainz website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090110172039/http://www.mainz.de/WGAPublisher/online/html/default/mkuz-5v9lmb.en.0 |date=10 January 2009 }}</ref>

The website also notes, "The colours address our vital consciousness directly, because they tell of optimism, hope and delight in life", says Monsignor Klaus Mayer, who imparts Chagall's work in mediations and books. He corresponded with Chagall during 1973, and succeeded in persuading the "master of colour and the biblical message" to create a sign for Jewish-Christian attachment and international understanding. Centuries earlier Mainz had been "the capital of European Jewry", and contained the largest Jewish community in Europe, notes historian [[John Man (author)|John Man]].<ref name=Man2>Man, John, ''The Gutenberg Revolution'', (2002) Headline Book Publishing</ref>{{rp|16}}<ref>[http://www.mainz.de/WGAPublisher/online/html/default/hthn-5vgjlb.en.html "Jewish Life and Times in Medieval Mainz"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090110104003/http://www.mainz.de/WGAPublisher/online/html/default/hthn-5vgjlb.en.html |date=10 January 2009 }}, City of Mainz website</ref> In 1978, at the age of 91, Chagall created the first window and eight more followed. Chagall's collaborator Charles Marq complemented Chagall's work by adding several stained glass windows using the typical colors of Chagall.

=== All Saints Church, Tudeley, UK (1963–1978) ===

[[File:All_Saints_Tudeley_East_Window_8.jpg|thumb|Window 8, the East or Memorial Window for Sarah d'Avigdor Goldsmid, drowned aged 21, was the first window that Chagall made for [[All Saints Church, Tudeley]]. He went on to decorate all the other windows.<ref name=Tudeley/> ]]

[[All Saints Church, Tudeley]], is the only church in the world to have all its twelve windows decorated by Chagall.<ref name=Tudeley>{{cite web |title=All Saints' Church, Tudeley |url=http://www.tudeley.org/allsaintstudeley.htm |access-date=18 December 2009 |archive-date=7 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091207044234/http://www.tudeley.org/allsaintstudeley.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The other three religious buildings with complete sets of Chagall windows are the [[Hadassah Medical Center]] synagogue, the Chapel of Le Saillant, Limousin, and the [[Union Church of Pocantico Hills]], New York.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Union Church of Pocantico Hills|url=https://hudsonvalley.org/historic-sites/union-church-of-pocantico-hills/|access-date=20 January 2021|website=Historic Hudson Valley|language=en-US}}</ref>

The windows at [[Tudeley]] were commissioned by [[Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid|Sir Henry and Lady Rosemary d'Avigdor-Goldsmid]] as a memorial tribute to their daughter Sarah, who died in 1963 aged 21 in a sailing accident off [[Rye, East Sussex|Rye]]. When Chagall arrived for the dedication of the east window in 1967, and saw the church for the first time, he exclaimed "{{lang|fr|C'est magnifique! Je les ferai tous!}}" ("It's beautiful! I will do them all!") Over the next ten years Chagall designed the remaining eleven windows, made again in collaboration with the glassworker Charles Marq in his workshop at Reims in northern France. The last windows were installed in 1985, just before Chagall's death.

=== Chichester Cathedral, West Sussex, UK ===

On the north side of [[Chichester Cathedral]], there is a stained glass window designed and created by Chagall at the age of 90. The window, his last commissioned work, was inspired by Psalm 150, 'Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord', at the suggestion of Dean [[Walter Hussey]].<ref>Chagall Glass at Chichester and Tudeley, Paul Foster (ed), published by University College Chichester, {{ISBN|0-948765-78-X}}</ref> The window was unveiled by the Duchess of Kent in 1978.<ref>{{Cite book|editor-last=Gillingham|editor-first=Susan|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8LyON8_-j0C&pg=PA113|title=Jewish and Christian Approaches to the Psalms: Conflict and Convergence|chapter=True Lights: Seeing the Psalms through Chagall's Windows|first=Aaron|last=Rosen|page=113|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-969954-4}}</ref>

=== America Windows, Chicago ===
Chagall visited Chicago in the early 1970s to install his mural ''[[Four Seasons (Chagall)|The Four Seasons]]'', and at that time was inspired to create a set of stained glass windows for the [[Art Institute of Chicago]].<ref name=AIC>{{Cite web|title=Chagall's America Windows|url=https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109439/america-windows|access-date=18 June 2023|website=The Art Institute of Chicago|year=1977 }}</ref> After discussions with the Art Institute and further reflection, Chagall made the windows a tribute to the American Bicentennial, and in particular the commitment of the United States to cultural and religious freedom.<ref name=AIC /> The windows appeared prominently in the 1986 movie ''[[Ferris Bueller's Day Off]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chagall's America Windows return to Chicago Art Institute|url=http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/8225|website=The History Blog|date=1 November 2010|access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> From 2005 to 2010, the windows were moved due to nearby construction on a new wing of the Art Institute, and for archival cleaning.<ref name=AIC/>