CAN CHURCHES INSPIRE ARTISTS?

In my case, a great big YES would have to answer this question!

After a few days in my home village in the centre of France I returned back home in England making a stop into Reims. The city was heavily shelled in the first world war, leaving it devastate and now full of 1920s, 30s buildings:



However, the focus of my stop was the cathedral (Notre Dame de Saint Jacques de Reims), which was coronation church of the French kings. It was spared by wars and is a fine example of Gothic architecture and world famous for its sculptures.





The spires were cut at at the revolution as they had 'fleurs de Lys', sign of Royalty, not really popular at the time. Non the less, most other features have survived. The gargoyles are particularly impressive:





The facade extremely impressive, it is a dedication to the virgin Mary, and is totally covered with statues:







What impressed me the most, was the long statues, themselves supported by smaller ones, looking very strained:





Another very well known statue is the 'smiling angel', Doctor Who fans might have to remember: 'Don't blink, don't even blink!'





If the outside is impressive, the inside is even more inspiring. The scale is huge and the stained glass windows bring in a beautiful light. A lot of them have been lost due to various fires, but some original remain and are impossible to photograph. Of course, the rose window is full of catholic story telling:





I was really pleased to finally see the modernist Marc Chagall's stained glass windows with their dominant blue. They took 6 years to finish (1968-74). Quite a wonderful visual feast with the light refracting through the glass though a real challenge to photograph:









These masterpieces where put together by atelier Simon Marq, and Jacques Marq's wife, Brigitte Simon has also created some stained glass windows for Reims Catherdral (1981). They are very different from Chagall's with their limited colour palette and simingly less complicated patterns:







Though they are extremely modern, their colours are much closer to the cahterdral's original grey stained glasses (called 'Grisaille' in French).

Our visit was finished by walking back on the side isle, which emphasises the beautiful structure of the building:



We had our picnic in the garden at the back of the catherdral, and I had time to experiment with my blackberry camera which was very dirty, giving a very special look to my pictures:







Upon cleaning the lens, this small camera revealed that it is capable of taking some fairly good quality images, great little tool in my back pocket!





I even used the blackberry to take some photos of seagulls on the ferry back to England, great shots!!:







I'll finish this entry with a very romantic sunset and conculude in saying than for me: YES, Churches do inspire me - the grandure, craftsmenship and sheer beauty of it all helps giving me idea for my own work!