The Oxcliffe Vixen: Notre Dame de Toute Grace

I’ve brought the phone through with me. I was expecting the results of the biopsies yesterday. However, on Monday I had a call from the hospital to tell me the results hadn’t come through yet, so they would ring today, Wednesday, instead. They did say in the afternoon, but I’m hoping they will ring earlier. Once the results come I should have a clearer idea of the size of op, possible subsequent treatments, when I’ll be seeing the surgeon, oncologist etc. & the time scale of all this. Then I can get on with organising myself accordingly.

So while I wait I thought I’d go back to France & a church that really wowed us both. By this time we had moved onto Chamonix.

Notre Dame de Toute Grace, Plateau d'Assy. The facade is by Fernand Leger.

The church, Notre Dame de Toute Grâce at Plateau d’Assy, is amazing. It was built between 1926 & 1937, high up in mountains, facing Mont Blanc. It’s quite a pilgrimage just getting there, but the trip is worth it. The Dominican priest responsible believed “all true artists are inspired”. So he “put his faith in genius” & called upon the great artists of their day to make contributions, regardless of their religious or political beliefs. The result is extraordinary. Here are works by Georges Braque, Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, to name but a few. Some of the artworks had personal associations & we chatted to the lady selling souvenirs etc. about them. We soon discovered we had shared some of the experiences.

Vase of flowers by Georges Rouault

St Louis by Maurice Brianchon

St Peter the Apostle by Paul Bony

St Vincent de Paul by Paul Bercot

St Francis of Assissi by Paul Bercot

"Crossing the Red Sea" by Marc Chagall

The first was the magnificent ceramic image of St Dominic. Seeing it instantly took us both back to the Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence about which I wrote a few years ago. In many ways it is very similar. The style is unmistakable. Our new acquaintance had also been to the chapel & loved it.

St Dominique by Matisse

The next was the tapestry, above the altar by Jean Lurçat. Again I instantly recognised the style of the artists. Many years ago, we visited the Musée Lurçat at Angers. There we saw his magnificent “Le Chant du Monde”, a modern, post atomic bomb era, take on the Apocalypse, a sort of update of the 14^th century Apocalypse tapestry to be found in Angers castle. We were surprised to discover our lady had also been to Angers to see Lurçat’s work

Here, in this small chapel, was another version of the Apocalypse. Unfortunately, the orginal in this chapel was on temporary loan to the Musée de Beaux Arts in Angers. While that was away, a copy of the central part of what is meant to be a triptych illustrating Revelations Chapter 12, had been hung to give you some idea of what should be there. Nonetheless that part, “The Woman and the Dragon” was powerful indeed. The lady we chatted to, explained how it had even more meaning with the two side parts, “The Tree of Paradise on Earth” & “The Tree of Jesse”. We could only get some sense of what was missing from a picture of what should have been there.