Church and Patronage in 20th Century Britain: Walter Hussey and the Arts (Histories of the Sacred and Secular, 1700–2000)

This book is the first full-length treatment of Walter Hussey's work as a patron between 1943 and 1978, first for the Anglican parish church of St Matthew in Northampton, and then at Chichester Cathedral. He was responsible for the most significant sequence of works of art commissioned for the British churches in the twentieth century. They included music by Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein and William Walton, visual art by Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland and Marc Chagall, and poetry by W. H. Auden. Placing Hussey in theological context and in a period of rapid cultural change, it explores the making and reception of the commissions, and the longer-term influence of his work, still felt today. As well as contributing to the religious and cultural history of Britain, and of Anglo-Catholicism and the cathedrals in particular, the book will be of interest to all those concerned with the relationship between theology and the arts, and to historians of music and the visual arts. "This book is the first full-length treatment of Walter Hussey's work as a patron between 1943 and 1978, first for the Anglican parish church of St Matthew in Northampton, and then at Chichester Cathedral. He was responsible for the most significant sequence of works of art commissioned for the British churches in the twentieth century. They included music by Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein and William Walton, visual art by Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland and Marc Chagall, and poetry by W.H. Auden. Placing Hussey in theological context and in a period of rapid cultural change, it explores the making and reception of the commissions, and the longer-term influence of his work, still felt today. As well as contributing to the religious and cultural history of Britain, and of Anglo-Catholicism and the cathedrals in particular, the book will be of interest to all those concerned with the relationship between theology and the arts, and to historians of music and the visual arts."--Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction (Peter Webster)....Pages 1-15 The Formation of a Patron (Peter Webster)....Pages 17-47 The 1943 Jubilee festival at Northampton (Peter Webster)....Pages 49-84 Music, Art and Poetry: 1944–1955 (Peter Webster)....Pages 85-118 The Religious Arts on a Rising Tide: People, Media, Networks (Peter Webster)....Pages 119-146 New Visual Art for Chichester (Peter Webster)....Pages 147-186 Chichester Music (Peter Webster)....Pages 187-211 Cathedral, City and Diocese (Peter Webster)....Pages 213-226 Legacy (Peter Webster)....Pages 227-236 Back Matter ....Pages 237-256