Chapel of the Good Shepherd (Louise Nevelson)

Chapel of the Good Shepherd (also known as Nevelson Chapel) is a sculptural environment installation by the American 20th-century artist Louise Nevelson completed in 1977 and located at the St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City.[1] The church and the chapel are part of the Citigroup Center at Lexington Avenue and 54th Street in Midtown Manhattan.[2]

Chapel of the Good Shepherd
Nevelson Chapel
Visitors in front of one of the works in the chapel originally created in 1977
ArtistLouise Nevelson
Completion date1977
MovementAbstract sculpture
Dimensions21 by 28 feet
LocationNew York
Coordinates40.7587193°N 73.970495°W / 40.7587193; -73.970495

History

Commission

Originally commissioned in 1975, the chapel was donated by parishioner Erol Beker[3] and dedicated on December 13, 1977.[4] Louise Nevelson, an American sculptor, gained prominence for her abstract and dark monochromatic three-dimensional installations usually made with wood or metal.[5] The resulting space was a five-sided sanctuary space featuring 24 seats, measuring 28 by 21 feet (8.5 by 6.4 m) and is adorned with a variety of abstract sculptural elements.[6] These included reliefs and columns made of wood and painted in white, with an altarpiece made of "gold leaf over a Masonite panel" placed in the middle.[6]

Much of the material used in the work consisted of found objects and wood pieces from New York City streets.[7] During the chapel's construction, Nevelson said: “If people can have a moment of peace and carry it with them in their memory banks, then that will be a great success for me”.[8] When she was asked about her role in creating a Christian sanctuary space as a Jewish artist, Nevelson responded that the abstract quality of her work "transcended" traditional denominational barriers.[9]

Reception and later years
Detail of the chapel in 2018

Nevelson's work has been praised for creating a meditative place in the middle of a busy urban environment. According to researcher Caitlin Turski Watson, the chapel "operates as a counter-hegemonic form of privately owned public space—the sacred public space".[10] Art historian Marchita Mauck described the Nevelson Chapel as a "healing place" where the "stark simplicity" of its environment "conveys strength, presence, [and] peace".[11]

Others have argued that the artist's ability to combine the artist's "characteristic abstraction" with "evocative Christian iconography" results in "symbolic archetypes" that could attract an audience of different faiths.[12] Nevelson's work has also been compared to other 20th-century chapels designed by modern artists, most notably the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence by the French 20th-century artist Henri Matisse and built between 1947 and 1951, in illustrating how "modern architectural forms can engage people in transformative experiences".[13] The Nevelson Chapel underwent a renovation in the 1980s and was later restored again between 2018 and 2019 by Kostow Greenwood Architects as part of a US$ 5.75 million project.[7]

References
  1. Schmertz, Mildred F. (June 1978). "Citicorp Center: If You Don't Like the Crown Look At Its Base" (PDF). Architectural Record. 163 (7): 112.
  2. Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 241. ISBN 0-231-12543-7.
  3. Glueck, Grace (1976-10-22). "White on White Louise Nevelson's 'Gift to the Universe'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  4. Kramer, Hilton (1977-12-14). "Nevelsons Enhance Chapel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
  5. Swartz, Anne K. (2003). "Nevelson, Louise". Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t062080.
  6. Cole, Regina (2018-09-07). "Can Louise Nevelson's New York City Masterpiece Be Saved?". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  7. Cascone, Sarah (2020-12-09). "A Little-Known New York Gem, Louise Nevelson's Chapel, Is Launching a $6 Million Fundraising Campaign to Refurbish Its Sculptural Interior". Artnet News. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  8. Stahler, Jared R. (2022-06-07). "A Look at the Newly-Restored Nevelson Chapel". Cottages & Gardens. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  9. Rapaport, Brooke Kamin (2007). The Sculpture of Louise Nevelson: Constructing a Legend (exh. cat.). Arthur C. Danto, Gabriel de Guzman. New York: The Jewish Museum. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-300-12172-8.
  10. Watson, Caitlin Turski (February 2022). "A Place for All People: Louise Nevelson's Chapel of the Good Shepherd". Religions. 13 (2): 99. doi:10.3390/rel13020099. ISSN 2077-1444.
  11. Mauck, Marchita (2006). "Visual Arts". In Wainwright, Geoffrey; Westerfield Tucker, Karen B. (eds.). The Oxford History of Christian Worship. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 834. ISBN 978-0-19-513886-3.
  12. Scribner, Charles (2023). Sacred Muse: A Preface to Christian Art & Music. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-5381-7861-4.
  13. Vosko, Richard S. (2019). Art and Architecture for Congregational Worship: The Search for a Common Ground. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-8146-8471-9.
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