Noah

1983 – Washington National Cathedral – Nave Clerestory

“Noah’s Arc” is an iconic story that every child learns in Sunday school or the synagogue. Rarely, however, is it told as graphically as Rowan tells it here. The imagery tells of a violent world that is being swept away by a giant tidal wave. The colors transition from fiery oranges and reds on the left to hopeful yellows and greens on the right. This all illustrates the interesting challenge that faced Rowan in designing these windows. The architecture dictated the size and shape of the window. Within those limitations, Rowan had to come up with dynamic imagery that uses the space to tell the story and engage cathedral visitors. Clearly, he did not think cutesy images of animals going two by two in an arc would do justice to the story of Noah and his times.

Richard Avidon is credited with assisting Rowan in the color selection and he most likely painted much of the window. Richard said he felt his challenge was to realize Rowan’s vision. He did his best to translate the original painting into a large window. Once he was finished Rowan would review each piece of glass and come in and make scratches and revisions. Richard said “Rowan’s hands would step in, in a delightful and playful way,” to do the hands and faces. In this case for example, Rowan did all the faces including those of the animals on the arc.

The window was fabricated at Mel Greenland’s studio and Rowan, in fact, has said that Noah is actually a portrait of Mel. While Richard often did his work at Mel’s studio he was an independent contractor, and not on Mel’s staff. Richard said the figures of the couple planting the grapes are portraits of Richard and his wife.

In the video clip below Rowan reveals a bit of his humor, but also what he is most concerned with when starting a window like Noah.

Iconography

Jewels of Light quotes the biblical story of Noah to justify the imagery in the left lancet: “The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” The wave rising up in the center-left lancet is poised to cleanse the earth of this destruction. Noah and the arc have made it through the storm in the center-right lancet and a huge rainbow is welcoming them to a new land. In this new land, in the right lancet, Noah and his family are seen planting a vineyard. When asked why he had chosen a vineyard, Jewels of Light says that, “LeCompte said it was specifically mentioned in the ninth chapter of Genesis as the first thing planted, and that after seven months aboard a drenched and rocking zoo he thought there could have been some interest in a drink of wine.”