The Saint Jude Chapel Mosaic by Gyorgy Kepes — 1968
by Paula Bosse
by Paula Bosse
Perhaps you’ve noticed the intensely colorful sunburst-like mosaic that adorns the Saint Jude Catholic Chapel at 1521 Main Street, near Stone Place. It’s hard to miss. The artist is Gyorgy Kepes (1906-2001), an important Hungarian-born avant-garde painter, photographer, and educator who immigrated to the United States in 1937. He taught for a short time at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) in the mid 1940s, and may be known best in Dallas for his work as artistic director for Temple Emanu-El in the late 1950s, a project which artfully brought together contemporary art, architecture, and design into a sacred space.
At the time Kepes was commissioned to create the mosaic for the new Saint Jude Chapel (which opened in 1968), he was immersed in founding the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). One wonders how he found the time!
This mosaic — which as far as I know is untitled — is probably a familiar sight to people who work and live downtown, but most who pass it are completely unaware of the name of the artist. I hope I’ve helped correct that a bit. Thank you, Gyorgy Kepes — and thank you, Saint Jude Chapel — for this nice little addition to Dallas’ public art.
Postcard and info, eBay
Below, an early rendering of the proposed building (1966), designed by architect Eugene F. Boerder. The vague mosaic design in this drawing suggests that Kepes might not have been attached to the project at this point, or that his design had not yet been determined.
Architect’s rendering, Sept. 1966
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Sources & Notes
Unless otherwise noted, photos from the Saint Jude Catholic Chapel website, here. The undated black-and-white photos are from a video history of the chapel, here.
Read about Gyorgy Kepes in overviews of his life and career from MIT, from the James Hyman Gallery, and from Wikipedia.
I have been unable to find any information about this mosaic. Had I not stumbled across Kepes’ name in a Sept. 14, 1968 Dallas Morning News article about the new chapel (which I was reading while researching the very interesting history of the building the St. Jude Chapel is in — and the building next to it) (that post is here), I’m not sure I’d be able to track down the identity of the artist. It’s surprising how little is out there about such a prominently displayed work of art!
UPDATE: Rather bizarrely, a few weeks after I wrote this, I learned that this mosaic was being restored — so I went downtown, met the restoration team, took some photos, and wrote the post “Mosaic Restoration at Downtown’s St. Jude Chapel.”
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Copyright © 2017 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Been to many a lunchtime mass at that wonderful little chapel. The inside has a nice vintage/ mid-century feel to it, along with another giant tile mosaic of Jesus (perhaps same artist?). This place is a hidden gem downtown.
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[…] In 1968, the Saint Jude Catholic Chapel moved into 1521 Main — the old Empire Theater space. The front was adorned with a vivid mosaic by Gyorgy Kepes (I wrote about the mosaic here). […]
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It looks like the top view of a tree that’s been cut. Didn’t know it can look very artistic when applied with colors.
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[…] entrance to the St Jude Chapel on Main Street. The 1968 Gyorgy Kepes mosaic (which I wrote about here) is undergoing needed repair work, restoration, and cleaning, in preparation for next year’s […]
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[…] the colorful sunburst mosaic at Saint Jude Catholic Chapel at 1521 Main Street. It was created by Gyorgy Kepes (1906 – 2001) a Hungarian-born artist who immigrated to the U.S. in 1937. Kepes taught for a time […]
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[…] to the Eyeball is a striking mosaic on the facade of St Jude’s Catholic church. It is the work of renowned 20th century designer, György Kepes, who founded the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. Kepes was deeply influenced by Gestalt […]
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[…] to the Eyeball is a striking mosaic on the facade of St Jude’s Catholic church. It is the work of renowned 20th century designer, György Kepes, who founded the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. Kepes was deeply influenced by Gestalt […]
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[…] week I went downtown to check on the restoration of the St. Jude Chapel mosaic (I’ll write about that soon…). Sadly, I’m hardly ever downtown, so I took the […]
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[…] St. Jude Chapel”) — I was aware of the mosaic only because I had written the post “The Saint Jude Chapel Mosaic by Gyorgy Kepes — 1968” a few weeks earlier. I’ve added the postcard below to that latter post from 2017. (Source: […]
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You misspelled the name of the architect. His last name is Boerder.
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Thank you so much! I’ve corrected the spelling.
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