Sacred Art
Man praises God by the beauty of his works. This conviction has led our community to encourage its monks’ artistic gifts. Our community is especially famous for three monk-artists.
Dom Paul Bellot (1876–1944) entered the monastery in 1902 after qualifying as an architect from the Institut des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Following his profession in 1904, he embarked on a very fruitful career as an architect devoted to God’s glory. He first used brick for the Dutch abbey of Oosterhout, which was then a refuge for the monks of Saint-Paul de Wisques. This gave him the experience he needed to accomplish his major work, Quarr Abbey, which was our community's place of refuge. He built many other churches and religious houses in France and abroad. Bellot's work displays a great understanding of proportions, light distribution and the meaning of shapes. All this led to his recognition as a master of contemporary religious architecture and the leader of a school. He built the library, main cloister and abbot's oratory at Solesmes. He died in Canada, where he had been called to complete the construction of St Joseph's Oratory and draw up plans for the Abbey of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac.
Dom Henri de Laborde (1895–1973) entered our community in 1916 and was appointed sacristan after its return from exile in 1922; he remained sacristan for 39 years. He made almost all the liturgical vestments in our sacristy. Notable examples include the pontifical red set known as ‘David and Saul’, and the pontifical white set known as 'Pineapples', which is a dramatic explosion of his very sound colour sense. He also renovated the nave chapels in our church and decorated the abbot's oratory designed by Dom Bellot. In collaboration with Dom Le Corre, he laid out the crypt around the recumbent statue of Dom Guéranger sculpted by Henri Charlier. Dom de Laborde received many requests from bishoprics and parishes to make altars and design new vestments.
Dom Paul Le Corre (1895–1984) entered Quarr in 1913 but was called up and fought in the First World War. He did not make profession until 1920. He too had great artistic gifts. His favourite fields were photography and silver- and gold-plate design. Our sacristy owes several very beautiful chalices and ciboria to him. He too was asked to put his artistic gifts at the service of other sanctuaries.
