The Anglican Church of Australia has an interesting archive of images which show many of the art works made for its churches in stained glass, metals, timbers, fabrics and textiles. It is designed to be of general interest, but it is particularly intended for use by those studying the fine arts, and architectural and liturgical history.
Australia has regularly taken a varied and innovative approach to modern and contemporary religious art, including the establishment of an annual prize. The Blake Prize for Religious Art is one of the more prestigious art prizes in Australia. For 55 years it has been awarding a prize for works of art that explore the subject of religious awareness and spirituality.
First awarded in 1951 it has brought to the attention of the art world new and emerging artist as well as allowing for innovation and experimentation of expression. Senior artists like John Coburn, Eric Smith and Rod Milgate first came to attention through their winning entries for the Prize. In more recent years, the Blake has seen something of a revival of interest with increasing numbers of entries and a diversity of ideas being expressed in the works. Recent winners have included George Gittoes, Hilarie Mais and Rachel Ellis.
Rosemary Crumlin, who in 2002 curated a retropective of the Blake Prize, has been described as being "Australia's version of Sister Wendy Beckett:"
"Like Beckett, Crumlin discovered she had two callings - her faith and her love of art. For the past 10 years, she has been a full-time curator and art historian specialising in modern art and spirituality. Among her books are Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Images of Religion in Australian Art and Beyond Belief: Modern Art and the Religious Imagination.
Her main purpose in the retrospective was to show, through the paintings, how society's views on spirituality had changed over half a century:
"Initially, she says, "artists - and the Blake committee - took it for granted that 'religious' meant 'Christian' and that 'Christian' was to be equated with scriptural narratives". Today, artists and judges have a less restricted view of spirituality, encompassing not just other religions such as Judaism, Buddhism and Islam, but alternative faith systems, everything from "New Agism" to Aboriginality."
Such profound changes were reflected in the art with the first winners being essentially figurative works and later winers gradually becoming more abstract.
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Midnight Oil - King Of The Mountain.
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