Guides to art, culture and faith

I was interested to discover that Paris has an excellent guide to the art in its churches produced by Art Culture et Foi Paris. In the guide Isabelle Renaud-Chamska says that the association seeks to positively value the artistic legacy of the past while also engaging with the contemporary art world:

"... the association aims to encourage and support all the cultural and artistic activities of the diocese of Paris.
Trusting in the capacity of the Church to carry on with the dialogue stated from the very beginning and never interrupted with living artists, it respectfully and admiringly welcomes the heritage of previous generations as testimonies of life and faith of their predecessors. With their own language, their works, which many are exceptional, say something particular at each era. This language has its roots in the Bible and the liturgy ...

Paying attention to the signs of the times and echoing the message of Pope John Paul II, the association wishes to be listening to the artists of today so as to discover the presence of the Spirit working in the world and be able to offer its contemporaries the faith in the living Christ."

Among the churches highlighted are Saint Esprit and Saint Léon. Saint Esprit has sometimes been "called the 'Sistine Chapel' of the thirties ... Roughly 40 artists participated in its decoration (frescoes, paintings, mosaics, sculptures, stained glass, wrought iron ...). Among them Maurice Denis, Georges Desvallières (Stations of the Cross), Untersteller, Sarrabezoles - famous artists of the inter-war period." At Saint Léon "the finest artists of the period were invited to create stained glass (Barillet), sculpture  (Bouchard), wrought ironwork (Raymond Subes) and mosaics, especially those inside (Labouret). The general effect is of a museum to inter-war Christian art."

The story of how some of this art came to be created is told at the Musée Départemental Maurice Denis which is dedicated to the life and work of Maurice Denis, the French symbolist painter and theoretician of the Nabi School. Denis rented the Le Prieure (the Priory), an old hospital in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which he converted into his home and studio beginning to work there in 1910. He lived there until his death in 1943. The works from the Nabis school present in the Musée Départemental Maurice Denis include those of Paul Sérusier, Paul Ranson, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard and Félix Vallotton, as well as sculptures by Paul Gauguin.

Together with Desvallieres, Denis founded Ateliers d’Art Sacre in 1919 to teach young artists to create works “that serve God, the teachings of the truth and the decoration of places of worship.” Denis, himself, made canvas paintings and wall murals for over 15 churches across France. He restored and decorated the adjacent chapel from 1915 to 1928 including the painting of a cycle of Stations of the Cross.

In the UK commission4mission has produced a similar guide for the Barking Episcopal Area and this in turn has inspired the Revd. David New to create a leaflet as a guide to stained glass windows created by Thomas Denny for churches in the Three-Choirs area (Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester Dioceses).  

David writes that: "Thomas Denny, born in London, trained in drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art. One day a friend asked him to consider creating a stained glass window for a church in Scotland (Killearn 1983). Thus began a remarkable career that has produced over 30 stained glass windows in Cathedrals and Churches of this country. Tom’s love for painting and drawing, especially the things of nature, is evident in his windows ... All of Tom’s windows express biblical themes and are conducive to silent meditation. Find a seat; feel the colours; give time for the details to emerge; reflect."

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Scott Walker - Montague Terrace In Blue.