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Saturday, 11 October 2014

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Report - Part 2



Commissions can be categorized as follows:

·         single commissions;
·         series of commissions over a different time-frame;
·         series of commissions in the same time-frame; and
·         programme of temporary commissions.

Issues to be addressed within such commissions include:

(i)                  Harmonisation versus dialogue/dissonance

This relates to commissions in settings where there is existing artwork/architecture and concerns the extent to which the new commission is integrated with whatever is already there or by being dissonant raises questions about what is already there. Artworks integrated within the life and architecture of a church are not viewed in the same way as works within the white cube of a gallery space and this needs to be understood and handled with sensitivity during the commissioning process. The result can be a sense of overall integrity and harmony within a space which holds great variety and diversity. Where this occurs the whole and its constituent parts image something of the Trinitarian belief – the one and the many - which is at the heart of Christianity.

Harmonisation is used most frequently with single commissions or a series of commissions over a different time-frame. At St Alban Romford Fr. Roderick Hingley has created links of colour, shape, texture and symbol that have led to the integration of commissions into a re-ordered space which enhances worship and is also aesthetically pleasing. At Chelmsford Cathedral former Dean, Peter Judd, used this approach when he commissioned Cazalet’s engraved St Cedd window in St Cedd’s Chapel as a counter-balance to John Hutton’s engraved St Peter window in St Peter’s Chapel. St Paul’s Goodmayes provides another example of this approach.

In other situations churches such as Metz Cathedral or Sint Aldegondis Deurle seem to have commissioned work without an overall scheme or plan for harmonization, yet do not appear to have become incoherent spaces. In many Belgian churches contemporary art is integrated with the artwork of the past in a melange of different styles which, while not specifically harmonised, nevertheless possesses integrity. It must be a great encouragement to contemporary artists to see churches, already rich in heritage, wishing to continue to develop and add to that tradition from the work of their own day and time.

Expressionist images of the crucifixion introduced a sense of dialogue or dissonance by challenging sentimental images of Christ and deliberately introducing ugliness into beautiful buildings. Dissonance most often occurs in relation to temporary commissions, such as that at St Paul’s Cathedral. The interventions there fulfil the key requirement of installation art; “a friction with its context that resists organisational pressure and instead exerts its own terms of engagement.”

(ii)                Curatorial vision versus artistic vision

Artworks commissioned for churches by necessity function as an element within a broader architectural, aesthetic and liturgical scheme and, for some artists, this sense that the art and the artist's vision is subordinate to a bigger, broader vision can be a part of the reason why church commissions are unattractive and unpursued.

At St Mary & All Angels Little Walsingham a note from the Director of Art in Churches says that the artworks commissioned there have been carefully placed to distinguish them from liturgical artefacts also in the church. He wants them to be seen as ‘works of art’ in a way that differs from the liturgical artefacts and enriches the areas of our spiritual being which extend beyond 'the confines of the spiritual liturgical.' This note illustrates a strand of thinking which sees art and artists as independent of though complementary to the Church, as opposed to the thinking in the Liturgical Movement, where art is the handmaid of the liturgy. Both have value, while both also raise issues for debate and discussion. Justine Grace, in The Spirit of Collaboration, writes of church commissions being perceived in modernism as being ‘ruled by the dogmatic prescriptions of the church rather than the artistic imagination’. At the same time, the example provided at Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce du Plateau d'Assy, where contemporary ‘masters’ were explicitly commissioned by Pére Marie-Alain Couturier, is, as noted by William S. Rubin, in some instances, of artists unfamiliar with the liturgy translating the subjects chosen into ‘purely personal philosophies’ (Modern Sacred Art and the Church of Assy, Columbia University Press, New York & London, 1961).

Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce on the Plateau d’Assy was planned as showcase for the value of contemporary church commissions. Couturier took on the primary role of curator but, as most of the commissions included were on the basis of his friendships with the artists involved, his decisions he made or did not make illustrate the tricky balance required to succeed in commissioning.

Too much work was commissioned for Assy from too many artists making the resulting iconographic scheme muddled and esoteric. There are inappropriate clashes of style (e.g. the Jacques Lipchitz sculpture dominating the Rouault windows or different styles in each of the nave windows), inappropriate positioning of some works (e.g. stained glass by Bazaine and reliefs by Chagall which can barely be seen), commissions which do not work in the space (e.g. the intimiste style of Bonnard is not suited to being viewed from a distance) and central commissions with esoteric symbolism (e.g. the Lurçat tapestry).

Couturier, presumably to sustain his friendships with the artists involved, seems not to have exercised sufficient control regarding the overall scheme which therefore means that the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. By contrast, Sutherland had to fight for aspects of his vision for the tapestry at Coventry Cathedral and needed the support of Spence in order to do so in the face of requests for change from Cathedral staff.

The architecture and artworks at a church like the Church of the Annunciation Little Walsingham illustrates what can be achieved when using artists who are either involved with the ‘alternative’ world of church decoration or who are not generally reckoned to be contemporary ‘masters’

(iii)              Treasure casket versus integrated design

Spence described Coventry Cathedral as a plain jewel casket filled with many jewels. In other words the building is architecturally plain - essentially a white rectangle - with the aim that this simplicity and minimalism will show off the artworks to best effect and that the significance and impact of these works will bring the building to life as a place of worship.

Spence was “the co-ordinator of the whole operation of commissioning artists and craftsmen with the skills to create a variety of elements, including glass, congenially juxtaposed and working together as a whole.” “Spence believed that the architect, as leader of the team, should collaborate at the earliest possible stage with his engineers and artists. With the art in progress there was also a reduced risk of it being lost in any subsequent budget cut. He was therefore careful to commission work from the outset. Artists were sought to suit each project and the artist’s freedom was maintained.”

The desire to preserve is at its strongest, however, when a church is built as a complete, integrated artistic and architectural unit in a particular style, whether Neo-Gothic/Pre-Raphaelite, as at St Michael & All Angels Waterford, or Modernist, as with Le Corbusier’s churches at Ronchamp and La Tourette. With such churches the desire to preserve is at its greatest, meaning, in the most extreme circumstances, that no development or new commissions are permissible because to do so would detract from the original designs. For many of the art sacré Churches which I visited in France this also means that they are designated as historic monuments. This guarantees their preservation while, possibly, denying their development.

The need for input/oversight from some kind of wider preservation body (e.g. the Diocesan Advisory Committee in Anglican settings) is demonstrated by the issues raised at St Peter’s Gorleston-on-Sea where for some time individuals were able to make significant changes to Gill’s original design based primarily on personal taste or preference.

The rejection of Harry Clarke’s design for St Michael and All Angels, on the grounds that the design was out of keeping with the Pre-Raphaelite windows already in the church, provides an interesting example of the complexity of issues and pressures found in such settings which has the potential for turning down work that could add considerably to the setting. The debate which preceded the work by Renzo Piano on the site of Ronchamp may well be another example of this syndrome; one which had a positive resolution. One possible solution to these dilemmas, which has been used at La Tourette, is that of commissioning temporary works that then relate in some way to the original design of the church or its artworks.

(iv)               Team versus individual stars

Couturier criticized the Ateliers d'Art Sacre as a 'world closed in on itself, where reciprocal indulgence, or else mutual admiration, quickly becomes the ransom paid to work as a team and maintain friendship.' Yet Couturier's scheme of work at Assy suffers from the opposite problem, as work by individual masters produced in isolation from each other, with work assigned on the basis of what they could with integrity contribute, results in a decorative scheme with no cohesiveness or focus.

Couturier, here, fails to be sufficiently decisive as a curator. As William S. Rubin states, 'the subject was almost as often picked for the man as the man for the subject.' It is the difference between a cohesive team of mediocre talents versus a team of individual stars. It is anyone's guess as to which will win. The ideal is usually part-way between the two and a mixed economy (of artists with significant mainstream reputations receiving occasional commissions plus artists with less significant mainstream reputations receiving commissions which form a significant part of their practice) is what we find throughout this period and into the present day.

Artists in the latter group have often worked together on commissions or to obtain commissions i.e. using broker/support organisations such as: ASP, Ateliers d'Arte Sacré, Christian Artists, commission4mission, Guild of Catholic Artists and Craftsmen, Guild of St Joseph & St Dominic, Societie de Saint Luc et St Maurice, and Society of Catholic Artists.

Commissioning several works from the same artists and positioning these at different locations within a church indicates an awareness of the differing ways in which visitors and worshippers use and respond to the space. Artworks integrated within the life and architecture of a church are not viewed in the same way as works within the white cube of a gallery space and this needs to be understood and handled with sensitivity during the commissioning process. The number and variety of commissions which feature within Chelmsford Cathedral, for example, mean that even in a packed service when each worshipper will only see from their specific place within the space a very small proportion of the artworks within the building, they will, nevertheless, be able to view something of significance and depth to enhance their experience of worship.

(v)                 Current masters versus national, regional or local artists

Couturier and Pie-Raymond Régamey argued that "each generation must appeal to the masters of living art, and today those masters come first from secular art." Hussey wrote that it had been the great enthusiasm of his life and work” to commission the very best artist’s he could.

In Contemporary Art in British Churches Paul Bayley sets up a dichotomy (as did Couturier and Régamey) between the significant contemporary artists participating in the upsurge of commissioning from the church (initiated by Hussey) and "self-styled 'Christian art' that though sincere and well-intentioned" is "often formulaic or decorative" and (tellingly) has "little or no standing within the art world." Alan Green gives a theological underpinning to this approach by pointing out that "Jesus was not afraid to associate with, and be looked after by, those who were not seen as good Jews ... Those who approached Jesus and seem to have got the best responses from him were not the religious elite, but those with no particular religious standing who nevertheless recognised something special in him and presented themselves honestly."

However the mainstream art movements of the day will not necessarily share a natural affinity with the Church (particularly when the Church is seen as a part of what is to be subverted) and, if the focus of the Church is on engaging key mainstream artists, then less attention may be paid to supporting emerging artists with a Christian faith able to engage effectively with the mainstream art world.

In addition, fashions and reputations in the art world (as elsewhere) change considerably with time. In their own day and time Pablo Picasso and Matisse were considered unassailable as the giants of twentieth century art while now, in terms of continuing influence on contemporary artists, Marcel Duchamp is generally considered to be the most influential twentieth century artist. Lurçat’s tapestry provides the central focus for the Church at Assy, where those artists commissioned were considered current masters, but his reputation has not been sustained into the current day.

The reputations of many of those who were commissioned by the Church in the twentieth century (e.g. Bazaine, Denis, Albert Gleizes, Lurcat, Manessier, Sutherland, Piper, Rouault, Severini) have declined following their deaths. The same is likely to be so for those receiving contemporary commissions (i.e. Clarke, Cox, Emin, Le Brun, Wisniewski). The pace with which modern art moved from one movement to next in the twentieth century quickly and, often unfairly, condemned as passé what had previously been avant garde.

The Church cannot, and probably should not, seek to keep up with the fickle nature of fashion and instead should value both artists with significant mainstream reputations wishing to receive occasional commissions plus artists with less significant mainstream reputations who receive commissions which form a more significant part of their practice. In my view, therefore, debates about artists with significant mainstream reputations versus those without and between secular artists and artists who are Christians represent false division and unnecessary debate. The reality is that both have happened simultaneously in the story of modern church commissions and both have resulted in successes and failures. As I shall attempt to outline in discussing the quality of commissions, the key is to pay sustained and prayerful attention to each and every artwork in order to discern what is good and of God in and through it. 

(vi)               Permanent vs temporary

Artists may, consciously or unconsciously, value permanent commissions (with churches providing one significant public context for such commissions) once they have established their reputation with a view to sustaining that reputation into an uncertain future. Permanent church commissions offer a means to escape the vagaries of the art market. However as Christianity is not currently viewed as trendy or fashionable in the West, it is seen as rarely benefitting an emerging artist to secure a church commission.

Permanent commissions raise issues of maintenance such the effect on its stained glass of building subsidence at Canterbury Cathedral or the ongoing maintenance programme for Kossowski’s ceramics at Aylesford Priory. Their cost can therefore be more than the purchase price.

The development of the idea and practice of installation art from the 1960s onwards has meant that it is no longer necessary to think of church commissions solely in terms of permanent commissions. This change in thinking has meant that St Paul’s Cathedral, rather than attempting the tricky negotiations which would be entailed by seeking to add to its existing permanent array of art (from the delicate carvings of Grinling Gibbons in the quire to Sir James Thornhill's dome murals, as well as the Victorian mosaics and Henry Moore's Mother and Child: Hood), can instead explore the encounter between art and faith through a series of temporary interventions by artists, which have included Rebecca Horn, Yoko OnoAntony Gormley and Bill Viola.

These interventions enrich both the daily pattern of worship in the Cathedral and the experience of the thousands who visit daily. Their temporary nature offers something new even for those that are regular worshippers at St Pauls, while the contrast that they provide with the existing art and permanent architecture of the Cathedral means that they also fulfil the key requirement of installation art; “a friction with its context that resists organisational pressure and instead exerts its own terms of engagement.”

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