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Friday 18 September 2020

ArtWay: Peter Koenig interview

I have had an interview with Peter Koenig published by ArtWay. Peter has said that the goal of his life has been to make a richer Christian-Catholic art by painting the drama, romance and poetry of the sacred book. In this interview we explore the way in which he has approached this task:

'Abraham set out from Ur. He was following the call of God (and how much does that word contain!). We are not born with a language or knowledge of the past, we have to be taught it by word and action. That is what Christian education seeks to do ...

How do I view my journey of faith and art? What have I learnt from my journey and what has the making of these artworks taught me? Those are very introspective questions. Well, not every style of art is equally suited for the subject or every book of the Bible. I usually remind myself that all art is transient. Indeed, ‘all flesh is grass and like the wild flower it fades, the grass withers, the flowers fade but the Word of the Lord is forever!’'

Peter Koenig is a life-long member of the Society of Catholic Artists in London and was its president from 1973-1980. The 90-years-anniversary exhibition for the Society of Catholic Artists can be viewed here.

Earlier in the year I also interviewed Sophie Hacker for ArtWay. That interview can be found here.

My visual meditations for ArtWay include work by María Inés Aguirre, Giampaolo Babetto, Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Alexander de Cadenet, Christopher Clack, Marlene Dumas, Terry Ffyffe, Antoni Gaudi, Nicola Green, Maciej Hoffman, S. Billie Mandle, Giacomo Manzù, Michael Pendry, Maurice Novarina, Regan O'Callaghan, Ana Maria Pacheco, John Piper, Albert Servaes, Henry Shelton and Anna Sikorska.

My Church of the Month reports include: Aylesford Priory, Canterbury Cathedral, Chapel of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Hem, Chelmsford Cathedral, Churches in Little Walsingham, Coventry Cathedral, Église de Saint-Paul à Grange-Canal, Eton College Chapel, Lumen, Metz Cathedral, Notre Dame du Léman, Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce, Plateau d’Assy,Romont, Sint Martinuskerk Latem, St Aidan of Lindisfarne, St Alban Romford, St. Andrew Bobola Polish RC Church, St. Margaret’s Church, Ditchling, and Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, St Mary the Virgin, Downe, and St Paul Goodmayes, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

Other of my writings for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Church Times can be found here. Those for Artlyst are here and those for Art+Christianity are here.

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James MacMillan - Christus Vincit.

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