Art review: Victoria Crowe: Resonance of Time at Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London W1

My latest review for Church Times is of Victoria Crowe: Resonance of Time at Flowers Gallery:

'These are images that sit in the borderlands between permanence and transience, capturing the still point of the turning world in moments of twilight, in which the setting sun still blazes in the reflecting waters of a still lake, or snow turns blue in the early light of the moon. The varying lights of twilight create the subtle and yet vibrant colours of these landscapes, and tree studies with their immersion in this liminal time of transition, which is both now and not yet ...

Crowe is widely known for her winter landscapes, which are often painted from recollections of walking at dusk. A low blaze of crimson on the horizon will often signal the transitory moments of twilight, in which she finds elements of dream and combines these with strong visual memories of place. The twilight within her works is also reflective of an inner life, indicating a transitional and contemplative state between beginnings and endings.'

For more on Victoria Crowe, see my Church Times review of her 2019 retrospective here.

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here. My writing for ArtWay can be found here. Those pieces for Artlyst are here and those for Art+Christianity are here. See also Modern religious art: airbrushed from art history?

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Lone Justice - You Are The Light.

Windows on the world (376)

 Kendal, 2017

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Low - White Horses.

Art and faith: Decades of engagement - 1950s

This is Part 7 in a series of posts which aim to demonstrate the breadth of engagement there has been between the Arts and religion within the modern period and into our contemporary experience. The idea is to provide a brief introduction to the artists and initiatives that were prominent in each decade to enable further research. Inevitably, these lists will be partial as there is much that I don’t know and the lists reflect my interests and biases. As such, the primary, but not exclusive, focus is on artists that have engaged with the Christian tradition.

The introduction and the remainder of the series can be found at: Introduction, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s.

• Evelyn Waugh’s Helena (1950), Giovanni Guareschi’s Little World of Don Camillo (1950), Nikos Kazantzakis’ Captain Michalis (1950) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1955), C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series (1950 – 1956), Julien Green’s Moïra (1950) and The Transgressor (1958), Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair (1951), Jack Clemo’s The Clay Verge (1951), Heinrich Böll’s And where were you, Adam? (1951), And Never Said a Word (1953), The Bread of Those Early Years (1955), and Billiards at Half-past Nine (1959), David Jones’ The Anathemata (1952), Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood (1952), Elisabeth Langgässer’s The Quest (1953), J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1954), R.S. Thomas’ Song at the Year's Turning : Poems, 1942-1954 (1955), Muriel Spark’s The Comforters (1957), Brainard Cheney’s This Is Adam (1958), Geoffrey Hill’s For The Unfallen (1959), Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowtiz (1959), Morris West’s The Devil’s Advocate (1959), and Shūsaku Endō’s Wonderful Fool (1959) are published.
• In 1950, black gospel features at Carnegie Hall when Joe Bostic produces the Negro Gospel and Religious Music Festival. He repeats it the next year with an expanded list of performing artists, and in 1959 moves to Madison Square Garden.
• In 1950, Hank Williams begins recording as "Luke the Drifter" for his religious-themed recordings, many of which are recitations rather than singing. Fearful that disc jockeys and jukebox operators would hesitate to accept these recordings, Williams uses this alias to avoid hurting the marketability of his name. Most of the material is written by Williams himself, in some cases with the help of Fred Rose and his son Wesley. The songs depict Luke the Drifter traveling from place to place, narrating stories of different characters and philosophizing about life.
• In 1950, Francis Poulenc composes his Stabat Mater in memory of the painter Christian Bérard. The work is premiered the following year.
• Between 1950 and 1951, the Holy Trinity mural project at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Port-au-Prince, Haiti is finished. The project is directed by Selden Rodman and includes work by Philomé Obin, Rigaud Benoit, Castera Bazile, Gabriel Lévèque and Wilson Bigaudalso.
• Nicholas Mosley meets and is influenced by Father Raymond Raynes, superior of the Anglican Community of the Resurrection (1950), and edits the theological magazine Prism from 1958.
• The Chapelle du Saint-Marie du Rosaire in Vence is completed by Henri Matisse in 1951.
• An annual exhibition Salon Art Sacré is founded by Marie-Alain Couturier, Pie-Raymond Régamey and Joseph Pichard in 1951.
• In 1951, in preparation for the unveiling of Christ of St John of the Cross, Salvador Dalí writes his Mystical Manifesto.
• In 1951, 'The Baptism of Christ' by Hans Feibusch is commissioned for Chichester Cathedral.
• The Blake Prize for Religious Art is launched in Australia in 1951.
• In 1952, François Mauriac wins the Nobel Prize "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life".
• In 1952, the East Window created by Evie Hone for Eton College Chapel is installed.
• In 1952, Albert Gleizes is commissioned to create a fresco on the theme of The Eucharist for a new Jesuit chapel at Les Fontaines, Chantilly.
• In 1952 Cerf publish Pie-Raymond Régamey's Religious Art in the Twentieth Century.
• ‘Modern Sacred Art’ by Joseph Pichard is published by Arthaud editions in 1953.
• Jubilee, a widely acclaimed Catholic literary magazine published between 1953 and 1967, is founded by Ed Rice, and co-edited by Robert Lax and Thomas Merton with the mission to “produce a Catholic literary magazine that would act as a forum for addressing issues confronting the contemporary church.”
• Alfred Noyes gives an account of his conversion in his autobiography, Two Worlds for Memory (1953).
• In 1953 Andre Girard completes his commission, awarded by Clare Boothe Luce, for the decoration of St. Ann Chapel in Palo Alto. Girard develops the technique, which he calls ‘painting on light’, of painting directly on film. These films focus exclusively on religious themes and include the Sermon on the Mount recounted in Matthew’s Gospel, the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, and the life of the Patriarch Abraham. In 1959, Girard’s films are initially presented through national broadcasts and later at congregational viewings.
• In 1953, Francis Poulenc begins writing the opera Dialogues des Carmélites, based on an unfilmed screenplay by Georges Bernanos. The text, based on a short story by Gertrud von Le Fort, depicts the Martyrs of Compiègne, nuns guillotined during the French Revolution for their religious beliefs. The opera is first given in January 1957 at La Scala in Italian translation.
• Completion in 1954 of the Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier.
• In 1954, Galerie nächst St. Stephan in Vienna is founded by Monseigneur Otto Mauer. There, he creates a platform for artists like Herbert Boeckl, Wolfgang Hollegha, Josef Mikl, Markus Prachensky, and Arnulf Rainer to exchange ideas about art.
• From 1954 onwards musicians such as James Brown, James Booker, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and Jackie Wilson help create soul music by bringing gospel inspired harmonies and traditions from rhythm and blues.
• Biblical themes and religious figures inspired Martha Graham: Seraphic Dialogue (1955; Joan of Arc), Embattled Garden (1958; referring to the Garden of Eden), and Legend of Judith (1962) and abstractions such as Diversion of Angels (1948) or Acrobats of God (1960).
• Completion of commissions in 1955 for Sacré Cœur d'Audincourt, with stained glass by Fernand Léger, mosaic and stained glass by Jean Bazaine, and stained glass (crypt) by Jean Le Moal.
• Canticum Sacrum (1955) by Igor Stravinsky is the first piece to contain a movement entirely based on a tone row. Stravinsky then expands his use of dodecaphony in works such as Threni (1958) and A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer (1961), which are based on biblical texts, and The Flood (1962), which mixes brief biblical texts from the Book of Genesis with passages from the York and Chester Mystery Plays.
• In 1955, Joseph Pichard founds the review Art Chrétien.
• In 1955, W.H. Auden completes Horae Canonicae. This sequence of poems is published in The Shield of Achilles (1955).
• In 1956, Édition Labergerie publish the Jerusalem Bible with more than a thousand of Endre Bálint's illustrations.
• In 1956, at the height of Kenya's Mau Mau war of independence, a young African Christian artist by the name of Rekyaelimoo (Elimo) Njau is commissioned to paint scenes from the life of Jesus in a church being built as a memorial to Christians who had died in the conflict.
• Eric Smith wins The Blake Prise in 1956 for The Scourged Christ, in 1958 for The Moment Christ Died and 1959 for Christ Is Risen.
• In April 1956 Colin McCahon becomes Keeper and Deputy Director of the Auckland City Art Gallery. McCahon assists in the professionalisation of the gallery and the first exhibitions and publications to record a New Zealand art history.
• In 1956, Jim and Helen Ede move into Kettle’s Yard and begin keeping ‘open house’. Among the artists with whom they correspond and whose work they collect are William Congdon, David Jones, and Richard Pousette-Dart.
• In 1956 Alec Guinness enters the Roman Catholic church following experiences while filming a film adaptation of G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown detective stories in France and the recovery from polio of his son Matthew. As a result, Guinness began to study Catholicism, had long talks with a Catholic priest, went on retreat at a Trappist abbey, and even attended Mass with Grace Kelly while he was working on a film in Los Angeles.
• In 1956 Jean Cocteau finishes his first church murals for the Chapelle Saint-Pierre in Villefranche-Sur-Mer. Murals followed at Notre Dame de France, London, in 1958 and for the church of Saint Blaise-des-Simples in Milly-la-Forêt, 1959.
• The Judson Gallery is instituted by Dr. Howard Moody when he arrives at Judson Memorial Church in 1956. The early work of artists such as Claes Oldenburg, Allan Kaprow, Tom Wesselman and Jim Dine sets the tone for theatre and dance at Judson. Other artists include Robert Rauschenberg, Yoko Ono, and Red Grooms. The gallery is home to several Happenings, presenting the first Happening in New York in 1958 created by Allan Kaprow.
• "Million Dollar Quartet" is a recording of an impromptu jam session involving Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley made on December 4, 1956, at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ draw on a shared background of Spirituals, Gospel, the charismata of Southern Pentecostalism.
• In 1957, Caroline Gordon publishes How to Read a Novel.
• In 1957, Daniel Berrigan wins the Lamont Prize for his book of poems, Time Without Number.
• In 1957, Ernesto Cardenal enters Gethsemani Abbey and is a novice there under Thomas Merton until he leaves in 1959 to return to Latin America.
• In 1957, Sister Gertrude Morgan hears a voice telling her she is the Bride of Christ, following this revelation she adopts her sanctified outfit and begins painting and drawing.
• In 1959, Dominique and John de Menil provide funding for a programme in art and art history at the University of St Thomas, a small Catholic liberal arts college in Houston, Texas. They provide resources for an art library, art collection and an exhibitions budget.
• In 1959, the Louvin Brothers release the album ‘Satan is Real’. The review in AllMusic states: "You don't need to share the Louvin Brothers' spiritual beliefs to be moved by the grace, beauty and lack of pretension of this music; Satan Is Real is music crafted by true believers sharing their faith, and its power goes beyond Christian doctrine into something at once deeply personal and truly universal, and the result is the Louvin Brothers' masterpiece."
• In 1959, Frank and Dorothy Getlein publish Christianity in Art.
• A poem and book based on Salvador Dalí’s painting, The Virgin of Port Lligat by Fray Angelico Chavez is selected as one of the best books of 1959 by the Catholic Library Association.
• In 1959, the theologian Paul Tillich gives a lecture at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in which he states that “an apple of Cezanne has more presence of ultimate reality than a picture of Jesus by Hoffman.”
• In 1959, Pablo Picasso completes his paintings for the Temple of Peace chapel in Vallauris.
• In 1959, Jean Anouilh’s Becket is performed.
• In 1959, FN Souza paints Crucifixion (now in the Tate).
• In 1959, after a trip to Cambodia, William Congdon returns to Assisi where he is received into the Roman Catholic faith at the Pro Civitate Christiana.

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Million Dollar Quartet - Just A Little Talk With Jesus.

Poem: The twin poles of Rouault and Girard

My two newest poems have been published by Amethyst Review and Stride respectively. 'The twin poles of Rouault and Girard' was published in Stride today. 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages' appeared in Amethyst Review earlier in April. These are poems which muse on the nature of art exploring approaches to the making of art and to art criticism.

In 2020 two of my poems 'Are/Are Not' and 'Attend, attend' appeared in Amethyst Review. I also had three poems appear in Stride magazine that same year. All those poems concerned other poets beginning with the artist-poet David Jones, continuing with Dylan Thomas and ending with Jack Clemo. The third of these poems featured in a Stride series entitled 'Talking to the Dead'. These poems can be read at http://stridemagazine.blogspot.com/search?q=evens. 

Stride magazine was founded in 1982. Since then it has had various incarnations, most recently in an online edition since the late 20th century. You can visit its earlier incarnation at http://stridemagazine.co.uk.

I have read the poetry featured in Stride and, in particular, the work of its editor Rupert Loydell over many years and was very pleased that Rupert gave a poetry reading when I was at St Stephen Walbrook (an event that Sarah Law, editor of Amethyst, attended). As one or two of my early poems featured in Stride, I am particularly pleased to be published there once again.

Rupert Loydell is a poet, painter, editor and publisher, and senior lecturer in English with creative writing at Falmouth University. He is interested in the relationship of visual art and language, collaborative writing, sequences and series, as well as post-confessional narrative, experimental music and creative non-fiction.

He has edited Stride magazine for over 30 years, and was managing editor of Stride Books for 28 years. His poetry books include Wildlife and Ballads of the Alone (both published by Shearsman), and The Fantasy Kid (for children).

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Van Morrison - For Mr Thomas.

Winefride Wilson: Christian Art since the Romantic Movement

I've recently read 'Christian Art since the Romantic Movement' by Winefride Wilson. I found the book in a secondhand library sale.

The book, which was also published a 'Modern Christian Art' begins with the Romantic Movement. Winefride surveys the turbulent spirit of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art and shows how the expressive artists of the twentieth century owes an unrecognized debt to the traditional Christian artists of earlier centuries. She discusses paintings and sculpture, emphasizing the important figures in this century: Graham Sutherland, David Jones, Eric Gill, Sir Jacob Epstein and many others. In separate sections, the author treats architectural trends, work in metals, ceramics, textiles and stained glass.

The book covers: The downfall of reason; Nostalgic brotherhoods; The age of revivals; Preaching boxes and true principles; Religious painting and European movements; Two centuries of Christian sculpture; A fantastical Spaniard and some contemporaries; Bright pavilions; and The precious arts.

The book is one of the most comprehensive I have read and is written in a polemical style that maintains the reader's interest throughout, even when one may not agree with the stated perspective. Winefride lectured widely and was the art critic for The Tablet. A former President of the Society of Catholic Artists, she was made one of the first Papal dames in 1994. She was taught the art of silversmithing by her husband Dunstan Pruden and joined the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic in 1975.

I experienced a sense of frustration in finding this book as Winefride is not someone I have seen referenced previously despite having being widely read on the topic of Modern Christian or Sacred Art. The fact that her book is more comprehensive than many on this subject demonstrates the extent to which institutional memory is commonly disregarded in this field.

Eric Newton, for example, was another excellent earlier writer in this field who is relatively rarely cited. Newton's 'The Christian faith in art' is well worth a read. Like Winefride Wilson, Newton was also an artist. In a similar vein and from a similar period, 'Christianity in Art,' published in 1959, by Frank and Dorothy Getlein is also worth reading. 

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Bob Dylan - Caribbean Wind.

Windows on the world (375)

 Canary Wharf, 2021

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Low - Days Like These.

Deus Ex Musica: Four (Surprising) Pop Songs for Easter

For over 50 years, pop musicians in all genres have explored the meaning and significance of Jesus in their music. The result is a rich collection of songs that consider important spiritual questions like faith, doubt, and prayer in unique and often provocative ways. 

Delvyn Case and I both have a deep interest in the ways faith is expressed in and through pop music in all its many guises. In a recent series for HeartEdge we attempted to tap our differing interests and knowledge by choosing four songs for each festival we discussed.

In my latest blog post for Deus Ex Musica I share the four songs we chose for Easter. My earlier post with four songs for Lent can also be read here.

My co-authored book - The Secret Chord - on faith and music can also be found here. 'The Secret Chord is an accessible exploration of artistic dilemmas from a range of different perspectives which seeks to draw the reader into a place of appreciation for what makes a moment in a 'performance' timeless and special. The writers' experience of creativity is of disparate and often contradictory ideas being crushed, swirled, fermented, shaken and stirred in our minds in order that the fine wine of creativity results.'

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Patti Smith - Easter.

Artlyst: Jacob Epstein, Louis Carreon, Titus Kaphar, Betty Spackman – April 2022 Diary

My April diary for Artlyst covers exhibitions with work by Jacob Epstein, Louis Carreon, Titus Kaphar, Genesis Tramaine and Betty Spackman:

'As one of the most significant sculptors of the 20th century, Jacob Epstein pushed societal boundaries and confounded neat classification in his works. Contemporary street artist Louis Carreon invites the viewer to re-think aspects of reality and the place of all in the natural and constructed world that surrounds us. By reconfiguring the paintings and sculptures he creates, Titus Kaphar seeks to dislodge history from its status as the ‘past’ to unearth its contemporary relevance. In addition, each of these boundary-pushing artists grapple with religious themes.'

My interviews for Artlyst with Louis Carreon, Genesis Tramaine and Betty Spackman can be read here, here and here.

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

• Sidney Nolan’s Africa: Interview With Andrew Turley
• Ilona Bossanyi: Tate’s Ervin Bossanyi Stained Glass Window Mothballed After 2011 Redevelopment
• Louis Carreon: Sampling Art History
• Modus Operandi - What Makes Successful Public Art: Vivien Lovell Interviewed
• Genesis Tramaine: A Queer Devotional Painter
• Lakwena Maciver: Review-Interview Hastings Contemporary
• Nicola Ravenscroft - Sculpture With A Peaceful Stillness
• Artist Hannah Rose Thomas – Tears of Gold – Interview
• Marcus Lyon: Human Atlas Explorations
• Elizabeth Kwant Interview
• Helaine Blumenfeld: Undulating Structures
• National Gallery Explores ‘Sin’ In New Exhibition – Interview Dr Joost Joustra Curator
• Betty Spackman: Posthumanism Debates
• Christopher Clack: Connecting The Material And Immaterial
• Peter Howson Artlyst Interview
• Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker On The Legacy Of ArtWay
• Alastair Gordon A Testament To His Faith
• Katrina Moss Chaiya Art Awards Interview: Where is God in our 21st century world?
• Apocalypse Now: Michael Takeo Magruder Interviewed
• Jonathan Anderson: Religious Inspirations Behind Modernism
• Caravan – An Interview With Rev Paul Gordon Chandler On Arts Peacebuilding
• Art Awakening Humanity Alexander de Cadenet Interviewed
• Michael Pendry New Installation Lights Up St Martin In The Fields
• Mark Dean Projects Stations of the Cross Videos On Henry Moore Altar

Articles -

• Raphael The Human And Divine – National Gallery
• Damien Hirst The Visceral Reality Of Death
• Ali Cherri: Artist in Residence National Gallery
• Audrey Flack Carlo Crivelli And Robert Indiana – March Diary
• Surrealism Outside The Usual Story – Tate Modern
• Marcus Lyon Creates Fields of Vision At St Martin-in-the-Fields London
• My Art Diary And Other Thoughts February 2022
• Van Gogh Self Portraits The Infinite And The Ordinary
• Marvellous Icons: The London Jesuit Centre
• And On An Art Note: End Of Year Diary 2021
• Albrecht Dürer Travels Of A Renaissance Artist – National Gallery London
• Diasporan Identities: Life Between Islands Caribbean British Art – Tate Britain
• Isamu Noguchi: Socially Engaged Art – Barbican Centre
• Pablo Bronstein: A This-World Vision Of Hell
• Bosco Sodi: In The Beginning Of Wisdom
• George Condo Lockdown Works Hauser & Wirth
• Theaster Gates Clay As A Profound Metaphor
• Mark Rothko: Mesmerising And Intimate Works On Paper
• International Autumn Art Exhibition Reviews
• Roger Cecil: A Once In A Generation Welsh Painter
• Tino Sehgal: Location, Nature And Pandemic – Blenheim Palace
• Michael Armitage And The Power Of Art – Royal Academy
• Marie Raymond And Post-War Avant Garde Painting In Paris
• Rachel Kneebone: A Complex Tableau Of Organic And Geometric Forms
• Rodin: Suffering And Conflict – Tate Modern
• Barbara Hepworth: Symbols Of Art & Life – Hepworth Wakefield
• 20th Century Women Artists Challenging Conventions In Britain
• Chaiya Art Awards 2021 Gallery OXO
• Marc Chagall’s Exquisite Stained Glass Window Commissions
• George Gittoes Equal parts artist and warrior
• Keith Haring: Personal Spiritual Imagery
• Sean Scully: Philosophical Poetic Pastoral The 12 / Dark Windows
• Arthur Jafa: The Art Of Cutting And Pasting
• Blackpentecostal Breath: Spirit-Led Movement Jumps From Music To Visual Art
• Made in USA Ed Ruscha An American Perspective
• Robert Smithson: The Archetypal Nature Of Things
• If Jesus Is A Man Of Colour Why Did We Make Him Aryan?
• Cosmic Patches And Quilts Five Exhibitions
• Everyday Heroes: Southbank Exhibition Celebrates Low-paid Key Workers
• Entwining Spiritualism And Art – Three Shows
• Of Church And The Visual Arts
• Has The Word Master Reached Its Sell-By Date?
• The People Behind Community Is Kindness Billboard Campaign
• André Daughtry: Art, Rebellion And Racial Justice
• Salisbury Cathedral 800 Years Of Art And Spirit
• Home Alone Together Twenty Five Artists
• Botanical Mind Online: Art, Mysticism and the Cosmic Tree
• Salvador Dalí The Enigma of Faith
• Art And Faith A Time For Seeing
• Andy Warhol: Catholicism His Work, Faith And Legacy
• Kiki Smith: Embodied Art
• Art and Christianity Awards A Positive New Millennium Legacy
• Arnulf Rainer: 90th Birthday Exhibition Celebrated At Albertina Museum
• A Belonging Project And Exiles Loss and Displacement
• Robert Polidori: Fra Angelico Opus Operantis
• Art, Faith, Church Patronage and Modernity
• Contemplating the Spiritual in Contemporary Art
• Mat Collishaw Challenges Faith Perspectives With Ushaw Installation
• Waterloo Festival Launches At St. John’s Waterloo
• John Bellany Alan Davie Spiritual Joy and Magic
• RIFT Unites 17 Art and Science MA Graduates At Central St Martins
• Visionary Cities: Michael Takeo Magruder – British Library
• Van Gogh’s Religious Journey Around London
• William Congdon Holy Sites And The Kettle’s Yard Connection
• Mark Dean Premieres Pastiche Mass At Banqueting Hall Chelsea College of Arts
• John Kirby: The Torment
• Underlying The Civilised Facade
• Curating Spiritual Sensibilities In Changing Times
• Homeless Highlighted: New Beau Exhibition At St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Ken Currie: Protest Defeat And Victory
• Bosco Sodi: A Moment Of Genesis
• Bill Viola And The Art Of Contemplation
• Art In Churches 2018: Spiritual Combinations Explored
• Sister Wendy Beckett – A Reminiscence
• Guido Guidi: Per Strada Flowers Gallery London
• Peter Howson: The play is over – Flowers Gallery
• Camille Henrot: Scientific History And Creation Story Mash Up
• Nicola Green Explores Recent And Contemporary Religious Leaders – St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Art And The Consequences Of War Explored In Two Exhibitions
• Helaine Blumenfeld Translating Her Vision
• Sam Ivin: Physically Scratched Portraits Of Asylum Seekers Exhibited
• Sacred Noise: Explores Religion, Faith And Divinity
• Bill Viola: Quiet Contemplative Video Installation St Cuthbert’s Church Edinburgh
• The ground-breaking work of Sister Corita Kent
• Picasso To Souza: The Crucifixion Imagery Rarely Exhibited
• Michael Takeo Magruder: De / coding the Apocalypse – Panacea Museum
• Giorgio Griffa: The Golden Ratio And Inexplicable Knowledge
• Arabella Dorman Unveils New Installation At St James Church Piccadilly
• Can Art Transform Society?
• Art Awakening Humanity Conference Report
• Central St Martins in the Fields Design Then And Now
• The Sacramental And Liturgical Nature Of Conceptual Art
• Polish Art In Britain: Centenary Marked At London’s Ben Uri Gallery
• Refugee Artists: Learning from The Lives Of Others
• The Religious Impulses Of Robert Rauschenberg
• The Christian Science Connection Within The British Modern Art Movement
• Artists Rebranding The Christmas Tree Tradition
• Art Impacted - A Radical Response To Radicalisation
• The Art of St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Was Caravaggio A Good Christian?

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Roxy Music - Psalm.

CHRIS GOLLON : STATIONS OF THE CROSS On View at The Church of St. John on Bethnal Green

After a two-year hiatus, The Church of St John on Bethnal Green, designed by Sir John Soane, opens its doors for the Good Friday service. Once again, visitors may view Chris Gollon’s acclaimed Fourteen Stations of the Cross, a fine example of contemporary sacred art.

The Church of St John on Bethnal Green is a Grade I-listed church designed by Sir John Soane from 1826-28, and one of the East End’s most admired buildings. In 2000, Father Alan Green commissioned leading British, and London-born, artist Chris Gollon (1953-2017) to create 14 Stations of the Cross paintings for the church.

The sequence of paintings took eight years to complete. Father Alan Green, as Rector of the church, collaborated with Gollon on the project. Gollon used his son as the model for Jesus, and his daughter as Mary; he cast Father Alan as Nicodemus.

Upon the site-specific artworks’ unveiling – in 2008 on Good Friday – Gollon’s Fourteen Stations of the Cross were blessed by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, and permanently installed in the church in 2009. They were also chosen as Critic’s Choice in both The Times and the Financial Times, featured on BBC TV News and Chris Gollon was interviewed by Ed Stourton about his Stations for Radio 4’s Today Programme.

Jackie Wullschlager, in the Financial Times, said: “It was a bold, inspired decision of Father Alan Green to commission Chris Gollon.” She noted: “Like [Stanley] Spencer, he dramatizes the everyday in contemporary images, depicting our clumsy, ridiculous ordinariness, bringing alive for a modern audience the ghastly dissonance of this story of good and evil, sacrifice and humanity, answering on its own terms a 21st-century culture that regards the heroic as absurd.”

One painting from Gollon’s Fourteen Stations of the Cross was also shown in Presence: Images of Christ for the Third Millennium in St Pauls Cathedral, alongside works by Bill Viola, Tracey Emin, Maggi Hambling and Craigie Aitchison.

The Church of St John on Bethnal Green will open for the 10am Good Friday service on April 15 2022. Fourteen Stations of the Cross may once more serve both as an aid to worship and as a visitor attraction.

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John Stainer - God So Loved The World.

Farewells and thank you's at St Martin's

Last Sunday, St Martin-in-the-Fields said thank you to Catherine Duce and I, before Catherine starts her maternity leave and I move to become Team Rector in Wickford and Runwell. All the speeches are available to read online, click here for mine and here for Catherine's.

I began my speech by saying: "Tell about a time you had a really good experience of church. Tell about a time you made a difference to the wider church. Tell about a time you felt your gifts and ideas were understood and appreciated. Tell about the time you spent seven years at St Martin-in-the-Fields."

Below is a photo with my leaving gifts, two prints by artist Kelly Latimore. Kelly Latimore wants Iconography to be a creative process, meditation, and practice that brings about new self knowledge for the viewer and himself. He asks the question, "Who are the saints that are among us here and now?"

He writes: "I feel the need for new images. In some icons I wish to embrace the traditional forms and image but for many icons the image needs re-shaping, re-imagining, and re-wondering.There are icons here that people may find theologically unsound and wrong, or for others, helpful and inspiring. I think both reactions are important. My hope is that these icons do what all art can potentially do, which is, to create more dialogue."








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St Martin-in-the-Fields - Morning Song.

Chaiya Art Awards 2023

Chaiya Art Awards, the UK’s biggest art awards illuminating spirituality with a top prize of £10,000, is back with a new theme for 2023 - Awe and Wonder.

The new theme ‘AWE and WONDER’ is open for submissions now and you can enter via the competition page here - https://chaiyaartawards.co.uk/competition/. The Winners exhibition will be taking place at the OXO gallery and The Bargehouse gallery 7-16 April 2023.

Check out my articles about Chaiya Art Awards here:

• Katrina Moss Chaiya Art Awards Interview: Where is God in our 21st century world?
• Chaiya Art Awards 2021 Gallery OXO
• Chaiya Art Awards: ‘God is . . .’ at Gallery@OXO

Covid and the war in Ukraine has raised and continues to raise so many difficult questions. It breaks into our present and offers a horizon filled with pain and difficulty. But that is not the whole picture, the 3rd Chaiya Art Awards, the UK’s biggest art competition exploring and illuminating spirituality has launched its new theme AWE + WONDER and offers a top prize of £10,000.

This biennial theme based competition is open to visual artists of all faiths, to those with none and everyone in between. These awards invite submissions of painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, glass, textiles, mixed media, photography, video and installations in response to the theme, Awe and Wonder.

A prestigious judging panel: world renowned textile artist Kaffe Fassett; portraitist and President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Alastair Adams; International photographer Marcus Lyon; distinguished curator Dr Christo Kefalas; and multi-disciplinary artist and winner of Sky Arts ‘Landmark’ prize Favour Jonathan will be looking for originality and technical excellence, theme interpretation and emotional impact.

For the finalists Chaiya delivers a ten-day exhibition in central London. Owing to the success of the two previous awards, it will not only display work at London’s prestigious gallery@oxo, but also the huge Bargehouse alongside it. So more artists and bigger pieces can be seen by the thousands of visitors who come to the Winners Exhibitions. There will be a Press Night the eve before the opening to announce the winning artists.

The Chaiya Art Awards is not only passionate about elevating artists’ work into the public arena and encouraging emerging artists, it is also ardent about ending modern day slavery and trafficking. As a charity a percentage of all art work sold goes to UNSEEN UK. Full details on the competition: https://chaiyaartawards.co.uk

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of every day life.” ~ Pablo Picasso

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The Innocence Mission - You Chase The Light.

Artlyst: Raphael The Human And Divine – National Gallery

My latest review for Artlyst is of Raphael at the National Gallery:

'... by focusing on the range of his work and commitments, this exhibition provides us with a much fuller and deeper picture of the artist and person Raphael was; one who is a Renaissance man alongside Leonardo and Michelangelo and one whose qualities were such that, on his death, he was compared to Christ. Shaped as we all are – however isolated and individual, we might become – by our relationships with others, it was his experience of friendship and humanity that, combined with his natural talent, enabled him to create a vision of all that humanity could become.

While being predominantly a vision of harmony, serenity, and beauty, meaning that the critique of Ruskin cannot simply be dismissed, sufficient of the energy and emotion which is found more readily in the drawings seeps into his paintings to ensure they combine execution and thought; beauty and veracity. In this way, he captures in his art, the human and the divine, love, friendship, learning, and power. This year in Holy Week and Eastertide, given the degree of turmoil, conflict and anxiety to be found within our world, we could do far worse than to immerse ourselves in Raphael’s vision of all we can potentially become, and be inspired.'

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

• Sidney Nolan’s Africa: Interview With Andrew Turley
• Ilona Bossanyi: Tate’s Ervin Bossanyi Stained Glass Window Mothballed After 2011 Redevelopment
• Louis Carreon: Sampling Art History
• Modus Operandi - What Makes Successful Public Art: Vivien Lovell Interviewed
• Genesis Tramaine: A Queer Devotional Painter
• Lakwena Maciver: Review-Interview Hastings Contemporary
• Nicola Ravenscroft - Sculpture With A Peaceful Stillness
• Artist Hannah Rose Thomas – Tears of Gold – Interview
• Marcus Lyon: Human Atlas Explorations
• Elizabeth Kwant Interview
• Helaine Blumenfeld: Undulating Structures
• National Gallery Explores ‘Sin’ In New Exhibition – Interview Dr Joost Joustra Curator
• Betty Spackman: Posthumanism Debates
• Christopher Clack: Connecting The Material And Immaterial
• Peter Howson Artlyst Interview
• Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker On The Legacy Of ArtWay
• Alastair Gordon A Testament To His Faith
• Katrina Moss Chaiya Art Awards Interview: Where is God in our 21st century world?
• Apocalypse Now: Michael Takeo Magruder Interviewed
• Jonathan Anderson: Religious Inspirations Behind Modernism
• Caravan – An Interview With Rev Paul Gordon Chandler On Arts Peacebuilding
• Art Awakening Humanity Alexander de Cadenet Interviewed
• Michael Pendry New Installation Lights Up St Martin In The Fields
• Mark Dean Projects Stations of the Cross Videos On Henry Moore Altar

Articles -

• Damien Hirst The Visceral Reality Of Death
• Ali Cherri: Artist in Residence National Gallery
• Audrey Flack Carlo Crivelli And Robert Indiana – March Diary
• Surrealism Outside The Usual Story – Tate Modern
• Marcus Lyon Creates Fields of Vision At St Martin-in-the-Fields London
• My Art Diary And Other Thoughts February 2022
• Van Gogh Self Portraits The Infinite And The Ordinary
• Marvellous Icons: The London Jesuit Centre
• And On An Art Note: End Of Year Diary 2021
• Albrecht Dürer Travels Of A Renaissance Artist – National Gallery London
• Diasporan Identities: Life Between Islands Caribbean British Art – Tate Britain
• Isamu Noguchi: Socially Engaged Art – Barbican Centre
• Pablo Bronstein: A This-World Vision Of Hell
• Bosco Sodi: In The Beginning Of Wisdom
• George Condo Lockdown Works Hauser & Wirth
• Theaster Gates Clay As A Profound Metaphor
• Mark Rothko: Mesmerising And Intimate Works On Paper
• International Autumn Art Exhibition Reviews
• Roger Cecil: A Once In A Generation Welsh Painter
• Tino Sehgal: Location, Nature And Pandemic – Blenheim Palace
• Michael Armitage And The Power Of Art – Royal Academy
• Marie Raymond And Post-War Avant Garde Painting In Paris
• Rachel Kneebone: A Complex Tableau Of Organic And Geometric Forms
• Rodin: Suffering And Conflict – Tate Modern
• Barbara Hepworth: Symbols Of Art & Life – Hepworth Wakefield
• 20th Century Women Artists Challenging Conventions In Britain
• Chaiya Art Awards 2021 Gallery OXO
• Marc Chagall’s Exquisite Stained Glass Window Commissions
• George Gittoes Equal parts artist and warrior
• Keith Haring: Personal Spiritual Imagery
• Sean Scully: Philosophical Poetic Pastoral The 12 / Dark Windows
• Arthur Jafa: The Art Of Cutting And Pasting
• Blackpentecostal Breath: Spirit-Led Movement Jumps From Music To Visual Art
• Made in USA Ed Ruscha An American Perspective
• Robert Smithson: The Archetypal Nature Of Things
• If Jesus Is A Man Of Colour Why Did We Make Him Aryan?
• Cosmic Patches And Quilts Five Exhibitions
• Everyday Heroes: Southbank Exhibition Celebrates Low-paid Key Workers
• Entwining Spiritualism And Art – Three Shows
• Of Church And The Visual Arts
• Has The Word Master Reached Its Sell-By Date?
• The People Behind Community Is Kindness Billboard Campaign
• André Daughtry: Art, Rebellion And Racial Justice
• Salisbury Cathedral 800 Years Of Art And Spirit
• Home Alone Together Twenty Five Artists
• Botanical Mind Online: Art, Mysticism and the Cosmic Tree
• Salvador Dalí The Enigma of Faith
• Art And Faith A Time For Seeing
• Andy Warhol: Catholicism His Work, Faith And Legacy
• Kiki Smith: Embodied Art
• Art and Christianity Awards A Positive New Millennium Legacy
• Arnulf Rainer: 90th Birthday Exhibition Celebrated At Albertina Museum
• A Belonging Project And Exiles Loss and Displacement
• Robert Polidori: Fra Angelico Opus Operantis
• Art, Faith, Church Patronage and Modernity
• Contemplating the Spiritual in Contemporary Art
• Mat Collishaw Challenges Faith Perspectives With Ushaw Installation
• Waterloo Festival Launches At St. John’s Waterloo
• John Bellany Alan Davie Spiritual Joy and Magic
• RIFT Unites 17 Art and Science MA Graduates At Central St Martins
• Visionary Cities: Michael Takeo Magruder – British Library
• Van Gogh’s Religious Journey Around London
• William Congdon Holy Sites And The Kettle’s Yard Connection
• Mark Dean Premieres Pastiche Mass At Banqueting Hall Chelsea College of Arts
• John Kirby: The Torment
• Underlying The Civilised Facade
• Curating Spiritual Sensibilities In Changing Times
• Homeless Highlighted: New Beau Exhibition At St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Ken Currie: Protest Defeat And Victory
• Bosco Sodi: A Moment Of Genesis
• Bill Viola And The Art Of Contemplation
• Art In Churches 2018: Spiritual Combinations Explored
• Sister Wendy Beckett – A Reminiscence
• Guido Guidi: Per Strada Flowers Gallery London
• Peter Howson: The play is over – Flowers Gallery
• Camille Henrot: Scientific History And Creation Story Mash Up
• Nicola Green Explores Recent And Contemporary Religious Leaders – St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Art And The Consequences Of War Explored In Two Exhibitions
• Helaine Blumenfeld Translating Her Vision
• Sam Ivin: Physically Scratched Portraits Of Asylum Seekers Exhibited
• Sacred Noise: Explores Religion, Faith And Divinity
• Bill Viola: Quiet Contemplative Video Installation St Cuthbert’s Church Edinburgh
• The ground-breaking work of Sister Corita Kent
• Picasso To Souza: The Crucifixion Imagery Rarely Exhibited
• Michael Takeo Magruder: De / coding the Apocalypse – Panacea Museum
• Giorgio Griffa: The Golden Ratio And Inexplicable Knowledge
• Arabella Dorman Unveils New Installation At St James Church Piccadilly
• Can Art Transform Society?
• Art Awakening Humanity Conference Report
• Central St Martins in the Fields Design Then And Now
• The Sacramental And Liturgical Nature Of Conceptual Art
• Polish Art In Britain: Centenary Marked At London’s Ben Uri Gallery
• Refugee Artists: Learning from The Lives Of Others
• The Religious Impulses Of Robert Rauschenberg
• The Christian Science Connection Within The British Modern Art Movement
• Artists Rebranding The Christmas Tree Tradition
• Art Impacted - A Radical Response To Radicalisation
• The Art of St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Was Caravaggio A Good Christian?

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Bob Chilcott - Christ, My Beloved.

Windows on the world (374)

 

Manchester, 2022

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Nine Beats Collective - Between A Story And A Dream.

humbler church Bigger God w/c Sunday 10 April 2022

Welcome to our exciting HeartEdge programme for 2022. We hope you will be able to join us, whether at online events or at our in-person events around the world. You can find all our events on our website — and if you're a HeartEdge partner, you can upload your own events through the members' area. Last year, we launched Living God's Future Now, an online festival of theology and practice. We hosted workshops, webinars, spaces to gather and share ideas, lecture series, and more. This year, we're continuing our programming with a new theme — humbler church, Bigger God. HeartEdge is fundamentally about a recognition of the activity of the Holy Spirit beyond and outside the church, and about a church that flourishes when it seeks to catch up with what the Spirit is already doing in the world. There was a time when church meant a group that believed it could control access to God – access that only happened in its language on its terms. But God is bigger than that, and the church needs to be humbler than that. Kingdom churches anticipate the way things are with God forever – a culture of creativity, mercy, discovery and grace – and are grateful for the ways God renews the church through those it has despised, rejected, or ignored. We hope this reflects the lessons we've learnt from the past year: still trying to live God's future now, re-imagining our faith and our calling as a Church in a changing world. Thank you for joining us for the journey — we can't wait to see what this year brings. Monday 11th April 2022 Church History Course with Ruth Gouldbourne Monday 11th April at 19:45 (BST) Register on Eventbrite here Week Six: "A thousand years when nothing happened" This course provides an introduction to and an overview of church history. If we are to see a humbler Church and a bigger God, we need to deal with the history of the Church to understand where we are now, and why? Tuesday 12th April 2022 Sermon Preparation with Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells Tuesday 12th April at 16:30 (BST) Livestreamed here Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner discuss this Sunday's readings and offer practical tips on preaching. Wednesday 13th April 2022 Community of Practitioners workshop Wednesday 6th April at16:00 (BST) Zoom meeting Email our Sheppard Scholar, Shaun on shaun.obrien@smitf.org to register. This is a space for practitioners, lay and ordained, to reflect on theology and practice. Each week, we alternate between 'Wonderings' and discussion of a work of theology. The book to be read is ‘Improvisation’ by Sam Wells. 'Wonderings' help us to reflect and pray on what has stood out for each of us in the last week. Newcomers are very welcome. This week we reflect on recent experiences using ‘Wonderings'. Sam's book 'Improvisation' can be bought here. Upcoming Events in 2022 Tuesday 27 & Wednesday 28 September 2022 humbler church, Bigger God conference Ascension Church Hulme, Manchester City Centre This September HeartEdge welcomes Scottish hymn writer and Church of Scotland minister John Bell, Anglican priest, poet and feminist theologian Rachel Mann, Global South theologian Anderson Jeremiah and many other exciting contributors, for a two-day conference: “humbler church, Bigger God” – a gathering of the HeartEdge community in Manchester (27 & 28 September 2022). The programme also includes Andrew Graystone, Grace Thomas, Molly Boot, Kathy Versfeld, Anthony Reddie, Azariah France-Williams and of course, our own Sam Wells. There will be many other contributors, and every participant brings their own insights and perspective. On the Tuesday evening the Conference will include, in partnership with the Church Times and SCM press, the annual Theology Slam. The HeartEdge Conference is a practical, two-day intensive of ideas, theology and connecting. It includes workshops on enterprise and commerce, launching cultural projects, developing congregations and sustaining community response, plus time to make connections and find encouragements. This two-day intensive will pack in lots and prioritise practical input and resources. Some of the sessions will happen in other community venues in Hulme or around the City Centre. Further information is available from: andy.salmon@smitf.org Ticket Prices: Early Bird £110 (before 30 June) Full price £150 Under 25 £75 Day rate: Early Bird £55 (before 30 June) Full price £75 Under 25 £35 For tickets go to: https://bit.ly/3s8wACW We don’t want ticket prices to be a barrier to anyone coming so get in touch if you think they may be. For those wanting accommodation for the conference, Luther King House is offering rooms at the reduced rate of £40 a night single (£50 a night double or twin) including breakfast. Limited availability. To book, email reception@lkh.co.uk or call 0161 224 6404 and quote ‘HeartEdge Conference’. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U2 - All I Want Is You.

Amethyst Review: Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages

My two newest poems are being published by Amethyst Review and Stride respectively. 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages' appears today in Amethyst Review, while 'The twin poles of Rouault and Girard' will be in Stride on 21 April.

In 2020 two of my poems 'Are/Are Not' and 'Attend, attend' appeared in Amethyst Review. I also had three poems appear in Stride magazine that same year. All those poems concerned other poets beginning with the artist-poet David Jones, continuing with Dylan Thomas and ending with Jack Clemo. The third of these poems featured in a Stride series entitled 'Talking to the Dead'. These poems can be read at http://stridemagazine.blogspot.com/search?q=evens.

Amethyst Review is a publication for readers and writers who are interested in creative exploration of spirituality and the sacred. Readers and writers of all religions and none are most welcome. All work published engages in some way with spirituality or the sacred in a spirit of thoughtful and respectful inquiry, rather than proselytizing.

The Editor-in-chief is Sarah Law – poet (mainly), tutor, occasional critic, sometime fiction writer. She has published five poetry collections, the latest of which is Ink’s Wish. She set up Amethyst Review feeling the lack of a UK-based platform for the sharing and readership of new literary writing that engages in some way with spirituality and the sacred.

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Carolyn Ahrends - I Can Hear You.

Foyer Display: Alice Bree

 

St Martin-in-the-Fields is home to several commissions and permanent installations by contemporary artists. We also have an exciting programme of temporary exhibitions, as well as a group of artists and craftspeople from the St Martin’s community who show artwork and organise art projects on a temporary basis. One of the initiatives from this group is a changing display of work by the group members. Each month a different member of the group will show an example of their work, so, if you are able, do return to see the changing display.

Alice Bree writes: The Drawing Club at St Martin’s meets for two hours once a month and our teacher Vicky Howard, an art school drawing teacher, has brought a variety of objects for us to draw: stones, bones, vegetables, fruits, shells, berries, seed heads, squashes, leaves, metal objects. She starts us off with an illustrated talk about some aspect of drawing styles she’d like us to consider. We have free use of many drawing tools, and she comes to us individually to comment, suggest and help.

I see drawing as a form of meditation. Sam, our Vicar, has preached about understanding in depth as not just experiencing the existence of something but also at a deeper level it’s essence. Drawing is an exercise that can bring you closer to the essence of something because you have observed it closely for two hours. It is not an intellectual activity but is the difference between looking and seeing reality. Really seeing feels quite different, more to do with heart than head.

It is well known that a large sheet of white paper can be intimidating, so black or a colour as background is less threatening. The drawing of a dead leaf I did at home. Last Autumn I picked up some enormous leaves fallen from a plain tree, intending to draw them, but they dried and shrivelled before I had the time. Everything is worth drawing. These drawings are just a record of two hours of “seeing”.

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St Martin's Voices - Tantum Ergo.