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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