Modern Art and City Churches

'Throughout its history, art in St Paul's Cathedral has inspired and illuminated the Christian faith for those who visit, and provided a focus for reflection, meditation and contemplation.

St Paul’s Cathedral is home to a spectacular 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.'

Mother and Child: Hood is one of Henry Moore's very final commissions in the 1980s.' 'The idea of a piece for St Paul’s was put to Moore in 1983, when he was recovering from a serious illness. The commission did much to reinvigorate him: ’I can’t get this Madonna and Child out of my mind,’ he said. ’It may be my last work, and I want to give it the feel of having a religious connotation'. Moore decided that travertine marble would be a more suitable material than bronze for the site chosen, in the north choir aisle of the cathedral, close to the main altar. The task of carving the large piece, which stands seven feet high, was entrusted to the stone carvers of the Henraux stoneyard in Querceta in the Carrara mountains of northern Italy, where in his younger days Moore himself had carved many works.'

Josefina de Vasconcellos enjoyed 'numerous large commissions that expressed [her] flowing naturalistic carving. This was at a time when mainstream sculptured art was toying with the more abstract styles of Moore and Hepworth.

Among her works ... are ‘Reconciliation’ at Coventry Cathedral and Bradford University, ‘Holy Family’ at Liverpool Cathedral and Gloucester Cathedral, ‘Virgin and Child’ in the OBE Chapel at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, ‘Nativity’ (at Christmas) at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square, London, and many more.'

'In 1957 her sculpture entitled ‘Virgin and Child’ was donated to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London ...she became the first woman to have a sculpture in the Cathedral.' 'The message of God’s love permeates her art, for Josefina was convinced that if people loved God, they would love and respect each other, that this was the way to world peace. It was also the way to inculcate respect for the environment, and was ultimately the hope for the future.'

The Cathedral also hosts 'Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), the first of two large-scale permanent video installations created by internationally acclaimed artist Bill Viola.'
'Created by Bill Viola and Kira Perov and opened in May 2014, Martyrs shows four individuals, across four colour vertical plasma screens, being martyred by the four classical elements. The work has no sound. It lasts for seven minutes.

Martyrs will be joined in 2015 by a second piece entitled Mary. The installations have been gifted to Tate, and are on long-term loan to St Paul’s Cathedral.'

Outside the Cathedral is The Young Lovers by Georg Ehrlich, the Austrian-born sculptor, draughtsman and etcher. His bronzes are mainly tender studies of adolescents or animals, though he also made a number of portrait busts and reliefs. Born in Vienna, he studied at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts under the architect Strnad, He first made his name as a draughtsman and engraver; only beginning to make sculpture in 1926. His first one-man exhibition (of prints) was at the Galerie Hans Goltz, Neue Kunst, Munich, His sculpture was included in the Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1932, 1934, 1936 and again in 1958. He came to London as a refugee in 1937 and took British nationality.

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Bear's Den - Agape.

Ernst and Michael Fuchs

'The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism formed in 1946 and included Ernst Fuchs, Rudolph Hausner, Wolfgang Hutter and Fritz Janschka. Arik Brauer and Anton Lehmden joined later. The group saw itself as surrealist although they were already moving away from the surrealist painting of the 1930s towards a more visionary approach. Technically their work had the clarity and detail of early Flemish Painting.

They were quite influential on the continent, but little known or appreciated in Britain. In 1957 Hausner fell out with surrealist orthodoxy after completing his first Adam picture and split from Fuchs and the others to pursue his own vision. Fuchs had already moved away from surrealism into visionary mannerism. He painted a number of paintings with religious subjects culminating in his triptych The Mysteries of the Holy Rosary for the Catholic church in Hetzendorf, Vienna.

His paintings from the late 50s to the present day have extraordinary visionary power. Babylonian Cherubs, visions of Christ and other mythological subjects explore the roots of middle eastern religious experience. The power of colour, form and content set his work apart from modernism.

In 1970, he began to work on monumental sculptures. Later in 1973, he acquired the Otto Wagner Villa in Vienna, which he subsequently renovated completely and which is now the Ernst Fuchs Museum and contains a complete range of his work to date. He then undertook stage designs for operas, especially Wagner. In the 1980s, he had a number of international exhibitions including a retrospective in Venice. In 1993 he had a major retrospective in Russia — one of the first major western artists to do so.'

'The life of Ernst Fuchs has been everything but conventional and filled with extremes. This is reflected in the works of Ernst Fuchs, which are very special and often mysterious. A reoccurring theme in his paintings are religious and supernatural elements, reflecting on his deep spirituality and the fact that he is Jewish and later was baptized roman-catholic. Ernst Fuchs himself mentioned that he always created pictures and images resembling dreams and hallucinations.'

'Michael Fuchs was born in Paris, France in 1952. He spent his childhood and youth with his mother, Geraldine Krongold, in New York City and Los Angeles.

1970 artist leaves America to study painting with his father Ernst Fuchs and Anton Lehmden at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, earning a Masters degree in Fine Arts in 1976.

In 1980 he commenced with studies in architecture under Gustav Peichl at the same Academy, receiving a Masters degree in Architecture in 1987.

Since 1971 the artist has travelled throughout Europe and the USA showing his work in numerous group and one-man exhibitions. Among the many commissions Mr. Fuchs has received, he has persued portraiture with special intensity. The human face, he maintains, is the culmination of nature. He is especially known for his portraits of celebrities, nobility and public leaders as well as private persons and families. His commissions hang in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Diego, Knoxville and Washington D.C. as well as Boca Raton, Denver and Santa Fe. In Europe portraits of his hang in Vienna, Graz, Salzburg, Vaduz, Paris, London, Hamburg und Zürich as well as Maastricht and Berlin, Lübeck and in Bremen.

Together with oil painting, Michael Fuchs studied the old-masters technique of etching and has, since 1970, worked continually to build up an impressive repertoire of copper-plate etchings, which have received international recognition. Since 1990 the artist has lived and worked in Klosterneuburg, near Vienna.

In 1998 he was honored by giving his Holiness Pope John Paul II a painting of the Holy Family, during the Pontiffs visit to Austria.'

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Karol Szymanowski - Stabat Mater Dolorosa.

Electric Church

'Imagine an orchestra, vocalists, diverse music genres, a world renowned DJ and visuals projected onto giant walls and ceilings inside a church! ...

The first Electric Church event took place on the December 20th, 2013 and was situated in the Peterskirche in the old town of Vienna. It began with a pre-party, where the 400 guests could enjoy an art exhibition including pieces by Michael Fuchs. Thereafter followed the main act – a mixture of modern and traditional music combined with visual effects in a traditional setting. Afterwards, the guests could continue the evening at an aftershow party in the theater “Garage X” ...

Every event will be based on a biblical theme and for the first event the leitmotif “The Five Books of Moses” was selected. In order to have music fitting the topic, it was exclusively composed and assembled for this event, drawing inspiration from the biblical scenes. In the end, the sounds ranged from electronic to soul to classic and were accompanied by an orchestra and a choir. In addition to the music, there were visual effects projected onto the church walls and ceiling. The effects were also based on the event theme and customized for the church architecture.'

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Electric Church - Eden.

The Arnulf Rainer Museum

'The Arnulf Rainer Museum unites an architectural jewel with the work of the internationally acclaimed contemporary artist.

The clearly delineated structure of the building of the Frauenbad from 1821 – which is located on the site of the former Frauenkriche – is based on a design by Charles de Moreau, one of the leading architects of French classicism. After bathing stopped at the site in 1973 the building changed use, to become a national exhibition centre. The opening exhibition in autumn 1977 was an Arnulf Rainer retrospective.

In 2006 the decision was made to dedicate the exhibition centre as a museum to Arnulf Rainer, who was born in Baden.'

'Rainer, born in 1929 in Baden, has an importance to art history that is uncontested. He is the founder of Art Informel in Austria, and his ‘overpaintings’, developed in the 1950s, made his name well beyond Austria's borders, and cemented his fame among fellow international artists.'

'In 1953 in Vienna he met a priest named Monsignore Otto Mauer, who later founded the Gallerie St. Stephan, which became a meeting place for the Austrian avant-garde.'

'In 2004 the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Münster granted him an honorary doctorate. In 2006 he received an honorary doctorate in theology from the Katholisch-Theologische Privatuniversität Linz.'

'Crosses and crucifixions are a thread that runs through all of Arnulf Rainer's work, not as a central theme, but with a constant presence that could manifest at any time, the incessant struggle towards an omnipresent form ...

Arnulf Rainer's crosses and crucifixions are connected to the elementary sensuality of the act of painting, which they attempt to perpetuate. The dialogue between picture and space, between colour and symbol, between the cross and the spirituality exuded by the painting triggers a range of associations ...

The crosses here in the museum are traces of a creative process lasting more than half a century. And so it's not the recipient of two honorary doctorates, but the painter, who thought about the conditions and effects of his paintings when he said to P. Friedhelm Mennekes, “The cross can convey the meaning.”'

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Mumford and Sons - Snake Eyes.

Beyond Airbrushed from Art History: Arnulf Rainer

Jérôme Cottin writes that Arnulf Rainer 'is undoubtedly the most important living Austrian artist. His work is known and valued across the world. In his early years he belonged to the Austrian avant-garde and rebelled against all kinds of institutions in his country from state and school to various cultural institutions. Thanks to his encounter with the Viennese archbishop Otto Mauer he became interested in religion, the Christian faith and mysticism. The clergyman (as organizer) and the artist mounted several illustrious expositions together. In 2004 Rainer received a honorary doctorate from the Catholic Theological Faculty of Münster in Germany. His startling and sometimes provocative work is often exhibited in churches.'

'This year the world celebrates the artist's 85th birthday with exhibitions from London to New York. In his native Austria, the Albertina Museum of Vienna hosts a retrospective exhibit of his key works that looks at the major stages of his multifarious creative activities. The Hungarian National Gallery joins in the international celebration with this display, staged almost concurrently with the Viennese exhibition. The Budapest exhibit presents works from the best-known series of one of Arnulf Rainer's most important periods, the paraphrases of Goya he started to make in the early 1980s.'

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Fuse ODG - Azonto.

Beyond 'Airbrushed from art history' (2)

Walter Navratil was considered one of the most interesting outsiders of the Austrian art scene in the second half of the twentieth century but is now an overlooked figure. I've recently found the catalogue of his 1984 exhibition at the Galerie Würthle and have been impressed with the quality and originality of his work.
Dr Agnes von der Borch, who wrote the texts to accompany the images in the catalogue, writes:

"In the presence of these two pictures [Crucifixion in yellow and Crucifixion], I regret having to speak or write at all. It seems more fitting to give myself up to the contemplation of them. For one thing, their almost two thousand year-old theme is familiar to everybody, and for another, Navratil interprets it in such a way that the viewer can no longer remain a detatched onlooker, a mere receiver of optical signals, but finds himself drawn into a close and intense involvement.

If I were a believer, I would pray ...

I am simply not up to expressing in words the beauty and the sublimity of these <<Crucifixions>>." (Click here to see a related image - Der Schwarze Christus)

In his Foreword Hans Dichand writes that to "a certain extent this is true of the whole of Walter Navratil's work ... There is much that is beyond the power of words to express, and yet we can sense the true validity of this art, its vision, its genius, if we are able, as we look at it, to listen to the voice of our hearts."

We have, of course, not been able to do so because Navratil's work has not been generally valued and discussed since his death in 2003. Borch writes that a "quick survey of Navratil's work shows him to be a painter of great stylistic versatility. Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Neue Sachlichkeit, Surrealism, Art brut all these traditional styles are represented in his paintings in new combinations and variations ... What Navratil certainly does is to exploit the possibilities of the style he has chosen to the absolute limit ..."

Kay Haymer wrote, in the catalogue for his 1998 exhibition at the BAWAG Foundation, "The fascination of the paintings by Walter Navratil is based on their ability to alienate the familiar and to bring it back into awareness.”

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Tom Waits - Jesus Gonna Be Here.