"To do something for others for a change instead of just being a selfish bastard"

Here is my reflection from today's lunchtime Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

For the last 26 years an annual Pilgrimage has been organised from St Martin-in-the-Fields to Canterbury to raise funds for our work with homeless people here in the centre of London. This memorable and picturesque four day walk from the steps of St Martin’s along the Pilgrims Way covers 74 miles. The journey ends in the cloisters of Canterbury Cathedral with the laying of flowers on the tomb of Revd Dick Sheppard.

On the Saturday of the Pilgrimage the weary Pilgrims are glad to stay overnight at Aylesford Priory. Their programme for the walk is tight, so there may not be much time to explore the Priory – showers and sleep are likely to be the priority – but, were they to do so, they would find marvellous ceramics throughout the Priory by the celebrated Polish artist and ceramicist, Adam Kossowski, who devoted much of his working life to places of Christian worship following his release from Soviet labour camp. He said: ‘…When I was so deep in this calamity and nearly dead I promised myself that if I came out of this subhuman land I would tender my thanks to God.’

At Aylesford Priory, he certainly did that. Kossowski spent the last 20 years of his life, until he died in 1986, narrating important Christian events and the history of the Carmelite Order through his craft. So much so that his work has been described as "a prayer in stone."

Among the Chapels that he decorated at the Priory is St Anne’s Chapel. This is a chapel which reflects the value of our families through walls with ceramics that tell the story of Mary’s parents Joachim and Anne as it is told in the apocryphal gospel of James. As you look around this predominantly green Chapel - green to reflect hope and new life – you see: an angel appear to Joachim in the fields telling him his prayers are answered; Joachim meeting his wife at the city gates and telling him she is pregnant at long last; The birth of Mary; and Anne and Mary going to the temple so Mary can be dedicated to the service of God.

The story of Anne and Joachim appears to be based heavily on that of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. A cult of devotion to Saint Anne is documented in the East in the 6th century, and had spread to the West by the 10th century. Devotion to Saint Joachim developed in the 14th century. The Church maintains their feast day both to emphasise God's plan from the beginning to send his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem fallen humanity; and also to show God's faithfulness in keeping his covenant with all generations. The feast day is traditionally a time to pray for families.

Families are essentially an incubator in which to learn about the reality of love. The Friars provide a guide to the different Chapels which can be visited at Aylesford Priority and this includes a prayer to say in each Chapel. The prayer for St Anne’s Chapel articulates a realism about our experience of family life that reflects what it would have been like for Mary growing up with her parents. The prayer begins by acknowledging the importance of the family at the heart of faith and the bringing of our own family before God to thank him for their presence in our life. It then continues, ‘You alone know the longings and struggles of each one of us, and you alone know our failures and regrets. Bless us with loving forbearance with one another. Heal any wounds that divide us and bring us together in eternal life with you.’

The reality of learning to love in families is bound up with longings and struggles, failures and regrets, loving forbearance, and the healing of wounds that divide us. If we allow ourselves to learn to love through these experiences, then we are enabled to love not just our own families but others outside our immediate family and friends as well. Some years ago a reporter from The Independent joined the Canterbury Pilgrimage. One of the pilgrims to which he spoke was a barrister and a judge, with a wife and kids and a comfortable life in west London. So what, he asked, had prompted him to leave all this behind for four days of the toughest walking he had ever done? The reply was, "As penance for my sins … and to do something for others for a change instead of just being a selfish bastard."

The reporter and that pilgrim both learnt through the Pilgrimage that while love may begin at home, it isn’t intended to end there. We can potentially learn love in our family, but if our love remains within our family unit then it is limited, restricted, selfish even. The love which Mary learnt from her parents and which Jesus then learnt from Mary and Joseph was a love that encompassed others, even the world itself! Just like that Judge and the Independent reporter we need to learn to look outside of the places where we are currently living comfortable lives to do something for others for a change instead of just being selfish.

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Arcade Fire - Creature Comfort.

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Latest ArtWay report

My new Church of the Month report for ArtWay focuses on St Mary the Virgin, Downe. Evie Hone’s Crucifixion at Downe, installed in 1950, is a bold and simple design with the crucified Christ on a red cross in the central light, his arms and those of the cross extending into the two side lights where Mary and John are located.

This Church of the Month report follows on from others about Aylesford Priory, Canterbury Cathedral, Chelmsford Cathedral, Lumen, Notre Dame du Léman, Romont, Sint Martinuskerk Latem and St Aidan of Lindisfarne, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

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Clannad - In A Lifetime.

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Latest Artway report

My new Church of the Month report for ArtWay focuses on Canterbury Cathedral. This Church of the Month report follows on from others about Aylesford Priory, Chelmsford Cathedral, Lumen, Notre Dame du Léman, Romont, Sint Martinuskerk Latem and St Aidan of Lindisfarne, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

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Wovenhand - As I Went Out One Morning.

Sabbatical Art Pilgrimage: Latest ArtWay articles

My latest articles for ArtWay have been added to the website. My new Church of the Month report focuses on the Swiss town of Romont and artists such as Alexandre Cingria, Romont, Sergio de Castro and Yoki. In addition, a page about my sabbatical art pilgrimage has also been created on the site.

Click here to read all my posts about the sabbatical art pilgrimage. My latest Church of the Month report follows others on Aylesford Priory, Chelmsford Cathedral, Lumen, Notre Dame du Léman, Sint Martinuskerk Latem and St Aidan of Lindisfarne, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

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Shovels and Rope - After The Storm.

The Virgin Birth and the Resurrection: Subverting Patriarchy

I’ve just returned from a day at Greenbelt where one of the most interesting sessions I attended was a panel discussion exploring whether we can re-imagine marriage. This was chaired by Vicky Beeching, who rightly received a standing ovation on arrival for her bravery in recently coming out. Her panellists were Linda Woodhead, Sarah Miles and Robert Song.

Linda Woodhead briefly summarised the history of approaches to marriage within Church history. All marriages were civil contracts until part-way through the medieval period, only becoming predominantly church ceremonies at the Reformation. Affirmation of the nuclear family is much more recent phenomenon with the Church. The Church has, therefore, viewed a spectrum of relationships – some formal, some informal – as marriage across its history, with celibacy often being the primary stance recommended. Since the 1970s, the numbers marrying within our society have been in decline, while within these numbers civil marriage has grown significantly. One consequence has been that society is accepting of a greater diversity of relationships.

Sarah Miles spoke from her own experience of same-sex marriages as a sign of the radical inclusion to which Jesus’ ministry points. God’s love is at work to bind all people together and equal marriage can be a sign of this reality.

Robert Song suggested that sex before Christ is not the same as sex after Christ. Much of our thinking about marriage is based on the creation patterning of Genesis 1 and 2 and this is also the case with Jewish identity which is based on genealogy. In Christ, however, membership of God’s people is not based on shared ancestral blood but on the blood of Christ, and, as a result, the hope of having children is not intrinsic to the Christian community (as demonstrated by its affirmation of celibacy). In Christ, procreation is no longer central. The resurrection changes everything. If there is no death, there is also no need for birth or marriage. Therefore, Jesus said that in heaven there is no marriage. This makes non-procreative covenant partnerships possible – with a focus on faithfulness, permanence and fruitfulness - as a third vocation (after marriage and celibacy).   

For me, this made connections with some of my thinking and reading during my sabbatical. On my sabbatical I visited lots of churches which were dedicated to Our Lady and, as a result, had thought rather more than usual about her significance for Christianity. Martin Jay in ‘Force Fields’ suggests that the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Christianity sought to replace “their mother-goddess predecessors with a stern patriarchal deity.” At times on my sabbatical the Protestant in me has wanted to argue that if that is so, the significance that Mary gained within Catholicism, in particular, could be seen as an attempt to redress the balance and reintroduce a mother-goddess to Christianity.

As a counter-balance, though, I’ve also seen a number of churches and chapels dedicated to St Joseph. At Aylesford Priory, where I had my first sabbatical retreat, St Joseph’s Chapel contains the following inscription: ‘The wise and faithful servant set over your family as guardian and fosterfather of Jesus Christ our Lord.’

One of the art books that I read during my sabbatical offers a different and more helpful perspective on the Virgin Birth and patriarchy which is, I think, closer to the subversive nature of Jesus’ words and actions. It seems to me that the significance of the argument which Thierry De Duve advances in ‘Re-Enchantment’ begins with the existence of two creation stories at the beginning of Genesis. In the first, men and women are created equal while in the other the woman is created by God from the man's rib as a help-meet to him and is named by him as well as taken in the context of marriage. The second story, therefore, institutes or confirms patriarchy. The primary purpose of patriarchy is to assure the man of the legitimacy of his offspring.

De Duve quotes Amelia Jones: “Patriarchy's investment in systems that ensure proof of authorial possession results from the necessity of overcoming male anxiety over the ultimate uncertainty of biological paternity. Although the woman always knows she is the mother - through her physical connection with the developing foetus - the man never knows for sure that he is the father, and thus has a high stake in maintaining a system by which he can claim paternal ‘ownership’.”

Genealogy plays a very important role in Patriarchial systems. The Ancestors of Christ windows at Canterbury Cathedral originally consisted of eighty-six life-sized seated patriarchs of the Old Testament, largely based on the list of names contained in the Gospel of St Luke (III, 23–28) and interpolated with additional names from the Gospel of St Matthew (I, 1–17). It was the largest known series of the genealogy of Christ in medieval art and the images represent his male biblical genealogy, beginning with Adam and coming forward to King David, from whom Mary and Joseph are said to descend. Matthew’s genealogy is, of course, strange in that it is traced through the ancestry of Joseph who, by virtue of the Virgin Birth, did not have a blood relationship to Jesus.

The anomaly of Jesus’ genealogy may highlight a different perspective i.e. that the Virgin Birth subverts patriarchy. Joseph is not the father and does not know whether Mary has slept with another man or not. The Joseph-based genealogy of Jesus is by adoption only. A different role is asked of Joseph from that of the Patriarch. As the inscription in the St Joseph’s Chapel at Aylesford Priory reads: ‘The wise and faithful servant set over your family as guardian and fosterfather of Jesus Christ our Lord.’

De Duve suggests: “The great invention, the great coup of Christianity, is to short-circuit all this [i.e. patriarchal ownership through genealogies] … the production line of sons is brought to a sudden halt … And the status of woman changes drastically … Virgin and mother, rather than virgin and then mother! and then mother-in-law, and then grandmother, and then old. This means that her function is no longer to take her place in the production line that fabricates sons. One Son is enough. He will have no offspring. He will save the world instead …”

Jesus' birth occurs outside of or at a tangent to the Patriarchal system. He is a man who doesn’t marry and who has no physical offspring - the furtherance of his 'seed' is of no interest to him. His emphasis is on his followers as his family, rather than his blood and adoptive relatives. His death is for the entire family of God - all people everywhere.

On the one hand, this seems a part of what it means that: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.” Also, as St Paul suggests in his discussion of marriage, the new situation created by Christ means that it is better not to marry. Physical offspring is now less important than bringing people into the family of God and the make-up of that family takes us back to that first creation story as in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free; all are equal.

Putting De Duve and Song’s arguments together, therefore, suggests that both the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection subvert the patriarchal system and the necessity of creating physical offspring in families meaning that, in the present, relational and family structures in society can be diverse while in the future family of God, marriage is no longer necessary and equality will be the norm.

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U2 - Ordinary Love.

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Latest ArtWay report

My latest sabbatical art pilgrimage report for ArtWay has been published in their Church of the Month slot. This report concerns St Aidan of Lindisfarne in East Acton, which is a treasure casket of sacred art. The reports which ArtWay are publishing generally contain additional information or reflections from those which I am posting here and, as with the posts here, will gradually build up a partial history of the revival of sacred art in the twentieth century.

This report follows others on Aylesford Priory, Chelmsford Cathedral, Lumen and Sint Martinuskerk Latem, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

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Water into Wine Band - Waiting For Another Day.

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Services and reflection

The most magical service I experienced on my sabbatical art pilgrimage was unexpected and resulted from finding out about Brian Clarke's stained glass at l'Abbaye de laFille-Dieu through my visit to the Vitromusée Romont. I went from the Vitromusée straight to the Abbey and found that I had arrived for Vespers followed by silent contemplation in the still onset of the falling dusk. The flakiness of some of the lead vocals in the sung responses during the service, before the individual voices were then caught up in the wondrous harmonies of unified responses, only added a sense that our individual fallabilities are accepted and swept up together in the great corporate song of heaven.

An equally special surprise was the performance of dance based on Christian imagery by Moving Visions Dance Theatre on a visit to Gloucester Cathedral with Diana Crook. The dances made by this group attempt to realise numinous experience and expression through dance: “There are indeed things that cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is mystical.”

Another special service came at Nôtre Dame du Bon-Conseil in Lourtier, Switzerland. Here it was the simplicity of the Mass which spoke to me. There was no incense and no choir, just a priest speaking conversationally and responses from the 70 strong congregation. The liturgy spoke for itself, as was also the case with Matins at St Paul's Cathedral on the final Sunday of my sabbatical.

The first visit of my sabbatical was at St Paul's Cathedral, so to return for my final Sunday seemed appropriate. On that first visit I had seen my friend Tricia Hillas, Canon Pastor at the Cathedral, who was preparing for a special midweek memorial service. Tricia also led the service on the final Sunday of my sabbatical, so the chance to catch up again was another end in my beginning. The service featured beautiful singing from the Lady Margaret Singers and it was the calmness and beauty of the singing which had particular impact.

The sermon in this service left me uneasy as it seemed to be indicating that there are occasions when we should defend our interests and beliefs with force. I am becoming more and more convinced that as followers of Christ we should not be thinking or acting in terms of defensiveness. Christ's sacrifice and his teaching about love for enemies, it seems to me, is the reverse of defensive actions.

Many of the churches I have visited have been dedicated to Our Lady with their visual focus sometimes seemingly being more on the Mother of Our Lord than on Our Lord. In addition, I have also observed and participated positively in Catholic and Orthodox forms of devotion - I particularly appreciated attending, with Mal Grosch, a service held by the Romanian Orthodox Church of London at St Dunstan in the West. The Protestant in me has sometimes struggled with the Maryology and aspects of the devotion I have seen and experienced and I will be posting separately with some thoughts I have explored during the sabbatical on both the Virgin Birth and aspects of devotion.

After Mass at Aylesford Priory I wrote the following poem: 

Reading 'Drysalter' before Mass at Aylesford Priory.

Lip-smacking words savoured on tongue,

epiphanic explosion come.

Using the escalator at Tottenham Court Road,

praying a David Adam prayer,

raise us from the depths of despair.

Watching film of a plastic bag dancing on the breeze

for fifteen minutes straight,

beautifully evident benevolence.

I finish this post with some epiphanic words from the shewings of Julian of Norwich on which I have been reflecting since visiting Ditchingham and Norwich:

"There were times when I wanted to look away from the Cross, but I dared not. For I knew that while I gazed on the Cross I was safe and sound, and I was not willingly going to imperil my soul."

"In falling and rising again we are held close in one love, for our falling does not stop him loving us."+

"He is everything that is good and comforting to us. He is our clothing, he wraps and holds us. He enfolds us in love will never let us go."

"Prayer fastens the soul to God, making it one with his will through the deep inward working of the Holy Spirit. So he says this, 'Pray inwardly, even though you feel no joy in it. For it does good, though you feel nothing, see nothing, yes, even though you think you cannot pray. For when you are dry and empty, sick and weak, your prayers please me, though there be little enough to please you. All believing prayer is precious in my sight.' God accepts the good-will and work of his servants, no matter how we feel."

"He did not say 'You shall not be tempest-tossed, you shall not be work-weary, you shall not be discomforted'. But he did say, 'You shall not be overcome.'"

"Love was his meaning. Who reveals it to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? For love." 

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Saint Paul Cathedral Choir - The Lord Bless You and Keep You.  

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Latest ArtWay report

My latest sabbatical art pilgrimage report for ArtWay has been published in their Church of the Month slot. This report concerns SintMartinuskerk Latem in Belgium and the art colony that was there in the early part of the twentieth century. The reports which ArtWay are publishing generally contain additional information or reflections from those which I am posting here and, as with the posts here, will gradually build up a partial history of the revival of sacred art in the twentieth century.

This report follows others on Aylesford Priory, Chelmsford Cathedral and Lumen, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

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Duke Special - Freewheel.

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Poetry

Here are two brief poems which I have written during my sabbatical:

***

Reading 'Drysalter' before Mass at Aylesford Priory.

Lip-smacking words savoured on tongue,

epiphanic explosion come.

Using the escalator at Tottenham Court Road,

praying a David Adam prayer,

raise us from the depths of despair.

Watching film of a plastic bag dancing on the breeze

for fifteen minutes straight,

beautifully evident benevolence.

***

Our bodies age, our cells replace continually

without regard to our volition.

We are not who we were.

All is mutability, constant change.

We cannot bear so much reality -

being changed utterly - so build routines,

schedules, repeating patterns of sameness,

to mask our awareness of transition.

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Love - You Set The Scene.

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: latest ArtWay report

ArtWay have just published the latest of my sabbatical art pilgrimage visit reports in their Church of the Month slot. This report concerns Aylesford Priory and the work of Adam Kossowski. The reports which ArtWay are publishing generally contain additional information or reflections from those which I am posting here and, as with the posts here, will gradually build up a partial history of the revival of sacred art in the twentieth century.

The report on Aylesford Priory follows reports on Chelmsford Cathedral and Lumen, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

One of the real pleasures of the European leg of my sabbatical art pilgrimage was the opportunity to meet Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker, who is editor-in-chief of ArtWay. We visited two churches together and talked art, music, popular culture and faith finding many synergies as we did so.

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Sufjan Stevens - Impossible Soul.

Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Aylesford Priory

When Adam Kossowski was "deep in calamity" as a prisoner of war during the Second World War - "nearly dead" in a Russian labour camp - he made a promise to himself that if he came out of that "subhuman land" he would tender his thanks to God.

On arrival in Britain, post-War, he was "very strangely reminded" by events of this promise, which he had come to think of as an obligation. After winning a prize for a painting of The Annunciation in an international art competition, the sculptor Philip Lindsey Clark invited Kossowski to join the Guild of Catholic Artists. Lindsey Clark also introduced him to Fr. Malachy Lynch, the first Prior of the restored Carmelite Priory at Aylesford in Kent, who quickly set Kossowski to work.

Kossowski was within his comfort zone when his first commission was to paint the scenes from the history of the Aylesford Carmelites which continue to adorn the walls of the Chapter House at Aylesford. He was well outside that zone, however, when Fr. Malachy asked him to create a series of ceramic scenes for a Rosary Way. He questioned whether he was the right person for that task but Fr. Malachy replied, in terms that recalled Kossowski's own promise from the labour camp, 'Adam, I am sure Our Lady has sent you here for that purpose.'

This work was to shape not only Kossowski's future commissions at Aylesford (where, from 1950 to 1972, he decorated most of the shrine's chapels) but also the commissions he received to decorate other Roman Catholic Churches. In both instances these commissions were primarily, but not exclusively, for ceramic bas-reliefs. Working in clay enabled Kossowski to create with a greater sense of 3D animation as well as the expressiveness he was able to achieve by marking or cutting into the clay. As each panel was also painted, these effects were combined with all the variation, shade and harmonies achievable through paint.

Kossowski's obligation to God, the ongoing support of a committed patron in Fr. Malachy and the post-war church rebuilding programme combined to create the opportunity for Kossowski to become one of the greatest and most prolific religious artists in twentieth century Britain; a surprising result for the boy from Nowy Sacz in Poland. Benedict Read notes, in Adam Kossowski:Murals and Paintings, that in Britain after the war the Church was " a vital artistic culture," "the thirty years after 1945 witnessed for the Catholic Church in particular in this country an almost unprecedented campaign of church building and decoration, with the new cathedrals in Liverpool, Cardiff and Bristol just the tip of the proverbial iceberg."

Read quotes Hans Feibusch who, like Kossowski, Ervin Bossanyi and Marian Bohusz Szyzcho, was a refugee for whom Church-related commissions became a major field of endeavour: "You must realise, first of all, how very different the general atmosphere of those days was; that the relief from the dark cloud of war, the exuberance of freedom, the hope of great artistic possibilities, were still strong, and the experience of working together for a common goal had not yet faded away."

Aylesford became Kossowski's great artistic possibility, as Fr. Malachy had confidence in the rightness of Kossowski's ideas and work. With this backing he was able to create with vision, breadth and scale. His work at Aylesford extends from the intimacy of tiny painted Stations of the Cross in the Chapel of St Jude  to the imposing crowds of angels surrounding the Virgin at the exterior Shrine altar. All in a figurative style which, while sophisticated in design and expressive in execution, draws heavily on the naivety of folk art and the forgotten tradition of Romanesque art. This style seems equally suited to the drama of the worshipping angels thronging the exterior altar or Elijah's chariot of fire in St Joseph's Chapel as it is to the delicacy of the Rosary Way bas-reliefs or the Rouault-like Stations in the Cloister Chapel.

For much of the history of Western art, art and the Church were almost synonymous. This was the age of sermons in stone and stories in stained glass when art was the one book that the illiterate majority could read. As modern art actively sought separation from the constraints of Church patronage and the literary focus it had demanded, so a different approach to Church commissions was required and Kossowski's conceptions at Aylesford, both large and small, whether Stations of the Cross, the Rosary Way or sanctuary decorations; all were designed and function as prompts or aids to prayer. As prayer is the main focus of the shrine, the visual aesthetic of Aylesford, its unique atmosphere (memorably described by Fr. Malachy as "prayer in stone"), is primarily Kossowski's creation.

The Friars, to use its traditional name, is now a popular centre for pilgrimage either for large groups attending for one day or for smaller groups or individuals staying in the guesthouses. The setting, with its blend of the medieval and modern, is idyllic whether one comes as a tourist, a pilgrim, a retreatant or a regular worshipper. Some who come spend time in contemplation and prayer with Kossowski’s work, while, for others, they are part of the ambience of the spaces which are a prompt to prayer and worship. As with each denomination, the Roman Catholic Church does not always recognise the value of the artworks it possesses or subordinates that value to the use made of its art in worship. Here, however, in its publicity and online information, Kossowski's work, and that of Michael Clark and Philip Lindsey Clark, is clearly viewed as an attraction for visitors with ways suggested for reflecting on and praying through their work.

The experience of living for a week with Kossowski's work in worship, prayer and contemplation, while using The Friars as a base for the Kent and Sussex phase of my sabbatical art pilgrimage, was one of recognising the love that Kossowski had for the many saints and martyrs of the Church which had supported him in his time of need, of sharing his empathy with the sufferings of Christ, and of sensing the uniqueness of his vision which shows itself in moments of deviation from tradition such as the image of a Carmelite sister without a halo created in order to pay tribute to all the faithful who are not formally beatified but who are truly saints nevertheless. Which is, of course, where Kossowski himself would be found!

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Sebastian Szymański - Galilea. 

Sabbatical retreat

This week I've had the first of my sabbatical retreats in the idyllic setting of Aylesford Priory. Set in the heart of Kent, Aylesford Priory is an ancient religious house of the Order of Carmelites dating back to the 13th Century.

In 1538, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Priory passed out of Carmelite hands until in 1949 The Friars was put up for sale and the Carmelites were able to buy back their motherhouse. 

Fr Malachy Lynch, the first Prior, began the task of restoring the buildings and within a short time The Friars became a flourishing pilgrimage centre. In partnership with Adrian Gilbert Scott, Fr Malachy conceived the idea of the open-air shrine and he gathered craftsmen and artists to help him. Outstanding among the artists were Adam Kossowski, who made the ceramics, and Philip Lindsey Clark and his son Michael Clark, both sculptors. Fr Malachy described The Friars as "a prayer in stone".

In the presence of Cardinal Heenan, Archbishop Cyril Cowderoy rededicated the Shrine in 1965 and it now serves as a centre of prayer for all Christians in Kent and a place of peace for those who search for meaning in their lives. Over 200,000 pilgrims a year make their way to Aylesford. Some as part of organised pilgrimages, some on a parish visit, others come on school trips or fellowship or hobby clubs.

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Colin Burns - Linger Here.

Polish émigré artists and a neglected chapter in the story of British art

What nearly all of Polish émigré artists, who feature in Pole Position: Polish Art in Britain 1939 - 1989 at the Graves Gallery in Sheffield, had in common 'is that they practised Expressionism of one kind or another.'

There is frequently in their work 'a violence of colour': 'The specifically religious paintings, such as [Henryk] Gotlib's Christ in Warsaw, [Janina] Baranowska's Crucifixion, and [Marian] Bohusz-Szyszko's Christ Crowned with Thorns are all on the anguished side of Christian art; the last two agonise in brilliant, almost hellish colour, though the Gotlib, significantly dated 1940, uses his characteristic more muted range of colours to express complex emotions about the occupied city.'

My earlier posts about this group of artists can be found here, here and here.

Baranowska was a member of the Catholic and Christian Artists group. She designs stained glass windows and has been awarded  several prizes for painting and stained glass. The latter can be seen in St Andrzej Bobola’s Church in London and in Holy Trinity Church in Wolverhampton.

One of the greatest and most prolific Polish émigré artists who was commissioned by the Catholic Church in the UK is not featured in this exhibition:

'For the Catholic church, the most significant postwar ceramicist was Adam Kossowski (1905-86), a Polish artist and refugee from the Russian labour camps, who came to Britain in 1942. He was soon invited to join the Guild of Catholic Artists and Craftsmen, which had been founded in 1929 as part of the centenary celebrations of Catholic emancipation; it is now known as the Society of Catholic Artists. Although firstly a mural painter, he showed some ceramic figures at the Guild’s 1947 exhibition, and through the Guild was introduced to the Carmelite Priory - now the Friars - at Aylesford in Kent. 

He was initially commissioned to produce a series of paintings depicting the history of the Carmelite order, and then asked to make a Rosary Way (1950) in ceramics. At that time Kossowski was relatively inexperienced in ceramics, and had only a small kiln in his studio, but after some hesitation he accepted the commission, and worked with the Fulham Pottery which could fire the large pieces that comprised the final Scapular Vision shrine (1951) ...

He was a prolific artist, and Aylesford was only a part of his huge ceramic and other output over the period 1955-71, which included seven ceramic sets of Stations of the Cross and the 1958 tympanum of St Thomas Becket at Rainham in Kent ...

One of his greatest works is the gigantic Last Judgement tympanum of 1963 at St Mary’s Church in

Leyland, Lancashire; Christ the Judge is depicted in the centre, with the saved to his right and the devils and the condemned to his left ...

He also worked on a large scale in sgraffito, the best example being in London at St Benedict’s Chapel, Queen Mary College (1964) ...

Kossowski’s is a magnificent body of work, but it is hard to say how influential his ceramics were; they were generally figurative when abstract art had become popular, they were located throughout Britain and thus hard to find and received little publicity, they were seen perhaps as being relevant only to the Catholic church, religiously inspired and not gallery art or high art.'

Polish émigré artists continue to paint with 'a violence of colour.' Maciej Hoffman, for example, paints huge expressionist canvases depicting scenes of trauma. His paintings depict the distress caused through conflict and he seeks to use his art to generate discussion among people of all faiths and none about the causes of conflict.

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Henryk Górecki: Totus Tuus.