Church Times - Art review: Sacred Resonance by Renaud Muraire (Canterbury Cathedral)

My latest exhibition review for Church Times , is on Sacred Resonance by Renaud Muraire (Canterbury Cathedral):

'Muraire says that he is fascinated by the way in which religious paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries “introduced a new sense of proximity” as “people brought their own lives, fears, hopes, and inner struggles” into the images. He argues that this is also “what makes biblical narratives so powerful”, as “they depict condensed human situations” that “focus on inner turmoil, doubt, compassion, abandonment, and responsibility, experiences that every human being encounters at some point”.'

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here. My writing for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Artlyst are here, those for Seen & Unseen are here, and those for Art+Christianity are here.

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Denison Whitmer - Little Flowers.

Inter Faith Week activities

This week is is Inter Faith Week which has the aim of: strengthening good inter faith relations at all levels; increasing awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society; and increasing understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs. This year I am having the opportunity to be part of several initiatives/activities that either connect with or are part of Inter Faith Week.

My week began with the opening the online exhibition, Exodus & Exile: Migration Themes in Biblical Images, that I have curated for The Ben Uri Gallery and a related essay entitled Debt Owed to Jewish Refugee Art.

The exhibition, which is currently Exhibition of the Week, includes a range of Biblical images from the Ben Uri Collection in order to explore migration themes through consideration of the images, the Bible passages which inspired them and the relationship between the two. This is because themes of identity and migration feature significantly in both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles and images from these Bibles are a substantive element of the Ben Uri Collection.

The combination of images and texts enables a range of different reflections, relationships and disjunctions to be explored. The result is that significant synergies can be found between the ancient texts and current issues. In this way, stories and images which may, at first, appear to be describing or defining specific religious doctrines can be seen to take on a shared applicability by exploring or revealing the challenges and changes bound up in the age-old experience of migration.

My essay Debt Owed to Jewish Refugee Art is an updated version of an article I originally wrote for Church Times looking at influential works by émigré Jewish artists that were under threat. The article mentions Ervin Bossanyi, Naomi Blake, Ernst Müller-Blensdorf, Hans Feibusch, and George Mayer-Marton, telling stories of the impact of migration on the work and reputations of these artists.

Yesterday, I spent the day at Beauchamps High School and Sixth Form College in Wickford taking part in their Inter Faith Week activities with a group representing Buddhism, Hinduism, Humanism, Islam, and Judaism. We each made presentations and took questions regarding our faiths and beliefs with four different classes in the morning before then taking part in a panel discussion in the afternoon with the whole of the Sixth Form. This was the second time of involvement for me in these activities. It is always a fascinating and interesting day with insights from the other belief representatives and challenging but thoughtful questions from the students.

Today, I am at an Inter Faith Retreat with rabbis and Church of England priests. We are exploring similarities in our chosen vocations as religious leaders to our communities through scriptural encounters and discussions of both our respective histories and current issues. As a result, I have had the pleasure of reconnecting with Rabbi David Hulbert. Together with Imam Dr. Mohammed Fahim, Rabbi David and I led an East London Three Faiths Forum Tour of the Holy Land. My reports from this trip and some of my subsequent talks and sermons can be found here.

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Menachem Creditor - Olam Chesed Yibaneh.

still small voice: creating sacred space

My latest exhibition review for the Church Times is of still small voice at The Wilson in Cheltenham. The collection of British biblical art currently on show there 'begins with the Nazarene and Pre-Raphaelite styles of William Dobson and William Bell Scott, and continues, with Eric Gill as the bridge between Modernism and the earlier Arts and Crafts movement, through the inter-war period of the 1920s and 1930s, the Second World War, the post-war era, and the later 20th century, into the early 21st century.'

Included is a stunning Craigie Aitchison piece: 'Completed just a year before his death, Body of Christ (Red Background) is an example of the spiritual depths of modern art, with its full-on expressive use of colour combined with the stripped-back minimalism of its imagery. Christ is the cross, the cross is the wound at the heart of the canvas, and this gash in the blood-red background is the point at which light enters the space ...

this is art that creates sacred space by taking you "somewhere beyond yourself and outside of your own little world".'

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Krzysztof Penderecki - St. Luke's Passion.

still small voice: British biblical art in a secular age

still small voice: British biblical art in a secular age at The Wilson in Cheltenham is an exclusive opportunity to see major works by influential 20th century British artists including Stanley Spencer, Eric Gill, Jacob Epstein, Barbara Hepworth, Edward Burra and Graham Sutherland. Exploring ideas around creativity, crisis and the human experience, this is a major exhibition for 2015.

The works on show are normally held in an international private collection, and this is the first time this exhibition has been displayed in the UK. It explores a diverse range of media, including major paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture by some of the most important and beloved 20th century British artists, some of whom are also shown in The Wilson's own collection.

Dr Chloë Reddaway (Ahmanson Fellow in Art and Religion at The National Gallery) will speak at The Wilson during the exhibition on Speech and Silence, Word and Image (5.30pm on 22 April). In this talk she will discuss the relationship between Christian language and image making, the challenge of painting God incarnate, and the theological potential of silence, empty spaces, and dissemblance in indicating the dual nature of Christ.

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Charles Ives - Psalm 90.

Biblical Art from Wales

Biblical Art from Wales is a fascinating book and DVD Rom which has emerged from the very valuable Imaging the Bible in Wales project of the University of Wales Lampeter. This project (focussed on 1825–1975), analyses the social, political and theological questions raised by Welsh biblical visual culture so that its contribution to the intellectual, artistic and cultural heritage of Wales can be recognized and preserved.

The book showcases the wide variety and range of biblical art found in Wales, much of it little known and explores the significance and influence of the Bible in the visual culture in Wales in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – from the simplicity of the Nonconformist chapel and the synagogues to the colourful array of stained glass found in many churches and the icons of the Orthodox tradition.
Throughout Wales, the Bible has been interpreted and illustrated in a surprisingly wide range of media: in paint and sculpture, needlework and ceramic, woodcarving and engraving. The illustrations in the book demonstrate how the process of ‘visual exegesis’ was an important feature of religious and cultural life in Wales in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As well as evaluating the work of particular artists, such as David Jones, John Petts and Ivor Williams, specific examples of Pre-Raphaelite work in Wales and in the artisan visual tradition are also discussed.

The DVD adds a further interpretative dimension. It contains over 600 images and allows the reader to explore further subjects introduced in the book, arranged and structured as seven key representative themes such as 'Word and Image', 'the Bible in the Welsh Landscape', 'Domestic Piety', and so on. Both the book and DVD are supported by an online database of images. From the DVD one can click directly into the online database (which contains over 3,000 images), hosted by the National Library of Wales, to find out more information about the context of individual images.

The book, DVD, and overall project are invaluable simply in documenting the range and variety of artworks engaging with Biblical themes in Wales and demonstrates the profound impact that the Bible has had on British culture. While the work of artists such as John Petts and Ivor Williams, whose work is not well known, is highlighted, there are nevertheless no great discoveries in terms of the originality of the work uncovered and there is a clear tailing off of the quantity of images as the record comes to the contemporary period. This suggests that the impact of the Bible on contemporary Welsh culture has lessened and the book is ambivalent about the future of Biblical art in Wales as a result.

The final paragraph of the book notes that "the culturally-Christian upbringing and biblical education which were once such powerfully formative influences are increasingly outside the experience of younger generations." If this book and project serve as a resource for future generations of artists to tap those influences then they will have been worthwhile indeed.

Other projects documenting (on a less rigorous basis) church commissions within the UK include:

• Ecclesiart, Art & Christianity Enquiry's (ACE) project to map significant works of Modern (post 1920) and contemporary art in UK churches and cathedrals. ACE hope that the works included so far: stimulate debate about the merits of such works; encourage further nominations from the public as well as a selected panel of publicly-known figures from the worlds of art and religion; demonstrate the variety and richness of the works which are part of a collective ownership; and encourage increased responsibility towards works which may be under-appreciated.   
• commission4mission's Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area which will publicise the extent to which churches in this Area of the Diocese of Chelmsford contain significant art and craft works. Examples of art within the Barking Area's churches include work by significant twentieth century artists such as Eric Gill, Hans Feibusch, John Hutton and John Piper, together with contemporary work by the like of Mark Cazalet, Jane Quail and Henry Shelton.

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Johnny Cash - Down There By The Train.

The Painted Word (2)

The Painted Word is a wonderful survey of the Biblical paintings that have been John Reilly's life’s work with the Biblical and other references included revealing both sources of inspiration and the reality that these paintings are explorations of meaning and not illustrations of the passages cited.

The book’s title could suggest illustration but needs, I think, to be understood in the sense that icons are written. Reilly's paintings work as contemporary icons opening windows onto the unity of the material, emotional, intellectual and spiritual that characterises life and our world in their fullest senses.

The most impressive aspect of his paintings is that the unitive vision which characterises his works is revealed through colour and form rather than by content. The imagery of each work is enmeshed in the patterns and harmonies that reveal the way in which all that is depicted is linked in the light emanating from the central source which symbolises God himself.

Examples of Reilly's work can be seen here and here.

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Paweł Łukaszewski - Kolęda Bóg Człowiek.

The Painted Word

The Veritasse Friends Newsletter has information on a new book entitled, The Painted Word - Paintings by John Reilly:

"Many people will be familiar with the paintings of John Reilly through exhibitions in cathedrals and churches, art centres and galleries throughout the south of England.

His subtle and jewel-like colours and his use of geometric patterning are immediately recognisable and captivating. Figures appear to be part of the pattern of the painting, yet stand out from it with grace and eloquence. His works, painted in oils, depict a modern take on the timeless stories of the Old and New Testaments. The paintings give the Bible themes a new relevance for today's world.

The works reproduced in the book are A4 size and in full colour. They are accompanied by the Bible passages that inspired them.

The book is published by Cross Publishing at £19.95 and is available in most Isle of Wight book shops or directly from John Reilly. Those wishing to have the book sent to them will pay an additional £2 in postage, for UK addresses. For further details, email:
jilljohnreilly@uwclub.net."


I first came across Reilly's work many years ago while on holiday in the Isle of Wight when I saw some prints of his paintings and a book of his wife Jill's poetry in a local shop. I was so impressed with his work that I found where he lived and went to visit on spec. He was kind enough to welcome me and show me some of his works from that period.

What I loved about his work then and still love now is his unitive vision. Using lessons, it seems to me, learnt from Orphism and Rayonism he constructs patterns of rippling rays emanating from a central source of light. Within this structure he sets objects and figures composed of abstract shapes and colours that are indicative of their spiritual qualities. So, for example, a rock-like formation, an animal, a human figure and a plant shape can all be held together, underpinned, in eternal circulation by the central point, which may be seen both as a pictorial device structuring a work of beauty and as symbolic of God.

In Universal Power - The Fourth Day of Creation (one of the prints I initially purchased) he shows us a snapshot of creation, of the first reconciliation of shape and form. As abstract shapes spiral out from the central point they again coalesce into those same fundamental, elemental shapes of bird, plant and human life.

Reilly has written of his work:

"My paintings are not concerned with the surface appearance of people or things but try to express something of the fundamental spiritual reality behind this surface appearance. I try to express in visible form the oneness and unity of this invisible power, binding all things into one whole."

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Evan Dando - Frying Pan.

Lenten US exhibitions

Here is information about two interesting US exhibitions as highlighted in the Image Newsletter:

"The Artist and the Bible is an exhibition of fifty-six original works on paper of twentieth century Biblical themes currently on display at John Knox Presbyterian Church in Normandy Park, WA. Representing a cross section of cultures and styles, the exhibit features works by such well-known artists as Marc Chagall, Georges Rouault, Karl Caspar, Kathe Kollwitz and Sado Watanabe. Edward Knipper, a painter who has been a leading figure in the contemporary Christian art movement, and his wife began the collection over thirty years ago. The exhibit includes drawings, paintings and various fine art printing techniques such as woodcut, lithograph and intaglio. Interpretations of Old and New Testament subjects, such as Adam and Eve, Sarah and the angel, the Last Supper, Noah's ark and Christ carrying the cross, are included. "While we have wide-ranging tastes and interest, over the years we have particularly focused on Biblical or Christian imagery. When possible, I have purchased works from the art movements and artists that have most influenced me," said Knippers, who calls Rouault "one of my heroes in the faith."

During Lent, the Oratory Church of St Boniface (in Brooklyn) is privileged to exhibit the works of the distinguished Catholic artist and Oratory parishioner Alfonse Borysewicz. The paintings on exhibit for Lent are a continuance of Borysewicz's work for the Oratory since the early 1990's (he has completed two side chapels and a processional cross, as well as paintings for the residence chapel). The Lenten paintings will cover the stained glass windows for the solemn 40 day period of Lent. These paintings, with their austerity of near abstraction, reverence the icons of Christian antiquity. With a modern hand Borysewicz gives pictorial voice to the Catholic heritage."

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Buddy & Julie Miller - Written In Chalk.

Remembering Albert Herbert

Remembering Albert Herbert, the current exhibition at England & Co, celebrates the life of Albert Herbert who died in May this year. For more than five decades, Herbert consistently painted dream-like images that were the product of an unusual and highly individual imagination—his poetic vision continued the metaphysical tradition in British art that extends from William Blake to Cecil Collins. Herbert’s idiosyncratic, mystical paintings used Biblical stories and religious subjects, although they were not exclusively Christian in their meaning—religion was his way of revealing ‘the inner world of the collective mind’. Herbert discovered images from universal narratives depicted by artists for thousands of years, and renewed them in a quintessentially modern way.

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John Tavener - The Lamb.

Chagall's Bible: Mystical Storytelling

The Museum of Biblical Art (MoBiA) currently has an exhibition exploring Marc Chagall's use of biblical narratives in his art. Entitled Chagall's Bible: Mystical Storytelling the exhibition runs from October 7, 2008 - January 18, 2009:

"No other modernist painter melded the traditions of Jewish Hasidism, eastern Orthodoxy, and western catholic tradition into such dramatically rich and personally significant expressions of biblical narratives. From his White Russian youth in Vitebsk to his professional life as a painter in Paris, Chagall recorded in his graphic works and paintings symbolic elements derived from each of these religious traditions. The intersection of Hasidic and Christian iconographies in Chagall's representations of biblical heroes, prophets, or scenes of the Crucifixion yields an intriguing dynamic tension, which has never been adequately addressed in a major museum exhibition. This exhibition will identify salient details in Chagall's oeuvre that demonstrate the intersection of his fascination with Jewish and Christian traditions, as well as, the interaction between his cultural roots in Russia and his fondness for France."

The exhibition booklet, written by art historian Tom Freudenheim, is a musing on the theme of transgression in Chagall's work and specifically in his use of Russian, Jewish, and Christian symbols. The illustrated text explores Chagall's unique iconography and continuing influence today. This is MOBIA's second volume in its new "Art and the Bible" series of exhibition brochures. Volumes in this series will continue to expound upon themes in art inspired by the Bible and will be produced for future MOBIA exhibitions.

A new and well-reviewed biography of Chagall has also recently been published:

"In it, Jackie Wullschlager explores in detail Chagall's complex relationship with Russia and makes clear the Russian dimension he brought to Western modernism. She shows how, as André Breton put it, "under his sole impulse, metaphor made its triumphal entry into modern painting," and helped shape the new surrealist movement. As art critic of the Financial Times, she provides a breadth of knowledge on Chagall's work, and at the same time as an experienced biographer she brings Chagall the man fully to life; ambitious, charming, suspicious, funny, contradictory, dependent, but above all obsessively determined to produce art of singular beauty and emotional depth."

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Deacon Blue - I'll Never Fall In Love Again.

Albert Herbert RIP

Visionary artist Albert Herbert died on 10th May and obituaries can be found at the Independent and Times websites. He had been associated with the England & Co gallery since 1988, who describe him as "a great friend and inspiring artist who will be very much missed."

Gallery owner Jane England wrote the Independent's obituary and says of Herbert:

"Acknowledged for his powerful and original poetic vision, Herbert continued a metaphysical tradition in British art that extends from William Blake to Cecil Collins. His idiosyncratic, mystical paintings used biblical stories and religious subjects, but were not exclusively Christian in their meaning - religion was his way of revealing "the inner world of the collective mind". These universal narratives were drawn from a myriad sources, from the Bible to Buddhism, as Herbert discovered images from stories depicted by artists for thousands of years, and renewed them in a quintessentially modern way."

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Raymond Crooke - Lord Of The Dance.

Two difficulties multiplied

In Art and Scholasticism Jacques Maritain writes that Christian art is not impossible but is:

"difficult, doubly difficult - fourfold difficult, because it is difficult to be an artist and very difficult to be a Christian, and because the total difficulty is not simply the sum but the product of these two difficulties multiplied by one another: for it is the difficulty of harmonizing two absolutes."

He says that the "difficulty becomes tremendous when the entire age lives far from Christ, for the artist is greatly dependent upon the spirit of his time" and then asks "whether courage has ever been lacking on earth."

'Two difficulties multiplied' would, I think, make a great title for a survey of modern and contemporary Christian Art. Maritain, and his wife Raïssa, helped generate that courage in many artists, musicians, poets and writers. Jean-Luc Barré writes that:

"They invented "a style of full freedom in the faith," based on friendship, on "person-to-person influence," on chance encounters, "what each one brings, in the depths of his heart, from his coming and going in a house where he was loved, from the peace of God that he felt there, but of which he had no idea ..." What took place there [in Thomistic Study circles at the Maritain's home in Meuden] was derived from no institution and hearkened back to no known model, and became the target of multiple conversions and a prey of just as many qui pro quo's and misunderstandings."

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Erik Satie - Gymnopedia No 1.

Banned Stations of the Cross

I've been reading Jacques Maritain's Art and Scholasticism which includes an appendix describing the banning, by the Roman Catholic Church, of Stations of the Cross created by the Belgian artist Albert Servaes. Servaes played a significant role in a renewed interest in ecclesiastical art in Belgium. This renewal also had links to the revival of religious art in France in which Maurice Denis played a significant role.

Maritain's comments can be read, together with background information on Servaes, at this blog - idle speculations: The Banning of the Stations of the Cross.

Servaes' banned Stations are reproduced in Ecce Homo: Contemplating the Way of Love together with meditations by Titus Brandsma. The publisher's state that:

"Albert Servaes (1883-1966) is the leading representative of Expressionism in Belgian painting. Here we have a great piece of Flemish art matched with the spiritual thoughts of Brandsma. Titus meditating on the passion of the Lord, and calling attention to the place of the cross in prayer. These meditations on the passion stand wholly in this tradition of the vivid use of the imagination in order to evoke the reality of Jesus' sufferings. The details of his thoughts are determined by the artist's black on sepia drawings and are completely understood only by reference to them. No doubt the grim expressionist statement of the theme brought home with extra force to Titus' mind the frightful nature of the crucifixion."

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Sofia Gubaidulina - Seven Words.

Imaginative space & the empathy of God

Station 6: Jesus meets Veronica by Rachel Doragh

Station 8: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem by Al Gray

Station 14: Jesus is laid in the tomb by Anthony Fenwick

Hertford stns combines Stations of the Cross painted by local artists with six Stations created through art workshops held in Lent organised by Hertford & District Churches Together. During Holy Week the complete set of Stations will be sited either in different places of worship throughout the town or in public, civic and outdoor locations enabling people to make a pilgrimage from station to station with accompanying meditations to aid their spiritual journey.

Having been involved in writing meditations for this latter project, I asked several of the artists involved what it was about the Stations of the Cross that made them so amenable to re-interpretation and re-presentation.

For illustrator Al Gray, the Stations provide a “breakdown of the main event in the Christian faith; the Creator laying down his life for his creation.” “That's a big thing,” he says, “and to look at it piece by piece is helpful in understanding it.” As a result, he was hopeful that the project would “cause people to reflect on Christ's passage to the cross and what was involved in him making that sacrifice.”

For Revd. Alan Stewart, Priest-in-Charge of St Andrew's Hertford, one of the artists providing Stations and the overall co-ordinator for the project, this is the raison d’etre of the Stations as each station combined with its accompanying prayer and reflection is “designed to help us meditate upon the significance of what happens; both for Christ and for ourselves; the lengths that His love has gone to and our response to that love.”

Similarly, Rachel Doragh, the artist for the sixth Station ‘Jesus meets Veronica’, said that she hoped that for those who see the Stations there would be at least one that “touches something within them, that brings something new and alive.” “I'd hope,” she said “that people who see them could walk away changed in some way even if it's just that a new channel of thought has been opened up.” Both Gray and Doragh thought that the project would “bring people together creatively.”

Anthony Fenwick, who had provided a pre-existing piece - a diptych in acrylic on board - for the fourteenth station 'Jesus being laid in the tomb' was hopeful “that others may see something of themselves in the Stations.” This was a wish shared by Stewart who hoped that project “helps people of any faith or none to discover something of the empathy of God; that their story, their pain and sorrow and doubt and frustration have been and are being shared by God.” In his view, the “Stations of the Cross reflect a journey which often mirrors our own personal journeys.”

Stewart was “also looking forward to hearing the myriad of interpretations that folk will make about the art as they see a familiar story through new lens.” He felt strongly that the project should “use both secular and sacred spaces to exhibit the Stations - some in quiet reflective spaces, others in crowded public spaces.” He “loved the idea that someone might just stumble upon a piece and want to discover more” as “each station demands that you stop and wait with it.”

It was for this reason that Doragh wanted to be a part of the project. She said that: “The concept of using an ancient tradition of the church and reinterpreting it for today, taking it outside of the church and having it interact with contemporary culture is in my mind a very exciting interaction. I like the idea of bringing something deep and spiritual and intensely meaningful and re-presenting it in a way that will open up all that is in it to a new audience or bring a new way of seeing to an existing audience.”

She thought that the public nature of the Hertford stns project expanded the concept of 'worshippers'. That, in itself, was an attraction but the project also challenges “a narrow view of worship - taking it outside of any one traditional worship space, into other churches and public spaces.” Doragh thinks that “there is a lot on offer to those who take this challenge - a new way into something enduring, not a new concept but a fresh look at it and hopefully a look at it that will lead people into worship.”

As an artist, she feels: “It is great to be given the opportunity and privilege to explore the themes of the stations and to be able to express myself in worship through the creation of an artwork. Just as God is the creator and we are created in his image, being creative is, for me, part of being who I am created to be. Being able to contribute to this project allows me to pull together my exploration of faith and an attempt to live and understand that in today's world.”

The Stations of the Cross, it would seem, are amenable to artistic re-interpretation and re-presentation because the story of Christ’s passion is a story with which we can identify and in which we can see reflected something of our own life journey. It is this that leads an artist like Chris Gollon to “to increase the emotional potential” by “using his own son as the model for Jesus” or for Ghislaine Howard “to situate her painting of The Empty Tomb in the reality of the lived experience” of rough sleepers.

The significance of the Stations is, as Stewart stated, both in what happens to Christ and what happens to us and the Lenten art workshops in Hertford brought this powerfully home to participants. The workshop I attended began with reflections on Jesus taking up the cross and then led into the sharing of words describing those things Jesus took up on our behalf as he took on our humanity and took up the cross. These were listed on flipchart and we then each chose a word to engrave on a large wooden cross using a nail. For some this initially felt sacrilegious – an act of vandalism on the central symbol of Christianity – but discussion of these feelings led to an understanding of the offence of the cross and the sense that those things taken up by Christ on our behalf had been engraved in his flesh.

This very visceral engagement with the experience of the Stations had also been a significant aspect of creating the first Station. That week’s workshop had involved discussion of the charges made against Jesus before each person chose a charge, created a collage based on that charge and then drove a nail through their collage securing it to a block of wood. The experience of driving the nail into the wood was as much part of the emotional and creative experience of the Station as was the creation of the collage. Each person's wood block and charge was then arranged to form the shape of a crucifix.

Participants in these workshops found themselves in the ‘imagination space’ of which Aishan Yu has spoken and which the Stations of the Cross, whether figurative or conceptual, can open up when the artist “helps people of any faith or none to discover something of the empathy of God” through the mirror of our own personal journeys.

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Sufjan Stevens - Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

Images for Easter

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Pops Staples - Nobody's Fault But Mine.

Revealing the marvellous

Albert Herbert has described art as being not about “meanings but feelings”. His is an art concerned with revealing the inner world, the 'marvellous', feelings, and through these, the collective mind. He has spoken of the way in which, at the age of 16, he found a surrealist magazine and responded immediately to art that “was about revealing the ‘marvellous’ and of the superiority of the inner world to the world of appearances.”

His expression of these ideas involved learning to see and paint as children do. "I learned to draw again as if from the beginning, drawing what I felt and knew rather than what it looked like." A painting usually starts with some idea that could be put into words but when he begins to paint he becomes fully involved in "the struggle to harmonise shapes, colours and textures". This can go on for several months with the original idea becoming lost in the paint only to re-emerge as something quite different. In this way he both draws his images from his subconscious and integrates them into the wholeness of the painting. His approach tallies with that of another contemporary painter, Ken Kiff. Kiff, too, argues that his subconscious images only achieve meaning through the process of shaping and forming the painting. The painting, as a whole, must be discovered, by the artist, bit by bit. This has to happen in order "for the thing to really grow together and be significantly all part of the same growing thing". In this growth there can be a sense of peace, completeness and wholeness despite the presence, at times, of disturbing imagery.

For Herbert, like John Reilly, the stories of the Bible cannot be bettered for revealing universal and timeless truths. “The Bible stories are treated as symbols, metaphors, revealing the ‘marvellous’, an intention”, says Herbert, “which I first discovered in that surrealist magazine long ago.“ "The painting of Moses climbing the mountain and speaking to God in a cloud, is about the incomprehensible; God is beyond understanding, it is the revelation coming from outside the tangible world of the senses. It cannot be put better than in this Biblical image of something hidden from you by a cloud; and you going upwards with great difficulty, away from the ordinary world, and looking for something hidden from you."

Sister Wendy Beckett has described Herbert as a “religious painter of genius” while Patrick Reyntiens has said that he is “the most significant religious painter to emerge in England in the 1980’s”. Specialist appreciation is one thing but general acceptance another altogether. When Herbert prepared a series of Stations of the Cross for a London church they were rejected. Herbert’s deliberate child-like style can be a barrier to appreciation but, for those prepared to look, it strips away surface distractions and gets the viewer to real correspondences and motives.

In Jesus is Stripped of His Garments II (1987) the vulnerability of God is clearly shown in the centre of a crowd of nightmarish faces and grasping hands. The best response to make to this work is also a simple descriptive one as the actor Griff Rhys Jones did in writing about Herbert’s Jonah and the Whale in the RA magazine. “This painting is very straightforward. It’s a pictorial respresentation of a woman trapped in one circumstance and a man trapped in another, and the way the colours link together is rather impressive. It’s quite a complicated idea expressed very simply.”

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U2 - Grace.

Biblical Art: An International A-Z - Part 3

Art histories rarely focus on modern sacred or religious art, giving the impression that the visual arts in the twentieth century were predominantly secular. This represents a Western view of art history which can itself be challenged and which completely overlooks the significant development of Biblical Art in Asia and Africa throughout this period and on into the contemporary scene. The following A-Z attempts to provide a brief sample of some of the artists and organisations that create and support Biblical Art in Asia and Africa:

He Qi (b. 1950): Qi’s vibrant biblical paintings blend together Chinese folk customs and traditional painting techniques with the western art of the Middle Ages and Modern period. He hopes to help change the "foreign image" of Christianity in China by using artistic language, and at the same time, to supplement Chinese art as Buddhist art did in ancient times.

Rorke's Drift Art School: played an important role in the development of art produced by black South Africans. Artists were trained in the use of linocut, etching and aquatint. Founded as the Evangelical Lutheran Church Arts and Craft Centre in 1962 by the Church of Sweden Mission, its pupils included Azaria Mbatha, Cyprian Shilakoe, Vuminkosi Zulu, and Gabi Nkosi.

Sacrum: A term coined by the Polish critic and art historian, Janusz Bogucki to describe the meeting of spiritual themes and Polish avant-garde artists. In the 1980s Bogucki organised a series of art exhibitions in Catholic Churches, the most famous being the 1983 exhibition, The Sign of the Cross, at the Church of God’s Mercy in Warsaw which brought together over fifty artists and photographers together with actors, musicians, art theorists, and filmmakers.

Alfred D. Thomas: an Anglican, from Uttar Pradesh in India, who depicted Christ’s life and ministry. His Christ had the ideal male body of classical Indian sculptures, with broad shoulders and narrow waist. An Indian art critic wrote that, “Thomas’s pictures of the Christ as child, man and divine-man are unique in their true oriental colouring and sentiment.”

Hatigammana Uttarananda (b. 1954): a Buddhist monk who has been influenced by Catholic theologian Aloysius Pieris. Through his interest in liberation theology, Uttarananda is aware of the way in which Jesus broke down barriers between people and consistently depicts this aspect of Christ ministry in paintings based on the Gospel narratives.

Hanna Cheriyan Varghese: a Malaysian artist who began painting on biblical themes after being inspired by works she saw in the ACAA’s Image magazine. Varghese dyes batik cloth pictures and paints in acrylics. She has said that, “Art is the expressive cry of the soul. All of us have that urge in one form or another. Discover it; nurture it.”

Sadao Watanabe (1913 - 1996): created paintings of biblical narratives in the paste-resist stencil dying technique of Japanese Folk Art called katazome. Reflecting both his folk and faith roots Watanabe said of his paintings, “I would most like to see them hanging where people ordinarily gather, because Jesus brought the gospel for the people.”

Ruben Xulu (1942 - 1985): taught to carve by sculptor Bernard Gwensa and encouraged by Father Kinch, of the Roman Catholic Mission of the Good Shepherd, Hlabisa in South Africa, Xulu and Gwensa produced many sculptures for this church and other mission churches in the area. Xulu’s Christ-Crucified is informed by his own silent resignation to God’s will after he lost his hearing as a child.

Yasantha Boange (b. 1945): Sri Lankan wood carver who has been greatly inspired by religious themes and, for whom, wood carving has deepened his understanding of religion.

Vuminkosi Zulu (1948 – 1996): a Rorke’s Drift graphic artist, his work was brought to international attention when a German Lutheran priest based in Switzerland began to collect Zulu’s works and use them to illustrate his sermons. Zulu’s work was exhibited in Germany, Sweden and the USA, as well as within South Africa.

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Flying Burrito Brothers - Sin City.

Biblical Art: An International A-Z - Part 2

Art histories rarely focus on modern sacred or religious art, giving the impression that the visual arts in the twentieth century were predominantly secular. This represents a Western view of art history which can itself be challenged and which completely overlooks the significant development of Biblical Art in Asia and Africa throughout this period and on into the contemporary scene. The following A-Z attempts to provide a brief sample of some of the artists and organisations that create and support Biblical Art in Asia and Africa:

Indian Christian Art: Angelo da Fonseca (1902 - 1967) was a Goan artist who pioneered painting Christian themes in Indian styles. Da Fonseca was decorated by Pope Pius XII with the gold medal "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice". Other significant Indian artists using Christian themes include Jamini Roy, Jyoti Sahi, Alfred D. Thomas and Frank Wesley.

Qangeta Jembere Hailu (b. 1918): is part of a tradition of sacred art that may be traced back to the introduction of Christianity in Ethiopia during the fourth century. Jembere received a traditional church education that included training as a painter and has since produced paintings for churches in Begemder, Wello, and Addis Ababa.

Kutjungka Catholic Church: The Balgo School of Western Desert Art developed from the work of Jesuit missionaries among the Aborigines of the Balgo Hills in Western Australia. Suzie Bootja Bootja, Matthew Gill, Gracie Mosquito and Linda Syddick are among the Aboriginal Artists from this School to have fused their traditional styles with Christian symbolism.

Ketut Lasia (b. 1945): paints in the traditional Balinese style drawing on canvas with a fine pen before adding acrylic polymer colour. As a child he often watched the painters in his village for hours and was amazed at the way they could take the images and pictures in their minds and turn them into paintings. Lasia has depicted the story of Christ in a sequence of 30 paintings undertaken at the central Balinese church in Denpasar.

Colin McCahon (1919 – 1987): New Zealand artist who populated his landscapes with figures and imagery from biblical narratives. McCahon also created series of ‘written paintings’ using words from the Gospels and prophets to explore issues of doubt and suffering. His religious works were often shocking – one critic described them as “graffiti on the walls of some celestial lavatory” - but many responded to the rawness of his imagery and themes.

Charles S. Ndege (b. 1966): one of the best-known religious painters in Tanzania. Originally from Northwest Tanzania, he studied art at the Sukuma Cultural Center near Mwanza and feels passionately that the Jesus of contemporary faith should be portrayed as an African. This is what he did in the Stations of the Cross he was commissioned to paint on the cement walls of Nyakato Church outside of Mwanza.

Oye Ekiti: In a town called Oye Ekiti in Western Nigeria, Father Kevin Carroll set up a workshop where young sculptors could train under master carvers. The carvers were not shown any European models and continued to work in the Yoruba style while beginning to represent Christian themes and stories. The well-known sculptor Bandele of Osi Ilorin was among the teachers and his apprentices included Lamidi Fakeye.

Molnár C. Pál (1894 - 1981): popular Hungarian painter drawn to both classical and surreal styles. Between the two World Wars he undertook many innovative ecclesiastical commissions. Dismissed by the post-war modernist art establishment Molnár responded by using own face as a model for his Suffering Jesus.

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Taizé - Alleluia.

Biblical Art: An International A-Z - Part 1

Art histories rarely focus on modern sacred or religious art, giving the impression that the visual arts in the twentieth century were predominantly secular. This represents a Western view of art history which can itself be challenged and which completely overlooks the significant development of Biblical Art in Asia and Africa throughout this period and on into the contemporary scene. The following A-Z attempts to provide a brief sample of some of the artists and organisations that create and support Biblical Art in Asia and Africa:

Asian Christian Art Association (ACAA): Founded in 1978 to encourage the visual arts in Asian churches. ACAA has raised the profile of Asian Christian Art through conferences, exhibitions, publications, a magazine (Image) and a website. Christian Art in Asia, The Bible through Asian eyes and Christ for all people are each showcases for the art and artists that ACAA support.

The Blake Prize for Religious Art: an Australian art prize, named after William Blake, established in 1949 as an incentive to raise the standard of contemporary religious art. Justin O’Brien was the first winner, Eric Smith has been a seven times winner and other multiple winners include: John Coburn; Leonard French; George Gittoes; Roger Kemp; Rodney Milgate; Desiderius Orban and David Voigt.

Antoine Camilleri (1922 – 2005): an innovative Maltese artist who worked in a wide variety of media. He said that, “to succeed in painting one must always experiment and create new methods and designs.” In several works, such as Christ conquered the cross and his stained glass at the Augustinian Church at Tarxien, he succeeded in combining the significance of the crucifixion with that of the resurrection.

Ivo Dulčić (1916 – 1975): Croatian colourist whose paintings, murals and stained glass feature in Croatia’s churches, monasteries and museums. Dulčić was part of a trio of painters (with Đuro Pulitika and Antun Masle) in his native Dubrovnik.

Each with his own brush: Written in 1938 by Revd. Daniel Johnson Fleming, this book was the first extensive attempt to bring together examples of Christian Art from Asia and Africa. Among the artists featured are Luke Ch’en, Lu Hung Nien, and Alfred D. Thomas. Fleming wrote two other books on similar themes; Heritage of Beauty and Christian Symbols in a World Community.

Furen: A Chinese Christian school of painting which arose in Beijing between the two world wars at the Catholic University, but which lasted only until 1949. The Chinese Ministry of Education recognized it under the name Furen, a phrase found in the Analects of Confucius which can be translated as "promotion of righteousness." Luke Ch’en, a professor in the Art Department of the University, was the main proponent of this style. Ch’en educated and trained a group of Christian artists including Lu Hung Nien and Wang Su Da.

Gota Rochisuma Associates: a group of sculptors who work from Silviera House, a Catholic educational centre outside of Harare, Zimbabwe. Andrew Mabanji explains that the group "use as our theme the explosion of negative silence, the voice of the voiceless. As members of the Shona tribe we want to release from the stone the hidden strengths of indigenous Shona culture."

Ralph Hotere (b. 1931): a Maori artist of great originality whose origins in a small Maori Catholic community provided him with a magnificent resource from which he has continued to draw inspiration. The Stations of the Cross, the Sacred Heart and the Requiem all occur within the imagery he uses with ingenuity and emotion.

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Paul Simon, Ladysmith Black Mambazo et al - Township Jive.