Windows on the World (412)

Coventry, 2019

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The Welcome Wagon - Nunc Dimittis.

Stories of Change: Hope, Faith and Love

The nationally-renowned Methodist Modern Art Collection of more than 50 works will go on show in churches across Coventry this autumn as an Art Trail, entitled Stories of Change: Hope, Faith and Love, as part of the city’s celebration as UK City of Culture. The art trail itself will display 34 works, 11 of which will be at Coventry Central Hall.

The Collection includes works by artists such as Graham Sutherland, Elisabeth Frink, Edward Burra, William Roberts, Patrick Heron, F N Souza and Jyoti Sahi.

The Art Trail marks the relaunch of the Collection after a two year conservation and re-framing project to preserve the works and ensure they will be able to be displayed for many years to come.

The Art Trail will start at Coventry Cathedral and Coventry Methodist Central Hall in the city centre. Then visitors will be encouraged to follow the trail beyond the city into churches in Earlsdon, Balsall Common and Fillongley, which are part of the Coventry and Nuneaton Methodist Circuit.

The Methodist Modern Art Collection Art Trail ‘Stories of Change: Hope, Faith and Love’ will be available to view on selected days from Saturday 4 September to Sunday 3 October 2021.

While the Church of England’s post-war response to church re-building and artistic commissioning is well known and epitomised by Coventry Cathedral, the Methodist Church’s engagement with developments in twentieth-century British religious art is less well known. The story of the Methodist Modern Art Collection will be celebrated appropriately in Coventry this autumn. And, it is hoped that the carefully selected works will provide a unique moment of healing and contemplation, speaking to people in differing ways, as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

LAUNCH EVENT

Friday 3 September

Starting at Coventry Cathedral then moving to Coventry Central Hall

5.30pm Coventry Cathedral Evensong
6.30pm Coventry Central Hall

Both events are led by the President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference, Revd Sonia Hicks and Mrs Barbara Easton.

Any questions please email publishing@methodistchurch.org.uk.

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Martyn Joseph - When We Get Through This.

Windows on the world (311)

Coventry, 2014

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Leonard Cohen - True Love Leaves No Traces.

Windows on the world (310)

Coventry, 2014

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Soundgarden - Unholy War.

Windows on the world (309)

Coventry, 2014

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Deacon Blue - A New House.

Windows on the world (294)

Coventry, 2014

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Linda Perhacs - River Of God.

Going to Coventry

The Stackyard by Paul Nash

Base of Graham Sutherland's
Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph at Coventry Cathedral

Paul Hill's Christ Stripped with John Piper's Baptistry Window at Coventry Cathedral in the background

Ecce Homo By Jacob Epstein

Reconciliation by Josephina de Vasconcellos

These are photos of some of the art that I saw last week on a visit to Coventry. The Paul Nash can be found at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, recently reopened after a £20 million redevelopment. Their collection also includes works by other Neo Romantics including John Minton, John Piper and Graham Sutherland.

Sutherland and Piper were, of course, among those commissioned by Sir Basil Spence, to produce works for the 'new' Coventry Cathedral, for which he was architect. The Cathedral is currently hosting an exhibition called 'The Cross, the Resurrection and the Shroud of Turin' which features a modern retelling of the Stations of the Cross called Jesus on the Cross Road by artist Paul Hill, from Castle Vale in Birmingham.

The 'old' Cathedral also contains several significant artworks including Jacob Epstein's Ecce Homo, which captures the sense of Christ setting his face like flint towards Jerusalem, and Josephina de Vasconcellos' Reconciliation, which has become something of an international icon with versions in the Peace Park in Hiroshima, at the Berlin Wall, in the grounds of Stormont Castle, Northern Ireland and at Bradford University, in addition to Coventry.

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Corinne Bailey Rae - Like A Star.