Art of Faith: A City Walk

Together with fellow commission4mission member Mark Lewis, I have been involved in researching the Art of Faith walk, recently produced by the Corporation of London with the support of the Diocese of London. This walk enables walkers to discover contemporary works of art in the City’s historic churches, including work by Henry Moore, Damien Hirst and Jacob Epstein.

The City of London has the greatest concentration of historic church buildings anywhere in the country. In the 16th century there were 111 churches in the City. 80 were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 with 51 subsequently rebuilt under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren. Today there are no fewer than 42 historic churches situated within the Square Mile, all of which are either Grade I or Grade II listed, and together they illustrate an extraordinary breadth of architectural history.

Less well known is the extent to which they contain significant examples of art commissioned from the 20th century onwards. Many of the churches in the City were damaged by bombing during World War II, providing opportunities in the post-war reconstruction to engage with contemporary art. These artworks are by prominent modern artists such as Jacob Epstein, Patrick Heron, Damien Hirst, Henry Moore, John Skeaping and Bill Viola, as well as work by other reputable artists such as Thetis Blacker, John Hayward and Keith New.

The Art of Faith walk is the second Art Trail created through the work of commission4mission. The first was for the Barking Episcopal Area and was researched and developed by commission4mission member, artist and Fine Arts lecturer, Mark Lewis. Again, a leaflet (Barking_Art_trail) publicises the Trail and provides information about the featured artists and churches. The leaflet includes a map showing the churches featured on the Trail together with contact details, so that visits to one or more churches can be planned in advance.

Mark Lewis’ brief was to research commissioned art and craft in the Episcopal Area from the past 100 years. While stained glass is the dominant Ecclesiastical art form, he was also concerned to show a diversity and variety of media and styles within the selections made. He highlighted works such as the significant mosaic by John Piper at St Paul’s Harlow and the striking ‘Spencer-esque’ mural by Fyffe Christie at St Margaret’s Standford Rivers. Churches with particularly fine collections of artworks included: St Albans, Romford; St Andrew’s Leytonstone; St Barnabas Walthamstow; St Margaret’s Barking; St Mary’s South Woodford; and St Paul’s Goodmayes.

The Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area also inspired Revd David New from Worcester to put together his own informative Art Trail leaflet about Thomas Denny‘s stained glass work focusing on churches in the Three Choirs area – Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

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Van Morrison - Contemplation Rose.

Modern Art in City Churches

The present Dutch Church was built between 1950 and 1954, and contains paintings, memorial plaques, stained-glass windows and tapestries symbolising the key elements of its history: the Christian religion and the Reformation, the history of the Dutch nation, and the relationship with the House of Orange.

External stonework, including relief crests above each window, and above the entrance - the latter commemorating the beheading of the Duke of Arnold in C14 (he was buried in the old church) - by John Skeaping. Skeaping was a 'sculptor, mainly of animals.' 'Skeaping studied at Goldsmith's College, London, and later at the Royal Academy. In 1924 he won the British Prix de Rome and its scholarship to the British School at Rome. Skeaping was the first husband of the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, with whom he exhibited during the 1920s. He was a member of the London Group, and later worked for a period in Mexico. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1960.'

The glass in the aisle is by W Wilson, 1954-8, and includes a commemorative memorial to the church's friendly associations with the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. 'To the north of the sanctuary is glass donated by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, connected to the Church since 1558. Opposite is glass donated by the Corporation of the City of London. Memorial window to Queen Wilhelmina, of 1962 by Rev. Kok. Three western windows by Max Nauta commemorate the history of the church and the sixteen English towns who permitted the Dutch community to worship in C16.'

'On the main stair is Max Nauta’s (1896-1957) stained glass commemoration of the Glorious Revolution of 1689, when the Catholic James II of England was defeated and succeeded by his Protestant daughter, Mary II, and her Dutch husband and cousin, William III.

Both are depicted in sparkling stained glass that has a jewel-like, three dimensional quality, owing to Nauta’s use of small pieces of differently coloured glass as a substrate before painting. The huge west window is Nauta’s work also, with vivid royal portraiture, saints and heraldry.' Dutch artist Max Nauta worked on two sets of windows in the UK, the Austin Friars Church and St Andrews, Roxbourne, Harrow.

'The first commission Nauta received as a stained-glass artist was from the elders and deacons of the Dutch Reformed Church at Woerden, to design a memerial window to commemorate Johannes Pistorius (1925). This window - which to this day is a great source of pride to the members of the congregation, was produced by the Bogtman Studio, Haarlem, under Nauta's supervision and with his personal cooperation. All his later windows were produced - also under the artist's supervision - in the studios of either Messrs. Schrier or Messrs. De Ru (both also at Haarlem). The treatment with “grissaille” of the most important details, as well as the sorting and arranging of the pieces of stained glass are invariably the work of the artist's own hands. Many other commissions followed after this: St. Jacobs Church at The Hague; the Great Church at Delft; Dutch Ford Automobile Works; Shell.'

'On the south wall is a large tapestry depicting the ‘Tree of Life’ by Dutch artist Hans van Norden (b. 1915). It is a remarkable work, recombining traditional Biblical imagery with modernist/ classicising forms in pastel, not pale, colours.' Van Norden studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam under Heinrich Campendonk and John Jurres. Norden was a versatile artist (graphic artist, watercolourist, draftsman, glass painting, wall painting, monumental artist, painter, maker of mosaic, textile artist). He was a lecturer at the Academy of Drawing Teachers Tilburg. In 1946-1947 he was co-founder of the painters, the Realists' as the alternative to the famous Cobra movement and other "abstract'-working artists."'

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Brian Kennedy - A Better Man.

Modern Art in City Churches

Austin Friars, London was an Augustinian friary in the City of London from its foundation, probably in the 1260s, until its dissolution in November 1538. A statue by T. Metcalfe from 1989 provides a visual reminder of the Friars who used to frequent the area. Another reminder of this history is the sculpture of St Augustine by John Skeaping located on the wall of Augustine House.

Located on the site of the 13th-century Augustinian friary, the Dutch church is the oldest foundation of any foreign denomination in England, and the oldest foundation of any protestant denomination, whether English or foreign. It received its charter in 1550 from Edward VI when the nave of the Friary was retained and given for worship to London’s large Dutch Protestant community. 'So long a continuity of worship, and the early missionary work of its pioneering presbyterian community, has caused the church to be regarded as a `mother church' by Dutch Protestants in the Netherlands. The present building replaces the medieval one, bombed on 15-16 October 1940. The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 23 July 1950 by the ten year old Princess Irene of the Netherlands, symbolically commemorating the original foundation by the boy king Edward VI.'

'The Dutch Church is a good example of a London church built for an expatriot congregation, combining Dutch and English craftsmanship and commemorating their history together in the City. Arthur Bailey was a leading exponent of the refined English classical tradition which continued to develop through the 1930s and 1950s, and this is perhaps his finest work. The result of English, Dutch and South African patronage served to create one of the most lavish non-conformist churches to be built in England during the austere post-war years.'

In 1954 John Skeaping, assisted by Rita M. Ling, worked on the carvings on the Dutch Church. 'There are eight bosses. The three over the clerestory windows are approx. 90cm high. Those on the aisle wall and the porch are approx. 110cm high The boss above the foundation stone, on the Western section of the church's N. wall, represents The Dove of Peace arising from the Flames of War. On the E. wall of the N. porch, Richard, Earl of Arundel, who was beheaded and buried in the church, is shown replacing his head on his shoulders. The illustration of this legend was intended to symbolise "the rebuilding of the new church on the site of that which was similarly "beheaded"". Over the clerestory windows on the N.wall are "the seals of those protestant churches in the fatherland with which the Dutch Church in London has felt itself linked through the centuries". Reading from East to West, these are the Dutch protestant community in London itself in the period of its banishment (1553-1559), symbolised by a small sailing-ship with the banner of the Cross and the Christ monogram, then the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, represented by a woman showing the open bible to her child, next, the seal of the Mennonite Church, the Lamb of God standing before the Sun of Righteousness, and last, the seal of the Arminian Church, a Christ monogram with Alpha and Omega, signifying the beginning and the end. On the N. aisle wall, East of the porch, are three carvings emblematic of the Dutch Wars of Independence. From East to West, they are the medal of the "Beggars", with two clasped hands, the symbols of Unity and Loyalty, then in the centre the entwined symbols of faith, hope and love, and, finally, a portrait of the Stadholder William the Silent, with five arrows, representing the five provinces of the Netherlands. Royal Monograms (Esmond Burton) There are four of these, each being approximately 120cm high On the W. wall the monogram of George VI is at the centre, flanked to the left by that of Queen Juliana, and to the right by that of Queen Wilhelmina. Over the entrance to the church is the cypher of Edward VI. Weathercock (John Skeaping) Rather unusually for the City, this takes the classic form of a cock. Doors (John McCarthy) The enrichments consist of three pairs of roundels with remarkably naturalistic flowers, and one pair of fictive door-knockers or handles with the combined symbols of Faith, Hope and Love.' (http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/1234/#sthash.yRzaCoF8.dpuf)

Some of the City’s most ravishing C20 stained glass is to be found here. 'On the main stair is Max Nauta’s (1896-1957) stained glass commemoration of the Glorious Revolution of 1689, when the Catholic James II of England was defeated and succeeded by his Protestant daughter, Mary II, and her Dutch husband and cousin, William III.

Both are depicted in sparkling stained glass that has a jewel-like, three dimensional quality, owing to Nauta’s use of small pieces of differently coloured glass as a substrate before painting. The huge west window is Nauta’s work also, with vivid royal portraiture, saints and heraldry.

There are handsome, traditional-style brass chandeliers and wall candelabra. On the south wall is a large tapestry depicting the ‘Tree of Life’ by Dutch artist Hans van Norden (b. 1915). It is a remarkable work, recombining traditional Biblical imagery with modernist/ classicising forms in pastel, not pale, colours.

The depiction of the stairway to heaven references the stair to the organ against the wall opposite.' (http://www.chapelssociety.org.uk/com-may-2015/#sthash.bzS6ZJVm.dpuf)

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Buddy Miller - Water When The Well Is Dry.