Notre Dame de France: A showcase of Art Sacré

Notre Dame de France is a showcase of Art Sacré as Cultural Attaché René Varin encouraged the creation of a sacred space, which would honour France. He approached eminent artists of the time.

Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) | Our Lady’s chapel 1959

• Cocteau came to London to paint the superb murals in Our Lady’s chapel, between November 3rd and 11th 1959.
• Cocteau was a multi-talented and well-known artist, already famous for his poetry, drawings, novels, films and plays. Such was his fame that a screen was erected to hold back the public and press while he painted the murals. He was an influential artist who, along with other famous contemporaries animated artistic life at that time.
• Cocteau received his honorary doctorate from Oxford University with the support of René Varin. Cocteau asked him if there was anything he could do in return. Varin suggested that he decorate a chapel at Notre Dame de France.
• The murals are dedicated to the Virgin Mary divided into 3 panels: the Annunciation, the Crucifixion and the Assumption. The murals are simplified drawings, lines with muted colours. Cocteau included a self-portrait within the Crucifixion scene on the left side of the altar.
• He arrived each morning at about 10am and always began by lighting a candle. He was heard talking to the Virgin Mary while working on the drawings.

Dom Robert (Guy de Chaunac-Lanzac, 1907-1997) | Notre Dame de France Tapestry 1954

• A beautiful Aubusson tapestry, above the altar, which is a work by this Benedictine monk of the En Calcat abbey.
• The theme of the tapestry is Paradise on earth with a reference to the Creation and to Wisdom. The New Eve, title given to Mary by the Church, is walking towards us as pure as a new bride.
• The quotation at the bottom of the tapestry (book of Proverbs) refers to the personification of Wisdom, present at God’s side when the world was created: “Cum eo eram cuncta componens ludens coram eo omni tempore” “I was by his side, like a master craftsman, ever at play in his presence”
• Dom Robert is a well-known tapestry artist of the 20th century. The key theme of his work is Nature as it emerged from the hands of the Creator of the world. There are frequent representations of vegetation and flowers in his work.
• He entered En Calcat Abbey in 1930. After 10 years spent at Buckfast Abbey in England, he went back to En Calcat. It was then that he started to produce works of art.

Georges-Laurent Saupique (1889-1961) | Bas relief carving: Our Lady of Mercy 1953

• The representation of Our Lady of Mercy above the entrance welcomes visitors as they walk in from the street and enter the church.
• Work of art of the famous French sculptor. He was head of the restoration work of Reims cathedral.

Boris Anrep (1863-1969) | Mosaic of the Nativity 1954

• Russian artist and mosaic specialist who was very active in England.
• He was very well known for his mosaics in Westminster Cathedral, the National Gallery and the Bank of England.
• In 2003 reordering work in the church led to the re-discovery of the mosaic by the artist in Our Lady’s side-chapel.

Jeremy Clarke: Framed Psalm

• Original poem and handwritten manuscript in brown ink on stained wood.
• 40 x 40 x 2 cm. One of 20 original pieces.
• Text is from the book, Psalms in the Vulgar Tongue, by Clarke.
• A collection of 51 poems in the tradition of the Psalms.
• For more information: jeremyclarke.com

Statue of Our Lady of Victories c.1870

• Exact copy of the statue of ‘Notre Dame des Victoires’ in Paris.
• Destroyed during the bombardments of 1940. The head was parachuted back into France in 1942 in order to be restored.
• Sculptor Henri Vallette re-sculpted the statue based on the dimensions of the head.
• In 1945 the full statue was brought back to London.

Timur D’Vatz: Flight into Egypt

• Made of 12 paintings of 1x1meter, united in one. The piece was made and given by Timur D’Vatz to celebrate the 150th birthday of Notre Dame de France, in 2015.

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Olivier Messiaen - Visions de l'Amen: 1. Amen de la Création (Amen of Creation).

Graham Sutherland: Attracted to the Cross

My latest review for Church Times is of the Graham Sutherland show 'Beneath the Tapestry' in Coventry Cathedral:

'This exhibition is small but significant, as it brings together important works by the artist which are unlikely to be seen together again in my lifetime.

Sutherland’s religious works may be few, but they are not only supremely realised conceptions of key moments in salvation history, but icons of the renaissance in the Church’s artistic patronage which, across Europe, also engaged George Bell, Jacques Maritain, Maurice Denis, and the Dominicans Marie-Alain Couturier and Pie Raymond Régamy. In Britain, it led to the conception of the new Coventry Cathedral as a “treasure-box” of significant commissions. But Sutherland’s wider creative imagination was stimulated, too: his Thorn Trees and Thorn Heads, a new strand in his work, derived from his reflections on the crown of thorns. Vibrant Thorn Trees lithographs can be seen in the complementary exhibition of Sutherland prints organised by the Goldmark Gallery in the Chapel of Christ the Servant.'

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Candi Staton - His Hands.

The Divine Image

The Divine Image by Hannah Thomas is at St Stephen Walbrook from 9 - 20 January (Mon - Fri, 10.--am - 4.00pm, except Weds, 11.00am - 3.00pm). The opening night reception will be on Monday 9 January from 6.30pm, all are welcome.

Hannah Rose Thomas

Hannah Rose Thomas is a twenty-four year-old British artist and recent Durham graduate in Arabic and History. Hannah has sold her paintings and received commissions since she was eighteen years-old to fund her humanitarian work in Mozambique, Sudan, Madagascar, and, more recently, in Jordan and Calais. Hannah is currently studying an MA at the Prince’s School of Traditional Art in London. Her next art project will be in Kurdistan, to assist with the rehabilitation of abducted young women from the Yazidi community.

This special exhibition collects portrait works undertaken during Hannah’s time in refugee camps in Jordan, where she partnered with UNHCR and Relief International to organise art projects for children in the camps. Her most recent portraits are of refugees she has met while volunteering in the Calais ‘Jungle.’ Hannah’s intimate portraits seek to humanise the individuals forced to flee their homes, whose personal stories are otherwise shrouded by statistics. She draws inspiration from Islamic art and Arabic poetry, to celebrate the rich heritage of the Middle East, so often forgotten and overshadowed by war.

The title of the exhibition is inspired by a verse from William Blake’s poem The Divine Image:

For Mercy has a human heart
Pity, a human face:
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Painting in Refugee Camps in Jordan

In April 2015, Hannah returned to Jordan to organise an art project for Syrian children living in the refugee camps, with the support of Relief International. The first canvas painted in Za’atari camp was an expression of the children’s experience of war. After a number of groups of boys and girls had painted on it, the canvas had become an abstract chaos of splashes of red paint, dark colours and layers of the children’s drawings of tanks, soldiers, dead bodies, planes and destroyed homes. It is a small glimpse of all that the children witnessed in war-torn Syria. However, many of the children confessed to Hannah that they did not want to think about or paint the war any more. Therefore the second canvas painted with the children was a vibrant expression of their memories of Syria. It was inspired by Islamic art and arabesque design, to celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the Middle East, so often forgotten and overshadowed by war. After a couple of days at Za’atari, the art project moved to Azraq refugee camp, in the midst of a desolate desert wasteland on the Saudi and Iraqi border. The two canvases painted in Azraq are a reflection of the children’s daily life in the refugee camp. Hannah also painted a mural on one of the new school caravans.

The Dairy of a Girl Away From Home

This is a tapestry created from paintings by Syrian girls living in Za’atari Camp this April. The most common image they painted was home, highlighting their longing for the war to end so that they can return to Syria. The Arabic poem is by a Syrian girl named Fatimah about her beloved home:

Take care of my house,
I left in it feelings of safety and security.
Don’t mess with my closet,
It has my clothes drenched with the smell of memories that no one else knows
And pieces of paper that have no value except to myself.
Don’t lift my pillow,
I hid under it my tears in times of sadness
And creatively created many dreams.
Don’t change the order of the books on my bookshelf,
On their pages notes I have written that no one will understand like I do.
As for my desk, don’t touch it,
But leave it with the mess I make while I study.
Please keep my traces in my beloved home,
I will be reunited with it soon.

Christian Aid: Syria Crisis Appeal

Five years of conflict has had devastating effects on the people of Syria. The situation is shocking. Half the country is displaced and more than 4.6 million people are now refugees. More than 400,000 people have been killed. Christian Aid is working with Syrians in Lebanon and Iraq, providing support to some of the most vulnerable refugees, including women who have experienced gender-based violence, and those with disabilities.

Six-year-old Hammoudi was born in Damascus with complex physical and mental disabilities. He was given two life-saving operations by the Syrian health service, but his third operation was cancelled when violence overtook the country. More than one in five refugees suffer from some form of impairment, whether from birth, illness, accident, or a conflict-related injury. Syrian refugees with disabilities often can't get the care they need. Now, with the help of donations to Christian Aid and the work of their partner, Lebanese Physically Handicapped Union (LPHU), Hammoudi has learned to walk for the first time.

Layan is a Syrian refugee living in Lebanon. Sadly, like many Syrian women, she's a victim of domestic violence. During times of conflict, women and girls are at greater risk of sexual and domestic violence. Layan now regularly visits Kafa, a Lebanese organisation that supports women who have experienced, or are at risk of violence. She said: 'Kafa helped me to get out of the awful situation I was in. I feel that there are people who care and worry about me.' Kafa successfully helped to lobby the Lebanese government to pass a law criminalising domestic violence. The law also applies to Syrian refugees.

These are the kind of people and situations that your donations to Christian Aid’s Syria Crisis Appeal can help to address. Please donate using the red Emergency Appeal envelopes or go to http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/syria-crisis-appeal.


http://www.christianaid.org.uk/

Capital Mass: Diocese of London Refugee Response

Capital Mass aims to engage and support every parish in the Diocese of London in tackling poverty and inequality. The Diocese of London commissioned Capital Mass through the awarding of a grant, to co-ordinate and draw together local and diocesan wide responses into the immediate and long term needs caused by and brought to our attention through, the Syrian Refugee Crisis.

See http://www.capitalmass.org.uk/refugee-response/information-and-signposting for details of how you can respond.

http://www.capitalmass.org.uk/
http://www.capitalmass.org.uk/refugee-response

Prayers in the midst of the refugee crisis

Wilderness God, your Son was a displaced person in Bethlehem, a refugee in Egypt, and had nowhere to lay his head in Galilee. Bless all who have nowhere to lay their head today, who find themselves strangers on earth, pilgrims to they know not where, facing rejection, closed doors, suspicion and fear. Give them companions in their distress, hope in their wandering, and safe lodging at their journey’s end. And make us a people of grace, wisdom and hospitality, who know that our true identity is to be lost, until we find our eternal home in you. Through Christ our rejected yet risen Lord. Amen

Heavenly Father, you are the source of all goodness, generosity and love. We thank you for opening the hearts of many to those who are fleeing for their lives. Help us now to open our arms in welcome, and reach out our hands in support. That the desperate may find new hope, and lives torn apart be restored. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, Our Lord, who fled persecution at His birth and at His last triumphed over death. Amen

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Martin Smith - You Have Shown Us.

The Divine Image

The Divine Image by Hannah Thomas is at St Stephen Walbrook from 9 - 20 January (Mon - Fri, 10.--am - 4.00pm, except Weds, 11.00am - 3.00pm). The opening night reception will be on Monday 9 January from 6.30pm, all are welcome.

Hannah Rose Thomas is a twenty-four year-old British artist and recent Durham graduate in Arabic and History. Hannah has sold her paintings and received commissions since she was eighteen years-old to fund her humanitarian work in Mozambique, Sudan, Madagascar, and, more recently, in Jordan and Calais.

This special exhibition collects portrait works undertaken during Hannah’s time in refugee camps in Jordan, where she partnered with UNHCR and Relief International to organise art projects for children in the camps. Her most recent portraits are of refugees she has met while volunteering in the Calais ‘Jungle.’

Hannah’s intimate portraits seek to humanise the individuals forced to flee their homes, whose personal stories are otherwise shrouded by statistics. She draws inspiration from Islamic art and Arabic poetry, to celebrate the rich heritage of the Middle East, so often forgotten and overshadowed by war.

The title of the exhibition is inspired by a verse from William Blake’s poem The Divine Image:

For Mercy has a human heart
Pity, a human face:
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Hannah is currently studying an MA at the Prince’s School of Traditional Art in London. Her next art project will be in Kurdistan, to assist with the rehabilitation of abducted young women from the Yazidi community.

Painting in Refugee Camps in Jordan

In April 2015, Hannah returned to Jordan to organise an art project for Syrian children living in the refugee camps, with the support of Relief International.

The first canvas painted in Za’atari camp was an expression of the children’s experience of war. After a number of groups of boys and girls had painted on it, the canvas had become an abstract chaos of splashes of red paint, dark colours and layers of the children’s drawings of tanks, soldiers, dead bodies, planes and destroyed homes. It is a small glimpse of all that the children witnessed in war-torn Syria.

However, many of the children confessed to Hannah that they did not want to think about or paint the war any more. Therefore the second canvas painted with the children was a vibrant expression of their memories of Syria. It was inspired by Islamic art and arabesque design, to celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the Middle East, so often forgotten and overshadowed by war.

After a couple of days at Za’atari, the art project moved to Azraq refugee camp, in the midst of a desolate desert wasteland on the Saudi and Iraqi border. The two canvases painted in Azraq are a reflection of the children’s daily life in the refugee camp. Hannah also painted a mural on one of the new school caravans.

The Diary of a Girl Away From Home

This is a tapestry created from paintings by Syrian girls living in Za’atari Camp this April. The most common image they painted was home, highlighting their longing for the war to end so that they can return to Syria. The Arabic poem is by a Syrian girl named Fatimah about her beloved home:

Take care of my house,
I left in it feelings of safety and security.
Don’t mess with my closet,
It has my clothes drenched with the smell of memories that no one else knows
And pieces of paper that have no value except to myself.
Don’t lift my pillow,
I hid under it my tears in times of sadness
And creatively created many dreams.
Don’t change the order of the books on my bookshelf,
On their pages notes I have written that no one will understand like I do.
As for my desk, don’t touch it,
But leave it with the mess I make while I study.
Please keep my traces in my beloved home,
I will be reunited with it soon.

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Victor Vertunni Family & Friends - Holy Thursday.

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.

The Otter Gallery and the Chapel of the Ascension

'The Otter Gallery forms an integral and vital part of the University of Chichester. It offers a welcoming and accessible space for art to both its immediate community of staff and students and diverse audiences beyond.

Core to the gallery's mission is the care, promotion and development of the University's art collections, including a nationally significant collection of mid-20th century British art, reflecting its original intention to place art at the heart of people's lives.'

'The collection was started in 1947 when Eleanor Hipwell, head of art for the Bishop Otter College, acquired three paintings from an exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in order to display them in the University. Shortly afterwards, Miss K E Murray was appointed as a new Principal. Along with Eleanor Hipwell's successor, Sheila McCririck, Miss Murray pursued a determination to develop a collection of contemporary art that would inspire and inform the students of the University. The acquisition of quality work with inadequate monetary resources was a demonstration of Miss Murray's persuasive persistence. She was helped by the support of Bishop Bell, Chairman of the Bishop Otter College Council, and Walter Hussey, who arrived as the new Dean at Chichester Cathedral in 1955.

Their support was vital in helping to promote acceptance of an acquisitions policy that included controversial and challenging pieces such as Patrick Heron's Black and White. As the collection grew, it was displayed throughout the College for the benefit of students and staff.'

'The University of Chichester is fortunate to be the home of a collection of some 400 works of art by distinguished artists from the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries. It is one of the most significant university collections, comprising not only oil paintings, watercolours, prints, drawings, textiles and ceramics, but also major works such as Jean Lurçat’s altarpiece tapestry, The Creation, in the Chapel, and Geoffrey Clarke’s aluminium sculpture of The Crucifixion above the Chapel’s entrance.'

The Chapel of the Ascension 'came into use in March 1962 to replace a smaller chapel elsewhere on the campus. It has since been used by the University to hold weddings, baptisms and confirmations of students and staff, as well as for music concerts and art displays.'

The Crucifixion was unveiled on 21 March 1962 during the dedication ceremony for what was then the chapel of the Bishop Otter College. 'The sculpture, by Geoffrey Clarke R.A. (1924 - 2014) is approximately 915 cm high and is made from cast aluminium. The abstract piece, attached to the gable of the chapel immediately over the entrance door, depicts the crucifixion. It incorporates the figures of the two thieves who were crucified alongside Christ. The sculpture also holds a nugget of glass, a symbol of the eye of God. Clarke was commissioned to do some work for Chichester Cathedral and was subsequently asked to create this piece for Bishop Otter College. He has used words such as ‘illumination; inspiration; light; kindling of mind and spirit; vision’ to describe the work.

Unfortunately, Lurçat's Aubusson Creation tapestry was not ready for the dedication ceremony and an alternative tapestry created by three students and inspired by the theme of the Lurçat tapestry was shown instead. The Lurçat tapestry has in recent years undergone conservation and on both occasions I have visited it is the student designed tapestry which has been on display. Madonna and Child by Willi Soukop is also currently on display in the chapel.

Axis Mundi was unveiled on 6 October 1990 and was 'created by the well known Sussex sculptor, John Skelton (1923-1999), whilst in residence at Bishop Otter College. The work is made from French limestone and is approximately 275 cm high x 280 cm wide. It is in the form of a Tau cross. Axis Mundi (translated: axis of the world or “world axis”), in religion or mythology, represents the connection between heaven and Earth. The vertical block represents life and the horizontal represents the after-life, at the same time representing the interaction of male and female forces.' Axis Mundi is located close to the Chapel of the Ascension. Both Axis Mundi and The Crucifixion feature on the Chichester Sculpture Trail which also includes work by Philip and Michael Clark and Philip Jackson, sculptors whose work I saw as part of my Sabbatical Art Pilgrimage and during which I first visited the Chapel of the Ascension. The sculpture trail ends at the Cass Sculpture Foundation whose 26 acre grounds are home to an ever-changing display of 80 monumental sculptures.

Current exhibition 'Art in Mind is an innovative collaboration between the Otter Gallery, the University of Chichester’s Fine Art department and three Coastal West Sussex Mind Centres. It started last autumn when project artist Helen Peters began a series of hands-on workshops with the Chichester and Bognor Mind services, allowing participants to get to know the gallery’s Modern British Art collections and experiment with various techniques and media.

The participants were formed of some 20 local people living with mental health problems who were encouraged to choose their favourite pieces of artwork from a large selection. In finding out about the materials and processes involved, as well as the history behind the pieces, they took inspiration for creating new work made from alternative forms of media such as weaving, paper cut outs, monoprints and clay.

Art in Mind is an exhibition resulting from this project, showcasing an eclectic range of some 17 mixed media artworks from the gallery’s permanent collection alongside the participants’ fresh artistic responses. Significant names in the history of Modern British art sit alongside less well known, and in some cases, local artists and makers. Chosen more for their texture, colours, subjects or perhaps personal connections rather than their art historical importance, the Otter Gallery’s collection is displayed beside the unusual and imaginative interpretations it has provoked – thus Art in Mind aptly reflects the very nature of a University art gallery as a stimulus for learning and research, accessibility and engagement.'

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Jan Garbarek - In Praise of Dreams.