- the history of the revival of sacred art in the twentieth century;
- categories of commissions and associated issues;
- assessing quality in commissions;
- understanding scandals caused by commissions; and
- publicising commissions.
Gungor - I Am Mountain.
Friday, 25 July 2014
Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Supervision
At the beginning of the week I had a second excellent sabbatical supervision session with Mark Lewis in which we reviewed the initial learning emerging from my sabbatical art pilgrimage. Following this session I was able to complete a first draft of my sabbatical report which at this stage includes reflections on:
Gungor - I Am Mountain.
Gungor - I Am Mountain.
Sabbatical art pilgrimage: St Michael and All Angels Berwick
‘Whether it be music or painting or drama, sculpture or
architecture or any other form of art, there is an instinctive sympathy between
all of these and the worship of God. Nor should the church be afraid to thank
the artists for their help, or to offer its blessing to the works so pure and
lovely in which they seek to express the Eternal Spirit. Therefore I earnestly
hope that in this diocese (and in others) we may seek ways and means for a
reconciliation of the Artist and the Church—learning from him as well as giving
to him and considering with his help our conception alike of the character of
Christian worship and of the forms in which the Christian teaching may be
proclaimed.’
On 27th June 1929, the day he became Bishop of
Chichester, George Bell famously expressed, in his enthronement address, his
commitment to a much closer relationship between the Anglican Church and the
arts.
Bell had been intent on re-establishing the link between
the Church and the arts from his early days as Dean of Canterbury (1924-9)
where he had begun with religious drama, commissioning in 1928 a new play for
the cathedral from John Masefield; an event which in large part led to the
establishing of a series of Canterbury plays, including Murder in the Cathedral
by T.S. Eliot. He went on to commission drama, music and visual art, put
structures in place (e.g. the Sussex Churches Art Council and its ‘Pictures in
Churches Loan Scheme’) to support a wider commissioning of artists, placed his
trust in the vision of artists when they encountered opposition and he was
called on to adjudicate on commissions and strongly supported the appointment
of Walter Hussey as Dean of Chichester Cathedral to take forward the
commissioning programme he had initiated there.
Bell viewed his drive to re-associate the Church and the
Arts as being “an effective protection against barbarism, whether the barbarism
was Nazism, materialism or any other threat to civilization.” Murals
commissioned from Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Quentin Bell in 1941 for the Sussex
Church of St Michael & All Angels Berwick represented a fulfilment of his
vision be a catalyst for promoting the relationship between the Arts and the
Church. As Sir Kenneth Clarke wrote in 1941: “...with a little judicious
publicity it might have the effect of encouraging other dioceses to do the
same. If once such a movement got under way, it would have incalculable influence
for the good on English Art.”
The commission for the murals came about in the following way:
‘Sir Kenneth Clark announced in a letter to the Times
(1939) the formation of the Central Institute of Art and Design (CIAD) whose
purpose was to respond to the plight of artists in wartime … It was a cause
that Bell passionately identified with and almost immediately he took up the
challenge of stimulating Church patronage of the Arts within his own diocese.
He received enthusiastic support from Sir Kenneth Clark at the CIAD and within
his diocese from Professor Charles Reilly who had a home near Brighton. The
CIAD introduced Bell to the Society of Mural Painters whose membership included
both Hans Feibusch, who offered to undertake commissions in the Diocese for no
fee, and Duncan Grant who was also a committee member of the CIAD …
Feibusch was the first to complete murals in the Diocese
and Prof. Reilly heralded his work at St Wilfrid's, Brighton in 1940 as the
first ‘modern’ murals in any English church. By ‘modern’ he meant: a painting
belonging to the present generation and based in its forms and colour on the
revolution in the graphic arts brought about by the researches and experiments
of Cezanne and Picasso.
Prof. Reilly was credited by Bishop Bell with the idea of
taking the project to a new level by proposing Duncan Grant undertake a scheme
at Berwick. For the first time a modern artist of national standing would
undertake a complete decorative scheme for an historic rural church. If the
project was successful, they believed it would stimulate demand for commissions
in churches all over the country to alleviate the plight of many artists.’
‘Duncan Grant (1885-1978) was the lead artist for the
murals and put forward the initial proposals. He moved with Vanessa Bell (1879
– 1961) and her husband, Clive, to Charleston Farmhouse at the foot of the
Downs, three miles to the west of Berwick Church, in 1916. Vanessa was sister
of Virginia Woolf.
Quentin Bell (1910-1996) was the son of Vanessa and Clive
Bell and undertook all the paintings within the Chancel as well as ‘The Supper
at Emmaus’ at the end of the north aisle.’
They ‘had in view a ‘decorative scheme’ which, rather
than simply being a series of individual paintings within frames, would create
an environment with its own particular feeling and aesthetic.’ ‘The six larger works are Christ in Glory and a crucifixion scene, The Victory
of Calvary, by Duncan Grant; The Supper at Emmaus and The Wise and Foolish
Virgins by Quentin Bell; and The Annunciation and The Nativity by Vanessa Bell.’
Grant’s work was ‘influenced by his travels in Italy
where, as an art student, he had seen the mosaics at Ravenna and copied the
frescoes of Piero della Francesca (1420-1492) at Arezzo. Then in Paris he had
copied works by Chardin (1699-1779) portraying scenes from everyday life,
ordinary people in work or recreation. At the same time he studied the work of
the Impressionists and was later greatly influenced by the Post-Impressionists
such as Cezanne, Seurat, and others …
The murals at Berwick exhibit influences from all these
traditions, but also something of the artists’ focus on the intimacy of the
home and personal relationships and their love of the beauty and simplicity of
the Downland landscape.’
Berwick Church was unusual in that ‘the plain leaded
lights in its nave did not have figures or colour to clash with the paintings
around them, and this was even more pronounced after bomb damage caused them to
be replaced with completely plain glass. This gives beautiful views of the surrounding
Sussex countryside, which seem to complement rather than compete with the paintings,
many of which have the same countryside as their background.’
‘The Berwick commission required the agreement of both
the local Parochial Church Council and also the Chancellor of the Diocese. He
was himself advised by the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) …
However, just before the Chancellor could give his
authorisation, one member of the parish lodged a formal petition objecting to
the murals. This triggered a 'Consistory Court' hearing at which evidence was
heard from both those in favour and those opposed to the scheme. Bishop Bell
along with members of the CIAD felt that much of the future of Church Patronage
of the arts might rest upon this commission.
In the small flint schoolhouse, just down the lane from
the church on 1st October 1941, the court heard evidence from Sir Kenneth
Clark, Bertram Nicholls and Frederick Etchells in support of the scheme. The
sincerity of the artists was emphasised along with their generosity in asking
for only a fraction of what the work would normally cost. Despite the
objections, the Chancellor authorised the commission to go ahead.’
It is difficult to measure the impact that Bishop Bell,
and the Berwick murals in particular, have had on Church patronage of ‘modern
art’. Grant was only to receive one other church commission – frescoes painted
in 1959 for Lincoln Cathedral’s Russell Chantry - and the catalytic effect for
which Bell had hoped did not materialise in any dramatic way. However, much
commissioning did take place in the post-war years particularly where
reconstruction to damaged churches was needed.
The artists at Berwick were considered ‘avant garde’ in
their day but they actually produced a scheme for the church which drew heavily
on the ‘tradition of ecclesiastical art.’ They paid ‘homage to the high points
of the artistic heritage of a European Civilization’ which was, at that time,
in turmoil. Though they were modern artists they expressed ‘a respect for both
the history and tradition of art and the simplicity of the setting and
community for whom they were painting.’
The murals are, like those of Stanley Spencer in the
Sandham Memorial Chapel at Burghclere, ‘a unique example of war art:’
‘They record the landscape, the people, and the way of
life that was under threat. Christ in
Glory depicting, amongst the three servicemen shown, Douglas Hemming who
was killed at Caen, takes on a war memorial role. Their religious content
reflects the belief of their patron that Christianity was the central pillar of
a European civilization that was under threat from the despotic forces of evil.’
As with Spencer’s murals, the artist’s love for and use
of ‘local people and the local landscape showed how the divine was a part of
the everyday’ enabling them to ‘sense the closeness of God to their own lives.’
As Bell put it in his dedication sermon:
‘The pictures will bring home to you the real truth of the Bible story ... help
the pages of the New Testament to speak to you - not as sacred personages
living in a far-off land and time, but as human beings ... with the same kind
of human troubles, and faults, and goodness, and dangers, that we know in
Sussex today.’
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Extreme - Ghost.
Wednesday, 23 July 2014
Sabbatical art pilgrimage: St Martin-in-the-Fields
The Revd. Dr. Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, spoke about ‘Art and the renewal of St Martins’ at the
beginning of July as part of the International Conference organised by Art & Christianity Enquiry (ACE).
After initial remarks on the theme of art as a plurality
of possibility showing what could be by using form, media and idea for
creation, appreciation and interpretation, he took John Calvin’s threefold office of Christ as a frame for speaking about art, St Martins and Art at St
Martins.
Art:
·
Prophet – Art holds up a mirror to society
and asks, ‘Are you proud of what you see?’ Art can create a dream of society
fulfilled and thereby the painful gap between the ideal and reality. Prophets
often shock and some prophetic acts are shocking.
·
Priest – We can “heaven espie” through art
(e.g. icons). Art enables us to see beyond the stars. It can, therefore, be a
sacrament. Through the arts the ordinary
stuff of life speaks or sings of the divine. Artists are the high priests of
creation.
·
King – Art shows what humanity can be when we
reach our full potential. Kingly art
stretches us and is about glory, as with the roadsweeper Wells encountered who
spoke of his love of opera as being “his glory.” Artists construct acts of
worship. God is the great artist and each human life is an interpretation and
improvisation on the creativity of God.
St Martins:
·
Prophetic – Advocacy on social issues.
·
Kingly – St Martins is a premier parish
church which affirms national culture and identity.
·
Priestly – The priestly role is central to St Martins.
Art at St Martins:
·
Prophetic – Homage to Soweto by Chaim Stephenson is a memorial to those who
suffered during the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Hector Pieterson was a
13-year-old killed in the Soweto uprising in 1976. In the sculpture he is being
carried in the arms of a fellow student. The sculpture is a tribute, lament and
prayer for victims of injustice and violence. Mike Chapman’s Millennium sculpture on the portico depicts the scandal of particularity found in the
incarnation.
·
Priestly – Brian Catling’s Processional Cross has
been cast in a strong yet lightweight aluminium and is gilded in white gold. In
Jesus, God came face-to-face with humanity and vice versa. Jesus is, therefore,
the crossroads. Wood went adrift when it was used as a cross. Here drift wood
has been attached to the cross; two pieces of wood have been tied humbly
together by a length of string – an allusion to St Martin tearing his cloak in
two and giving half to a beggar.
·
Kingly – James Gibbs’ building signified a
new era of church building. Shirazeh Houshiary’s East Window has no direct
representation of conventional imagery. The oval is a prophetic image of
interruption. It can also be seen as an egg about to burst (a Kingly image).
The window governs all it surveys. This cross is a vortex of renewal, a
whirlpool of holiness.
St Martin’s has an Arts
Advisory Panel
for the Art Programme that began under the church’s Renewal Project. The panel is chaired
by Sir Nicholas Goodison and also includes Vivien Lovell, Director of Modus
Operandi. Other members of the advisory panel include Revd Dr Sam
Wells, vicar of St Martin’s; Rod Beadles and Ali Lyon, Churchwardens; Eric Parry, architect of the Renewal Project; art historians Wendy Baron and MaryYule; and Alister Warman, curator.
As part of the renewal of St Martin-in-the-Fields by Eric
Parry Architects, Modus Operandi was appointed to create an Art Startegy for
the Grade I listed church. As a result of a competitive interview
process, overseen by the Art Selection Panel, five major new artworks were
commissioned: Tomoaki Suzuki’s Christmas Crib, Shirazeh Houshiary’s East
Window, a poem by Andrew Motion which was realised by letterer Tom Perkins and
set into the balustrade of the Light Well, a new Altar by Shirazeh Houshiary
and the new Processional Cross by Brian Catling.The building won a RIBA London Award in 2009, an ACE/RIBA Award for Religious Architecture, A Civic trust Award and the Europa Nostra EU Prize for Cultural Heritage. It also received a British Construction Industry Award and was highly commended in the Regeneration and Renewal Awards.
In addition to the commissions
through the Art Programme, the visual arts also feature in the renewed building
in the Crypt Gallery. The Gallery in the Crypt’s dramatic 18th Century
architecture makes a stunning backdrop to display modern art and photography.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble.
Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Out and About
One Equall Light was an exhibition themed on the “Sermons and Holy Sonnets of John Donne” was held from 30th June - 20th July, 2014 at St Giles, Cripplegate and St James, Piccadilly. Christian Arts collaborated with Art and Christianity Enquiry on the exhibition organisation and the ACE International Conference was held during the beginning of the exhibition period. The exhibition coincided with the City of London Festival. The exhibition included selected work from Christian Arts members and work from invited artists, Susie Hamilton at St. James and Margot Perryman at St. Giles. Link to the exhibition catalogue here - Catalogue. I attended Sam Wells' talk on 'Art and the Renewal of St Martins' at St Giles Cripplegate (which was part of the ACE conference) with Jean Lamb and Wendy McTernan and then visited the St James Piccadilly half of the exhibition with Wendy again and Hayley Bowen.
Art and Life at Dulwich Picture Gallery: Ben and Winifred Nicholson were at the forefront of the Modern British movement and produced some of the most memorable works of the period. Discover ten years of artistic exploration by the couple in this exhibition curated by their grandson, Jovan Nicholson. It provides a rare opportunity to see their views of the same landscapes, seascapes, still lifes and portraits alongside pieces by contemporaries Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis and the potter William Staite Murray. I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent show when I visited on Friday.
Can't Tell Nathan Caton Nothing is a Radio 4 comedy that mixes stand-up with re-enacted scenes from comedian Nathan Caton's family life. Regarded as one of the best young comics in the UK, Nathan's award-winning combination of personal and topical anecdotes has lead to appearances on BBC2's Mock The Week, BBC3's Russell Howard's Good News, BBC Radio 4's Now Show, News Quiz. I watched part of the recording of the third series with Paul Trathen.
The sheer variety of work presented each year is what makes the RA's Summer Exhibition an annual highlight of the cultural calendar. I went with Christopher Clack who has 'Teenage Boy', one of his portrait photographs, included in the show. Alongside Chris' marvellous image, in a room which also includes work by James Turrell, is a wonderful video by Everton Wright which was, for me, one of the best things in the show. I also particularly enjoyed work by John Bellany, Peter Freeth, Kaori Homma, Anselm Keifer and Wolfgang Tillmans.
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Gene Clark - Ship Of The Lord.
Sunday, 20 July 2014
Sabbatical art pilgrimage: Metz Cathedral
I didn't sleep that well in Metz (in
common with other nights on the trip to this point). I had been fine during
the day when I had my itinerary to keep to and the amazing art and architecture
to see, but at night all the other factors about this trip would crowd in and
cause me to worry. Similar to daily life then where often I wouldn't do what I
do if it weren't for focusing on the next tasks in hand, rather than worrying about
what might or might not happen.
I woke to the sounds and songs of
striking railway workers at their picket line and rose early to visit Metz Cathedral, arriving while the building was primarily open for worshippers
rather than tourists like me. The sounds of hoovers echoed quietly in the
background as the sound of plainsong also rose from the crypt. The routines of
the Cathedral's cleaners are as regular and ubiquitous as the rituals of the
services and in their own way as meaningful and sacred. This is, in large
measure, how we deal with the anxieties and worries of constant change and what
might be; by building for ourselves patterns of sameness, regular routines
which bring a sense of security and solidity to what otherwise feels as though
it will slip from our grasp and control by means of its fluidity and movement.
This may be illusion but it is consoling and enables us to cope with change:
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.
Metz Cathedral is nicknamed “God's
Lantern” and is renowned for the vast expanse of its stained glass – 6,496
square metres over twice as much as Rouen and three times as much as Chartres.
Within this incredible expanse is glass from the thirteenth century all the way
through to windows installed in the 1960s by Marc Chagall, which are what have
brought me to Metz. It is not simply the expanse of glass here which is
impressive but also the range and variety that can be seen. Basil Cottle has
noted that the glass here “is not stylistically co-ordinated; its assembly has
been by slow growth, and many hands have participated, with many colours and
iconographic schemes.” Yet, the “effect on entering the nave is dazzling: three
tiers of windows, including the richly glazed triforium; extremely tall and
acute-angling vaulting and apse windows, and a grove of slim clustered shafts
receding eastwards into pools of colours” (B. Cottle, All The Cathedrals Of France, Unicorn Press, London, 2002)
The Cathedral has a simple but
effective leaflet 'Parcours spirituel' which identifies a prayerful route
around the Cathedral taking in 16 of its most important aspects, including its
modern glass. At each of these points in the Cathedral information and a prayer
can be found, encouraging all visitors not simply to be tourists but
worshippers as well. I know from personal experience, having created a similar
leaflet for St Margaret's Barking, how much such simple initiatives are
appreciated by parishioners and visitors alike. An argument can be made that
such approaches, like the information provided on wall cards in museum exhibitions,
can direct viewers to see the artwork from one perspective alone. However, this
does not have to be the case as viewers often take that perspective as a
starting point for then seeing others. Additionally, providing no way in to
perspectives on artwork, as curators have found, can leave viewers unable to
begin to engage with the artwork at all.
Chagall came to stained glass
relatively late in his career with the commissions for the baptistery at for Notre-Dame-de-Toute-Grâce du Plateau d’Assy completed in 1957. These derived from his friendship with
Pere Couturier and included two small windows in grisaille of an angel holding
a jug of holy water and an angel with candelabra and flowers. Chagall, as a
Jew, had concerns regarding commissions for a Christian church to the extent
that he insisted on the phrase, ‘In the Name of the Liberty of All Religions’
on the baptistery mural.
Following this commission, however,
Chagall working with Charles Marq, from the Atelier Simon Marq, received many
church commissions for stained glass with his ambulatory windows for Metz
Cathedral, realized in 1960, being the first of these commissions. “Marq developed a special process of veneering pigment on glass, which allowed Chagall to use as many as three colours on a single uninterrupted pane, rather than being confined to the traditional technique of separating each colour by lead strips.”
Chagall was inspired both by the Bible
and his visits to Israel. Accompanied by his wife Bella and his
daughter Ida, Chagall went to Israel first in 1931. The main reason for this
visit was a commission he had received from the Parisian art dealer and
publisher, Ambroise Vollard, to do a series of illustrations to the Bible. He
travelled a great deal, painting and drawing in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Safed.
The country left a vivid impression on him, and back in Paris the light and
landscape he had seen were echoed in many of the etchings for his work, The Bible. In 1951, the opening of large
retrospective exhibitions of his works, in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv,
prompted Chagall's second visit, and in 1957, he was again in Israel following
the publication of his illustrations to the Bible. Vollard had died shortly
before World War II and Tériade published the commission that had finally been
completed in 1956. A second book of Bible illustrations was published by Vervé,
also in that year.
Chagall said that, “In the East, I
found the Bible and part of my own being. The air of the Land of Israel makes
one wise.” For him, the Bible was “pure poetry, human tragedy.” He said that it
“filled him with visions about the faith of the world” and that it inspired him
so that he saw life and art “through the wisdom of the bible.”
Chagall also made a link between stained glass which
comes alive “through the light it receives” and the Bible which is “light
already.” Stained glass, he suggests, “should make this obvious through grace
and simplicity.” Jonathan Wilson has noted that “Chagall became fascinated with stained glass after he had moved to the
south of France in 1950.” Chagall was undoubtedly “seduced by the endless
Mediterranean unfolding of color-as-light and the possibility of capturing in
glass the kind of spiritually charged, quasi-mystical, sometimes biblically
inspired images to which he was increasingly drawn.” Indeed, Chagall spoke of light as being the material which creates stained
glass. “The light is natural,” he suggested, “and all nature is religious.”
Therefore, “every colour ought to stimulate prayer” and, "whether in cathedral or synagogue the phenomenon is the same: something mystical comes through the window.”
André Malraux summed this up when he
wrote: “I cannot understand why stained glass, which lives and dies with the
day, was ever abandoned. … Artists preferred the light. But the stained glass window,
which is brought to life by the morning and snuffed out by the night, brought
the Creation home to the worshipper in church. … Stained glass eventually
surrendered to painting by incorporating shade, which killed it. It was six
hundred and fifty years before someone found a way of shading off colors in
glass: Chagall.”
It has been suggested, rightly I think, that Chagall’s
use of colour is mystical, with “the yellow of revelation flooding the Tablets
of the Law,” “the white of faith surrounding the cross” and “the supremacy of
blue in his work” indicating “the wisdom of overcoming bitterness and hatred.” Here we have the yellow of revelation flooding the Garden of Eden in Chagall’s 1963
Creation window for the triforium of the north transept while deep blues and
reds characterise the combination of ecstasy and sorrow in the two ambulatory
windows from 1960 which tell the story of the Jewish people in key episodes
from Abraham to Jeremiah by way of Jacob, Moses and David. James Waller has
written that here “Chagall is all curves and tonal flares,” his “modulation of
tone, within the fabulously fragmented and flowing glass panes” lending “his
colours a deeper, more smoldering dimension.”
Waller contrasts Chagall’s curves with
the “constructivist angles and flat-colour planes” of the windows by Jacques Villon, created for the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in 1957. Villon’s “highly
expressive constructivism, divided into powerful sections of colour makes a
startling impact within the medieval interior” and “flare brilliantly, even on
an overcast day, drawing all eyes towards them.” In the early morning light, his
“stained-glass compositions of the Crucifixion (centre), the Jewish Passover
and Last Supper (left), and the Wedding Feast of Cana (right)”, blaze in a
stunning conflagration of light.
Jacques Villon was born Gaston Emile Duchamp, the oldest
of six children. Three of his younger siblings also achieved fame as artists:
Suzanne Duchamp-Crotti, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Marcel Duchamp. He and his
brothers became friendly with leading cubists including Albert Gleizes. This
circle of artists attempted to extend the innovations of Cubism into the realm
of life through architecture and the decorative arts. Along with Gleizes,
Villon was one of the few French artists who explored abstraction
during the early 1920s while during the early 1930s, again prodded by Gleizes,
he took part in the activities of Abstraction–création. As with Gleizes’ own
work, these pictures are carefully governed by systems of mathematical
proportion; his emphasis on planar construction was played off against free
linear motifs to produce the most lyrical abstract paintings of his entire
career. Villon saw
painting as “a method of prospecting, a manner of expression. With colour as
bait …”
From 1957 onwards Brigitte Simon and her husband Charles
Marq began to create stained glass with the greatest contemporary painters
beginning with Jacques Villon. Hayley Wood writes that:
“The studio technique used on the windows by Villon and
Chagall is acid etching on flashed glass, which is clear glass with a veneer of
colored glass. The etching process for glass is basically the same as the
process used for metal plates in printmaking: an acid-resistant ground is
applied to the glass, and a design is carved, drawn with a tool that will
scrape away the resist. This is then placed in an acid bath, and the acid eats
away at the exposed carved areas. Subtle tonality—color fields representing the
spectrum of transparent color between the color of the veneer and the clear
base glass--can be achieved with extremely skilled and careful monitoring of
the process. Black enamel paint is used on the Chagall and Villon windows for
the detailed work (a technique of monochromatic painting called grisaille).”
The final modern windows at Metz are two
entirely modernist abstract compositions: small window sections by Roger Bissière from 1960, the glass segments of which look like mosaic tiles miraculously transported into lead cames and stone portals.
Bissière made stained glass windows for the churches of Cornol and Develier
(Swiss Jura) in 1958, as well as for the north and south transepts here in
collaboration with Charles Marq.
Bissière was the forerunner of the new non-figurative
generation which began after the war in France. From 1925-1938 he was Professor
of fresco painting at the Académie Ranson where he was particularly appreciated
for his simplicity and natural kindness. He taught Alfred Manessier, Vieira da Silva, Jean Le Moal and many other young non-figurative painters for whom he
was considered the ‘father’ of their style. Through its inner radiance and
poetic qualities his work has spiritual resonance. “Painting is not a job,” he
said, “we only paint when Grace falls upon us.”
Finally, from this visit it
is worth noting that Metz Cathedral has an ongoing arts programme centred on
music and the visual arts. Exhibitions are hung within the body of the
Cathedral with the exhibition at the time I visited by Eban being abstract
works based on these words from Georges Rouault:
“Shape, color, harmony
Oasis or mirage
For the eyes, the heart or
the mind.”
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Norah Jones - The Sun Doesn't Like You.
Windows on the world (301)
Chelmsford, 2013
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The Killers - Read My Mind.
Friday, 18 July 2014
Talent Show and Praise Party
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Dougie Dug Dug - Funky Action Songs.
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