The Painted Parish

The Painted Parish by members of the Federation of British Artists

This catalogue accompanies the exhibition The Painted Parish 15 to 20 December 2015 Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1 020 7930 6844 info@mallgalleries.com www.mallgalleries.org.uk © 2015 Federation of British Artists Ltd Images © the artist Foreword © Dr Timothy Brittain-Catlin Works for sale Works are available to browse & buy at www.mallgalleries.org.uk Cover image: Bob Rudd RI St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire (detail)

The Painted Parish by members of the Federation of British Artists

15 to 20 December 2015

The Mall, London SW1 www.mallgalleries.org.uk

Exhibiting Artists Sarah Bee PS Charles Bone RI Matthew Draper PS Peter Folkes RI John Foker SWLA Lisa Graa Jensen RI Alice Hall AROI Peter Kelly NEAC RBA Colin Kent RI Ronald Maddox RI PS RBA Anthony Morris NEAC RP Edman O’Aivazian ROI RSMA Richard Plincke RI Charles Rake NEAC Bob Rudd RI Peter Vincent PS Toby Ward NEAC Roy Wright PS Anthony Yates RBA

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Foreword

by Dr Timothy Brittain-Catlin Reader in Architecture at the University of Kent and author of Churches: Explore the Symbols, Learn the Language and Discover the History The English parish church provides the scene for magical experiences in life and art in a way that no other everyday place can do. That has not always been the case, of course: for about three hundred years, between the Reformation and the revival in religious art and architecture that was underway by the mid-nineteenth century, our churches were bare white rooms within battered old walls, and only a few poetic souls could see any romance in them.

But then a change began which has stayed with us up to the present day. Inspired, perhaps, by the collapse in the belief of literal biblical truth and of the idea that our liturgies were ordained by God, church artists took more liberties than before.

Charles Rake NEAC Moon over Ruined Abbey (detail) Oil 59 x 80 cm

The first thing to note about the parish church in art – and, indeed, the art in the parish church – is the sheer range of it. The fabric of a building conveys its age; the style of it conveys the interests of those that built it. The disposition of its iconography within – whether in statuary or glass – tells you the stories that its parson and its churchwardens wanted you to learn; and the execution of it is a lesson in the arts of the day. The monuments tell us about the people who lived in the parish, the epitaphs their preoccupations.

Even dry refurnishing carried out in the high-Victorian era – when standards of handcraft in joinery and metalwork 5

were very high – gives you a picture of the parish as it wanted to see itself. And of course the despoliations of reformers of any generation tell a further story. So when artists come to represent these things, they are telling a complex story of layer upon layer upon layer.

For all church buildings – and that includes many recent, post-War ones – show processes of slow change. An artist will try to capture this layering of different time cycles which may merely stretch from the two hours that a candle flickers to the hour or more of a Sunday service. They will commemorate the fifty years that the benches have been laid out the way we find them; or express something of the memorial windows that have lit the interior for over a century. And they will do this regardless of the size of the building – in fact, a view of St Paul’s Cathedral under scaffolding seems almost to express its vulnerability to the processes of time rather than its monumentality. It comes as no surprise that modernist artists and writers alike have found in the parish church a sense of scale-less luminance that evades other buildings. For about twenty years after the Second World War, church stained-glass window artists in particular created installations that brought that luminance permanently inside the building – ready for the next generation of artists to record the results. And thus the cycle continues – we hope, for eternity.

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Roy Wright PS St Paul’s Cathedral Charcoal 123 x 93 cm

“a view of St Paul’s Cathedral under scaffolding seems almost to express its vulnerability to the processes of time rather than its monumentality.”

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Painting the Parish

by Alistair Redgrift Exhibitions Manager, Mall Galleries / Federation of British Artists Christianity & the Arts MA, King’s College London English poet and writer John Betjeman wrote in his Foreword to John Piper’s 1960’s A Retrospect of Churches: ‘It is surprising that such loved and familiar and often beautiful buildings have inspired so few English artists when one thinks of how many foreign artists, principally Dutch, from the 17th century onwards painted their local churches’. While Betjeman does concede that prior to Piper certain English artists concentrated on churches (including Turner, Constable and Cotman), his generalisation erases any potential interest in churches since. John Piper may have been ‘the first English artist since Cotman’ to be inspired by churches (according to Betjeman), but he is by no means the last. This present exhibition, The Painted Parish, picks up the theme ‘post-Piper’ by showcasing works by selected present-day members of the Federation of British Artists1, all of whom portray Britain’s churches, chapels and cathedrals (plus monasteries, priories and abbeys). It is proof, therefore, that sacred spaces inspire artists aplenty.

Indeed, many of the artists invited to exhibit have a long history of painting the parish. In particular, Peter Folkes, for whom the annual exhibitions of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours have provided the opportunity to show such pieces, including Wickham Church (2000), 8

Bob Rudd RI St Thomas, Winchelsea Watercolour 63 x 79 cm (detail opposite)

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Ringwood Church (2003), Lovers Flying over Lewis Church (2003) and Cow Loose in Cheriton Churchyard (2004).

Similarly for Anthony Morris, the annual exhibitions of the New English Art Club have afforded the chance to showcase, among others, St Mary the Virgin Church, Oxford (1997) and St Peter’s in the East, Oxford (2000).

While other exhibitors have completed artist residences at particular churches. From 2003-8, Toby Ward painted in and around St Martin-in-the-Fields, more recently at Westminster Abbey, and in 2013, at Lincoln Cathedral, where he painted his exhibits displayed here (including opposite: Chalice of Lincoln Cathedral with the Swans of St Hugh). Alice Hall has painted panoramas from the top of the tower at Westminster Cathedral, which now hang within the church, where she returned to paint the works on show, Morning Light across the Nave, Westminster (p.20), Cathedral View, Cathedral Piazza and Westminster Cathedral in Snow. Only a small sample of the numerous artists active today, these four cases testify to consistent artistic interest in Britain’s ecclesiastical sites.

Such works examine notions of time and place, life and loss, faith and worship. An especially pertinent example is Matthew Draper’s pastel on paper Nocturne with Rain, West from The Shard (p.13), which shows the arresting presence of St Paul’s amongst the assorted architecture 10

Toby Ward NEAC Chalice of Lincoln Cathedral with the Swans of St Hugh Pencil, watercolour and contĂŠ, 2013 46 x 37 cm (detail opposite) 11

of the capital’s contemporary skyline. Painted from the twenty-third floor of The Shard on a November evening, Draper’s nocturne is proof that the Cathedral remains a relevant symbol of the city, even in an era of skyscrapers and starward cranes. Further cathedrals on display include outside views of Wells Cathedral and Hereford Cathedral by Charles Bone and Anthony Morris (p.18, 23), as well as Richard Plincke’s wash drawing A Walk around Salisbury Cathedral (p.25). Particularly potent is Bob Rudd’s St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire (cover), in which the painter’s free interpretation of the subject using exaggerated colour and emphasised mark-making evokes a strong sense of place through the drama of natural forces and shifting light. Certainly these paintings testify to the ongoing significance of British cathedrals in the collective imagination and as cultural icons.

In contrast, many exhibits show smaller parish churches.

For example Colin Kent’s paintings situated around the East Anglian area, especially along the coast, which depict small but stunning churches in what the artist deems ‘the most interesting and diverse areas in the country’. Further north, John Foker’s Ancestral Communities (p.19) portrays the boundary of the churchyard of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Esh Winning, Durham, from the viewpoint of a rook as it sweeps through the stands of ash trees and 12

Matthew Draper PS Nocturne with Rain, West from The Shard Pastel on paper, 2015 104 x 148 cm (detail opposite)

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sycamores. Such is the power of the painted parish, that while sketching the scene to the soundtrack of birdsong, Foker felt transported ‘three hundred miles away and fifty years into the past’ by memories of another church in Ash, Kent, where he visited frequently as a child. Meanwhile in Devon, Sarah Bee’s Burnt Out Buckfastleigh Church (opposite) is a portrait in pastel of a church victimised by arson several years ago. Still standing without a roof, ‘burnt out’, it remains in and through the artist’s eyes, a place of beauty.

Conversely to Sarah Bee’s dilapidated buildings, Lisa Graa Jensen has depicted country churches populated by life. From a couple getting married in Prenup Nerves and crowds celebrating in The Christening to All Creatures Great & Small, living energy abounds, not only in people but also in dogs, cows, birds and dragonflies. Seeing Sarah Bee’s images of Buckfastleigh alongside Graa Jensen’s scenes (located at churches in Sapperton in the Cotswolds and West Dean, Sussex, incidentally), one cannot help but wonder at the generations of ancestors who arrived, worshipped, and departed at Buckfastleigh as churchgoers continue to do in Graa Jensen’s A Country Church (p.17). With these images, The Painted Parish invites an ongoing dialogue about our relationship to the past and with the world around us.

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Sarah Bee PS Burnt out Buckfastleigh Church Pastel, 2012 59 x 59 cm (detail opposite)

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Crucially, the artists featured here are not alone in this endeavour. Elsewhere, paintings of churches are not hard to find, even if they are oft overlooked - in the permanent collections of national galleries and museums (for instance at Tate Britain, by Samuel Palmer and Stanley Spencer), across the oeuvres of many modern artists (including Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden), and under the hammer at major auction houses (such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams).

Not simply pretty pictures, nor mere architectural studies of ancient buildings, paintings of sacred spaces possess the power to evoke memories of the past and provoke perspectives on the present (perhaps more than expected).

As these works witness, despite what John Betjeman has written, the parish inspires many artists - even (and especially) today.

The Federation of British Artists (FBA) is an umbrella organisation for Britain’s leading national art societies, based at Mall Galleries, London, including the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA), Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI), New English Art Club (NEAC), Royal Society of Portrait Painters (RP), Pastel Society (PS), Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA) and Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA).

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Lisa Graa Jensen RI A Country Church Acrylic inks, 2015 45 x 45 cm (detail opposite)

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Charles Bone RI Wells Cathedral Watercolour 66 x 84 cm

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John Foker SWLA Ancestral Communities Oil, 2015 26 x 29 cm 19

Alice Hall AROI Morning Light across the Nave, Westminster Oil on canvas, 2015 98 x 78 cm 20

Peter Kelly NEAC RBA All Saints Church, Hutton, Essex Watercolour, 2010 46 x 61 cm 21

Colin Kent RI Evening Church Mixed water based 2015 30.5 x 30.5 cm

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Anthony Morris NEAC RP Hereford Cathedral Oil, 2010 75 x 90 cm 23

Edman O’Aivazian ROI RSMA St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church Oil, 2015 46 x 36 cm 24

Richard Plincke RI A Walk around Salisbury Cathedral Wash drawing, tinted, 2010 51 x 61 cm

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Charles Rake NEAC Figures by a Church Oil 43 x 58 cm

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Peter Vincent PS Peepshow - St Pancras, Arlington Pastel, 2015 80 x 80 cm 27

Roy Wright PS St Paul’s 3 Charcoal 101 x 84 cm 28

Anthony Yates RBA St Augustine’s, Edgbaston, Birmingham Oil, 2015 80 x 70 cm 29

Exhibition works Works for sale Images and prices at www.mallgalleries.org.uk Sarah Bee PS Burnt out Buckfastleigh Church Pastel, 2012 59 x 59 cm Ruin in the Churchyard, Buckfastleigh Pastel, 2012 59 x 59 cm Trees in Todber Churchyard Pastel, 2015 81 x 81 cm Charles Bone RI Design for Cathedral Book Watercolour 43 x 66 cm Easton Church Watercolour 80 x 93 cm Wells Cathedral Watercolour 66 x 84 cm

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Matthew Draper PS Nocturne with Rain, West from The Shard Pastel on paper, 2015 104 x 148 cm Peter Folkes RI Decorated Brick Chapel Watercolour, 2015 27 x 22 cm Itchen Abbas Church Watercolour, 2009 29.5 x 21 cm Marybourne Church Font Watercolour, 2011 29 x 22 cm Preston Candover Church Watercolour, 2007 29.5 x 21.5 cm John Foker SWLA Ancestral Communities Oil, 2015 26 x 29 cm

Lisa Graa Jensen RI A Country Church Acrylic inks, 2015 45 x 45 cm

Westminster Cathedral in Snow Oil on canvas, 2013 94 x 53 cm

All Creatures Great & Small Acrylic inks, 2015 45 x 45 cm

Peter Kelly NEAC RBA All Saints Church, Hutton, Essex Watercolour, 2010 46 x 61 cm

Prenup Nerves Acrylic inks, 2015 45 x 45 cm

Monk and the Monastery Oil on canvas, 2015 42 x 32 cm

The Christening Acrylic inks, 2015 40 x 40 cm

Sunlight in Buttsbury Church, Essex Oil on canvas, 2013 43 x 33 cm

Alice Hall AROI Cathedral Piazza Oil on canvas, 2015 81 x 69 cm

War Memorial, Pershore Abbey Gouache, 2014 28 x 20 cm

Cathedral View Oil on canvas, 2015 68 x 103 cm Morning Light across the Nave, Westminster Oil on canvas, 2015 98 x 78 cm

Colin Kent RI Coastal Light Mixed water based, 2015 30.5 x 30.5 cm Evening Church Mixed water based, 2015 30.5 x 30.5 cm

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Colin Kent RI Parish Church Mixed water based, 2015 44.5 x 64.5 cm

Edman O’Aivazian ROI RSMA All Saints Church, Fulham Oil, 2015 46 x 36 cm

Riverside Village Mixed water based, 2015 31.5 x 44 cm

Entrance of All Saints, Fulham Oil, 2015 46 x 36 cm

Ronald Maddox RI PS RBA Sketches by the Artist Various

St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church Oil, 2015 46 x 36 cm

Anthony Morris NEAC RP Belmont Abbey, Hereford Oil, 2014 73 x 63 cm

St Sarkis Armenian Church Oil, 2015 46 x 36 cm

Christ Church Oxford Oil, 2009 75 x 85 cm

Richard Plincke RI A Walk around Salisbury Cathedral Wash drawing, tinted, 2010 51 x 61 cm

Hereford Cathedral Oil, 2010 75 x 90 cm

St Enodoc, Padstow Bay Mixed media, 2015 55 x 68 cm

The Parish Church of Saint Clydawg Clodock, Herefordshire Oil, 2013 47 x 52 cm

St Peter’s Church, St Mary Bourne (1) Watercolour and collage, 2010 52 x 65 cm St Peter’s Church, St Mary Bourne (2) Watercolour, 2015 43 x 46 cm

Charles Rake NEAC Evensong - The Gardener Oil 27.5 x 39 cm Figures by a Church Oil 43 x 58 cm Moon over Ruined Abbey Oil 59 x 80 cm St Martha on the Hill, Guildford Pencil and charcoal 77 x 99 cm Bob Rudd RI St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire Watercolour 65 x 81 cm St Nicholas, Studland Watercolour, 2012 62 x 72 cm St Thomas, Winchelsea Watercolour, 2012 63 x 79 cm

Peter Vincent PS Church of the Good Shepherd – Lullington Pastel, 2015 80 x 80 cm Peepshow – St Pancras, Arlington Pastel, 2015 80 x 80 cm Sandcastle – St Mary’s, Newick Pastel, 2015 80 x 80 cm St Mary the Virgin – Glynde Pastel, 2015 80 x 80 cm Toby Ward NEAC Chalice of Lincoln Cathedral with the Swans of St Hugh Pencil, watercolour and conté, 2013 46 x 37 cm Lincoln Cathedral West Front Pencil and watercolour, 2013 91 x 107 cm Still Life with Thurible Conté chalk, 2013 65 x 48 cm

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Toby Ward NEAC The Treasury, Lincoln Cathedral Pencil, watercolour and conté chalk, 2013 65 x 80 cm Roy Wright PS St Paul’s 3 Charcoal 101 x 84 cm St Paul’s Cathedral Charcoal 123 x 93 cm Anthony Yates RBA Former Methodist Church, South Street, Harborne, Birmingham Oil, 2015 75 x 57 cm St Andrew, Field Dalling, Norfolk Oil, 2015 65 x 60 cm St Augustine’s, Edgbaston, Birmingham Oil, 2015 80 x 70 cm

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St Leonard’s, Ribbesford, Worcestershire Oil, 2015 62 x 77 cm

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