David Clayton's Blog, page 25

A Book for Anyone Interested in the Evangelization of the Culture

The Spiritual History of English by Andrew Thornton-Norris

What makes a piece of literature or art Christian? Some would say just the content, that is what is said. Some on the other hand would say both the content and the structure, that the way in which those truths are conveyed can communicate more fully the truths. In other words its not just what you say that’s important, but also how you say it. If this is the case then it means that the style of prose or poetry can be Christian (or un Christian) as much as the meaning of the words considered apart from that style.

Any regular reader of this blog will know that I have long maintained that the style of art is every bit as important as the content, and that since the Enlightenment that style has declined because artists have rejected the traditional Catholic forms.

In this slim volume, the English Catholic poet Andrew Thornton-Norris does for poetry and prose what I have been trying to do with art. He relates the actual structure of the writing and the vocabulary used to the worldview of the time. See he shows us, for example, how even if the poet or novelist is sincerely Catholic and trying to express truths that are consistent with the Faith, he is at a great disadvantage if he is seeking to express those truths with the vocabulary and poetic form that reflect a post-Enlightenment culture.

I am not an expert in literary or poetic form and, to be honest, not interested enough in either to seek to become one. So I had to take what what Mr Thornton-Norris’s descriptions of form at face value. However, I agree with his analysis of modernity, which he sees, right down to the present day as ever greater degrees of the protestant heresy. Chapter by chapter he analyses and critiques the worldview of the Englightenment and through to the present day. So the philosophies behind neo-classicism, Romanticism, Modernism and Post Modernism are each presented as differing reactions against Christianity and ultimately the authority of the Catholic Church. He then connects each with the cultural forms.

Because he is dealing with the English language, he first describes the rise of the language as a distinct vernacular and connects this with the Faith. He argues that the very idea of the English as a nation comes from the Church through Pope Gregory the Great and his emissary St Augustine of Canterbury. He then describes how the language and literature developed in the light of this through the influence of figures such as Bede, Alcuin of York and King Alfred the Great.

Then after the great heights of  writers such as Chaucer and finally Shakespeare, he argues it was all downhill. As he puts it in the beginning of his concluding chapter: ‘This book has argued that English literature has declined, almost to the point of non-existence. In this and previous chapters we have examined what remains: the entrails, the shipwrecks so to speak. It has argued that this decline has been concurrent with that of English Christianity, and it has examined the relationship between these two phenomena’.

This means that he is much more suspicious of the Romantic poets, for example, than many other Catholic commentators. I like the idea of this, firstly because it makes me feel less of a philistine for finding them really dull in the first place, but also because this parallels exactly my analysis of painting, in the Romantics and all thereafter are, in my opinion inferior to earlier Christian forms (along with neo-Classicism, Modernism and Post-modernism).

He is discussing general trends, and is not inclined to dismiss all examples of English literature in these periods. But rather points out the great disadvantage that those poets and novelists who were trying to express something that is consistent with the Faith had. The were restricted, generally, to the vocabulary and structural forms of the language at the time in which they lived and because these were affected by one form or another of a post-Enlightenment anti-Catholic worldview always struggled to escape their time.

Furthermore, Mr Thornton-Norris clearly believes that through the prism of literature, you can point to problems with the whole culture, which are at root related to the rejection of the Faith and its forms of worship. This again is very similar to myself in regard to visual art and so the idea appeals to me.

This is a short read but it contains a lot of ideas that need time to be considered carefully. One of the reasons that the writer has managed to condense so much into just over 150 pages it is that he assumes that the reader is already aware of the broad trends in history in England since the time of Pope Gregory the Great, of the philosophical developments that took place in parallel with the historical events, and of what the literary forms that he describes are. As mentioned, I fell short particularly in the last of these areas. If he had written this for an intelligent but less well informed audience, he would have had to spend a long time defining his terms and explaining their meaning. He chose not to do this and as a result this is unlikely to be accessible to a mass readership. However, I think that the ideas that it contains should be considered and perhaps those whose mission it is to popularize ideas might look at it and if they believe that they have merit, might apply their skills to those contained in A Spiritual History of English.

 

Announcing the Way of Beauty Online Course for College Credit

3 College-level transferable credits, fully  accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, just $300 per credit

An ideal formation for anyone who wants a formation in beauty and to understand the basis of Western culture and to contribute to a new epiphany of beauty! For artists, for architects, for priests and seminarians, for educators, for all Catholic students.

This is the most thorough and complete presentation yet of how to follow the via pulchtritudinis, to teach others how to do it too and transform the culture in the process! Includes detailed material available for the first time and which is not available anywhere else.

So much more than an art history course...it does precisely what the Church tells us such a course should and so it will affect the whole of your education: it offers an ‘integral formation through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance‘ [The Catholic School, 26; pub the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, 1977.]

Sign up for this course now, follow link and go to Catalog

You will receive a foundational overview of the great Catholic tradition of art and architecture, so that you understand how the forms are connected to the theological and philosophical outlook of each artist and the society from which he came. As such it also gives you deep understanding of what forms a whole culture of beauty.

It draws on a tradition that starts with the ancient Greeks, with figures such as Pythagoras and Plato, through the Church Fathers, such as Boethius and Augustine, to the more recent writings of  Bl John Henry Newman, St Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. For all these writers the good life has been equated with the beautiful life. This course teaches you how to live that life of transforming beauty.

13- videos produced with Catholic TV in which we explore how form is shaped by theology and philosophy - watch the first one for free here


A four part e-book, The Way of Beauty: Liturgy, Education, Art and Inspiration written exclusively for the course. See a chapter by chapter summary here: Contents.chapter.by.chapter


18 fascinating and attractively produced half hour videos giving you chronologically presented history of art and architecture in the West from the ancient Greeks to the present day.


Plus longer video presentations of the connection between the pattern of religious life and the cosmos; and how modern astrophysics reinforces the ancient understanding of the cosmos.

Sign up for this course now, follow link and go to Catalog

Who is it for?

It is designed to accompany and enrich all other educational programs:

It is for all undergraduate students as part of a general core or Catholic studies program. You will understanding of what constitutes the essence of a Catholic culture and why this is essential to any Catholic education no matter what your major.

It is or high school students seeking college level credit before going to college.

It is for all those who love and want to help create a beautiful culture. If you love art, architecture and music and want to know what makes these or indeed any aspect of the culture Catholic; if you who wish to know how we can reestablish a culture of beauty in the West and wish to contribute to it creatively in any discipline, then you will love this course too.

For artists who are looking for a formation that accompanies the skills they are learning elsewhere. This offers a formation that will enhance their creativity and understand how to make their work more beautiful.

For architects and architecture students who want to gain a thorough understanding in how to incorporate traditional harmony and proportion into what they do, and why this will make their buildings more beautiful.

For patrons of the arts and especially priests and seminarians who are in a position to affect the whole culture profoundly by patronizing beautiful art and architecture in our churches.

For all teachers and educators, and anyone involved in adult formation this will give you a deep understanding of why a formation in beauty is an essential aspect of every Catholic education and then teach you how to pass on that formation to your students.

See more and sign up for this course now, follow link and go to Catalog

How is it taught?

We provide the information through 34  video presentations and detailed reading material attractively presented and which was written especially for this course. You develop your understanding through interactive online discussion groups in which students and teachers communicate, and quizzes that test understanding and allow you to ask follow up questions if you do not understand the answers. The grading is done via a series of essay questions in a mid-term and final exam. All is done in your own time and at your own pace.

Sign up for this course now, follow link and go to Catalog

What topics does it cover?

The course contains both a conventional art history course, which works chronologically through the main developments in Western art from the ancient Greeks to the present day; and a course that teaches you how to connect the changing worldviews through these periods to the actual forms of the culture. You will understand why modern art looks different from ancient Greek art and why both are different to the Baroque of the 17th century. Then by extension these arguments are applied to the culture as a whole and through this the student will understand what shapes culture, what constitutes a Catholic culture and how we can re-establish a culture of beauty in the West. In not only informs people about beauty, culture and art and architecture, it also forms them so that can apprehend beauty more readily. It explains the essential aspects of a formation in beauty, so that people grow in love for what is beautiful, become more creative and can be open to inspiration.

Of special interest to many will be my most detailed description yet of the numerical basis for traditional harmony and proportion, in which the student is taken right back to those sources which shaped the tradition including Plato, Aristotle, Boethius, Augustine as well as the scriptural basis for such ideas. There is an examination of their application through the centuries by consideration of, for example, the works of Vitruvius, Alberti and Palladio in the field of architecture. Through this the student will understand the common thread that runs through all that is ordered and beautiful. He will understand how the same numerically describes patterns are reflected in time and space and run through the whole culture. We see, for example, the same numerical patterns in the rhythms for living and of our worship in the sacred liturgy; we see them too in the structure of the cosmos at all levels of scrutiny from particle physics to astrophysics; and see these patterns in traditional Western culture.

 Sign up for this course now, follow link and go to Catalog

For those who are aware of my book, co-written with Leila Lawler, the Little Oratory, A Beginner’s Guide to Prayer in the Home, this is a much deeper exploration of the theology and theories which are the foundation of the practices of prayer and worship it describes. It is the soundness of its foundation in the Faith that caused Scott Hahn to describe the book as follows:  ​‘This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen. It is inspiring yet practical, realistic yet revolutionary. If one book has the potential to transform the Catholic family (and society), this is it.’

 

Other areas of study are:

Cult and culture: how culture in general is derived from our worship and why it is the strongest influence on our formation and our education, bar none – not social factors, not economics, not politics.


The Catholic traditions in figurative art with case studies on a number of paintings in each figurative tradition. You will know, for example, what makes the gothic, the baroque and the iconographic styles distinct; and what connects them so that each tradition is appropriate for the liturgy. We contrast and compare these with the forms of art that reflect modern philosophy and from traditional non-Christian cultures.


Creativity, Intuition and Love These are the fruits of a traditional education in beauty. It develops us as people so that we have more ideas and better ideas and can grasp the relationship between particulars and the whole in any context better. It also increases our capacity to love God and man and our inclination to do so. This is demonstrated not only by reference to the traditional understanding of these things, but also to modern scientific research which supports the points made. While this is presented as a discussion about these topics as subjects to learn, we provide guidance also to those who wish to become more creative, intuitive and loving by actually practicing and experiencing the principles described.

Sign up for this course now, follow link and go to Catalog

The Way of BeautyTM, SM is a service mark and trade mark wholly owned by David Clayton and cannot be used by others except with his permission.

Proportion Adds Value to Property in Boston

We can make a Beacon Hill anywhere This past weekend I drove down to Boston from southern New Hampshire to meet a friend who was visiting for the weekend.  As we walked around town we wandered into the Beacon Hill area. This is the old heart of the town and full of elegant 18th-century terraced homes. They are built in a variation of the style that in England we would call Georgian. I’m not sure what it is called here, perhaps ‘colonial’ style? These are right at the top end of the price range for property in Boston.

Why are they so sought after? Well location will have a lot to do with it certainly. You would probably pay a fortune for the ugliest shoebox here if it could take a bed. But I would say also that their beauty is a big factor too. Beauty adds value because it stimulates greater demand and pushes the price tag up. And why are they beautiuful? Two hundred years of New England weather softening the edges on the red-brick or cobblestone forms probably adds something. But it is more than this. The main reason, I suggest, is their harmonious proportions.

What struck me about these houses is how simple and reproducible their design is. They have a simple symmetrical arrangement of windows, one above the other, and a pointy roof.  There is some decorative work around the doors and the windows, but it could never be called flamboyant. If I knew about building materials then I reckon I could design one myself. Yet despite their simplicity they look good and it is as a result of the traditional proportionality.

Given this simplicity and the value that beauty adds to buildings, I am surprised that it hasn’t occurred to more developers and architects to study traditional proportion and use it, if only for economic reasons.

Look at the photos in this article. Notice how in every case the window size varies, storey to storey, so that the first is to the second as the second is the third and so on. When this rhythmical progression corresponds to the traditional pattern then the result is elegance. Sometimes the order changed around slightly so that it is not always the largest at the bottom. The dimensions of the first and second might be changed so the biggest storey is always the main living area. These architects didn’t play tricks – they put things where you expected them to be, so that the outward signs give an indication of the internal purpose. Similarly, the main door is always more prominent than the servants’ entrance. (You can’t count on this now. I was at an art gallery recently, which was a modern building made completely of reflective glass and the doorway was indistinguishable from any other panel. There was no indication through the external design where the door was. In fact it was placed offset to one side in a counter-intuitive position, presumably deliberately. I had to wait until I saw someone coming out before I knew where I could get in!)

Coming back to Beacon Hill, I am convinced that these houses  looked just about as good the day they were built and if anyone chose to conform to these basic patterns today, then it would look good and sell at a high price. This has to be the simplest way for an architect to add greatest value for minimal investment of time and money. There is no need for pastiche – we are not bound slavishly to follow the decorative style of the period in every way, but provided the principles are adhered to, then here is way for modern architect to stand out from the crowd. The mathematics is relatively simple but largely unknown.

So come on architects and town developers. Here’s your chance to make a killing. So let’s see a new Beacon Hill in the US!

Incidentally, the Prince of Wales built an experimental new town on the outskirts of Dorchester in England that conformed to traditional proportions, called Poundbury (right, click to enlarge). The experience there was that although they were slightly more expensive to build, their beauty made demand so high that their price on the open market made the modest extra investment more than worthwhile. You can see more of Poundbury here.

Way of Beauty Psalm Tones Updated. Download Latest Version Now

Improved versions of Mode II, V and VIII 

Those who use the psalm tones (the score of which can be downloaded from the Psalm Tones page on this this site) may be interested to know that I have added some modifications that allow for the singing of these modes in  a form that is slightly closer to the Latin. You will see that they have been added as additional options in so tones, and so I have not deleted the older, slightly more simple forms.

The most difficult to adapt to English is the very common Mode VIII tone. The melody  is so intimately tied to the rhythm of the Latin language that it has taken a long time and a lot of trial and error to find a version that can be transferred to the vernacular without jarring. Give it a try, Mode VII tone 2.

Because Modes II and Mode V have the same first bar as Mode VIII, these have been modified as well. I thought I might as well give you the choice of something slightly different, although I felt that these were working well before. Again, I have not removed the original tones, so this just gives you additional choice.

I hope very much that as you use these, you start to modify and develop them too, so that this become a living, developing and improving tradition. In the end someone will come up with some inspired forms that through their ease of singing and noble beauty will become the standard for English. I don’t think we are quite there yet, but we are getting there!

You can see them at the Psalm Tones page…or here: All tones in eight modes and tonus peregrinus.Jan.2.2015

 

A New Image of Mary for Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God by Philippe Lefebre

I received this Christmas card from Philippe Lefebvre, whom I met first when I was living in Oxford several years ago. He was interested in learning how to paint icons and went to train with the Russian teacher based in Belgium, Irina Gorbunova-Lomax. He has now completed his training and we can see in this simple card how well Irina (whom I do not know personally at all) has taught him, and how well Philippe has learnt from her. I suggest to you on the evidence of this that first, Philippe should be considered for commissions in your church or home; and second, Irina is very good teacher whom anyone seeking to learn iconography should consider as a possible teacher.

First of all, his style as it is now is similar to his teacher’s (you can see her work if you go through the link above). This is as it should be at this stage, just emerging from the school. We train by following the path of past master in our chosen style, copying with understanding under the direction of the teacher. In time, while this will always be at the heart of what he does, I have no doubt that Philippe will start to develop gradually and organically, his own voice in such a way that it magnifies, rather than undermines, the holiness of the images he produces.

Notice how much in this one image we see how the skill of representing of form in line is crucial to icon painting. There is a grace and flow that gives it beauty. The variation in thickness of each line is used adeptly so that each fold of cloth is clearly readable. Many poor icon painters try to hide a lack of drawing ability behind overly exaggerated stylistic flourishes (a bit like the way that many landscape painters might try to hide a lack of skill behind pseudo-impressionistic flourishes in an oil painting). In fact, every good icon painter is a good draughtsman as well. Eech image must read visually so that the cloth looks as though it is draping naturally around a human form. This means that we need to have an acute observation of nature, which is represented in the image and then transformed into the iconographic style without comprising on naturalistic accuracy.

This is a simple image for a Christmas greeting and so Philippe has painted it on card. It is an characteristic stylistic feature of this school to use a coloured base and then let then speak through the painting. The image is simple in form. It relies on a very well drawn line image, that is then skillfully painted so that each line is given a width and slope that is in accord with what is represented. The majority of lines in this painting portray the tonally darkest areas of the form.

Once you have this, then he uses simple, flat and transparent washes to colour in chosen areas. It looks from the photograph that perhaps in the coloration for the Our Lady’s robe has a couple of different colours (there is a darker bluish earth colour shining through, I think – certainly it is what I would do if I were painting this). This use of slightly differing tones and colours as transparent glazes, subtly creates a greater luminescence and visual interest  than two washes of identical colours, which looks even but dull and sterile.

For the image of Our Lord  he adds the third element of white highlights, which are simple but skillfully applied with both line and graded tonal work.

The graded tonal work is minimal altogether, other than the highlights I see only the subtlest application of a reddish or purplish tone in the shadows of flesh areas.

The combined effect is one of restraint and sophistication (using the word in a positive sense). Philippe has pared the elements of tonal and colour variation down to the basic constituents – the darks (which are his lines), the mid-tones (which are his flat washes) and the highlights (which are a combination of lights and graded tone in white). All icon images, even those that have far more complex colour schemes and modelling, break down to these three essential elements. Unless you understand how to simplify in this way, I suggest, you won’t be able to do the more complicated well.

 

For those who might struggle to read the detail in his card, Philippe’s website is epiphanie-creation.fr

Award Winning Catholic Architecture Student Describes His Inspiration

Incorporating the values of the liturgy into architecture

I was delighted to hear again recently from Geoff Yovanovic. I first met Geoff about 4 summers ago when he attended the Way of Beauty summer school. He wanted to learn about classical proportion and design methods and we had an enjoyable time swapping ideas. We have stayed in touch ever since. He went on to study at Notre Dame School of Architecture for his graduate studies and has now graduated from there. I was delighted to learn that he had just won an prestigious award for one of his designs for a plot next to the river at South Bend Indiana. He wrote the following article in which he describes how he tried to make the liturgy the source of inspiration for his design, which I happily reproduce along with pictures of his design, and the award itself.! You can see them all at the link to his website above.

Before we have Geoff’s article, here is a view of the site by the river that he was tasked to fill.

Geoff writes:

In the spring of 2012, David Clayton wrote an entry on his The Way of Beauty blog which introduced me to Fr. Jean Corbon’s modern classic The Wellspring of Worship.  This mystical account of the Sacred Liturgy explores beyond the rubrics, and reveals to the reader the Liturgy as the outpouring Love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the Church.  This “Cosmic Liturgy”, is the essence of life and worship.  Mr. Clayton first provided me with a fuller understanding of the Liturgy in 2011 when I attended his two week Way of Beauty Atelier at Thomas More College.  During the seminars, we explored how Liturgy was the source of inspiration for art, especially in the secular world, and how art aided us in our participation of the Liturgy.  As a recent graduate from architecture school, this new found truth reinvigorated my passion for design.  The Wellspring of Worship delved even deeper and unveiled even more truths about the Liturgy, and in the end provided the inspiration for an award winning design project.

Shortly after reading Mr. Clayton’s article, I began graduate studies in architecture at the University of Notre Dame.  Almost immediately upon arriving, I took advantage of one of the greatest pleasures on a university campus: the library.  After reading The Wellspring of Worship, I have to admit that while I found some parts captivating, other parts would become more apparent only following a subsequent reading.  Nevertheless, the wealth of imagery throughout the book provided unexpected design inspiration.

In the following spring semester, I had the honor of studying with Thomas Gordon Smith.  Professor Smith is a passionate and gifted architect who has designed many buildings including Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska as well as Annunciation Monastery in Clear Creek, Oklahoma.  He is also responsible for transforming the curriculum at Notre Dame which has subsequently produced hundreds of young architects with a renewed appreciation for tradition.  In his studio that Spring, Professor Smith presented to the class a theoretical design assignment for a Franciscan novitiate on a small lot along the St. Joseph River in downtown South Bend.  The trapezoidal site sat eighteen feet below street level, and then plummeted an additional thirty-five feet to the river below.  The proposed novitiate was to house and form fifteen novices.  Among other ancillary spaces, the chapel, the refectory, and the cloister were given significant importance.

Because the site for the novitiate was situated along the river, Corbon’s emphasis on “the river of life,” the mysterious divine communion between the Trinity, brought new vigor to my project.  My imagination was still saturated with the water imagery that Corbon had used throughout his book.  He began his book by introducing “the river of life” found in the final chapter of the book of Revelation:

“Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing crystal-clear down the middle of the city street, on either bank of the river were trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit in a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are the cure for the nations.”  (Rev 22:1-2)

Building upon this passage and reinforcing it through additional scripture which referenced water, Corbon explains the symbolism of the ever refreshing waters of the Liturgy, this Trinitarian communion which is the river of life.   This river of life entered our world through the Incarnation and sprung from Christ through the Cross and Resurrection.  

In addition to Corbon’s writing, the Church more directly connects water symbolism and the physical church building through its cycle of readings.  The first reading on the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of Rome and one of the four Constantinian churches, is taken from Ezekiel:

“Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the facade of the temple was toward the east….This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.  Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.”  

These passages poetically present the refreshing waters from the Love of the Trinity found in the Liturgy.   As water can bring about new life in the spiritual sense, it is without argument that it has done so throughout human history.  It is no surprise that, in both spiritual and historical matters,men have continually forsaken God, who is “the source of living waters; [and] they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.” (Jer 2:13)  Throughout man’s history, we find the fall of Rome and the consequentsevering of the ancient aqueducts.  Following centuries saw Rome languish from the once great city into oneoverrun by pastures and grazing animals with a merefraction of the population. Foreshadowing the Renaissance, Pope Nicholas V began what would become a series of public works reconnecting the fountains throughout the city.  But where our water is delivered to us through a series of hidden pipes buried in the dark below the ground, Nicholas celebrated the arrival of water into the city through architecture.  Great monumental fountains sprung up throughout Rome, and  would rush forward with revitalizing waters at the same time that the Renaissance saw the rebirth of Rome from its ancient ruins into the city known today.

As the inspiration for the design of the novitiate drew from scripture’s water imagery and was complemented by man’s history, the architectural design of the project was built upon the historical precedent of the Roman fountain.  Two such fountains, the Aqua Felice and the Aqua Paolo,  were inspired by the ancient Roman Trofei di Mario based upon the three arched triumphal arch motif.  The use of this motif celebrating the arrival of water into the city is easily understood when drawing comparisons to the ancient triumphal arches which were built to celebrate a conquering Roman general’s entry into the city.  Since the legalization of Christianity, the triumphal arch motif has been widely used in the design of churches to represent Christ’s triumph over death.  Few uses have been as successful as Leon Battista Alberti’s design for S. Andrea in Mantua where the triumphal arch is not only prominent on the facade, but is also carried through the interior by the walls of the nave.  The inscription above the three arches in the Renaissance fountains loudly proclaimed the Pontiff responsible for bringing water to Rome.  In the novitiate design, this pompous billboard is replaced with the aforementioned passage from Revelation trumpeting the river of life, the true giver of all refreshing waters.

While the Aqua Paolo inspired the novitiate’s entrance, the architecture of the novitiate worked within the traditions and lessons of great masters of architecture such as Raphael, Francesco Borromini, and Guarino Guarini.  From studying the domes of Raphael at the Chigi Chapel and at Saint Eligio of Orefici, to studying the movement as well as proportions and room sizes of Borromini, and finally the spatial manipulation of Guarini, the design was strongly influenced through many of the ideas evident in the Baroque.

Architecture has always had the ability to communicate to man.  Even today where much of art is intentionally meaningless, it still provides a glimpse of ourselves. We still recognize the strength and solidity of a stone building, the soaring aspirations of a Gothic spire, and even the emptiness and temporality of shocking contemporary structures.  The South Bend novitiate design project was an opportunity to explore the design possibilities within the idea of the “river of life.”  One exploration was through the use of the Renaissance fountain.   As Corbon explains, the river of life is the  Liturgy which wells forth into our world and flesh through Jesus Christ.  He is a “fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness.” (Zech 13:1)

And finally, In October, I received an award from the Florida Chapter of the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture for this design project.  The Addison Mizner Medal, whose namesake was a Palm Beach architect in the early half of the 20th Century, is presented each year in a variety of different categories ranging from Residential projects over 4,000 square feet to landscape architecture.  The South Bend Novitiate was awarded with the Emerging Classicist medal for a project completed by a student.

 

 

 

The Landscapes of John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925) may well be the last great artist in the academic tradition. He was an American, born in Florence in Italy and who spent much of his life in Europe. He was prolific, painting hundreds of oil paintings and thousands of watercolours and sketches. Painting alongside the Impressionists (and sometimes referred to as one) he has clearly incorporated their sense of shimmering light. He copes well with sunlight and shadow and the balance between general impression and focus on particular detail (especially in regard to foliage). His compositional style is affected, again like the Impressionists, by Japanese landscape prints, and so he generally provides a focus in the foreground, large and near to the viewer. Although, as I mentioned, he is often grouped with the Impressionists, in my opinion he is superior because he retains that balance of focus and soft edge that one associates with a baroque style (the Impressionist tending towards an even blurr).

The spontaneity of his watercolours is wonderful and because the medium forces him to summarise far more, it gives us an insight into how he looked at what was in front of him.

Interestingly, Sargent had no faith at all, to my knowledge. He is one of those people who just seems to have been naturally open to inspiration in his painting. God inspires whomsoever He pleases!

Sargent was a very popular society portrait painter and his focus on the personalities of those he paints always comes through. His more conventional portraits, incidentally are wonderful too, and you can see why he was in demand, but that’s for another day.

Corfu

Graveyard

Venice

Vespers

Are Reproductions Legitimate Art?

Can I Pray with a Printed Copy? If we are going to have a new epiphany of beauty then someone has to pay for it. It would be nice to think that there will be growing market for original works, but at the moment very few artists receive prices for their work that correspond to an hourly rate of even a plumber or a kitchen fitter. Why is this? I believe that beauty creates its own market. The price I receive corresponds to the perception of its value. So if I want to stimulate demand for my art, I should strive to be a better artist and make it more beautiful. If people like it enough they will be prepared to pay more for it. If they don’t want to buy it then it probably isn’t good enough. Marketing is important too but I am pretty sure that if a new artist who could paint like Velazquez popped up on the scene, word would get around pretty quickly and people would be hammering at his door.

I have thought about other ways to try to sell my work in today’s marketplace. It had occurred to me that perhaps a way to make it pay would be through high quality reproductions. I could aim for a lower priced product and a higher volume of sales. With the quality of photographic reproductive techniques nowadays, it could be a way of making good art affordable to many.

Assuming that reproductions will sell, however, it does raise another issue. Is the sacramental nature of a reproduction of sacred art less than an original? Instinctively one feels so. But reading the theology of St Theodore the Studite, it would seem not. For Theodore, the great theologian whose work closed the iconoclastic period of AD853 says that what gives an icon its sacramental power is the captured likeness of the individual portrayed. If the likeness goes, then does the icon. It is reduced to wood, gold, paint and has no value beyond the price of the materials from which it is composed. This seems to imply that provided the reproduction is good and the characteristics of the saint in question are passed on from original to reproduction then, other things being equal , then it is legitimate to pray with reproduced, even mass reproduced, images.

This is why I have no qualms in making my own art available in printed form. I have several books out with reproductions of my work, two published this year. The first is the Little Oratory which has reproductions and instructions on how to pray with them. The second is a book about devotion to the Sacred Heart, just published, written by Dr William Fahey 

So order those books, and while you await delivery and if you have a moment, pray with this wonderful painting:

This is a photographic reproduction of a hand painted copy which is now visible on your computer screen via a telephone and wireless signal. It is the Hospitality of Abraham by Andre Rublev, the handpainted copy is at the Russian Icon Museum in Clinton, Massachussetts. The original, which dates from the 15th century is still in Russia.

Interview With Catholic Composer George Sarah

Here is an interview with composer George Sarah, someone I have written about before on this site. It is a fascinating account of his conversion from atheism after a near death experience in a car crash in which Our Lady played a great part. He also talks about his devotion to the Latin Mass and his work in promoting it in Hollywood. George really is a figure who is engaging with contemporary culture in an unusual way. He is aware of the Catholic cultural tradition and incorporates this into what he does, and he is reaching many many people with his music.

He has released 10 albums and is part of the Hollywood establishment, writing many TV and film scores. He thinks very carefully about the form of his music and how his faith might inform it. He is not composing music for the liturgy, but is aware of how contemporary culture ought in some way to be derived from it and point to it. He cites numerous influences and if I were to characterize what he does it is a sort of mixture of baroque, Erik Satie and 80s drum ‘n’ bass. To give you a sense of it, when he performs his music he will set up the electronic instruments and rhythm generators and hire a string quartet to play with him to whom he hands the score.. It’s an eclectic mix that produces something original …drums n bass n violins

This interview is in Regina Magazine which is interested as well in his devotion to the Latin Mass. You can read the interview here, and hear music at his FB page here.

http://reginamag.com/hollywood-traditional-latin-mass/

https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeSarahMusic

Composer on composer – Roman Hurko reviews Paul Jernberg’s Mass of St Philip Neri

When listening to, and singing Paul Jernberg’s music for the liturgy, I am excited by a number of things. This music is accessible to the ear – it has beauty and dignity appropriate to the Mass in my opinion, so without compromising on traditional principles I have noticed that even congregations who are not schooled in traditional chant and polyphony enjoy it.

It is also, I discovered, accessible for the singer – I would say that most parish choirs could sing this well (although not all perhaps as beautifully as the professional choir on the CD). I could also hear different influences in his style, especially liturgical music for the Eastern rite. Nevertheless it seems wholly appropriate for the Roman rite for which this is written. I was curious therefore to know of the opinion of an established composer in the Eastern rite, Roman Hurko, so I asked him what he thought about it and, if he liked it, would he write a review of it for us.

Roman writes for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic liturgy. I have put a recording of his music at the bottom of this article along with some of Paul’s music. You can hear more at www.romanhurko.com and if you want to purchase his music on iTunes, then the link is here.

Roman wrote as follows:

‘Composer Paul Jernberg has composed a new setting of the Roman Catholic mass for a cappella choir. It was recorded this past summer with the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter the Apostle in Chicago under the direction of Maestro J. Michael Thompson, and is now available for purchase at: www.pauljernberg.com

‘I find this mass setting very beautiful; very contemplative. As a composer from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church tradition, I feel very much at home in its aesthetic, one that I would characterize as eschewing the harshness of electric light in favor of the soft glow emanating from candlelight.

‘As in the Eastern church tradition, this mass setting is sung completely from A – Z by priest, choir, and readers. Mr. Jernberg’s musical transitions between priest and choir are stylistically coherent and seamless. I would recommend that all young composers study Mr. Jernberg’s organic setting, as I have often found it jarring when a priest sings chant and is then responded to by the choir in a completely different musical style.

‘Another eastern rite similarity is the use of a melody over an ison, or drone. This essentially monophonic device is complemented in this setting by polyphonic consonant harmonies, with a judicious use of suspensions and appoggiaturas, often ending with stern, medieval sounding open fifth chords. However, no matter the harmonic texture, the text of the prayers is always clear to the listener (kudos to Maestro Thompson and his choir!), and is always served beautifully by the music. Clearly, Mr. Jernberg was guided in his compositional process by the principle of Noble Simplicity, and although there are similarities to the Eastern polyphonic style in this setting, it is clearly grounded in the greatness of the Western tradition.

‘Finally, in a mere forty years, the year 2054 will mark the millennium of the Great Schism between the ‘two lungs’ of the church: Eastern and Western. To my mind, Mr. Jernberg’s setting helps bring these two traditions closer together. Kudos to Mr. Jernberg and kudos to the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter the Apostle under the direction of Maestro Thompson!’

A couple of notes: when Mr Hurko refers to the ‘polyphony’ of Paul’s music I understand that he is using the word in the broadest sense ie ‘many sounds’ rather than the narrower meaning some will be used to, which refers to the form of music dominated by counterpoint as in for example, the polyphony of the High Renaissance. Some might use the word ‘harmophony’ to apply to Paul’s music instead.

Also, if anyone like me didn’t know, an appoggiatura is a non-harmonic tone that happens on a strong beat or strong emphasis in the melody and ultimately resolves into the main note. Paul uses these judiciously, but in way that adds greatly to the beauty of the overall piece. Without knowing the technical word, I could hear that he was momentarily ‘stepping out’, so to speak, in order add to the sense of resolution when he steps back in again at the end of a phrase.

Below we have the Our Father from Paul Jernberg’s Mass and below that Holy God from Roman Hurko’s Liturgy No.3