J. Gordon Anderson - Contemporary Art

For anyone interested, this is the place to go to buy traditional art supplies on the web. It is where I get all of my pigments, gessos, gold leaf, and more.

I am commenting on my old blog once again. It is just plain easier to comment on Anglican/theological topics on that blog and art/cultural related topics on this one.

Many people think that contemporary and traditional art and architecture cannot be successfully mixed. They think that a church, for example, has to be either completely contemporary (e.g. the Matisse Chapel ), or completely traditional (e.g. St. Clement's ). But that is really not the case. There are many prominent examples of churches that mix both styles, such as the National Cathedral , and Metz Cathedral (Metz, France). In both of these, very modern looking stained glass looks right at home in the midst of the soaring Gothic arches and beautiful carved wood. I had the great privilege of seeing the Marc Chagall windows in Metz firsthand several years back while working in Europe. They fit in with the rest of the building and its art beautifully. Therefore, before writing off the use of contemporary visual artistic forms in church, take a look around you, and see if there are not already modernistic elements in use that you are quite comfortable with and used to, and that loo...

The Italian bishops' conference has recently adopted a new lectionary that is new, not because the readings are different from before, but because it is illustrated using the work of contemporary artists. Some people do not like the work. There is an article about it here. A well respected art historian, Fr. Timothy Verdon, defends the new lectionary (note: he was appointed by Ratzinger several years ago to choose the images for the book), and some other guy - Pietro De Marco - attacks them. It is well worth reading. I can appreciate any art that is done well: renaissance to postmodern. Unfortunately other people are not that way. De Marco is one of these men, and he makes a number of assumptions about modern and postmodern art that just do not, in my opinion, hold water. He thinks that "modern" artists have "abandoned their foundation in reality in favor of emotion and mere ornamentation". But baroque art is supremely emotional, and utterly fantastic and unrea...