Artists inspired by creative spirit

THE EDITOR: Whatever is said of our Art, there is never the realisation that there is a disparity between the Christian and the practice of Art. It has been found that few artists may be considered deeply interested in religion. There has been a moral decadence in sacred art that has resulted in men who may be religious to despise art. The art of the Christian is the art of the European civilisation. Ancient Greece and Renaissance Italy belong to the world and the art of all people. It is the public that must provide the environment to make of men artists, even geniuses especially by those inspired by the Creative Spirit. We cannot cause men of genius to be born but we can provide a public ie ourselves for the artist, to encourage him to be an artist.

The source of our energy comes from the spirits within us. Art owes its origin in part to the influences revealed in figures found in caves when crude sketches of religious ceremonies conveyed the thought that artists hoped to acquire power over the spiritual forces to secure temporal blessings. That this has given way to spiritual powers is real and abiding. Sculpture as pagan art was declining when Christianity arose. Art of the naturalist is fully developed in the sacred art of China and Japan in which rivers, plants and animals are represented with delight and interest. Buddhism which adopted the teaching of Greek Art of Alexander the Great was introduced into China and India as religious art. It centered on the representation of the founder of Buddhism narrating his life and previous stages of existence.

In China and Japan there are two religions, one of nature worship and the other of the ascetic religion of Buddhism which was imported from India in the beginning of the era. In the early art of Egypt the monumental art was solemn, stately and religious in character. They were devoted to the gods and kings. However in the painting on the walls and tombs the artist showed material object, perhaps meant for the pleasure and enjoyment of the dead. When Christianity was re-established by Saint Augustine in the sixth century AD its ideals began to irrigate the minds of the Saxon conquerors; a revival of interest in building began. It was religion that demanded a setting appropriate to its pomp and mystery. What came out of our Roman Catholic Churches is a reflection of this. The powerful impression of the mosaic and glass walls, the solemnity of its beauty, the way it belongs to the grandeur of the great churches, there is something deep in us that answers to the vibration of it.

That solemn embrace one feels within the magnificent structures is attributed to their scale and the form of their structural members. They are, in addition to lending support, making a statement for spiritual upliftment. The evolution of art was created by men of genius who were inspired by the creative spirit. The love of beauty is itself religious since beauty is one of the forms in which the divine element in the world is revealed. Chinese architecture was basically secular because  Chinese civilisation was not based on or dominated by any typical religious form. The pagoda, originally a Buddhist form in building was built to house the sutras of some sacred object and painting. It was the patronage of the princely house of the Italian cities that created the Renaissance Art, just as it was the patronage of the great ecclesiastical function which brought Gothic Architecture into being. Architects are constantly making statements by their work and it is the responsibility of society to recognise this in evaluating the efforts they are making in creating an environment worthy for living. It is the art that gives value to our lives by the space created for pleasurable and productive past time and for this, we must encourage and respect them for their efforts.

W H BENJAMIN
Reg Chartered Architect
Valsayn