六合彩预测

From:
Susanna Avery鈥怮uash (ed.), Ayla Lepine (ed.), Isobel Muir (肠辞鈥恊诲颈迟辞谤), Fruits of the Spirit: Art from the Heart, digital edition (London: 六合彩预测, 2022).

Ayla Lepine

惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 奥补迟别谤鈥怢颈濒颈别蝉, in its sheer expansiveness, is an experiment. It is meant for immersive reflection, but it is not an altarpiece like the Winifred Knights painting of the Life of Saint Martin of Tours, the saint who turned so profoundly from a military life towards a monastic one. 惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 series, and this painting within it, could be seen as sacred, however. 奥补迟别谤鈥怢颈濒颈别蝉 provides an opportunity to contemplate the temporal and the eternal simultaneously. A small pond provided the starting point, but 惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 approach created something far more spacious.

A group of young women from a local school visited the 六合彩预测 in April 2022 and sat with this painting, gazing at it and pondering. After a while, they noticed that it was, for some of them, a way of engaging with instability, anxiety and even a sense of vulnerable bruising. They were moved by the purple and yellow patches throughout the canvas, and the pink petals which could be little wounds as well as little touches of bright beauty. They wondered about seeing as a kind of inner perception as well as physical sight. The water鈥恖ily is a classic symbol, especially in Buddhism, of the potential for beauty and new life to emerge from murky and troubled depths beneath. In May 2022, this painting was also the focus of a breathing meditation exercise for Mental Health Awareness Week during a lunchtime talk I gave at the 六合彩预测.¹ Names of colours were said slowly, with space for silence between the words, leading a large group of people into a rhythm of slow and gentle breathing, releasing tension in their necks and gently bringing awareness to their feet on the floor and the presence of their bodies on chairs.

Shortly before he died, Monet wrote to the author Evan Charteris, 鈥業 have always had a horror of theories 鈥� My only virtue is to have painted directly in front of nature, while trying to render the impressions made on me by the most fleeting effects.鈥�² 惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 奥补迟别谤鈥怢颈濒颈别蝉 series is a creative response to colour and light. The swirls of colour are paradoxically peaceful yet restless, hovering on the borderlands of abstraction. The artist described them as 鈥榮heer madness鈥�.³

As John House describes it, 鈥榟and and eye come together on a vast scale; scumbled veils of colour and calligraphic gestures fuse to produce an ensemble鈥�.⁴ 惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 perception of the world was changing, as his eyes deteriorated with cataracts. He searched for peace in his tranquil garden, while knowing it could be elusive. Chaos was close to home, with the raging war and his own family鈥檚 experience of its violent power. Monet wrote to Gustave Geffroy, 鈥業 was extremely worried about my son Michel who had three terrible weeks at Verdun; he came out of it at last and came here on a six鈥恉ay leave; how long鈥恉rawn鈥恛ut and painful it is!鈥�⁵ Monet offered his series of water鈥恖ily 鈥榙ecorative panels鈥� to the French State in 1918. He explained, 鈥業t鈥檚 little enough, but it鈥檚 the only way I have of taking part in the victory.鈥�⁶ The same day the First World War ended, the prime minister of France, Georges Clemenceau, remarked to one of his generals, 鈥榃e have won the war, now we have to win the peace, and it may be more difficult.鈥�⁷

This painting goes beyond 惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 specific purpose for the 奥补迟别谤鈥怢颈濒颈别蝉 series as a 鈥榤onument to peace鈥�, offering the vast expanse of shapes and colours as an invitation to meditation within a wide space suffused not just with green, blue, orange, white, purple and pink, but with light itself. 奥补迟别谤鈥怢颈濒颈别蝉 encourages viewers to be open, and when one is open, one is vulnerable and necessarily peace鈥恠eeking and peace鈥恇uilding, whether internally or externally. Monet wrote, 鈥業 feel a little embarrassed about making investigations into shape and colour while so many people are suffering and dying for us.鈥�⁸ The painting is huge, embracing and suggestive of an immersive experience that could expand infinitely in any direction. It is a meditation on endless peace, even amid what may feel like endless suffering, using finite caresses of paint.

All world religions focus on the importance of peace in the individual, the community and the globe. Indeed, the word 鈥業slam鈥� in Arabic is very closely related to the word for 鈥榩eace鈥�. In his book on contemplative prayer, Martin Laird wrote, 鈥榃e have heard all sorts of talk about contemplation delivering inner peace but when we turn within to seek this peace, we meet inner chaos instead of peace 鈥� The peace will indeed come, but it will be the fruit, not of pushing away distractions, but of meeting thoughts and feelings with stillness instead of commentary. This is the skill we must learn.鈥�⁹

The contemporary British artist Bridget Riley also explores abstraction and contemplation in her 六合彩预测 mural Messengers. She wrote:At the end of his life, Monet painted his largest, grandest and in many ways greatest paintings about virtually nothing; about looking into a huge expanse of water set with a few lilies in which unexpected colours appear in the depths, or elusively in reflections. It is a most mysterious, extraordinary subject in which he invests all his experience and power. In the end there seems to be hardly any subject matter left 鈥� only content.¹⁰

In a time when our world is again shattered and traumatised by deep conflict, with consequences for so many innocent lives from so many diverse backgrounds, the need for peace is urgent. As the novelist Arundhati Roy wrote, 鈥榃hat lies ahead? Reimagining the world. Only that.鈥�¹¹ 惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 painting explores what each of can us do to be a peace鈥恇uilder, to be one who heals and does not hurt, to be a person who is in solidarity with the most vulnerable, even while we seek our own inner peace. The quest for peace inspires hope in dark times, and it is, like 惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 canvas seems to suggest, an endless search.

Sacha Llewellyn

Winifred Knights was a sensitive, gifted painter who spent her life in search of peace. Her friend, the painter David Young Cameron, described her life as one where 鈥榖eauty is the chief desire and peace essential for the accomplishment of any work鈥�.¹² But, with her life poised between two world wars, she could not escape violence. It was at the cusp of the First World War that she began her studies at the Slade School of Fine Art. Soon zeppelin airships began raining bombs and terror upon the British capital, provoking in Knights a lifelong terror of death: 鈥業 have got to this state that I can鈥檛 let an aeroplane pass over my head without feeling terribly ill and shaky.鈥�¹³ The loss of her cherished cousin, Ted Murby, in the trenches at Passchendaele completed her journey from innocence to despair.

Joining the crowds at Trafalgar Square to celebrate the Armistice on 11 November 1918, Knights wrote, 鈥業 must do a Futurist picture.鈥�¹⁴ At this time of tangled, personal catastrophe, she documented the brutality of war for the first and only time. Entering 鈥� and becoming the first woman to win 鈥� the Rome Scholarship competition, she painted the biblical Deluge (Tate) as a personal, emotional response to the memory of war. The painting is all Futurist jagged edges, explosive planes, terrified staring eyes. Men, women, children 鈥� and a priest 鈥� are all victims, along with the artist herself, who, as the central figure, anchors the composition. The painting is about Knights鈥檚 private pain. But it is also about communal suffering. The viewer is not spared; we are all caught up in this terrifying denunciation of violence.

Knights hated war all her life. But it is through her evocations of peace that she shows us what the alternative is. After The Deluge, she travelled to Italy to begin her scholarship and discovered a lotus land. If the spirit of peace dwelled anywhere, she believed, it was here. Among the hills of the Abruzzi, Umbria and Tuscany, wild and ancient and open, the beauty of the world revealed itself, suggesting an encounter with the spirit of God. 鈥業 am鈥�, she declared, 鈥榠n love with mountains鈥�.¹⁵ The colours enchanted her. Gold, mixed gently with luminescent purples, fuchsias and light aquamarines, burned in the bright sunlight like the beat of a rapturous heart. In Italy she experienced the celestial perfection of the Italian Renaissance as a revelation. The Italian masters, 鈥榤y beloved Masaccio and Giotto and all the rest of the blessed company鈥�, whispered their exquisite, impeccable harmonies in her ear.¹⁶ How could Futurism, with its vocabulary of breaking the world, still be fit for purpose? Knights now retreated to a peaceful, Quattrocento鈥恑nspired call鈥恡o鈥恛rder, a quiet classicism that gave her the vocabulary to capture the world in all its harmony.

When her Italian sojourn came to an end, the newly married Knights returned to England to a life where the peaceful tranquillity of Italy evaporated into a sea of domesticity and drudgery. An unexpected commission to paint a reredos for the St Martin Chapel in the north transept of Canterbury Cathedral came not a moment too soon: 鈥業t is lovely to [be] allowed to have a painting in that perfect cathedral.鈥� The St Martin Chapel, which had lain empty since the Restoration, had recently been restored in memory of Alfred, 1st聽Viscount Milner, then a revered colonial administrator who achieved prominence as David Lloyd George鈥檚 Minister of War.聽The commission was intended to underscore associations between the fourth鈥恈entury soldier Saint Martin of Tours and Milner鈥檚 work as a leading statesman of the Great War. Knights showed little interest in honouring Milner. It was in Saint Martin 鈥� pastor of souls, missioner, monk and worker of miracles 鈥� who laid down his sword to become 鈥榓 soldier of Christ鈥�, that she found a kindred spirit. His peaceful way of life, emblematic of generosity and sensitive concern for others, deeply moved her.

Knights鈥檚 vision was gently to weave across her canvas three聽episodes from Saint Martin鈥檚 life: to the left, Saint Martin鈥檚 gift of half of his cloak to a freezing beggar; to the right Saint Martin鈥檚 vision of Christ wearing the cloak and, in the middle, the miraculous resurrection of a dead child. This last scene had deep resonance for Knights, who had just given birth to a still鈥恇orn son. 鈥業 haven鈥檛 felt spring at all this year,鈥�聽she wrote despairingly; 鈥榠t is beastly, somehow, not having a baby鈥�.¹⁷ Transposing Saint Martin鈥檚 life and miracles from France to Italy, Knights set her scene in the hills and lakes of her beloved Umbria. Central to her vision of sacred imagery, this landscape provided a continuous, harmonious backdrop to the composition. The translucent, evanescent tones 鈥� sober whites, robin鈥檚 egg blues and Umbrian pinks 鈥� bind figures and landscape into a single unity. A walnut tree, its bare branches like veins against the clear blue sky, and a scattering of delicate white snowdrops, symbolise the power of nature in its continuous and eternal cycle of renewal. Saint Martin wears a steel brodie helmet (the composition鈥檚 sole contemporary reference), framed by a wafer鈥恡hin gold halo that struggles to be seen. Setting death against life, war against peace, growth against decay, Knights has created a scene in which, ultimately, compassion and regeneration triumph.

To look at the altarpiece is to feel you are witnessing a world of seamless tranquillity and harmony in every聽unfolding moment. It is at once secular and sacred, real and imagined. Every detail whispers of stillness. Of silence. Of solitude. The spirit of Piero della Francesca, who believed that the blending of perspective with poetic expression was the gateway to the divine, is ever present. As in the Renaissance master鈥檚 idealised realms, there is never a broken line, unbalanced space or careless application of paint. It was in homage to these qualities that the Earl of Crawford praised the altarpiece鈥檚 鈥榙egree of finish and refinement鈥� with every detail 鈥榙rawn in the finest and most tender and sensitive way imaginable鈥�.¹⁸

That Armistice Day fell on the feast day of Saint Martin was a potent symbol. Thirty鈥恡wo warring nations laid down their arms, much as Saint Martin himself renounced his participation in warfare centuries before. Claude 惭辞苍别迟鈥檚 gift to France of twenty鈥恡wo of his water鈥恖ily paintings as a symbol of peace, on the day that followed the Armistice, chimes faultlessly with the sentiment behind Winifred Knights鈥� impassioned plea for a better 鈥� and more peaceful 鈥� world.

Rishan Tsegay

This exploration of the theme of 鈥楶eace鈥� is a powerful reflection on the theme in relation to life as a child refugee. Rishan鈥檚 story makes connections between Canterbury Cathedral鈥檚 altarpiece of Scenes from the Life of Saint Martin of Tours by Winifred Knights, and her own experiences of faith and empowerment. Rishan writes:

I go to the Egyptian Coptic St Michael and St Bishoy Church in Margate and for me, Peace is when I have that connection with God. It鈥檚 been two weeks since I was able to attend church and in that time I can feel the build鈥恥p of stress as I deal with my university course and other things I have going on. The stress makes me forget what is happening within me until I realise that I need to go back and have that time of peace with God. When I get that time, I don鈥檛 just feel peace within myself, but also with others and how I share that peace and love that goes from within me outwards towards my friends, my foster family and my family back home too, when I鈥檓 able to talk to them. The peace isn鈥檛 just about what I give, it鈥檚 also about the connection we share. That鈥檚 the peace that I find when I have even five or ten minutes with myself and with God.

In the bigger picture, I would say that peace, for me, means the love I get from my foster family, from the people at Kent Refugee Action Network and from the people I know here in Canterbury. It鈥檚 peace that comes from people from different backgrounds and cultures. It鈥檚 still a love between people. That love comes especially from my foster family.

I appreciate it when people realise that, as refugees, people like me may have had an upsetting or traumatising time on our journeys to where we are today. I know not everyone sees our situation like that, but it鈥檚 good to be able to dig inside ourselves and share peace with others. It is much better to live like that. Sometimes when we face prejudice or negativity, it can feel more of a challenge than the journey to get here in the first place.

When I share my story with others, I sometimes think, 鈥楧id I really go through all of that?鈥� But now that I live here with the support and love of other people, I don鈥檛 look back on those difficulties, I just continue forward. I think we all need that kind of support to be able to move on from suffering.

When I look at Scenes from the Life of Saint Martin of Tours by Winifred Knights, I am touched by the idea that religious artwork is a way to praise the Lord through its beauty. In our Coptic tradition, we pray to icons, which is different from connecting with images like this painting. It is not the image that we worship, it is the feeling that the image takes us to or the meaning behind it.

With this painting, the colour gives you an image and feeling of Heaven and the way these spaces are imagined. The painting is also connected to where it has been placed in the Cathedral. It鈥檚 positioned above an altar in the Milner Memorial Chapel where the Eucharist is celebrated, a sacred space where people will pray in front of it.

In the painting, the mother is waiting for Saint Martin to bring the child back to life, I see the pain there. It鈥檚 a very specific moment between pain and joy, between death and life. The unknown moment for the mother as she doesn鈥檛 know if her child will survive, and the unknown emotions that we are trying to feel from her too.

When I look at Christ and the angel figures in the painting, I feel like Knights has made them relatable. I can see them on our level. They don鈥檛 float above the scene. They are standing on the ground like I am now.

The scenes depicting Saint Martin鈥檚 life have different emotions too. He is experiencing joy and happiness when he sees an angel. Then in the middle scene people are looking down in their grief and sadness because of the child. They seem powerless. There is nothing they can do. Thinking of my story, it makes me think of the grief I suffered during my journey to the UK. I lost one of my friends in Libya. As refugees we often carry grief with us in a way that isn鈥檛 visible.

There are moments when it is visible and acknowledged, such as in the 2015 image of the two鈥恲ear鈥恛ld Syrian child who drowned when his boat capsized trying to reach Greece. That image awakened the whole world to a new understanding of what it means to be a refugee. In this painting we can see the grief for the child on the faces of the five people in the background who watch as Saint Martin and the mother kneel next to the dead child.

As a refugee the powerlessness to change our situation is often what forces us to leave our home countries and journey to wherever we can find the safety we need to make a new home. We don鈥檛 have the choice to stay where we are, we must leave. Then on our journey we don鈥檛 have the option to stand and wait, we must keep moving towards our destination and we can鈥檛 go home. We can鈥檛 stand still and hope for a miracle. Once we get there, we need to find a new peace within ourselves.

The reason a person becomes a refugee is often because we have peace taken from us. Because of conflict and other situations, we lose the peace of family, the home; we are moved away from where we grew up to places where we are unable to understand the language and live with other people whose cultures we don鈥檛 understand.

Initially, I found positivity through the support of my foster family. I decided to do things like get myself educated so I could become a nurse and help others in the country which is now my home. I also use my experiences to stand up and use my voice for Kent Refugee Action Network. So, joy has come from my troubles.

If I were there with the mother in the painting who is grieving, I would try to offer her some comfort. I would want her to feel my love. That鈥檚 what my foster mother gave to me. She gave me simple words of comfort and advice. Her love brought me back to life. That鈥檚 what I try to pass on to the young refugees I meet too. I tell them that it鈥檚 okay and that they can move on to do what they want to do.

Knowing the story of Saint Martin, we know Knights has chosen to focus on the uncertain moment before the good news that the child in the painting will come back to life. So, there is good news ahead. But even if it were bad news for them, I would talk to those people in the painting and say, 鈥楧on鈥檛 hold tight on to pain if you can鈥檛 change it and it鈥檚 bringing you down. Instead, try to find the positive in your world. Find the positive in yourself and what you can bring to others too.鈥�

For Knights, I hope the beauty of the painting, the colours in the landscape and the snowdrops, all symbolise her coming back to life too. The child in the painting may be grey, but hopefully Knights knew that there was a wider world out there, and that painting this helped her find her way back to it.

Notes