The fourteen paintings of the Stations of the Cross displayed in the side aisles of our church during Lent, were all painted by members of our congregation – people of all ages with whom we worship, and often compare and share our very differing views of Christianity. Perhaps this was one of the reasons that these paintings moved us in a way that the same scenes by the Old Masters sometimes fail to do.
At the Opening Preview it was obvious that this was not �just an Art Exhibition.� It was a relief to be able to shed our �Critical/Artist History Glasses� along with our preconceived ideas of how Christian art �ought to look�.
By allowing these pictures to guide us on a pilgrimage of prayer and meditation as we followed Christ�s footsteps, we found that these, very individual responses to Christ�s suffering enabled us to feel a compassion which we could share with the artists, and also with each other. The comparative artistic merit of the paintings became less important and their purpose more relevant.
In Pilate condemns Jesus to death his fragile figure hovers, vulnerable and isolated on the steps. The fluid spontaneity of the watercolour technique suggests the shifting and gathering of the crowd.
In the next picture the strength of style and strong colour emphasises the juxtaposed image of quiet resignation as Jesus accepts his cross.
As Jesus falls the first time his face expresses dogged determination to complete his task. We can identify with the background figure as his strong hands reach out, longing to share Christ�s burden.
When Jesus meets his Mother their arms extend towards each other in an eloquent expression of the frustration of a Mother and Son longing, but unable, to share the consolation of mutual embrace.
The fifth artist depicts the moment just before Simon helps Jesus carry his cross. Laying his hands on the cross he seems to pause in brief anticipation. The simple monochrome emphasises the stillness of the moment.
Veronica offers her veil to Jesus with an infinitely gentle gesture, gazing into His eyes. This perceptive picture is painted with the same simplicity and love as the act which it so movingly portrays.
The figure of Jesus falling for the second time, crumpled and overcome by his burden, surrounded by mankind�s varied reactions, clearly expresses the artist�s agenda.
Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem, and now we are shocked from our historical viewpoint and confronted with the present. As the shadow of the cross falls across Israel�s security fence, Christ speaks once more to the weeping Daughters of Jerusalem, the Conscience of the Nation, as they take on curving feminine shapes and detach themselves from the cruel concrete.
Jesus falls the third time in a matter of seconds; the slow motion of stroboscopic imagery captures simultaneously the horror of falling and the relief of escape.
As we fall, wearily and painfully, with Jesus, the brilliance of the colours momentarily releases us from that dark crowded place.
In Jesus stripped of his garments the eloquence of the faces of Jesus and his tormentors challenge us to a deeper comprehension. Christ�s expression of bewildered abandonment, the dogs, the ravening lions with �wide open mouths�, those who divide his clothes amongst them, combine in this powerful evocation of the 22nd Psalm, which he will remember again at the moment of his death
Our reactions and emotions to Jesus nailed to the Cross shift as we approach. From a distance the perception is of an Abstract Expressionist piece. Closer, the painting�s ethereal, fluid qualities emerge. Closer still, a tortured body, blood, nails, and a paint surface savagely torn�become a painful confrontation.
The unnatural darkness which �came over the whole land� when Jesus dies on the cross dominates this skilfully painted landscape. This desolate painting of a lonely death echoes Casper David Frederick�s reaction to that same moment.
Jesus is taken down from the cross is a strong and violent picture �the bold verticality, the frenzied paint texture, the huge nail and the broken bones. Everything tells us that a life has ended.
Jesus is placed in the tomb is a finely balanced near abstraction. The tomb�s mouth an even blacker hole amidst the night�s blackness. But above his spirit, the dove, our symbol of hope, rises.
Our artists certainly did not disappoint us. Their paintings were a generous and valuable contribution to our Meditations on the Stations of the Cross.