Carel Weight: Christ and the People
Title: Christ and the People
Artist: Carel Weight (1908–1997, British)
Location: Manchester Cathedral (C of E)
Date: 1963
Carel Weight is known to have been strongly influenced by Stanely Spencer and by the late 1950s he developed a deep interest in painting religious scenes. ‘Religion itself isn’t that important to me, but it provides one with wonderful themes’ (C. Weight, quoted in R.V. Weight, Carel Weight: A Haunted Imagination, Newton Abbot, 1994, p. 65). By 1958 he had completed two major paintings of biblical subjects: Entry into Jerusalem and The Crucifixion both of which are thought to have brought him the 1963 commission from Manchester Cathedral to paint a mural in the recesses of the stonework above the doors to the Chapter House.
In its upper register Christ is depicted with the people (in contemporary dress) in a dynamic gesture of benevolence. The background features a rural landscape (possibly the Pennines) lit up by a changing colour-soaked sky. The seven niches in the lower register depict the Beatitudes – the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure in heart, those that hunger after righteousness, they that mourn, persecuted for righteousness – again in scenes of contemporary British life.
Carel Weight was born in 1908 to middle class, working parents living in Paddington. During the week he was sent to live with his godmother in the more impoverished area of Fulham. Experiences of the difference between affluence and deprivation are fundamental to his imagery.
Weight joined the Hammersmith School of Art in 1926 before continuing his education at Goldsmiths. When war came he was very briefly recruited for active service before Kenneth Clark helped him gain an appointment as a war artist. After the war, Weight taught at the Royal Academy as well as producing his own work. His many commissions included murals for the Festival of Britain in 1951 and Manchester Cathedral in 1963. He was made Professor of Art in 1967 and held the post until his retirement in 1973.
Further Information
Medium: Acrylic and oil on stone
Permanent display
See Carel Weight’s ‘Christ and the People’ on the Ecclesiart map here.
Other modern and contemporary artworks at Manchester Cathedral: Trinity reredos and Holy Spirit window, Mark Cazalet, 2011; Hope Window, Alan Davis (2016); Five windows, Anthony Holloway (1973 – 1995); Laudian Altar frontal (now in display case), Theo Moorman, 1969; Organ Casing, Stephen Raw; Fire window in the Regiment Chapel, Margaret Traherne (1966); Healing Window, Linda Walton (2004).
Stained glass at Manchester Cathedral: For comment on the stained glass see Visit Stained Glass, which is an online showcase for some of Britain’s finest stained glass windows.