Ecclesiart in Cathedrals: Winchester
Winchester was always going to be a good place to start. Our ‘Ecclesiart in Cathedrals’ tours have been devised to bring attention to the wonderful array of modern and contemporary art in cathedrals across the UK; Winchester has more than most and, although on our Ecclesiart pages we select only 2 or 3 from any one cathedral, the tour gave us a chance to view over 20 works of art that are permanently on view.
We began in the north transept (with a little nod to Jane Austen’s memorial as we passed) and The Epiphany Chapel which is graced by stained glass windows by Edward Burne-Jones manufactured by the William Morris Company. It also ‘suffers’ from an off-kilter arrangement of historic arcading behind the altar and the central window above. Sophie Hacker’s 2020 frontal cleverly adjusts your eye to bring these elements into a more settled coexistence. Her curved forms outlining the jars of water from the miracle story pour forth in a glorious and highly dynamic image of transformation.
Another frontal just a few meters away from this one in the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre sits beneath the treasured 12th-century wall paintings depicting the deposition and entombment of Christ. Alice Kettle is a textile artist whose thickly machine-worked surfaces bring a sense of weighty deliberation at the same time as catching the light and causing a shimmering effect.
The recent incessant rainfall provided the optimum viewing opportunity for Antony Gormley’s Sound II in the flooded crypt. This quiet sculpture always causes a moment of stillness in those who see it.
Cecil Collins is an unusual painter – perhaps rather unfashionable at the moment – but we were all fascinated by his depiction of Christ before the Judge which is hung in one of the very small chantry chapels and can only be seen from behind the stone bars. Nevertheless, this positioning seems to make it all the powerful (and we were very lucky to see it more closely when Canon Brian allowed us into the chapel in an unplanned appendage to the tour).
Another visually quiet and yet powerful work, and one that grew on me considerably the more I looked at it, is Justin Knowles’ Blue Cross in the Chapel of the Guardian Angels. Drawing on his interest in minimalism and colour form, this cerulean glass cross is a comfortable contrast against the cathedral’s warm stone work, catching echoes of the blue medieval glass in the windows above and creating the generous yet modest focal point that such a space demands.
We all enjoyed a temporary installation of ceramics by Amelia Tulliett in the Chapel that sat in the empty niches of a tomb and a remarkable processional cross by David John that incorporates a piece of the shrine of St Birinus of Dorchester Abbey (whose see transferred to Winchester).
On into the south transept and Angela Connor’s energetic composition (excuse the pun) in glass and steel in memoriam of the composer John Tavener; also laid out specially for our group, the vestments by Evelyn Ross woven in silk which by all accounts are the clergy’s favourites for wearability!
Again, with thanks to the virgers for putting it on for our group (it wouldn’t normally be on for Lent), we stayed a while with Maggi Hambling’s tour de force tapestry frontal and dorsal for the High Altar. Such strong horizontal movement in her unceasing wave forms give a brilliant change of direction against the reredos with its insistent verticality! A sense of grounding and earthliness pervade and her colouration which is bold and contemporary is – like the Knowles cross – a welcome sensuousness amidst the more austere stone and wood carving.
Our final stopping point on the tour was The Venerable Chapel where a new stone altar (made by Luke Hughes) gives home to a panel by Rachel Schwalm. This watery blue abstraction has intricate detail when viewed more closely including another small rectangular portal within its dimensions. And perhaps one of my favourite objects within the cathedral, and a good ‘full stop’ to the tour, Bryony Knox’s aumbry lamp: an exquisitely crafted silver Galillean boat with a pelican pecking at its breast as its figurehead.
With thanks to the Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral for hosting this tour
The full list of works viewed is here:
Sophie Hacker and Winchester Cathedral Broderers, Water into Wine altar frontal, 2020
Eric Gill, Lamb of God, 1920
Alice Kettle, Holy Sepulchre Chapel frontal, 1994
Antony Gormley, Sound II, 1986 (given to the cathedral in 1993)
Cecil Collins, Christ before the Judge, 1954-56
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/cecil-collins-930
Justin Knowles, Blue Cross, 2001
(there is also a similar one at Exeter Cathedral: http://cjeinexeter.blogspot.com/2010/09/justin-knowles.html)
Amelia Tulliett, vessels in niches – temporary installation
David John, St Binirus Cross, 1979
Angela Connor, memorial to John Tavener, 2016 (inscription by Tom Perkins)
Maggi Hambling, High Altar frontal and dorsal, 2013
Leslie Durbin, High Altar Cross, 1966
Sophie Hacker, Processional Cross (in memory of James Atwell), 2022
Evelyn Ross, weekday vestments in woven silk, 1995-6
Lucy Goffin, silk vestments, (not sure of date)
Rachel Schwalm, Epiphany Chapel altar (panel) & Luke Hughes, 2011
Bryony Knox, Aumbry lamp, 2005
