Paintings offered to St. Stephen's

[Frank Dunn]

Folks,
    
    I recently received a letter from St. Philip’s, Laurel, MD, saying that they wanted to give to St. Stephen’s a triptych painted by Washington artist Mitchell Jamieson.  

    Jamieson painted these large pieces a number of years ago and gave them to St. Margaret’s Church, where Vienna Cobb-Anderson was Rector at the time.  Later, after a renovation, they were given by St. Margaret’s to St. Philip’s.  I was at St. Philip’s several years ago to do a consultation and happened upon one of them, commented on it, and found out a little about it.  It was in some ill-fitting room because they had no suitable place to hang it.

    Vienna Cobb-Anderson, following the initial letter from St. Philip’s, wrote as follows:

Regarding the triptych that is being offered to you, it has a deeper connection to St. Stephen's than you were told. Mrs Jameison first offered it to Bill Wendt who, at that time was assisting me at St. Margaret's as he had been my mentor at St. Stephen's (my home parish). When he had nowhere to serve when he retired, I asked him to join the St. M's staff. Bill and I drove out to see it and both loved it. It is not a painting of the three stations of the cross as you were told. One panel is of the nativity with a child rather than a baby; then the crucifixion; and the other of the resurrection. I do hope that St. S & I will accept the triptych in Bill's memory, not only because of it's connection to him but because it was painted by an artist connected with the Vietnam Nam war as were those of us who attended St. S & I in those days. The artist had been a famous WW II painter for the U.S. Government; however when he asked to document the Vietnam Nam war for them, he was denied access. He went at his own expense and documented the fighting. The triptych was the last work he did when he returned. He was so tortured by the atrocities in that war that he killed himself after painting  this work. I believe this is one of the reason you never see anyone's face. What makes that fact special for me is that the young Christ might be anyone's child, as the crucifixion and resurrection. This makes it more universal for us all. When Bill and I accepted the triptych we both thought St. S & I would be the ideal location for it, given it's history and the parish's history of involvement in the city; however, I was thrilled to have it offered to St. Margaret's and received it gladly. Perhaps now it can find a home where it really belongs. I pray you'll find a place for it.

Thank you for considering this matter.

The Rev. Dr. Vienna Cobb-Anderson

   I have some real concerns about the size of this triptych, and wonder about the wisdom of our acquiring art on this scale.  A quick look-around the church tells me that there is no place to put it.  An option might be for us to accept it on loan, with the stipulation that we would return it after a stated period of time.  Another option would be to accept it with the thought that we might display it periodically (as at Easter, on the reredos), but not all the time.  And a third option is that you might really, really like it and think that we might do well to make a space for it, particularly as we explore renovations.  

    I need to give St. Philip’s an answer.  I am going to see if I can get them to post some photos on the internet, or send me some, so that you can see the work, and comment on it.  I’ll also get dimensions.

[Gay Gellhorn]

Yikes!  This has come up before, and I thought we had dodged that bullet.  Everything in me screeches "no no no" -- thus showing I have weathered the Gloria and bemoaned our treatment of the Oertel ouvre.  Permanent installation, especially at precisely the time we are redesigning  the chancel to attain flexibility, seems the wrong direction. 

 

 I agree with Duane and Joe's cautions.  

 

As to honoring an era and Bill Wendt in particular, I think what we do with the Parish Hall to welcome peace and justice workers and house organizations is more fitting than an art work.

 

Peace - Gay

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Sacred art is a language, not a decor. - H.A. Reinhold
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