Photo: with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, at the Art Gallery of WA.
Tonight I spent the evening at the Art Gallery of Western Australia with Stanley Spencer’s Christ in the Wilderness paintings, listening to the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, reflect on the collection. And yes, I couldn’t leave without a selfie to remember it by.
A series that was never finished
Spencer began the series in the winter of 1938–39, during what he described as a time of exile from his beloved Cookham. His plan was ambitious: forty small square canvases, one for each day of Lent, to be hung together on a ceiling and looked up at from below.
He completed only eight, with a ninth left unfinished. Four were painted in 1938–39, then one each in 1940, 1942 and 1943, and the last in 1954. It’s remarkable that these paintings now sit in the State Art Collection here in Western Australia.
Christ among the ordinary things
What strikes you standing in front of them is how little they look like traditional religious art. There are no grand temptation scenes. Instead, Christ fills each frame, close to the earth, among leaves, rocks, mud, a hen and her chicks, even a scorpion. Spencer imagined the forty days not as an escape from the world but as time spent noticing it.
That is a word for all of us. Wilderness seasons, the stretches that feel lonely, stalled or uncertain, are often where God does his quietest and deepest work.
The Archbishop’s book
Archbishop Stephen has loved these paintings for many years. In his illustrated book “Christ in the Wilderness: Reflecting on the Paintings by Stanley Spencer” (SPCK, 2012), he reflects on five of the paintings and shows what they reveal about Jesus’ own understanding of his ministry and vocation. It’s written as a resource for Lent, but it works just as well at any time of the year, especially if you need permission to slow down.
Hearing him speak about the collection in person, in the same room as the paintings, was a real privilege. It was a night of grace, of art and of faith, and one I won’t forget.
If you are in Perth and haven’t seen Spencer’s Christ in the Wilderness, it’s well worth checking what the Art Gallery of WA currently has on display. You can also find the Archbishop’s writing on the Archbishop of York publications page.
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