THE ART OF ADVENT
By Jane Williams
SPCK 149 pages £9.99
ISBN 978 0 281 071 692
This little volume was published as the Archbishop of York’s Advent Book for 2018*.
The author, Dr Jane Williams, married to the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, is Assistant Dean and lecturer at St Mellitus College, London, and is known for her reflective writings on theology, many of which deal with images of the Christian story in painting (for example Faces of Christ: Jesus in Art, Lion, 2011).
The book contains good-quality colour reproductions of 37 paintings created in many different periods and countries. Each is accompanied by a thoughtful text – starting with the great Advent theme of light and darkness, and taking us through Advent to the life of Christ and the early church. At the end of each section there are questions to explore the theme further, so that the book can be used for group discussions – followed by a closing prayer.
With such a wide range of images, it would have been good to know a little more about the artists themselves – particularly their different cultural backgrounds.
It is also interesting to compare other explorations of Christian themes via the visual arts – for example the National Gallery’s millennium exhibition, Seeing Salvation or Marleene Rookmaaker’s Artway EU website.
In a world of instant visual culture, it is refreshing to find a sensitive discussion of artworks, based on the biblical narrative. However, given the growing number of Christian painters and printmakers producing high-quality work it would have good to see more of those examples represented. I was disappointed to see that the few 21st-century works were re-workings of older images. There are opportunities here for more direct comment on the ‘Light and Darkness’ of the world in which we live.
