David Clayton - The Nature of Beauty and Sacred Art - Part 2 of 2

David Clayton is a professor at Saint Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts in Merrimack, NH, where he has designed the Way of Beauty program which focuses on the link between Catholic culture and liturgy. He also wrote, co-produced and presented the 13-part TV series The Way of Beauty, shown by Catholic TV in 2010 and 2011. Before moving to the U.S., he taught at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, England where he designed, along with the staff at the Institute, their art theory course: "Art, Beauty, and Inspiration from a Catholic Perspective." His artistic training is in both the Byzantine iconographic style, and in Western classical naturalism, which he studied in Florence, Italy. He has illustrated books for children including God's Covenant With You, written by Scott Hahn. David was received into the Church in London in 1993.

Clayton's lecture is part of an ongoing series sponsored by The Institute of Catholic Culture, an adult catechetical organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization. The Institute seeks to fulfill its mission by offering education programs structured upon the classical liberal arts and by offering opportunities in which authentic Catholic culture is experienced and lived.

David Clayton - The Nature of Beauty and Sacred Art - Part 1 of 2

David Clayton is a professor at Saint Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts in Merrimack, NH, where he has designed the Way of Beauty program which focuses on the link between Catholic culture and liturgy. He also wrote, co-produced and presented the 13-part TV series The Way of Beauty, shown by Catholic TV in 2010 and 2011. Before moving to the U.S., he taught at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, England where he designed, along with the staff at the Institute, their art theory course: "Art, Beauty, and Inspiration from a Catholic Perspective." His artistic training is in both the Byzantine iconographic style, and in Western classical naturalism, which he studied in Florence, Italy. He has illustrated books for children including God's Covenant With You, written by Scott Hahn. David was received into the Church in London in 1993.

Clayton's lecture is part of an ongoing series sponsored by The Institute of Catholic Culture, an adult catechetical organization, faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and dedicated to the Church’s call for a new evangelization. The Institute seeks to fulfill its mission by offering education programs structured upon the classical liberal arts and by offering opportunities in which authentic Catholic culture is experienced and lived.  

Catholic Artists Say Art Must Reflect Liturgical Renewal

At a recent symposium on the campus of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, leading Catholic artists agreed that liturgical piety is at the foundation of a culture of beauty.  When art and architecture—and the culture as a whole—is deeply rooted in the liturgy it serves, liturgical piety is reinforced.

Father Thomas Kocik, contributor to the New Liturgical Movement web site and former editor of Antiphon, chaired the discussion.  He began the evening by emphasizing this link between the liturgy and culture.

The State of the Arts and the Restoration of Beauty: An Interview with David Clayton

From Ignatius Insight

David Clayton is Thomas More College’s Artist-in-Residence and is an internationally known painter of icons. David trained in natural sciences at Oxford University, and studied drawing and painting at Charles Cecil Studios at Florence, Italy. He was taught iconography by Aidan Hart in England. He has received commissions at churches and monasteries in Europe and the US, including the London Oratory, and has illustrated a variety of Catholic books, most recently one by scripture scholar Scott Hahn. He has recently appeared on EWTN talking about his work and the Way of Beauty programme. David has also worked with Catholic TV in Boston on a 13-part series called The Way of Beauty.

I recently spoke with David about the state of art in the West and some of the means by which he and others are working to restore an authentic vision of beauty, goodness, and truth in art, both in the Church and in the secular realm. Here is our conversation.

Ignatius Insight: What has been the state of the fine arts, in general, in the West since the middle of the twentieth century?

David Clayton: The best way of summing up the whole thing is a quote from Pope Benedict XVI in his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy: “The Enlightenment pushed faith into a kind of intellectual and even social ghetto. Contemporary culture turned away from the faith and trod another path, so that faith took flight in historicism, the copying of the past, or else attempted compromise or lost itself in resignation and cultural abstinence.”

From the middle of the 18th century onwards we see a steady separation of the culture of faith and the broader culture. This means that in the context of art, mainstream art reflected the values of the Enlightenment. Initially, the difference was small. Up to the end of the 19th century, the basic training of artists was the same but the connection with Catholic theology, philosophy and liturgical principles was lost. Stylistically, the manifestation of this was very subtle but real. In the 19th century you see a dualism reflected in a divergence of artistic styles from a Christian balance in the center: on the one hand there was cold and over polished sterile “realism”, or on the other hand an over-emotional Romanticism. This should be contrasted with17th century baroque art, which is authentically Catholic and has a balance of resemblance to natural appearances and idealization.