Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10.5)

Vision
The Worldview of Modern Art
It’s interesting to note God’s use of the arts in the Bible. Tapestries, carving, sculpture, painting, poetry, music – these are just a few of the ways God chose to express Himself and His will to His people, giving them experiences of beauty, goodness, and truth to complement the narrative of these that His Word provides.

Christians don’t care much for the arts these days. And that’s understandable, because, frankly, the arts are in a pretty grim state at present. Having rejected fixed notions of beauty, goodness, and truth, the arts are in a kind of free-fall, flailing for significance, noisy, boisterous, flatulent, and, well, ugly. We have moved into a period “beyond art,” in the words of Arthur C. Danto (Art after the End of Art), when virtually anything goes in art, and what counts for art is really up to whoever’s willing to pay for it. “Ours is a moment,” he writes, “of deep pluralism and total tolerance. Nothing is ruled out.”

Theodore Dalrymple is certainly correct when he says that art “seems to cast a light on the soul of modern humanity” (“Beauty and Ugliness,” City Journal, Winter 2016). He laments the state of the arts today, where ugliness is the norm and beauty is to be avoided, an observation he offers as the result of having recently visited two very different art exhibits.

The one, of art from an earlier period, glories in beauty and realism, without idealizing either. The other, by a modern artist, is full of anger, angst, death, and horror. Beauty seems to have been the last thing on this artist’s mind. Mr. Dalrymple opines, “All that is necessary for ugliness to prosper is for artists to reject beauty.” He adds, “Our view of the world has become so politicized that we think that the unembarrassed celebration of beauty is a sign of insensitivity to suffering and that exclusively to focus on the world’s deformations, its horrors, is in itself a sign of compassion.”

At the same time, we might be encouraged by a movement of art that is beginning to take hold in New England. The work of artists in this movement is described as heretical and spiritual, and it is alleged to be “extremely unpopular with the smart set.”

So right away we suspect this might be a good thing?

We’d be right. According to Dominic Green, writing in Art New England, realism in painting is back (“The New Traditionalists in New England,” March/April 2016). He profiles three New England artists who have spurned abstraction and the more nonsensical forms of contemporary art to discover and celebrate the beauty of drawing and the simple things of the world.

The artists refer to their movement as Classical Realism, and they have studios, galleries, and schools, and a growing clientele for their work. Inspired by realists of the past and influenced by the idealism of classicist art, these artists are committed to expressing the everyday beauty and wonder of the world in art you can actually understand.

This comports well with some of the Christian foundations of great art. Albrecht Dürer, for instance, insisted that beauty is to be found in the works of creation; it is not merely a subjective matter. “Depart not from Nature,” he wrote, “in thy opinions, neither imagine of thyself to invent aught better…for Art standeth firmly fixed in Nature, and whoso can rend her forth thence, he only posseseth her.”

Beauty may be hard to judge, Dürerwrote, but if we follow the forms and patterns of creation, we’ll get closer to beauty than if we just paint whatever we feel like painting. Dürerinsisted that art should be employed for the glory of God and the benefit of our fellow human beings. Since God Himself made use of the arts, people should do so as well, following His example and the models He provides for us throughout creation.

The work of New England realists is a kind of “radical dissent” from what passes for the norm in contemporary art, and these artists revel in that. Their work evidences a reverence for nature, expresses an appreciation of beauty as understood by the great tradition of art, and works to create a spiritual response in the viewer, rather than a sense of disgust, revulsion, or self-righteousness.

So not all the news in the arts today is bad.

Christians must not abandon the arts. Indeed, renewed interest in the arts from within the Christian community, rooted in our glorious heritage of art, might help to encourage other artists to return to forms, themes, and genre more in line with the spirit and tradition of great arts than with the spirit of this secular and narcissistic age.

For reflection
1.  What role do the arts have in your walk with the Lord?

2.  Why do you suppose previous generations of Christians had more regard for and interest in the arts than at present?

3.  What might you or your church do to help recover a proper role for the arts in the life of faith?

Consider: Nearly half the Bible is written in poetry. Does God know something about the power of this art that we don’t? Talk with a Christian friend about this question.

T. M. Moore

Stretch your vision of Christ and His Kingdom by ordering a copy of T. M.’s book, The Kingship of Jesus, from our online store (click here). You can download a free meditation on the glory of Jesus Christ exalted, Glorious Vision: 28 Days in the Throne Room of the Lord, by clicking here.

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