Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of illustrations
- CHAPTER 1 ‘Introduction: On Faith, Objects and Locality’
- CHAPTER 2 ‘But where is Norfolk?’
- CHAPTER 3 ‘Sacred Image and Regional Identity in Late-Prehistoric Norfolk’
- CHAPTER 4 ‘Piety from the Ploughsoil: Religion in Roman Norfolk through Recent Metal-Detector Finds’
- CHAPTER 5 ‘Paganism in Early-Anglo-Saxon East Anglia’
- CHAPTER 6 ‘Devotion, Pestilence and Conflict: The Medieval Wall Paintings of St Mary the Virgin, Lakenheath’
- CHAPTER 7 ‘Here Be Dragons: The Cult of St Margaret of Antioch and Strategies for Survival’
- CHAPTER 8 ‘The Medieval Jews of Norwich and their Legacy’
- CHAPTER 9 ‘Late-Medieval Glass-Painting in Norfolk: Developments in Iconography and Craft c.1250–1540’
- CHAPTER 10 ‘Graffiti and Devotion in Three Maritime Churches’
- CHAPTER 11 ‘Norfolk Wayside Crosses: Biographies of Landscape and Place’
- CHAPTER 12 ‘Landscapes of Faith and Politics in Early-Modern Norwich’
- CHAPTER 13 ‘Practice and Belief: Manifestations of Witchcraft, Magic and Paganism in East Anglia from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day’
- CHAPTER 14 ‘Provinciality and the Victorians: Church Design in Nineteenth-Century East Anglia’
- CHAPTER 15 ‘Maharajah Duleep Singh, Elveden and Sikh Pilgrimage’
- CHAPTER 16 ‘Supernatural Folklore and the Popular Imagination: Re-reading Object and Locality in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Norfolk’
- CHAPTER 17 ‘Pro Patria Mori: Christian Rallies and War Memorials of Early-Twentieth-Century Norfolk’
- CHAPTER 18 ‘Pagans in Place, from Stonehenge to Seahenge: “Sacred” Archaeological Monuments and Artefacts in Britain’
- CHAPTER 19 ‘Art, Spirit and Ancient Places in Norfolk’
- CHAPTER 20 ‘Sacred Sites and Blessed Objects: Art and Religion in Contemporary Norfolk’
- Bibliography
- Index
CHAPTER 20 - ‘Sacred Sites and Blessed Objects: Art and Religion in Contemporary Norfolk’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of illustrations
- CHAPTER 1 ‘Introduction: On Faith, Objects and Locality’
- CHAPTER 2 ‘But where is Norfolk?’
- CHAPTER 3 ‘Sacred Image and Regional Identity in Late-Prehistoric Norfolk’
- CHAPTER 4 ‘Piety from the Ploughsoil: Religion in Roman Norfolk through Recent Metal-Detector Finds’
- CHAPTER 5 ‘Paganism in Early-Anglo-Saxon East Anglia’
- CHAPTER 6 ‘Devotion, Pestilence and Conflict: The Medieval Wall Paintings of St Mary the Virgin, Lakenheath’
- CHAPTER 7 ‘Here Be Dragons: The Cult of St Margaret of Antioch and Strategies for Survival’
- CHAPTER 8 ‘The Medieval Jews of Norwich and their Legacy’
- CHAPTER 9 ‘Late-Medieval Glass-Painting in Norfolk: Developments in Iconography and Craft c.1250–1540’
- CHAPTER 10 ‘Graffiti and Devotion in Three Maritime Churches’
- CHAPTER 11 ‘Norfolk Wayside Crosses: Biographies of Landscape and Place’
- CHAPTER 12 ‘Landscapes of Faith and Politics in Early-Modern Norwich’
- CHAPTER 13 ‘Practice and Belief: Manifestations of Witchcraft, Magic and Paganism in East Anglia from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day’
- CHAPTER 14 ‘Provinciality and the Victorians: Church Design in Nineteenth-Century East Anglia’
- CHAPTER 15 ‘Maharajah Duleep Singh, Elveden and Sikh Pilgrimage’
- CHAPTER 16 ‘Supernatural Folklore and the Popular Imagination: Re-reading Object and Locality in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Norfolk’
- CHAPTER 17 ‘Pro Patria Mori: Christian Rallies and War Memorials of Early-Twentieth-Century Norfolk’
- CHAPTER 18 ‘Pagans in Place, from Stonehenge to Seahenge: “Sacred” Archaeological Monuments and Artefacts in Britain’
- CHAPTER 19 ‘Art, Spirit and Ancient Places in Norfolk’
- CHAPTER 20 ‘Sacred Sites and Blessed Objects: Art and Religion in Contemporary Norfolk’
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
David Morgan's assertion that art institutions have excluded ‘almost all’ openly religious contemporary art is no longer supported internationally, as indicated by numerous recent exhibitions, including Traces du sacré (Pompidou Centre, 2008). Neither does it apply regionally, as evinced in Norwich Castle's Art of Faith exhibition and by numerous shows generated by faith-groups, including A Brush with Faith (Norwich Cathedral, 2005).
Vitally, the curators of Traces du sacré claimed to explore, through objects, the ‘conjunction of art, religion, spirituality, self-consciousness and enlightenment’, working with the premise that ‘art … is the answer to the question “What becomes of religion in a secular world?”’ So, essentially, they considered the possibility that humanity has a need to feel at home. This chapter explores these issues from a local perspective, where ‘home’ is taken to mean the creative negotiation that takes place between individuals, communities and the physical landscape, be it rural or urban.
Norfolk's physical landscape, especially its many modest and round-towered churches, has continued to influence religious art significantly. Even beyond the realms of Christian belief, and despite a decrease in church attendance, those churches have remained a prominent and often well-preserved part of the landscape. Prized by local communities, they are mostly appreciated as monuments to Norfolk's architectural and cultural heritage, rather than as bastions of an enduring Christian faith. The breadth of their impact is demonstrated by W. G. Sebald, in his evocative description of a secular ‘pilgrimage’ along the coastlines of Norfolk and Suffolk.
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- Art, Faith and Place in East AngliaFrom Prehistory to the Present, pp. 298 - 314Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012