Art and Faith

To be sure, the image of man emerging from the artist’s studio is somewhat deformed and tinged with insanity. How could it be otherwise in a world unhinged by fear. But it seems that Faith, Hope, Compassion – or desperation – are stirring people all over the world into believing that perhaps Salvation is still possible and that the beauty and the peace of this best of all worlds are still worth fighting for. It would be good to believe that the tremendous interest in art, evinced by hundreds of new galleries and a new generation of ardent collectors, is based on more than speculation. Perhaps there is hope that even among Friends the arts are beginning to take root, assume meaning and a truly devotional significance. Only then can art become an enhancement of life rather than an “encumbrance,” as early Friends would call it.But art can never be sectarian. It must be universal, a true instrument of peace that brings people together in a deeper awareness of their common joys and sorrows. Art has moved from its geographic centers and has spread to the remote corners of the globe. For better or for worse, art has become an international movement, a means of communication which crosses racial, ideological and linguistic barriers more successfully than diplomats and politicians ever can. It is useless and paradoxical to think of contemporary art in terms of White or Colored, Capitalist or Communist, Catholic, Jewish – or Quaker.