JAMES LANGLEY

A Low Country Madonna

Guest House Addiction Services commissioned Langley to paint a ephiphanic image of the Madonna and Christ Child for their 2011Christmas greeting.

 

Guest House requested a re-dux of his schematic design used for glass mosaic originally commissioned by Father Mark Ross and his Excellency Kevin Boland, in 2007 for the Lumen Christi Chapel, St James Parish, Savannah Ga.

The unfolding of the design process for that chapel offers a glimpse at the conceptual process and its final outcome.

Initial design concept for a wall with leaded glass pattern in palladian fronted a marble altar with a Corintian capital base.

Above and Below: A few of many schematic drawings that reflect the design evolution in working with a client who wished to achieve a result that integrated with existing modernist forms in the building.

Below: the desired pattern emerges with a proposed iconic design of the Madonna and Child adored by the late pope John Paul II.

Below: The modified concept for a Low Country Madonna

Below: Langley glass mosaic with Painted and glazed ceramic medallion installed at St James the Less Church, Savannah, Georgia 2007.

 

Meditation of Saint Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney

 

This Langley oil on linen canvas (48"x60") represents the interior life and meditation of the Cure d'Ars. It is conceived as an altarpiece to be installed with the lower section just above eye level (approximately 6') such that the ascanthus vine is aligned as if to sprout from a tabenacle located immediately below it.

The composition was inspired by the Tomb of Munatius Faustus at Pompeii where the picture plane is carved so as to advance and to recede by the interplay of decorative and narative interests.

The Cameo bust supported by a pair of classical winged genii at the top center of the canvas is based upon a 19th century engraving "Portrait Authentique de l'abbe Jean Marie Vianney" by Cabuchet.  The image of the Sacred Heart was inspired by a visit to Chiesa di Nostra Signora
del Sacro Cuore in Rome.

The ascanthus rinceaux motif is also of Pompeian inspiration and stems from  models at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Alsop House in Middletown CT.

The narrative and devotional centerpiece of the painting emulates a number of seminal prototypes such as "Lamentation over the Dead Christ" by Poussin as well as the inspiration of live models.

Several student apprentices active in the Langley art studio during 2011 contributed to the production of this painting, including; Mariana Langley (Santa Paula, CA.), Rachel Personette (Colorado Springs, CO.), Jared Seff (Raleigh NC) as Model for Jesus,  Silvia Rigozzi (Milano, IT.), Jenny Eitel (Jackson, MI.),  Thomas and Francis Langley (Savannah, GA).

 

Exhibition: Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines North Carolina.

The art of James Langley is given a special status from Saturday, May 7 through Saturday, May 21, 2011 in the Designer Show House at James Boyd’s mother’s house, now known as “Inchalene” to benefit the Weymouth Center in Southern Pines, North Carolina.  http://www.weymouthshowhouse.org/

 
One dozen drawings and paintings by Langley are featured in a room created by designer Alice Henrick, of Provenance Interiors, Savannah Georgia. http://www.provenance-interiors.com/index2.php#/info1/2/

The center of Henricks composition above the silken sofa is occupied by the life sized figure of a Bacchante drawn by Langley (signature lower right) from the life using conte crayon on Rives BFK and measuring 30"x22".

The discerning eye and deft touch of Alice Henrick in fashioning this welcoming and sumptuous interior shows the effortless grace of a master designer.

 

Exhibition at Chateau Fontaine Henry

Spring 2011: the Langley drawing entitled "Pieta" (25"x19" graphite life drawing with two figures heightened with white chalk on grey paper) is part of the private collection of contemporary figurative art exhibiting in the historic chapel at Chateau Fontaine Henry, Normandy France during the month of May.  Steen Heidemann, exhibition organiser, Secretary in Chief: Association "Les Flux des Arts".

Langley Art Client Sampler

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Below: Watercolor Study of Rosette Medallion as architectural ornament

Client: Metropolitan Museum of Art

2006

Download LangleyClientSampleSpring2011e

Langley Art / Fine Painting, Savannah Georgia, USA

 

ritratto

  
 

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So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Langley portrait

Conte crayon on 30"x22" Rives BFK

Woman Clothed in the Sun

 Architectural Painting

Signum Magnum - Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

 

James Langley, a Professor of Drawing in the School of Foundation Studies at Savannah College of Art and Design was commissioned by the Fraternity of St Peter to create a monumental altarpiece for Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary Chapel near Lincoln, Nebraska.  The painting is conceived as an integral element of the architectural expression and intended to depict the celebrated 1531 apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the Indian Juan Diego (1474–May 30, 1548). 

Exhibition Fall 2010

James Langley of Savannah, Georgia recently exhibited figurative drawings in the genre of sacred art at the Third Nationwide Juried Catholic Arts Exhibition at St Vincent College in Latrobe Pennsylvania on view at the St Vincent Gallery from Oct 31 to Dec 12.  Internationally renowned art historian Sister Wendy Beckett was the juror for the exhibition. 

Published in Spain: Tuesday June 8, 2010

http://otraarquitecturaesposible.blogspot.com/2010/06/el-arte-sacro-de-hoy-es-arte-y-es-sacro.html

Reflexiones sobre un clasicismo contemporáneo

Vultus Christi

 

Faces of Christ  / The Collection

England: Hardbound catalogue published in 2010 by Gracewing featuring the collection of curator Steen Heidemann in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Culture to exhibit the work of contempory catholic artists. Cover and Frontispiece by James Langley.

 

Vernisage: Palazo Ruspoli, Rome, Italy March 2010

 James Langley was acknowledged among other contemporary catholic artists present in Rome for a book signing at Palazzo Ruspoli.  The Langley drawing of the Holy Family (pictured below) is a charcoal study for the center panel of "The Hidden Years," a triptych commissioned by Opus Dei for a chapel in Midtown Manhattan published in the new book by author Steen Heidemann; The Catholic Priest, Image of Christ Through Fifteen Centuries of Art.  The book is available in the United States through Ignatius Press. 

Interview of author Steen Heidemann by Giacomo Monti for Radici Christiane in June 2010 : Il sacerdozio descritto dall’arte di Giacomo Monti

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Langley Art Glass / Traditional Leaded Windows and Mosaics

Langley Art Glass / Traditional Leaded Windows and Mosaics

Langley Art Studio designs traditional Leaded glass fenestration and durable mosaic installations that respond with timely innovation to unique site specific requirements.

 

Metropolitan Museum of Art / trompe l'oeil en grisaille

Painting for the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pictured from The Magazine Antiques: Langley trompe l'oeil painting commissioned for the Israel Sack Galleries in the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

(New York, January 23, 2007)—A suite of galleries devoted to American art created between 1810 and 1840 was formally opened on the first floor of the American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art today. The opening of the new galleries marks the completion of the first phase of a project to reconfigure, renovate, or upgrade nearly every section of the American Wing by 2010. A major goal of the plan is to improve public access to, and visitor flow within, the American Wing galleries.

A essay appearing in the February 2007 edition of The Magazine Antiques, by American Wing Director and Curator, Peter Kenny describes the creation of the new classical galleries to provide period context for the museum collection following design by Thomas Gordon Smith Architects. "The north-south axis of the new classical galleries is a treat for the eye...on the south side of the new crossing is a gallery with walls painted to resemble ashlar with grisaille panels of paired classical genii and ascanthus volutes..."

American Artist Drawing Magazine / Fall 2009 Issue

American Artist / Drawing Magazine Fall 2009 Edition: "Express The Universal" article by Bob Bahr on the drawing of James Langley. 

  

Ars Botanica / Botanical Studies

Botanical Studies / Langley Art Studio / New Release

"We ought to talk less and draw more. I personally, should like to renounce speech altogether and, like organic nature, communicate everything I have to say in sketches." Goethe, Italian Journey (London: Penquin, 1962) 9.

Inspired by Goethe's empirical approach to the study of nature, Langley Art Studio's advocates the practice of drawing as an act of understanding and a way to penetrate the outward surface appearances of things and to discover their underlying structure.

We have recently begun a suite of scientific illustrations with the aim to integrate empirical and descriptive exploration with decorative intent as inspired by Antique Botanical Studies.

The Langley watercolor renderings presented in the Botanical Studies Gallery are "in the school of" Giovanni Baptista Ferrari (1584-1655) a Jesuit Priest, the first of whose elaborately illustrated books on botanical subjects, "Flora seu de florum cultura libri IV"  was published in Rome, 1638 under the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Barberini.

Memory and Desire Exhibition / Hillsdale College

Hillsdale College Art Department Presents;

Memory and Desire

The Figurative Art of James Langley

September 21 - October 19, 2008

Daughtrey Gallery

Sage Center for the Arts, Hillsdale College

81 East College Street, Hillsdale, Michigan

preview exhibition and interview:

Download jameslangleybooklet_update31.pdf

BEATUS VIR TRIPTYCH / Commissioned Altarpiece

Portable Icon Commissioned for the private use of Fr. Bede Kotlinski O.S.B., St Andrews Abbey, Cleveland, Ohio.

BEATUS VIR TRIPTYCH

Sacra Conversatione with Saints Benedict and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

 
 
Langley Drawing for center panel of Beatus Vir

conte crayon with pigments on 40"x32" museum rag board (image size:32"x24")

James Langley / Pittore 2005-08 "20 x 16" open 20"x32", oil and egg tempera with clay bole and gold leaf on solid poplar.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Confessor and Martyr and Holy Father Benedict, Patron of Europe. Side Panels 20"x8" egg tempera and oil on panel.

 

Portrait / Cedric Stratton, Anno Aetatis Suae LXXVI

Portrait: Cedric Stratton Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Physical Chemistry, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, Georgia.

 Oil on canvas, Langley 2008 

Portrait of Dr.Cedric Stratton,
Charcoal with watercolor wash heightened with white chalk on 22x30 watercolor paper, signed and dated lower right: Langley 2007 

Via Dolorosa / Commission

Stations of the Cross

Fourteen paintings

By James Langley 

On View in the Nave of St James Catholic Church, 8412 Whitfield Ave. Savannah, GA 31406

January 29 – February 2, 2009

Open Via Dolorosa Paintings

These Stations of the Cross were commissioned by St Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola Florida where they were permanently installed in February 2009.

True religious art has the power to stir the deepest longings of the human heart for God.  

James Langley: from an interview for Catholic World Report.

Bringing Beauty Into the World / Text by Jennifer Long for SCAD Magazine

Bringing Beauty Into the World

SCAD Professor James Langley balances career as Teacher and Artist. Text by Jennifer Long, Photos by Wayne Moore . Fall 2006 Edition of THE MAGAZINE, Savannah College of Art and Design, volume 10 number 1.

For a painter who has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, and who has taught at universities and museums around the world, Savannah College of Art and Design professor James Langley finds his ideal subjects exist remarkably close to home.

The Redemption of Catholic Art / Interview with Benjamin Wiker for Catholic World Report

The Redemption of Catholic Art

Interview with Benjamin Wiker for Catholic World Report: November 2005 volume 15 Number 10.

Artist James Langley reflects, in an interview with Benjamin Wiker, on the state of Catholic art today, the apostolate of the catholic artist, and how we can recover an aesthetic representative of truth and beauty.