JAMES LANGLEY

BEATUS VIR TRIPTYCH
The Beatus Vir Triptych (also know as Bede Work) was made possible by a generous commission from the R. Templeton Smith Foundation for Fr. Bede Kotlinski O.S.B., St Andrews Abbey, Cleveland, Ohio.

Sacra Conversatione with Saints Benedict and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Artist: James Langley / Pittore
Size closed: "20 x 16" open 20"x32"
Medium: oil and egg tempera with clay bole and gold leaf on poplar
Date 2005-2008

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven (Rev.12-1)

Langley Concetto: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe 10'x16' Altar Retablo, oil on canvas.

a woman clothed in the sun

Langley Modello: Virgen de Guadalupe, Pencil with watercolor wash, heightened with white chalk on paper.

This Langley pencil drawing with watercolor wash heightened with white chalk reflects the artists fascination for one of Velázquez's earliest known works of about 1618 and its relationship to the 1531 Image of The Virgin of Guadalupe, on account of which nine million Mexicans were baptized by 1550 and which even today continues to be venerated as a miraculous icon in its original setting.

A curious aspect of this drawing is the resemblance of Virgin to the wife of the artist and of the angel upholding her garments to the artist himself.

The Velazquez painting of "The Immaculate Conception" which hung together with its companion painting, "Saint John on the Island of Patmos" was first recorded as housed in a Carmelite convent in Seville.  The Carmelites were particularly devoted the Virgin Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception and to its doctrine.

These wonderful images are part of a broader pictorial tradition bearing an interesting correspondence to the book of Revelation. A well developed exploration of this theme can be found in "Visions from Patmos-Tenochtitlan: The Eagle Woman", by Jaime Cuadriello in a Beautifully illustrated book on Our Lady of Guadalupe entitled Artes de Mexico.

Visions of Guadalupe : http://www.inside-mexico.com/books/ourladyofguadalupe.htm

Painting the New Classical 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..."

Stations of the Cross

Fourteen paintings

Download Via Dolorosa Ptgs

By James Langley

Painter and Professor at Savannah College of Art and Design

On View in the Nave of St James Catholic Church

8412 Whitfield Ave

Savannah, GA 31406

January 29 – February 2, 2009

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

 

Mr. Langley is a Savannah area artist who designed the windows and mosaics for the Lumen Christi Adoration Chapel at St James Church, Savannah.

True religious art has the power to stir the deepest longings of the human heart for God.   Sacred art is not merely the expression of the artist alone but is the expression of the entire church, patron and artist together.  Artistic beauty therefore is a sign of God's presence on Earth and represents the first fruits of our return to God freely given as an offering of praise and thanksgiving, worship, and adoration.

James Langley: from an interview for Catholic World Report.

Cedric Stratton Ph. D., Professor Emeritus of Physical Chemistry, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, Georgia. Oil on canvas: Langley 2008 

Dr Stratton is a humanist and brilliant polymath accomplished in chemistry, physics, geometry, math and philosophy.  He is also an active runner, thinker, writer, inventor, teacher, chorister, actor, wordsmith, raconteur and occasionally an artists model.

The oil portrait painted directly from life and the charcoal drawing that preceded it were developed daily in the context of an ongoing conversation over several weeks.  The sequential image making process allows a familiarity, immediacy and depth that could be easily lost in a portrait made from photographs.

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

Following a similar pictorial strategy, students in Professor Langley’s "Classical Rendering Studio" at Savannah College of Art and Design produced strong drawings (to be pictured below) of Dr Stratton who with unflappable good humor donated his visage to prolonged study. 

According to the artist; “My students and I discovered that it is as much a pleasure to be with Cedric, listening and conversing as it is to draw him. I relished this unusual opportunity to make the portrait of a remarkable multi faceted personality and I hope these artworks convey some of my fascination for his unique character and deep humanity”.

Studio Inventory

Artist documents collected works. Follow this link to find pricing and availability on signature drawing and painting: http://www.langleyart.com/inventory/

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 interview:

Download jameslangleybooklet_update31.pdf

Langley Art News January 2007 / the year in review: Download langley_art_news_1_6_07.pdf

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: 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.

Artist James Langley has spent a decade painting landscapes where Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School made his beginning: in the sleepy mill town of Steubenville along the banks of the Ohio River.