1931| Oil on Canvas | Mark Lancelot Symons (1886–1935) | Held in a private collection
This is one of a series of paintings that Symons painted between 1930-1935 which were considered very controversial as they depicted Biblical scenes in modern dress. This painting takes that idea even further and has Jesus milling among crowds in London, instead of towns in Galilee. Symons was a member of the Book-Barrow Brigade, which was a Roman Catholic missionary group that had been formed in the early 1910s. Symons and others pushed wheelbarrows filled with penny pamphlets from the Catholic Truth Society through central London. He also spoke at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, so crowded streets were well embedded in his brain.
Having considered joining a religious order, he met with Constance Gerber, whom he married and they adopted three daughters. Constance encouraged him to focus full-time on his painting. Symons justified his style of art: “I had no idea what the Jewish crowd of 2000 years ago was like, so I painted a crowd that might be found in London”.
This painting was rejected by the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition hanging committee, however it was copied into various newspapers at the time, so that the public could see it – and indeed a wider audience could enjoy or criticise it! It did, of course, produce controversy. The San Francisco Examiner, in September 1933, wrote, under the headline: Daring Religious Art: this painting among others was condemned by Pope Pius XI who called such things “caricatures of art”. He was perhaps objecting to the steam engine on the left!
Just as his painting Were you there when they crucified my Lord was based on a negro spiritual, My Lord I meet … was inspired by a Richard Le Gallienne poem called The Second Crucifixion.
Once he had painted a picture, Symons moved on to the next as the art itself was secondary to religion. Because of this attitude, many of his paintings have been lost and many remained unsold in his lifetime. Some of these were stored until after his wife died when his daughters inherited them. Having researched him more, I feel especially blessed to have seen his work The Last Supper at Reading Museum.
His art is a stark reminder that the apostles were simple, uneducated men, no different (until they were blessed by the Holy Spirit) than the ordinary people we pass on the street every day.
I confess that the reproduction of this painting on the Internet does not allow me to see the detail but apparently Christ is in the forefront, accompanied by Simon Peter and John. To Jesus’ left are depictions of Pharisees arguing and holding Bibles. To his right is the young man (Matthew 19) who asks advice from Jesus. A sick child is being carried from car to Jesus and a man who is possessed by a devil is being elevated.
One last comment from the San Francisco Examiner: “Some of the bystanders appear to be of a criminal type”.
My last comment: In the foreground a child is removing its shoes – because it is now on holy ground?
Elaine Kinchin
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