It is easy to feel overburdened by history visiting Westminster Abbey. It was founded in 940, the Lady Chapel was built in the early 16th century by Henry VII and is where he is buried but it is not a fossilised place of worship; it constantly evolves.
An example is the East windows in the Lady Chapel. These were destroyed in WW II and modern replacements were installed in 2000 and 2013. It is the latter that we are concerned with. They were designed by Hughie O’Donoghue, his first stained glass commission. He is following in the steps of Evie Hone who likewise evolved from a Cubist painter into a stained glass artist. Although H O’D was born in Manchester his mother was from Mayo and he spent many holidays there. His abstract style seems to have been influenced by the rugged terrain of Co Mayo.
When I last visited the Abbey (see Lord Dundonald) I was so overwhelmed by the architecture and memorials that I overlooked his windows. I will be more observant next time. However, there is an opportunity to see his pictures at Leighton House, near Holland Park. The background to this small exhibition is that H O’D was Artist in Residence at Eton in 2013-14. While there he looked at archive material about the Battle of the Somme and these memorial paintings, Seven Halts on the Somme, are the result. I will let H O’D explain the project.
“Seven Halts on the Somme represents seven places where the army was stopped in 1916, seven places were lives were stopped and also seven places where I have stopped years later and tried to remember. As time distances us from events this ‘calling to mind’ becomes harder and the battle itself massive, labyrinthine and complex, more remote and difficult to understand. I have tried to get closer to the story through the lives of individuals and the places where they fell, putting a human face on history and finding a personal connection. I believe that the universal can only really be understood through the particular. These paintings are a meditation in concrete form on past events, built up in successive layers, mirroring the way that an archaeologist removes layers to reveal a story.”
The pictures are accompanied by material written by and about four Etonians who lost their lives at the Somme. They have been picked out of 148 who died at the Somme, and 1,157 who died in the Great War. I found it hard to relate his abstract canvases to the battle, although they are striking pictures nevertheless. Incidentally, each picture is a square measuring five feet and one inch. This refers to the minimum height to qualify for service. Here are three of them.
