Cathedral MMX Catalogue

C AT H E D R A L M M X

G E R A R D

S T A M P

C AT H E D R A L M M X An exhibition of paintings a nd charco a l d rawings by GERARD STAMP to celebrate the opening of Norwich Cathedral Hostry

Facing page: Gerard (far left) and friends pose on the Hostry arch during their last year at Norwich School, 1972 Following pages: ‘St Ethelberts Gate’ Etching 1817 by John Sell Cotman (left) A V Humphris, seated under window, presides over an art class in Ethelbert Gate, 1972 (right)

GERARD STAMP IS AN ARTIST WITH A

activities. I went everywhere: round the tower and up

singular vision of how fine old buildings inhabit light and

the spire (I'm not ashamed to confess that my initials can

landscape - a view based on a great deal of looking and

be found on the inside wall by the top window), up and

working and walking.

down all the Norman spiral stairs, on the roof under the

Gerard attended Norwich School from 1964 to 1972,

flying buttresses, over the nave between the vaulting and

with six years as a boarder. "My first tearful night away

the roof, round the triforium and the clerestory. All is

from home was in a dormitory with a view of the

now heavily padlocked but back then a friendly steward

cathedral framed by a Georgian sash window," he

let me into the one door that opened up a world of

remembers. "It became a constant

mediaeval adventure."

influence on my school life."

That door features in Steps to the

The senior boarding house was

Triforium, a picture in this present

the Old Bishop's Palace, "an

exhibition.

enormous, rambling, draughty,

Art was restored to the Norwich

spooky, romantic and scary

School curriculum as late as 1943,

warren of a place, the shell of

and was subsequently taught with

which is older than the cathedral

a passion by A.V. Humphris in the

itself. In winter it barely saw the

old chapel above Ethelbert Gate

sun, buried as it was under the

into the Close. Mr Humphris

shadow of the cathedral.

imparted "everything from the

"The cathedral was substantially shrouded in scaffolding

history of art and architecture, calligraphy, print-

during the 1960s," Gerard Stamp continues. "A lot of

making, stage design and graphics, to composition,

structural work was being done to the spire, and the

perspective, colour theory, and tonal values ".

north side underwent an extensive programme of

At first the art room lacked plumbing so the tutor raided

cleaning and repairs.

the Tombland horse trough, breaking the ice in winter,

"Scaffolding to an adventurous schoolboy was too much

and hauled buckets of water for powder paints up the

of a temptation, and in those days it was easy to climb

spiral stairs. Cotman had made an exquisite etching of

past the rudimentary obstacle designed to deter such

that great flint-flushworked gateway, and Gerard started

collecting the master's prints and studying his drawings

for me, she writes: ‘The whole place is so heavy with

and paintings in Norwich Castle.

history that in certain moods it gives you the feeling that

Hating team sports, he was transferred to the school’s

you have but to put out a finger to touch the past.’ "

History Society, for which he chose to record in words

We weren't just touching the past in those days, we

and drawings every Norwich church font. That led to a

were toppling it. Gerard joined other Norwich residents

thesis on the then-forgotten

to try and stop the destruction of

Victorian architect

Thomas

mediaeval Magdalen Street by the

Jeckyll, via cycle tours across

Inner Link Road, and failed. They

Norfolk to study and sketch

marched to save Timberhill - and

churches in particular. Winning

won. A loss would have meant

the Edith Stephenson Prize for

modern blocks stretching from

Local History for his thesis, he

the old city walls to the Castle

asked for and received a book

Mound.

entitled Ruins published by

He himself yearned to be an

Country Life, featuring sites he

architect, but was given no

would subsequently paint such as

encouragement - to his lingering

Covehithe and Castle Acre, and

regret. Instead he studied

liberally illustrated by artists

illustration and design and then

including Cotman, Piper and

enjoyed a hugely successful

Ruskin. Like them he was drawn

career in advertising.

to noble designs collapsing back

Enjoyed isn't quite the word.

to nature.

After architecture, he longed for

"This fascination with decay, romance, and echoes in

art and kept vowing to become a full-time painter - the

the wind, are all tangled up with my love of Norfolk,"

dream eventually clinched as late as 2001. In London

he says. "There is a wonderful chapter in Lilias Rider

from the 1980s he studied the techniques of the great

Haggard's Norfolk Notebook in which, referring to the

watercolourists, loving watercolour for its closeness to

area around Binham but summing up the entire county

drawing and also to poetry. Loving Cotman most of all,

for the "melancholy and stillness" of his best pictures,

happy marriage of ancient and modern. Here we see

he spent many hours in the Victoria & Albert Museum

weathered exteriors and secret interiors like corners of

and British Museum, copying his images and then

a stone forest, with the twisted trunks of great columns

tracing his footsteps further afield.

and the branches and leaves of tracery.

When finally he returned to Norfolk to paint, he moved

The inspirational structure arose through ingenuity and

with his wife and family to the converted kitchens

industry and yet appears so natural - just like the

of Gunton Hall, near Cromer. Such was his devotion to

paintings. As Simon Jenkins has written: "Gerard Stamp

Cotman that ensuing pictures verged on pastiches of the

turns architecture into art. He converts stone and brick,

master - so dozens ended up in

light and shadow, the tilt of a

the kitchen fireplace.

roof and the line of a wall into a

Those purging flames heralded

living, exhilarating picture."

a new line in watercolour. An

And, save for yellow hard hats,

image would be meticulously

the workmen held forever in the

sketched out and painted on

painted grid of the Hostry

thick, rough Arches paper, and

building site are much like their

then plunged into a sink and

mediaeval forebears who toiled

sponged. The surviving painting,

to sculpt a glorious space that

now minus most of the pencil

Gerard Stamp has adored from

marks and considerably softened,

his schooldays.

would then be dried and reworked - and then maybe

"I just love the building," he concludes. "It has its own

soaked, wiped and worked all over again.

smell, its own warmth. There are many grander, more

What emerges is the thrill of the familiar rendered in a

beautiful cathedrals, but none more welcoming, or

fresh light. And that's what makes this Gerard Stamp

more intimate. Norwich Cathedral is a close friend."

show a perfect inaugural exhibition for the Norwich Cathedral Hostry - a ÂŁ10m development by Sir Michael

I A N C O L L I N S Writer and curator specialising in East

Hopkins on the west front, complementing the Snape-

Anglian art. ‘Water Marks’, his next book on the creativity of

based architect's fabulous south-side refectory. It's that

this region, will include a chapter on Gerard Stamp.

THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE CLOISTER 2009 Watercolour 26” x 17.5” Signed print 22” x 15.5”

STEPS TO THE TRIFORIUM 2009 Watercolour 23” x 16”

STEPS TO THE PRESBYTERY 2009 Watercolour 21” x 15”

ST LUKE’S CHAPEL IN MOONLIGHT 2009 Watercolour 21” x 14.5”

THROUGH THE SOUTH TRANSEPT SCREENS 2009 Watercolour 24.5” x 16.5”

STEPS TO THE PRESBYTERY 2008 Charcoal 34” x 23”

TOWARDS THE JESUS CHAPEL 2009 Watercolour 18” x 24”

THE NAVE FROM THE NORTH AISLE 2008 Charcoal 34” x 23”

SOUTH TRANSEPT SCREEN 2009 Watercolour 23” x 16.5”

CONSTRUCTING THE HOSTRY 2009 Charcoal 36” x 42”

WORKMEN ON THE HOSTRY ROOF 2009 Watercolour 16.5” x 12”

A CORNER OF THE EAST END 2009 Watercolour 23” x 16.5”

CHAPTER HOUSE DOORS 2009 Watercolour 17” x 23”

ERPINGHAM GATE 2009 Watercolour 20” x 14”

THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SCHOOL PLAYING FIELDS 2009 Watercolour 35” x 20.5”

T H E O P E N I N G O F Norwich Cathedral Hostry

little impact as possible on the fabric of the existing

visitor and education centre marks the completion of a

buildings and archaeological remains. Materials were

ten year building project, one of the most extensive and

used similar to those found in the Cathedral, such as

ambitious developments at an English cathedral since the

oak and limestone, to maintain the aesthetic of the

rebuilding of Coventry, and the largest at Norwich for

original buildings, while bringing a spirit of modernity

900 years. The Hostry (together with its award-winning

to the structure.

sister building the new Refectory) was designed by a

The work is as environmentally sustainable as practical,

team led by Sir Michael Hopkins and will become the

with natural ventilation, insulation and underfloor

main visitor entrance to the entire Cathedral.

heating to improve energy efficiency wherever possible.

A Heritage Lottery Fund grant, together with the

The ground floor encompasses the entrance and visitor

Cathedral's own fundraising campaign, has provided the

welcome, an 'Encounter Space', to host the Cathedral's

ÂŁ10m needed to create the new building. Working

programme of temporary exhibitions, and an education

within one of the most beautiful of all English Cathedral

suite. The first floor consists of a Community Room

Closes, the aim has been to re-create the volume of the

with seating for over 200 people, Song School and Music

mediaeval Hostry that stood on this site, while making as

Library, which has the potential for use as a Concert Hall.

www.gerardstamp.com