Letter to Artists

A short letter dated 4 April 1999, Easter Sunday, addressed 'to all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new "epiphanies" of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world'. It begins from Genesis, 'God saw all that he had made, and it was very good', and presents the artist as an image of God the Creator, distinguishing creating from making. It then speaks of the artist's special vocation in the service of beauty, of art and the moral good, and of the long alliance between the Gospel and art: from the early Church through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. It acknowledges that modern culture has sometimes seen a separation of the world of art and the world of faith, and renews the 'fruitful dialogue between the Church and artists'. It quotes the saying that 'beauty will save the world' and ends with an appeal to artists to see in their work a reflection of the mystery. The author was himself a poet and playwright.