Francis Hoyland - Holy Communion Predella

1 Corinthians 11:23–26

Hoyland’s central image shows a priest celebrating Communion in a Gloucester church. The image on the far left shows the birth of Hoyland’s youngest son at his home, with the midwife and the father standing in front of a cot; the second image from the left shows the baptism of his eldest son in the same Gloucester church; the second scene from the right shows the Hoyland family eating an al fresco tea ; while the right-hand scene takes the personal odyssey from birth to death with the artist’s father, John Hoyland, a well-known Quaker leader and writer, on his death bed at home, attended by his son, and other family members and a nurse.

Commentary based on A Guide to the Methodist Art Collection.

Born: Selly Oak, Birmingham, 1930

Education

Francis Hoyland studied at Camberwell School of Art, London (1947-50) and the Slade School of Art, London (1950-51). In 1951 he won an Abbey Minor Scholarship which allowed him to travel to Italy.

Life and career

Hoyland was a conscientious objector to military service in the years 1952-54. He married the artist Philippa Hoyland. Their son John Hoyland (born in 1957) is also a painter.

Hoyland is a painter, printmaker, teacher and writer. He taught at the West of England College of Art in Bristol, Chelsea School of Art, Camberwell School of art, and Cardinal Wiseman Catholic Comprehensive School. He has also taught for the Prince’s Foundation.

Hoyland does not paint exclusively religious subjects, and he has produced a series of paintings of his garden. However, in these works he draws on the meaning and imagery of the garden in Scripture such as the gardens of Eden and Gethsemane, and the enclosed garden which represented the virginity and spirituality of the Virgin Mary. The works in the Methodist Modern Art Collection combine a biblical scene or story with a contemporary narrative and even draw on scenes from his own family life. For Hoyland, painting and religion are intimately intertwined. He said, ”I continue to paint as an act of worship and faith.” He sees painting as a form of meditation or prayer and “by practicing it I gather some of the creative energy that I feel to be present in my subject matter, and offer it consciously to God …”

Hoyland also wrote books – Painting (1966), Painter's Diary and Alive to Paint (both published in 1967). The latter is autobiographical, recalling his childhood, his inspirational art teacher, Maurice Field, the impact of war, the challenges of teaching, his family, and his faith.

Hoyland’s group exhibitions include: The Forgotten Fifties which toured from the Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield in 1984; and Camberwell Artists of the 40s and 50s in the Belgrave Gallery (1988). His solo exhibitions include: Galerie de Seine (1956); Beaux Arts Gallery (1960 and 1961); a retrospective in the South London Art Gallery (1969); Sweet Waters Gallery (1990); Chappel Galleries, Chappel, Essex, (2002); and North Light Gallery, Huddersfield (2004).

Exhibitions of his religious work included his Diptychs of the Life of Christ, displayed in Southwark and Chichester Cathedrals in 1972.

His work is held in many collections including: the Arts Council, London; the British Museum, London; the Contemporary Arts Society, London; the Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; and Manchester City Gallery.

David Buckman, Artists in Britain Since 1945: Volume 1 A to L. Vol 1 of 2 volumes, (Bristol, Art Dictionaries Ltd, 2006), P.778. The text is also available on the Art UK website: artuk.org/discover/artists/hoyland-francis-b-1930

Seeing the Spiritual: A Guide to the Methodist Modern Art Collection, (Oxford: Methodist Modern Art Collection, 2018), p. 64-67.

Roger Wollen, Catalogue of the Methodist Church Collection of Modern Christian Art with an Account of the Collection’s History, (Oxford: The Trustees of the Methodist Collection of Modern Christian Art, 2003), P. 86-91.

Francis Hoyland, Painting, (London: Joseph, 1966).

Francis Hoyland, A Painter’s Diary. (Reading: Educational Explorers, 1967).

Francis Hoyland, Alive to Paint, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967). Also see onghousestudios.org/post/alive-to-paint-teaching-art