Sacred Passion

The Art of William Schickel

Gregory Wolfe

Beauty in Catholic Life

In Sacred Passion: The Art of William Schickel, eminent biographer Gregory Wolfe chronicles the life and career of American artist William Schickel of Loveland, Ohio, one of the most distinguished, versatile, and spiritual artists at work today. In a career spanning nearly fifty years, Schickel has brought his deep personal faith and skills as an artist and designer to bear upon the needs of a variety of diverse communities. As with most effective designs, Schickel’s works do not call attention to his own personality as artist, but serve the larger needs of the community. With quiet intensity and a joyful, often playful spirit, Schickel pursues a cultural quest that is profoundly shaped by the likes of Jacques Maritain, Marc Chagall, Charles Eames, Emil Frei, Yves Simon, Miles Davis, Amanda Ambrose, and Gerard Manly Hopkins. Nonetheless, over the years he has pioneered a number of the most innovative conceptions in art and design. Now, at the height of his distinguished career, it is possible to survey and celebrate his many achievements.

Featuring 220 stunning full-color photographs highlighting Schickel’s vast body of work in painting, sculpture, stained glass, furniture design, and architectural design, anyone with interests in art, religion, liturgy, architecture, or even the role of the artist in contemporary culture, will find a great deal to admire in Sacred Passion: The Art of William Schickel.

Among the highlights of William Schickel’s distinguished career to date are:

• The Grail Oratory: One of Schickel’s earliest and most innovative designs. Just prior to Vatican II, Schickel was asked to convert an old barn into an oratory. This design called for the first altar facing the people in America, before the Council mandated the change. The conversion retained all the best features of the uniquely American contribution to architecture-the barn. The Oratory was very influential in the early days of the liturgical movement. It demonstrated that simple, economical, primitive architecture can evoke transcendence and mystery.
• The Renovation of the Trappist Monastery at Gethsemani: Schickel was asked to redesign the chapel and some other spaces at the monastery. One of the monks on the design committee was Thomas Merton, who enthusiastically endorsed Schickel’s work. He turned the chapel from an uninspired neo-Gothic structure to a spare, beautiful lit space that emphasized the Trappist vocation to the life of contemplation.
• Miami Valley Hospital Chapel: This original design called for a space that respected not only the religious pluralism of America, but also the specific needs of a place of mourning and hope. The dramatic central light source, and the adaptability of the space for either intimate or large-scale events, make this one of Schickel’s strongest designs.
• The Creation of Christian Totems: In adapting the Native American totem pole, Schickel has adapted an ancient art form to the needs of Christian communities. In doing this he has shown respect for the earlier tradition while presenting the Christian mysteries in a new and arresting fashion.
• Liturgical and Iconographic Paintings: In cycles such as his Salvation Suites, Schickel has created graphically spare, highly unified depictions of the central events of salvation history.

Gregory Wolfe is editor of Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion and is the Director of the Center for Religious Humanism. He is the author of Malcolm Muggeridge: A Biography.

Reviews

“A book like this does not appear very often. It is simply a masterpiece: the layout, the type, the photographs, the work contained. A wonderful example of a publication effort whose expense was not spared, it succeeds brilliantly in presenting the quality of good honest art, the faithful work of a faithful life.” — Archives of Modern Christian Art Newsletter

“Notre Dame and Gregory Wolfe have done themselves proud preparing this beautiful full-color book of the work of William Schickel in the Beauty of Catholic Life Series. William Schickel has done himself proud through a long life of artmaking for the church and for fortunate “secular” patrons and clients. And anyone who has the slightest interest in such art, in seeing what can be conceived and effected by a single imagination through decades in a society called secular ought to obtain, study, and enjoy this work.” — Christian Century

“Seventy-five years ago, T.S. Eliot said, ‘What is needed of art is a simplification of life into something rich and strange.’ Gregory Wolfe . . . has discovered in the relative obscurity of Loveland, Ohio, an artist of genuine spirituality who is showing the way towards such a primitive simplicity.” — First Things

“History will view William Schickel as one of the greatest and most prolific American astists of the second half of this century.” — Crisis

“Schickel is a mature and powerful artist. . . .” — Columbus Dispatch

“Schickel has mirrored something of the spirit of William Morris and company in the sheer variety and originality of his approaches to ecclesiastical and secular design projects.” — America

“Frugality and splendor, splendor and humility: To me, that sums up all of Schickel’s work as I turn the pages of this beautifully designed, gracefully written and personally inspiring book.” — St. Anthony Messenger