Florence trip

Of the 22 surveys in the “Artist of the Abbey” series published monthly since its first installment in September 2021, four have featured monk-artists, with two of them deceased and two very much still alive. This month, joining the ranks of the “very much alive” category at age 93, is Fr. Christopher Davis. Not only is he the fifth monk to be recognized, but he is the first person in the series thus far to be noted for photography. Another artistic connection featuring Fr. Chris was noted in an earlier issue of The Current (Feb. 6-12, 2022), in which we explained how he came to receive a small illuminated manuscript page from northern Italy, ca. 1500. A gift for his priestly ordination on May 31, 1958, and on the occasion of his first Mass two days later, the work had been a gift of W. Atlee Burpee, Jr. (1894-1966), son of the founder of the Burpee Seed Company in Philadelphia. We reported that Fr. Chris’ father had worked as a sales rep at a Philadelphia printing company whose biggest client was the W. Atlee Burpee Co. The printers produced their famous seed packets, those noteworthy Burpee seed catalogs, and other printed paper products.

Early yearbook image of Fr. Christopher Davis
 

Gateway Arch, St. Louis

Fr. Chris now resides at the Grand Islander Center in Middletown. He has been able to return more frequently to concelebrate at Sunday Masses in the Abbey Church, accompanied by our friend, Tanisha, who looks after his every need while in the house. After Mass, Fr. Chris enjoys brunch in the Stillman Dining Hall especially during the school term amid the excitement of the presence of the students. Recently he participated in the Oblate Advent Day of Recollection on December 17 where he dined among a more sedate and quiet crowd. While he and I managed to chat informally during his visits about his large-format color photographs hanging throughout the monastery and school, we felt that any serious discussion necessitated a tete-a-tete at the Grand Islander. Sitting down there on Saturday, December 23, we both enjoyed a calming respite before the onset the next day of the activities of Christmas and its ensuing season.

Belfry, Trapp Family Lodge (Vermont)

It was surprising to learn that the images as photographed by Fr. Chris were composed by him in the viewfinder. That is to say, his photos were not achieved by means of the cropping or “burning” or highlighting of certain areas while in the darkroom. In fact, he has no experience of developing his own film, of printing contact sheets, or of actually printing large format photos. I got the sense throughout the conversation that he views those mechanical means of manipulating the images as a mere technical part of the process. The photographer, he feels, should know in advance by looking and composing, then shooting and capturing, exactly what he wants manifested in the final product. Not simply vacation snapshots to slip into a photo album, his finished prints measure 16” x 24”, in landscape and portrait format, set off in simple blonde wood 22” x 30” frames.

In the piazza, Florence

In attempting to identify the nexus of his work, he mulled over a few random questions, finally hit upon the answer and exclaimed, “The Holy Spirit was with me!” Turns out that he had gone to “a used camera shop in New York City run by a Jewish guy.” While Fr. Chris had felt that one lens he favored “was too expensive” and out of his price range, the shop owner insisted that, “If you’re gonna buy a lens, you oughta buy the best! You won’t regret it.” And Fr. Chris said, “And I didn’t!” He bought the Leica, a brand of which he had never heard. Later that day, I wondered if it was the same NYC camera shop that I had wandered into during a Christmas visit in 1985. For $125.00 cash I bought a working vintage Graflex Speed-Graphic press camera I had seen in the window, for a stage production of Golden Boy directed by Tony Kushner. It featured a young college student named Rocky Carroll.