Robert F. McGovern | photo © Mary Heron
By Monsignor Francis A. Carbine
On April 13, 2011, Robert F. McGovern entered eternal life. Alleluia! On this date, Bob encountered the “great cloud of witnesses”—servants of God “approved because of their faith.” [Hebrews 12:1]
In an interview a few years ago, Bob stated : “Every place you go, you are visited by a great cloud of witnesses. I’m never alone. I stand amidst a communion, a gathering. It’s a nice family.”
An aspect of family is tradition. The Catholic faith tradition – enriched by Irish sensibilities—is the matrix within which Bob had his roots and from which he launched his explorations.
As a young artist in the 1950’s, he accepted the insight of Pope Pius XII that the purpose of art is to make a window into the infinite.
As a young boy in the 1940’s, he drew a giant ear in chalk on Hansen Street in West Philadelphia. Next came a Christmas crèche make from wood of orange crates and grape boxes. Later, there would be pine, cherry, oak, mahogany, walnut, and basswood.
With the aid of a cutting knife, out of these materials emerged fine prints, relief carvings, processional crosses, statues in full or partial round, tabernacle doors and altar screens.
Over the years, his studio was populated with saints such as Patrick, Brendan, Bridget, John Neumann, Katherine Drexel, Martin de Porres, and so many more. Then, too, there were the critters from Genesis—including a porcupine!
From his studio in Narberth, emerged many images of Jesus, suffering and in glory, and Mary—to whom Bob had an unflagging loyalty. An early, important commission was a statue of St. Joseph.
Later came the Irish Harpist Carolan, David the Psalmist, and American trumpeter and composer, Miles Davis—all fashioned from basswood.
Intellectually and aesthetically, Bob inhabited a galaxy of the greats. He was more than conversant with writers of depth such as Maritain and Gilson—philosophers; Georges Bernanos and Flannery O’Conner—masters of wisdom, creatively stated.
He internalized the insights of Gerard M. Hopkins, Seamus Heaney, and Czeslaw Milosz—poets; Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton—spiritual figures who bestrode the 20th century.
His felt knowledge of the Liturgy of the Church and lives of Saints enabled him and his wife, Aileen, to host annual seminars for college students from St. Charles Seminary for 20 years.
His family, of course, was always cherished in what Bob termed “the cadence of my heart.”
His scholarship embraced the cobalt-blue glass of Chartres Cathedral, molecular structure of wood, and calligraphy of the Gospel Book of Kells. He possessed an earned familiarity with achievements of Cezanne, Renoir, Matisse and Georges Rouault.
He had a profound respect for gothic master carvers such as Witt Stotz; painters of the high renaissance; and printmakers such as Rembrandt, Durer, Goya, Hogarth and Blake. Titans all!
In every venture, Bob celebrated with ardor our created world that, in the poetic language of Gerald M. Hopkins S.J., is “charged with the grandeur of God.”
In this spirit, he created some 250 wood and linoleum blocks for fine prints. He completed commissions for panel carvings, murals, etched glass designs, and fabric banners. He collaborated with architects in the design of churches.
His commissions have found homes in Arizona, Michigan, North Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia and, of course, in nearby States.
His works appear in 16 collections including Georgetown, Cornell, Villanova, La Salle universities and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
His essays and interviews have appeared in journals and newspapers. His imagery has been reproduced in books by Daniel Berrigan, S.J., and in multiple magazines. During five decades he has held 18 one-man shows – the most recent in December, 2010.
Area churches have been enriched with works such as 40 Panel Carvings, St. Charles Borromeo, Bensalem; a large, carved reredos—The Crowning of Mary—St. Joseph in the Hills, Malvern; Tabernacle doors, St. Rose of Lima, West Philadelphia; Bronze Stations, St. Cornelius, Chadds Ford. And many more.
Local, individual collectors, too many to itemize, are instanced by Father Joseph Corley, Darby; Father John McNamee, Msgr. Kevin Lawrence and Father Paul Kennedy, Philadelphia; and Msgr. Paul Dougherty, Huntingdon Valley.
Father Kennedy is perhaps the major collector of Bob’s watercolors including a suite on the life of St. Catherine of Siena, and images of St. Damian, St. Jarlath of Tuam, St. Hilary of Poitiers, and the Martyred Sisters of the Holy Family—one of Bob’s final works.
For 42 years, Bob was a teacher at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. He had graduated from here in 1956, and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1999. At the time of his death he was completing a painting of Navajo Indians for a church in New Mexico.
The Poetess Jessica Powers has the notation: “Mind what you say in art./ Here sounds the cry/ of that deep privy heart/ God judges by.”
Bob described himself—in both his personal and professional life—as “a servant of the Glad Tidings.” Bob McGovern need not have any fear about what he said in art!
With sustained, formal sadness, we lament the passing of an artist who abided by the insight of the Irish poet, Patrick Kennedy, “I’ll lead you through a world of art/ where beats a universal heart.”
Robert F. McGovern—Master Teacher, Master Artist, and complete Christian Man—may God be with you, and you with Him. Alleluia!