Stanley Warren and the Changi Murals - Nativity

The first mural to be completed was the Nativity scene.

Stanley recalled, `It isnt curiously enough...an impassioned work.  It is gentle and full of humour. I wanted it to be so.' He painted each of the three kings who presented gifts to the baby Jesus as being from different ethnic backgrounds.  The figure holding the cup is oriental, the robed and turbaned kneeling figure at the front is Middle Eastern, and the third figure is Northern European.

Had tradition allowed a fourth king, Stanley would have made him African, `so that was a concept of universality'.  The old shepherd has his lips pursed, cooing at the child, and the animals, except the red calf, are moving towards the infant Jesus in the crib.

The calf has somewhat irreverently begun to move away, but if by afterthought has turned its head to the crib.  The ox is not as might be envisaged by European, but has the hump characteristic of the Asian variety.

Joseph is seen throwing his hands in the air as if in astonishment.  `We all laughed at that, including Padres Chambers and Payne', remembered Stanley

The Madonna is portayed in quite a traditional manner, `I wanted it to be a familiar figure to the men who had seen stained glass.'

Stanley concentrated his efforts on the head of the virgin, working on expressing the greatest tenderness possible from the harsh media he was using.  `I [had] almost elimnated all line work down to the absolute barest and just working with the white patches to work up the face as gentle as a young mother would be.'

In the end he was satisfied that the refinement he achieved was the best he could do under the circumstances.

There was a disagreement between Stanley and Padre Chambers about the wording to be used on the mural.  Stanley wanted to use the text from the 1611 King James Version of the Bible:

ON EARTH, PEACE, GOODWILL TO ALL MEN

However Padre Chambers insisted on the Vulgate translation of:

PEACE ON EARTH TO MEN OF GOODWILL

Stanley thought that the latter version left the possibility of the individual deciding that some men were not of goodwill, which was at odds with his vision of peace and reconciliation.  The arguments were fierce, with the Padre being reduced to tears, but Stanley eventually gave way.

Stanley, still suffering with dysentery, worked himself into exhaustion to get the mural completed in time for the Christmas service.  He did so, but had to lie in his bed upstairs listening to the carols waft around the building, as hundreds packed the chapel and verandah outside.