During the Season of Lent, I will be featuring crosses and crucifixes in different media by various international artists, which have just been added to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. My first offerings are two mahogany crosses by Balinese Wood Carver Nyoman Subrata and British Stained Glass Designer Gerald Anthony Cole, now on view in the image gallery of…
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This week's featured artwork is a mixed media painting on wood by Fernando Bimonte, now displayed in the image gallery of his profile page in the Sacred Artists section. The resident saintmaker at New Mexico's pilgrim shrine in Chimayo has gone off in a striking new direction in this abstract study of three thinly-painted crosses, set against a swirling…
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My latest addition to the Sacred Art Pilgrim on-line collection is the color wood engraving, Apostles, by American Graphic Artist Bernard Brussel-Smith, now on view in the image gallery of his profile page in the Sacred Artists Section. The master wood engraver used to spend summers with his family in the village of Collonges-la-Rouge in the Limousin region of…
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There is a new oil on panel painting by American Artist Edward Knippers on view in the image gallery of his profile page in the Sacred Artists section. In Christ and the Demoniac, Knippers depicts Jesus, reaching out to heal the man, possessed with a legion of demons, who lived among tombs, a miracle recorded in Mark 5: 1-20.…
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Now that the state primaries have begun and we prepare for months of campaigning for this year's presidential election, I've added a newly acquired piece with a "political" theme by Outsider Artist Myrtice West to the image gallery of her profile page in the Sacred Artists section. This acrylic on canvas painting, titled Pray for the Peace of Israel… more >>
This week's new art offering ranks as the heavyweight of the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection! In Praying and Preaching Door, Mississippi-born Artist Carl Dixon has turned the five panels on an old wood door into a series of images of great people of faith from the Old and New Testaments, much in the style of a medieval altarpiece. In…
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Looking at the work of this week's featured artist, John Mosiman, takes me back to my childhood years in a conservative Baptist church. The Illinois-born artist comes out of the sacred art tradition of the chalk art ministry, when intinerant artist-preachers use their easels as pulpits to illustrate gospel messages with rapidly drawn chalk pictures. Mosiman put his talent…
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The twelve days of Christ end with the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th, celebrating the visit of the Magi. My first art offerings for 2012 are a selection of five small format prints by East European Ex Libris Artists, recently added to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, recounting the Christmas Story from the Annunciation to the Flight…
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The Christmas Story is a favorite theme among the mola-makers of Panama's San Blas Archipelago. I have just added a new manger scene to the image gallery of the Molas of the Kuna People page in the Schools of Sacred Art section different in style from the other reverse applique stitched panels in my collection. Blue and black are…
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French Graphic Artist Hermine David holds the honor of having the most images of the Christmas story in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection with two glazed enamel paintings, one watercolor, and eight prints. You can now view two new Christmas-themed art pieces by David in the image gallery of her artist profile page. There is a drypoint of a…
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Three new parchment paintings with Christmas themes by unknown Ethiopian artists have just been added to the image gallery of the Ethiopian Icons page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. The Annunciation is the subject of one parchment sheet by a different hand than the other paintings in my collection. In this borderless piece, the Angel Gabriel appears…
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My next new Advent image from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is a reverse glass painting of the Madonna and Child by a Romanian artist, identified only by the last name of Nicula, now on view in the Romanian Glass Icons page of the Schools of Sacred Art section. This traditional folk art technique of reverse glass painting requires…
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This week's Advent-themed art offerings are two prints by French Master Engraver Albert Decaris just added to the gallery of his sacred art profile page. One work is a wood engraving for a Christmas card of a traditional Nativity scene with Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child in the manger, an unusual print from a graphic artist who preferred…
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St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 45 W. Winter Street in Delaware, Ohio, is marking the first anniversary of its Art in the Sanctuary program with a special exhibition for the Season of Advent: Magnificat:“My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord.” The show features artworks of the Virgin Mary in a variety of styles from around the world. Among the international…
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During the season of Advent I will be uploading new images to my sacred artist listings, celebrating the birth of Christ. It's been a long time since I've had a work by Cypriot Artist Charalambos Epaminonda to add to my collection, so, I'm delighted to begin this cycle of Christmas artwork with an acrylic on canvas painting of the…
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The last artist in my trio of American illustrators is Austrian-born Printmaker Helen Siegl, who began her artistic career in her home city of Vienna during the turbulent years of World War II. Many European art-makers of her generation were embittered by their wartime experiences, but Siegl's religious beliefs helped her transcend the horrors of the past and create…
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My second featured artist this week is Kentucky-born Dean Cornwell, dubbed "The Dean of Illustration." Cornwell was a key figure in the Golden Age of American Illustration, when his art appeared in everything from scotch advertisements and War Bond promotions to serialized magazine stories and fiction bestsellers. He traveled to the Holy Land to prepare two splendid suites of sacred…
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In the weeks before Advent, I want to focus on three noted American book illustrators, whose works have recently added to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. German-born Artist Arthur Ernst Becher is the oldest of the trio with a career spanning two centuries. A student of innovative American Illustrator Howard Pyle, Becher excelled in providing images for popular pulp…
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My last new offerings of angel art are two delightful woodcuts by Brazilian Printmaker Jose Francisco Borges, now on view in the gallery of the Brazilian cordel woodcuts page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. Angels have an important role to play in the cosmology of Brazil's rugged Northeastern "backcountry," where battles between the forces of good and…
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Two new angel prints have been added to the East European Ex Libris page of the Schools of Sacred Art Section. They remind us that God's heavenly messengers to planet earth are not just guardians who watch over us. They also have a mission at the End of Time to execute divine judgment on wayward humanity, an event described with harrowing, apocalyptic…
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Contemporary American Icon-maker Jodi Simmons has created this week's angelic art offering, a luminous image in blue, purple, orange, ochre, and gold of the Angel of Silence, now on view in the gallery of her Sacred Artist profile page. This heavenly being stands before the Presence of God, both guarding and inviting us into the mystical realm of contemplative…
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Traditional imagery of the Crucifixion often depicts grieving angels, hovering in the skies above the dying Christ. New Mexican Saintmaker Marie Romero Cash offers a strikingly different, decorative variation on this time-honored artistic convention in her Cross of Adoration, a new addition to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection now on view in the gallery of her Sacred Artist profile…
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The Frith Street Gallery at 17-18 Golden Square in London's West End is holding an exhibition of paintings and drawings by South African-born Artist Marlene Dumas, inspired by Christ's words from the Cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46, KJV). Five of the 18 pieces in the Marlene Dumas: Forsaken show depict the Crucified…
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A color lithograph of two angels has been added this week to the Benton Spruance gallery in the Sacred Artists section. From the 1940s onward Master Printmaker Spruance went against prevailing secular trends in modern art and introduced more spiritual themes into his work. Spruance was especially drawn to angels, using these celestial beings to make wise and witty…
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I have a few more pieces of angel art to bring on-line in October. French Printmaker Albert Decaris created this week's offering, now on view in the gallery of his profile page in the Sacred Artists section. Traditional images of the heavenly host often present them as beautiful, androgynous creatures. There is no question about the gender of this…
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It's always a pleasure to find a new Lovis Corinth print to add to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. This beautifully-rendered drypoint, depicting the Archangel Michael, battling against the forces of darkness, can now be seen in the gallery of the Corinth profile page in the Sacred Artists section. The Early Modernist German Artist departs from conventional imagery of…
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This week's angel art comes from the Kuna people of Panama's San Blas Archipelago, who are renowned for their reverse applique stitching on cloth panels called molas. One delightful mola shows a "senior" and "junior" angel, hovering watchfully above two flickering Christmas candles--or, perhaps, they are just warming their hands by the flames? The second cloth panel, decorated in…
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The Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Art fully deserves to be called a "once-in-a-lifetime" art event, bringing together for the first time in a museum show seven of eight known oil studies of Christ, which Rembrandt painted in the mid 17th century. The question of what…
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Angels frequently appear in the work of modern Ethiopian iconographers. Three new paintings with angelic subjects by unknown Ethiopian artists, two on parchment and one on leather, have just been added to the gallery of the Ethiopian Icons page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. Two of the paintings come from recognizable hands. There is a large parchment…
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Southern Outsider Artist Rudolph Valentino Bostic devotes many of his artworks to angels, both as central subjects and as vignettes on the add-on frames of his recycled cardboard paintings. I have just added two new angel acquisitions to the gallery of Bostic's Sacred Artist profile. In The Creation, you can see God, surrounded by the hosts of heaven, copied…
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St. Michael and All Angels are honored by the Church on the Feast of Michaelmas on September 29, so, all the new listings I will be posting this month are devoted to angels. The first new angelic additions to the Sacred Art Pilgrim collection to come on-line are two, richly toned drypoints by French Printmaker Hermine David, which can…
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The great narratives of the Hebrew Scriptures are a favorite subject for the story-telling stitchers of Panama's Kuna people. This week, I'm uploading five new images of mola blouse panels on Old Testament themes to the gallery of the Molas of the Kuna People page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. There are hand-sewn scenes of Adam and…
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This week's four new art offerings tell the story of David the shepherd boy, who killed the Giant Goliath with a slingshot, recorded in 1 Samuel 17:1-51. Three new book plates of David the Giant-Killer have just been uploaded to the Eastern European Ex Libris page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. You can also find a new…
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This week's Old Testament artworks depict the story of Noah and the Ark in Genesis 6-8. You can view one new acrylic on panel painting on this theme by American Outsider Artist Myrtice West in her Sacred Artist profile page and five book plates by East European printmakers in the East European Ex Libris page in the Schools of…
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St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 45 West Winter Street in Delaware, Ohio, is holding the art exhibition, Cardboard Creations by Rudolph Valentino Bostic. This is the third show in church's Art in the Sanctuary program and the first time works will be on display by a single artist. This self-taught, “visionary” art-maker from Savannah, Georgia, is known for his…
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During the month of August, I will be presenting new works in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, devoted to stories from the Hebrew Scriptures. What better place to begin than in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. A cardboard panel painting by Rudolph Valentino Bostic, showing Adam and Eve in Paradise before the Fall, has just been…
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To close out this month devoted to French sacred art, I've just added a profile of L'Abbe Maurice Morel to the Sacred Artists section. Father Morel is the first artist-priest to be represented in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. Less well known than his contemporary, Father Marie-Alain Couturier, who enlisted well known modernist artists like Le Corbusier and Henri…
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This week's new entry from France is an image of the Madonna and Child (with angels) by French Artist Maurice Denis, just uploaded onto his profile page in the Sacred Artists section. The lithograph, titled On the Terrace, shows a woman with babe in arms being serenaded by three cherubic children, holding a large book. Set on the terrace…
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On Bastille Day, I'm continuing my theme of all things French and have just posted a profile of Dora Maar in the Sacred Artists section. Maar is best known as the model, mistress, and muse of Super Star Pablo Picasso. Her cubist-deformed features appear on two of the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction, and she has been…
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In tandem with a listing on French Master Engraver Albert Decaris, I've just created a new profile for the Sacred Artists section on French Artist Paul-Emile Colin, who excelled in the detailed art of wood engraving. A medical doctor who dabbled in art, Colin is often described in art history books as a disciple of Post-Impressionist Painter Paul Gauguin,…
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Continuing this month's theme of French art and artists, I've just uploaded a new profile of Printmaker Albert Decaris in the Sacred Artists section. Decaris is widely regarded as France's Master Engraver of the 20th century, highly skilled in the art of cutting lines directly into metal plates with engraving tools to create everything from over 600 miniature designs…
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During the month of July, I will be presenting new artworks and artists in my collection from France, beginning with nine full-page wood engravings by Master Printmaker Georges Rouault from Passion, published in 1939 by Art Impresario Ambroise Vollard. The prints come from a suite of 82 wood engravings, designed by Rouault to accompany 24 reflections on Christ's Passion…
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To close out a month devoted to African-American art, I've just posted a new carved wood panel painting by Carl Dixon on his Sacred Artist profile page. The subject of this latest Dixon piece is the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13:3-23. He has compressed all the strands of the story into a single image. As the noon…
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In this month devoted to African American art, I've added a new lithograph to the image gallery of Printmaker Ruth Starr Rose's profile page in the Sacred Artists section. A longtime resident of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Rose was not, herself, a black artist, but she sought to promote better racial understanding through a series of lithographs in…
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A new cardboard panel painting by Self-Taught Artist Rudolph Valentino Bostic of Savannah, Georgia, is now on view in the image gallery of his profile page in the Sacred Artists section. The rectangular mixed media piece shows Jesus, walking on the Sea of Galilee toward a boat, where his disciples are engulfed by breaking waves, an event recorded in Matthew 14:22-33.… more >>
Continuing this month's theme of African-American art, I've just uploaded images of three new paintings in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection by Alabama Artist Chris Clark on to his profile page in the Sacred Artists section. They depict nostalgic scenes of church life in the American South. Frieze-like lines of worshippers head off to church in their Sunday best…
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This month, I will be spotlighting new additions to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection from African-American artists. "Masterpiece" is an over-used word in the art world these days, but, occasionally, a picture comes along, which you know will count among an artist's best works. Carl Dixon's painted, carved wood panel, The Life of Christ, is one such a piece. In 23 vignettes, this Mississippi-based,…
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The two Marian images I have on display this week are the works of Russian Graphic Artist Konstantin Kalynovych and Czech Print-maker Jindrich Pilecek and can be found in the East European Ex Libris gallery in the Schools of Sacred Art Section. Both depict the Madonna and Child enveloped by clouds. In Kalynovych's surrealistic book plate, the babe in swaddling clothes…
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Two new images of the Virgin Mary have been uploaded onto the Rudolph Valentino Bostic profile page in the Sacred Artists section. There is an Annunciation scene of the Angel Gabriel with flower in hand, visiting the Virgin Mary in a garden, recalling traditional images of the event by Bostic's favorite Italian Great Masters. A second painting, titled Mother of Peace, shows the Virgin Mary in half-profile, holding a dove and…
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The most revered image of the Virgin Mary in Cuba is The Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, a miraculous figurine of the Madonna and Child, rescued from the sea by two brothers and a young slave in the early 1600s, now displayed in a basilica in the old mining town of El Cobre. New Mexican Saint-maker Fernando Bimonte depicts the appearance of…
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During the month of May, traditionally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, I will be adding new pieces with Marian themes to the on-line collection galleries, beginning with these three prints by French Artist Hermine David, a print-maker particularly devoted to Madonna imagery. One drypoint shows Mary, holding the Christ Child on her lap in a forest setting, while an…
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French Artist Maurice Denis is one of the Great Masters of contemporary sacred art, who celebrated his Christian faith in an outpouring of religious imagery only matched in the modern era by his contemporary and compatriot, Georges Rouault. You can now find a Denis profile page in the Sacred Artist sections, presenting the many varied works by this prolific…
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The post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus have always been a challenge for artists, especially the story, recorded in Luke 24, where the Resurrected Christ joins two of his followers on the Road to Emmaus. As they journey together on foot, he engages them in a lengthy conversation about his death on the Cross, then, sits down with them for supper,…
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As my final posting for the Lenten Season, I've added seven small format prints with Holy Week themes to the East European Ex Libris page of the Schools of Sacred Art Section. Slovak Artist Leo Bednarik depicts the Last Supper in a somber etching with golden highlights, recalling a Byzantine mosaic. Ukrainian Sergey Kirnitskiy captures the drama of Judas'…
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Scotland-based Artist Peter Howson is one of the best modern interpreters of the Passion of Christ, creating images of redemptive suffering, which can speak to a culture obsessed with violence and murder. I recently acquired three mixed-media drawings by Howson for the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, depicting the suffering of Christ, and have just posted images on his profile…
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Cardboard is one of my favorite art materials, so I've long been an admirer of Outsider Artist Rudolph Valentino Bostic and his marvelous painted cardboard panels of the great biblical narratives. During a recent art-hunting trip to the U.S. South, I had a chance to meet Bostic in his home in Savannah, Georgia, and have a look at his…
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A new lithograph of Christ on the Cross has just been added to the image gallery on the Paul Aizpiri profile page in the Sacred Artists section. This enigmatic print, which came to me untitled, shows two figures beneath a Medieval-styled Crucifix. The man on the right, holds a wine goblet in his hand and is just about to…
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The Museum of Biblical Art (MoBiA)on Manhattan's Upper West Side is holding the exhibition, Passion in Venice, showcasing images of Christ as the Man of Sorrows in Venetian art, including works by Crivelli, Tintoretto, and Veronese. Devotional portraits of the Suffering Christ had their origins in the iconography of Byzantium and made their way in the Middle Ages to…
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With Easter just a few weeks away, I've uploaded four new images of the Passion by Czech Graphic Artist Alena Antonova in the East European Ex Libris gallery in the Schools of Sacred Art Section. These small-format, drypoint prints depict scenes from Holy Week, rendered in a curvilinear, Cubist-Baroque style and tinted in different colors. The Last Supper is…
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The pieces in my collection by New Mexican Artist Michael Vargas are strongly influenced by the penitential traditions of the Hispanos of the American Southwest, associated with lay communities, known as moradas, which re-enact scenes from the Passion of Christ in the days before Easter. I've just posted three new prints of this type on the Vargas profile page…
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In keeping with our Lenten theme, I've just uploaded three new images of the Passion of Christ by Czech Graphic Artist Milan Entler in the East European Ex Libris page of the Schools of Sacred Art section. In these small format, abstract-figurative lithographs, Entler presents expressive, stylized scenes of the the Crucifixion (with clothed figures!); the classic image of Mary,…
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News of contemporary sacred art in the former Communist Bloc always interests me, especially when it comes out of Albania, once the most atheistic state of them all. From March 9-15, the National Historical Museum in the capital of Tirana held an exhibition on the biblical theme, Daughters of Eve, featuring oil paintings by Albanian Artist Jorgaq Gogu, depicting…
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Prints and paintings by French Artist Hermine David make up one of the largest single groupings of artworks in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. You can now view five images of newly purchased drypoint prints by this prolific sacred artist on the David profile page in the Sacred Artists section. Three of these new images depict events from the…
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I was first drawn to the work of British Sculptor and Graphic Artist Eric Gill, when I discovered his Stations of the Cross bas-reliefs in London's Westminster Cathedral, so, I'm delighted to add seven graphic reproductions of these beautiful limestone panels to the image gallery of Gill's biographical page in the Sacred Artists section. They are part of a…
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St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 45 W. Winter Street, Delaware, Ohio, is holding an exhibition of sacred art for the Lenten season as part of its Art in the Sanctuary program. The show, called The Stations of the Cross, presents works of art about the Passion of Christ, following the traditional devotional practice of remembering fourteen events of Good…
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During the season of Lent, I will be up-loading new works in the Sacred Art Pilgrim collection about the Passion of Christ to my on-lline galleries. The first two images in this special series are acrylic paintings on canvas board by Visionary Artist Myrtice West. A diptych image of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane shows Jesus in the…
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A biographical sketch of American Graphic Artist Bernard Brussel-Smith has just been uploaded in the Sacred Artists section. A student of Wood-Engraver Fritz Eichenberg, Brussel-Smith showed how versatile this demanding art form could be in a variety of book illustrations, advertisements, and fine art pieces. He was drawn to imagery of the Passion of Christ, and nine wood block…
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Four new scenes from the Life of Christ, painted on parchment, have just been added to the Ethiopian Icons gallery in the Schools of Art section. I don't know the name of the artist who created these beautiful pieces, but they are clearly by a different hand than the other sacred images in my Ethiopian art collection. This folk…
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