Fifty years ago this month, American Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. To honor this fourth generation Baptist minister from Georgia who was inspired by his Christian faith to struggle for racial equality by non-violent means, I have two new color viscosity prints by American Graphic Artist Tyrus Clutter to present…
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On this second Sunday after Easter, I have a book plate print to show by Czech Graphic Artist Karel Musil, presenting the Resurrection of Christ in a way familiar to all Western Christians. In the earliest depictions of what happened on Easter Sunday like the Eastern-rite image of the Myrrhbearers we saw last week from Ukrainian Greek Catholic Iconographer…
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Christian is risen! He is risen, indeed! This traditional greeting can be heard this Sunday as Eastern Orthodox Christians around the globe celebrate Easter. The Gospel accounts of the Resurrection offer no real description of Christ rising from the dead. During the next two weeks, we will look at the differences in Eastern and Western imagery of the event…
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As we begin Holy Week, my Lenten series on new images from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection illustrating seven moments from the Passion of Christ comes to end with an abstract expressionist image of the Crucifixion by French Master Printmaker Alfred Manessier. This color lithograph is the fourth plate in a suite of seven prints Manessier created in 1949…
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American Graphic Artist Tyrus Clutter created this week's new image from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, recalling a moment in Christ's journey to Calvary not found in the Gospel accounts of the Crucifixion but commemorated in the Roman Catholic devotion of the Stations of the Cross. At the sixth "stop" in this traditional cycle of fourteen prayers remembering the…
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We travel this week to the San Blas Archipelago off the Caribbean Coast of Panama for our next new Lenten image from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, depicting the fifth of seven moments from the Passion story, when Christ takes up the Cross to follow the Way of Sorrow to Calvary. This image of Jesus struggling under his heavy…
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We turn this week to Frank Brangwyn, another modern British master of sacred art, for the fourth in our series of new works from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection depicting seven moments from the Passion of Christ. The multi-talented, Belgian-born, Roman Catholic artist created this hand-colored lithographic reproduction of a chalking drawing he made in 1912, combining two popular…
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British Artist Peter Howson created this week's new illustration in pastel from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection of the third of seven moments from the Passion of Christ, which we will be considering during the Lenten Season. A master of the mob scene, the Glasgow-based draughtsman gives us a timeless variation on Christ's arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane,…
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As we make our way through the Season of Lent, looking at new works from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collectin, depicting seven moments in the Passion of Christ, my art offering this week from Cypriot Iconographer Charalambos Epaminonda shows Jesus praying in Gethsemane, a theme known in Western religious art as the Agony in the Garden. Epaminonda is a…
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The Season of Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday. During this traditional 40-day period of reflection leading up to Easter, I will be presenting new images from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection by international artists depicting seven key moments from the Gospel narratives of the Passion of Christ. We begin this Sunday with a metal sculpture of the…
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I have two suitably somber-toned small format prints of the Flight into Egypt by Czech Artists in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection to display as we move from the post-Epiphany period into the season of Lent. Czech printmakers Emilie Tomanova and Jaroslav Dajc make masterful use of chiaroscuro effects to heighten the drama of the perilous escape of Joseph,…
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I have two small format prints from Czechia to display this week, unique in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. They are color lithograph greeting cards from a father and daughter depicting the Flight into Egypt. Czech Painter and Printmaker Karel Oberthor offers us a whimsical version of the Holy Family on the road. Joseph holds the flowering staff that…
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In the days leading up to the Season of Lenten, I will be presenting new images from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection depicting a Gospel narrative that comes as a postlude to the Nativity stories--the Flight into Egypt. Once a staple of sacred art, this harrowing tale of the Holy Family's escape from the Slaughter of the Innocents by…
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On this freezing first Sunday after Epiphany, we're staying on the balmy island of Puerto Rico to look at another new image of the Wise Men from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. As Matthew 2:12 (KJV) tells us, the Magi "departed into their own country another way," after being warned in a dream not to reveal the whereabouts of…
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The Christmas season draws to a close with the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrating the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child. The Three Kings play a prominant role in holiday festivities in the Hispanic world, since gifts are traditionally given on January 6th, El Dia des Reyes (The Day of the Kings). I've selected a new art…
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With Christmas only a week and a day away, I have a new Nativity-themed piece from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection to display this Sunday, illustrating the second narrative of the Birth of Christ, found in Matthew 2:12, when seekers of wisdom from outside of Palestine find their way to the Holy Family, guided by a special sign in…
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As we look at episodes from the Christmas Story in new artworks from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, we come this week to the moment in the narrative when the news of the coming of the Messiah goes "viral" and a host of angels announce Christ's birth to shepherds "abiding in the field, keeping watch over… more >>
Joseph joins Mary in adoring the new born Christ Child in a new Christmas-themed artwork from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection for the first Sunday in the Season of Advent. This tender image of the Holy Family in acrylic on canvas board is the work of Self-taught Alabama "Visionary" Artist Myrtice West, who believed she received a special calling…
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In my series on new art pieces in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection inspired by episodes in the Christmas story, we come this week to the pivotal moment in the Nativity narrative, when the Virgin Mary "brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger (Luke 2:7, KJV)."… more >>
Modern biblical scholars have cast doubts on the traditional reading of this next episode from the Christmas story, illustrated in a new work from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. Those of us who grew up hearing the King James Version of the Nativity narrative in the second chapter of Luke 2 can recite by heart the passage about the…
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As we continue our artistic countdown to Christmas, looking at new artworks from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection presenting different episodes in the story of Christ's birth, I have another image to present this week of the Annunciation. It is a tempera on gessoed wood panel painting of the Angel Gabriel's appearance to the Virgin Mary, announcing she will…
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The Birth of Christ is one of the most important motifs in religious art, depicted by countless artists down the centuries. With many new pieces from the Sacred Art Pilgrim to display on the theme of the Incarnation, I'm beginning a new series this month, presenting images of different events in the Christmas story by international artists in a…
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My series on new images of St. Francis of Assisi in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection by folk artists of the Americas comes to an end this week with a wood panel painting made in La Semilla de Dios Workshop in La Palma, El Salvador. This village in the mountainous north of the Central American nation has become identified…
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We return to the American Southwest for this week's new Franciscan-themed image from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, a shadow box by New Mexican Saint-maker Johnny Salas, showing the Saint from Assisi embracing the Crucified Christ. The Albuquerque-based artisan uses this popular folk art form from South of the Border to create highly decorated images, almost 3-D-like in appearance,…
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Franciscan missionaries first brought Christianity to the northern frontiers of Spain's New World Empire at the end of the 16th century, and St. Francis remains a popular subject today for Hispanic folk artists in the American Southwest. This week's new art offering from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, depicting the Saint from Assisi, is the work of Angelica Lopez,…
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We celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi on the fourth of October. In honor of this much-loved saint, who is especially revered for his love of Creation, I will be offering Franciscan-themed pieces this month from the Sacred Art Collection made by artisans of the Americas, working in both traditional and new folk art forms. My…
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My series on contemporary icons in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection comes to an end this week with a profile of a woman icon-maker, following the sacred art tradition of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church, a faith community formed in the early years of Christianity in Alexandria, which followed a different path from the Byzantine Church after a 5th…
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As we seek out new icon-makers represented in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, we will stay on this week in Greece to look at the work of a young iconographer you are more likely to find up a ladder with a paint bucket and brush making street art than hunched over a wooden panel in a studio. Whether working…
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In my continuing survey of new icons and iconographers represented in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, we travel this week into the heart of the Byzantine world to meet mother and daughter icon-makers on the island of Crete. In a workshop in the capital of Heraklion, Eka and Eri Fragiadaki have dedicated themselves to creating quality, hand-crafted holy images…
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The Sacred Art Pilgrim took to the road this summer in search of a new style of icon-making centered in the West Ukrainian city of Lviv and found examples in plenty at the ICONART Contemporary Sacred Art Gallery in the city's old Armenian Quarter. The new iconographers from this historic crossroads on the border of East and West belong…
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We normally think of icons as tempera paintings on wood panels specially prepared with glue and plaster. This week's new piece from the contemporary icon holdings of the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection represents another style of icon-making much favored by folk artists in parts of Central and Eastern Europe because of the cost and availability of the material on…
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As we continue looking at new icons and iconographers represented in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have a holy image to show this week, which is a good example of the way icons can help to bridge the division between Christians of Eastern and Western faith traditions. In this variation of Christ Ruler of All iconography, Massachusetts-based Artist…
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During the next few weeks, I will be showcasing new icons, iconographers, and schools of icon-making represented in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. Once viewed as the exclusive sacred art form of Eastern Orthodox Christians, icons have now crossed over into other Christian faith communities. New iconographers with recognizable styles are revitalizing traditional copy-book painting techniques. The Feast of…
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My series on new images of the Good Shepherd from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection draws to a close this week with a reproduction of a drawing on the theme by Bible Illustrator Richard Hook. During the Swinging Sixties, the one time commercial artist had a mandate from the Concordia Publishing House to come up with an image of…
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There are few great biblical narratives and symbols of the Christian faith that have not found there way into the embroidery of the Kuna People of the San Blas Archipelago off Panama's Caribbean coast and this month's theme of the Good Shepherd is no exception. The unknown artist of this new reverse applique stitched mola cloth panel in the…
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This week's new image of the Good Shepherd from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is the work of Swiss Graphic Artist Max Hunziker, who has been described as a "Christian Surrealist" for the way he reveals symbolic meanings through unexpected combinations of images. The new color lithograph joins one already in the gallery of the more >>
During the month of June, when we all long to head off in search green pastures and still waters, I will be featuring new artworks from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection on the much-loved theme of the Good Shepherd. My first two offerings are the work of Czech Graphic Artists, specializing in book plates and small format prints. Zuzana…
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My series on Marian images in May from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection comes to an end this week with another painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe; this time, from the American Southwest. On a recent trip to New Mexico in search of new works from the region's saint-makers, I travelled to Ranchos de Taos to see if Lydia…
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As we continue to celebrate Mary in May, I have two new portraits of the Virgin from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, which present her as she is seen in a miraculous image given to the Aztec peasant, Juan Diego, in an apparition on December 1531 in Guadalupe, Mexico. The pair of acrylic paintings of this beloved Mexican icon…
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For my Marian images in May series, we return once again this month to the San Blas Archipelago off Panama's Caribbean coast, where an unknown embroiderer of the Kuna People created a reverse applique stitched image of the Virgin Mary, recently added to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. In an oval titled, HOLY MARY OUR MOTHER, we see a…
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One of the most venerated icons in the Eastern Orthodox Church is the image of the Virgin of Tenderness, where the Baby Jesus wraps his arm around the neck of the Virgin Mary and rests his cheek against hers. I have two book plate prints on this theme to present this week in my continuing series on new Marian…
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Mississippi Visionary Artist Carl Dixon created another new image for the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, on display this week in his profile page, which takes us into May, a month traditionally devoted to the Virgin Mary. Dixon found inspiration for this mixed media carved wood panel portrait of Mary and the Baby Jesus…
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For the first Sunday after Easter, I'm presenting a new piece from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection by American Visionary Artist Carl Dixon. This Mississippi-based wood carver and painter has long been a fellow-traveller on my pilgrim journey and recently finished this mixed media panel for me on The Walk of Faith. In this contemporary version of the classic…
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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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