Before beginning a new summer series, I want to return to the French sacred art scene this week to showcase a Georges Rouault painting just added to the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. Paysage biblique (recontre) depicts the meeting of Mary Magdalene and the Risen Christ outside the garden tomb on Easter morning in an oil, ink, and gouache…
more >>
Raphael Drouart is the last featured art-maker in my series on new works in the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection from the artistic circle of Maurice Denis, the Early Modern master of French sacred art. Denis was Drouart's instructor in a Parisian art school and took him on as his assistant in a prestigious mural painting project. The future…
more >>
The founding of Les Ateliers d’Art Sacre in Paris in 1919 is an overlooked landmark in the history of contemporary sacred art. In the aftermath of World War I, French Artist Maurice Denis helped launch the Studios of Sacred Art with the bold mission of creating a new kind of religious art for peacetime Europe. more >>
Jacques Beltrand, the subject of a profile added this week to the Sacred Artists section, played a pivotal role in the 20th century revival of the art of the woodcut in France. He was especially gifted in converting images from other art mediums into woodblock prints for book illustrations and formed a close…
more >>
The French celebrate Bastille Day in July, and we will be looking this month at the legacy of Maurice Denis, the painter, printmaker, art historian, and theorist who was no less a revolutionary in freeing French sacred art from the saccharine sentimentalism of late 19th century Realism to bring it into the modern…
more >>
My final image in the series on artworks of David and Goliath in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is a small-format etching of the famous biblical duel from Russian-Ukrainian Graphic Artist Konstantin Kalynovych. He is known for highly-detailed, surrealistic bookplates that are rich in symbols, imitative of great masters of European art like…
more >>
My survey of new images of David and Goliath in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection takes us this week to Nicaragua, where Folk Artist Jose Ignacio Fletes Cruz sets the killing of the giant in a Central American landscape with flowering fields and volcanic mountain peaks. Fletes Cruz belonged to a utopian Christian community, founded in the mid 1960s…
more >>
In my series on imagery of David and Goliath in the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, a new work on this famous duel from the Hebrew Scriptures has just been added to the extensive gallery of biblical illustrations on the biosketch page of Visionary Mississippi Folk Artist Carl Dixon. While a carrion crow…
more >>
Thus David bested the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck him down and killed him. David had no sword. (I Samuel 17: 50, JSB)
The Bible story of the battle of David the shepherd boy with Goliath the giant has been much on my mind these past few weeks, watching the Ukrainians struggle to hold back invading…
more >>
The Virgin Mary appears with the Christ Child amid sunflowers, wheat stalks, and wild herbs in the last of my featured Marian images from Poland in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. This painted wooden sculpture is the work of Andrzej Wojtczak, one of three wood carvers who founded a school of folk art linked to the village of Kutno…
more >>
In our series on images of the Virgin Mary by Polish Artists in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, we turn this week to a minimally modern Mary and Baby Jesus on a travel poster from Graphic Artist Ryszard Kaja, celebrating the Jasna Gora (Bright Mountain) Monastery in Czestochowa, where millions of pilgrims come each year to view the painting…
more >>
May is a time to remember the Virgin Mary, and what better place to find Marian-themed works of art than in Poland, where devotion to the Mother of Christ is especially fervent. For the next three weeks, I will be featuring new works by Polish artists in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection depicting the Virgin Mary in a variety…
more >>
During the weeks when I have been posting images of the Passion of Christ by Ukrainian artists, I had the chance to revise and expand the New Iconography of Lviv page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. This week, the listing returns on-line as two entries. The first page will focus, as before, on the many women artists…
more >>
Two of [the disciples] were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him...
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.
[The Prophet] Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35,… more >>
Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? ...Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but… more >>
And [Jesus] came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be… more >>
The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the… more >>
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9, KJV)
We begin our Lenten series on artworks from Ukraine illustrating key moments in the Passion of Christ with…
more >>
As a longtime collector of contemporary religious artworks, I have been watching with great interest as a new school of iconography has emerged among Ukrainian Greek Catholic artists, fostered and promoted by the ICONART Contemporary Sacred Art Gallery in the city of Lviv in West Ukraine. This talented group of young men and women are at the forefront of…
more >>
In this week's featured carved wood panel painting from Carl Dixon, the Mississippi Folk Artist offers illustrations of the six acts of mercy that touch the heart of God and merit eternal life in the Last Judgment narrative found in Matthew 25:31-46. As Christ returns in glory with a retinue of angels to usher in the end… more >>
We look this week at Carl Dixon's depiction of one of Christ's clearest messages about our responsibility for others in need--the Parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. The Mississippi outsider artist adds typical touches of humor to his mixed media, carved wood panel painting of this Gospel tale of a great reversal, where a wealthly…
more >>
Mississippi Folk Artist Carl Dixon takes a look at modern-day churches in this week's featured artwork, based on the well-known biblical passage in Isaiah 40:3 about the "voice crying in the wilderness" to "prepare the way of the Lord." The "wilderness" in Dixon's sculpted wood panel piece is a typical Ameican church, filled for Sunday worship, and the "voice…
more >>
As we see in this week's featured artwork, "I Can't Breathe," Mississippi Folk Artist Carl Dixon seeks to create images putting today's headlines in a biblical perspective. In this mixed media painting on carved wood panel, he interpretes in three different ways the last words of George Floyd, depicted to the left dying from suffocation when a law enforcement…
more >>
Martin Luther King Jr. appears again in this week's featured artwork from Mississippi Folk Artist Carl Dixon alongside Barak Obama and Rosa Parks in homage to their roles in advancing the civil rights of African Americans in a work commissioned from Dixon in 2018 for a Lenten exhibition on the theme, Exodus: Journeys of Liberation. The three-part painting on…
more >>
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. (Martin Luther King Jr.)
In a week when Americans pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., I'm reposting a painting by Carl Dixon of…
more >>
The unclean spirits came out [of the demoniac] and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea...Then people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac… more >>
God our pilgrimage impels,
To cross sea-waste or scale life-fells;
A further shore,
One hill brow more,
Draws on the feet, or arm-plied oars,
As the…
more >>
Georges Rouault reflected on his life as an artist in a preface, composed in the style of Pascal's Pensees, to Stella Vespertina, a portfolio of 12 heliogravures of original gouache and oil sketches published in 1947. As always, Rouault pushed the limits of the printing process by mixing techniques to enhance the quality…
more >>
Georges Rouault believed we lived our lives in "an anguised world of shadows and pretences," and the greatness of humanity in its fallen state came by emulating Christ in the acceptance of redemptive suffering. This religious world view was shaped by the writings of the 17th Century French Philosopher Blaise Pascal. Rouault kept a copy of Pascal's Pensees alongside…
more >>
In our year end celebration of the life and work of French Artist Georges Rouault, we are showcasing a trio of color aquatints this week from Passion, a sacred-themed print suite Rouault created for Art Impresario Ambroise Vollard in collaboration with Poet Andre Suares, published in 1939. Rouault provided 99 illustrations--17 color aquatints and 82 wood engravings cut from…
more >>
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I will be showcasing new works in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection by Georges Rouault, who we remember this year on the 150th anniversary of his birth. The French artist holds a very special place in my own art history. In acquiring his oil painting of…
more >>
Then [the Rich Man] said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send [Lazarus] to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the… more >>
[The Rich Man] cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,… more >>
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich… more >>
[The goodman of the house] answered one of [the complaining workers], and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not… more >>
So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when… more >>
For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went… more >>
[The Samaritan] went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care… more >>
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he… more >>
And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted [Jesus], saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they… more >>
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in they sight, and am no more worthy to be… more >>
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine… more >>
A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance… more >>
Kreg Yingst joins my listings this week as a printmaker of parables. The Florida-based graphic artist has a special interest in imagery that tells a story, taking inspiration from the 20th century creators of wordless woodcut novels like Belgian Artist Frans Masereel. The Gospel narratives of Jesus have been a rich source of material for Yingst, who worked on…
more >>
This Sunday marks the launch of a new series, Picturing the Parables, looking at artworks in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection devoted to the illustrative stories of Jesus in the Gospels, which will take us into the season of Advent. We begin with a profile of Texas-based Artist James Janknegt, who worked for over fifteen years creating 40 contemporary…
more >>
To complete my brief survey of the contemporary religious art of France, I'm showcasing a recent acquisition of special importance for the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection by Georges Rouault, the unrivalled master of French contemporary sacred art. The color aquatint of an elegent woman of sorrowful features in profile is the missing print needed to complete a suite in…
more >>
