This week's new art offerings from the Americas were made by potters in Mexico, a nation with a rich tradition of figurative ceramics dating back to the Olmec Civilization (1200 BC-400 BC). The sculptured clay pieces and bas-reliefs on sacred themes now on view in the Mexican Figurative Pottery page in the Schools of Sacred Art section represent a…
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The next stop on my sacred art tour of the Americas is the Communist state of Cuba, famous among print collectors for its striking propaganda poster art. The Caribbean island nation had a vibrant graphic art scene before the 1959 Revolution brought Fidel Castro to power. Interesting illustrations on sacred subjects were made in a distinctive Cuban Art Deco…
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During the Season of Lent, I posted an image of a hammered metal crucifix by Haitian Artist Michee Ramil Remy in the Crosses & Crucifixes page of the Schools of Sacred Art section. I was saddened to hear that Remy died last month at the age of 41. Those who would like to know more about Remy's special form…
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The next featured artworks of the Americas from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection come from Northeastern Brazil and the Borges family of "string literature" woodcut artists. You can now view three new prints in the image gallery of the Brazilian Cordel Woodcuts page in the Schools of Sacred Art section by Givanildo Borges, a nephew of the founder of…
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For the next few weeks, I will be showcasing new artworks, schools of art, and artists in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. To begin my Art of the Americas display, I've added two new sheet metal paintings to the Mexican Ex-Votos page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. Both of…
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Peter Howson is an honored artist in the United Kingdom but not so well known in the United States. This should change, once the word gets out about his current solo exhibition, Redemption, at Flowers gallery at 529 West 20th Street in New York City. It takes courage in this day and age to mount a show where the…
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To mark the beginning of Holy Week, I've added six new images of Christ in his Passion from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection to the Sacred Artists and Schools of Sacred Art sections. Looking in the galleries of their artist profile pages, you can now view a small black-and-white, glazed enamel on copper plate study of Christ before Pilate…
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My last Lenten art offerings before we enter Holy Week are four new crucifixes in an Art Deco Style from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, now on view in the image gallery of the Crosses and Crucifixes page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. One cast metal cross is the work of a French husband and wife team,…
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The latest addition to the Crosses and Crucifixes page in the Schools of Sacred Art section is a crucifix made from a recycled oil drum by Haitian Folk Artist Michee Ramil Remy, who has a studio workshop in Croix-des-Bouquets. This market town eight miles northeast of Port-du-Prince is an internationally renowned center for metal art-making. Remy learned the trade…
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The crucifix added to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection this week was inspired by the Liberation Theology movement in the Roman Catholic Church of Latin America, which took its name from an influential book by the Peruvian Dominican Priest, Gustavo Gutierrez, first published in 1971. Father Gutierrez called on the Church to become actively involved on behalf of the…
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This week's Lenten art offering from the Sacred Art Pilgrim collection was created by an assemblage artist in Alabama who has dedicated her life to making crosses. Catherine Partain was seeking a new beginning after a difficult divorce, when she awoke one night in 2008, feeling she had been called to use her artistic talent to create crosses. She…
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Images of two hand-painted, carved wood crucifixes by French-Canadian Folk Artist Emile Bluteau and a brief biographical sketch of the wood carver have just been added to the Crosses and Crucifixes page of the Schools of Sacred Art section. Bluteau's naif sacred art pieces come out of tradition of cross-making as old as Quebec, which Explorer Jacques Cartier first…
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St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 45 W. Winter Street in Delaware, Ohio, will be holding the art exhibition, A Man of Sorrows, during the Season of Lent. This fifth show in St. Peter’s Art in the Sanctuary series was inspired by Isaiah 53:3 and presents over 30 portraits of Christ in his Passion by contemporary artists from around the…
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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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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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