During a decade of art collecting, I have occasionally come upon an elusive art-maker whose small body of work suggests they could have achieved more than has survived the passing of time. The creater of this week's intriguing etching of the Return of the Prodigal Son fits this categorgy. Karnig Nalbandian has been…
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Humor is generally in short supply in religious art, so, I'm delighted to present a not-so-serious image of the Prodigal Son from American Artist Robert Hodgell this week in my continuing survey of highlights of the Sacred Art Pilgrim. The son of a Methodist minister, Hodgell heard enough sermons growing up to view…
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As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection with a survey of highlights from my on-line art listings, I have selected images for the month of July depicting Christ's Parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke. My first featured piece bears witness to an fascinating revival of sacred art-making in Russia, where…
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My last image of the Good Shepherd for the month of June from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgirm Collection is one of the most unusual objects I own: a gourd handpainted by American Outsider Artist Myrtice West with an image of the Shepherd from Christ's Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15:4-7. …
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This week's image of the Good Shepherd is part of one of my earliest major acquisitions for the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, a series of 25 colored monotypes and six etchings on the life of Christ by American Artist Eugene Higgins, commissioned in the 1940s for a religious lending library in Hartford, Connecticut. …
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My next image of the Good Shepherd from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is a watercolor by German Artist Otto Schubert. He belongs to the Lost Generation of European artists who came of age in the trenches of World War I and survived the barbarity of the Third Reich, only to find…
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This week's image of the Good Shepherd from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is the work of Eric Gill, the brilliant, idiosyncratic early 20th century British sculptor, graphic artist, typographer, and essayist, better remembered today for his innovative Gill sans-serif typeface than his eccentric views on the wearing of pants and how…
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As we continue our tenth anniversary series on artworks currently on view in the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have selected pieces for the month of June and the beginning of summer, depicting one of the "great outdoors" themes of the Bible. It is, of course, the story of the Good Shepherd, who makes us lie down in…
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We close out this month of Marian-themed images from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection with a figurative ceramic piece by Mexican Potter Gerardo Ortega and his family. They work in the pottery-making center of Tonala in the central western Mexican state of Jalisco, creating whimsical sculptures from clay treated with “betus” pine resin oil to give it a…
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The image of the Virgin Mary on display this week in my month-long survey of Marian-themed artworks in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection has a direct connection to the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament. It was painted by an unknown modern Egyptian artisan on a sheet made from papyrus, a reed once plentiful in the Nile River marshes,…
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This week's Marian-themed image for the month of May from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is a modern variation on a traditional genre of decorative art from the Netherlands: ceramic wall tiles. During the 17th century Golden Age of Dutch culture, flat, double-glazed, clay plaques with religious themes decorated humble cottages and stately homes, often set into fireplaces where…
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As we begin the month of May, the time of year traditionally devoted to the Virgin Mary, I have a final print of the Passion of the Christ to present this week, serving as the perfect transition piece from the art of Easter to the next theme we will be exploring in my year-long survey of works on-line from…
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On the Sunday when the Eastern Orthodox celebrate Easter this year, I have an image of the Resurrection to present from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection by a Midwestern American artist, whom I had the privilege of meeting shortly before his death at the age of 89 in 2009. William Schickel's eyesight was failing and his hand less steady,…
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The Sacred Art Pilgrim will be taking to the road again during the Easter holiday, unattached to the social media, so my piece of retro art from the the Collection chosen for Holy Week not only depicts the Crucifixion but anticipates the Resurrection. Traditional in technique but unconventional in style and theme, this icon is the work of Massachusetts-based…
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Frank Brangwyn, a multi-talented British artist who made everything from wall paintings to wall paper, was one of the first major twentieth century sacred art-makers to find a place in my collection ten years ago. An internet search for Crucifixion images turned up a woodcut of Christ falling on the road to Calvary from a Stations of the Cross…
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I have an image of Christ on the Way of Sorrow to present this week from Lovis Corinth, a German artist I was eager to include in my collection after seeing a 2008 exhibition of his work at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. I knew about Corinth's role in in the history of…
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As we continue my tenth anniversary survey of artists and artworks in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have a Lenten-themed print of Christ falling under the Cross to display this week by French-born Artist Jean Charlot, one of the first pieces I acquired in my search for modern religious art. From Europe, Charlot eventually made his way to…
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This week's Lenten image of Christ Mocked by a Dwarf is the work of Edward Knippers, a fellow collector and key player on the American sacred art scene. He is represented in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection by a diverse body of works, acquired directly from the artist in his studio in Northern Virginia. Knippers is famous for painting…
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As we continue into the season of Lent with our survey of works in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have selected a graphite on gessoed wood drawing of the Mocking of Christ this week by one of the great masters of contemporary sacred art: Peter Howson. The Scotland-based artist comes closer than…
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During the season of Lent my review of artists and artworks in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection will focus on imagery of Christ's Passion. Dora Maar holds a special place in the history of contemporary art as the muse and mistress of Pablo Picasso. She served as his model for two of the most expensive paintings ever sold at…
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Noah's Ark is a favorite theme of the fabric artists featured in the Andean Arpilleras page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. When you look at this week's charming example from these listings, showing disembarking animals, by Peruvian Embroiderer Maria Uyauri, you would little suspect these narrative cloth panels, traditionally made… more >>
Looking back on ten years of sacred art collecting, I have a delightful image of Noah's Ark to present this week from Haiti, made from an unusual material—recycled oil drums. The unknown creator of this playful piece of Noah adrift with his animals works with 55 gallon barrels, collected from the harbor of the capital of Port-du-Prince. Haitian metalworkers…
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We move on this week to a work illustrating another foundational narrative from the Book of Genesis by an "Outsider Artist" well represented in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection--Myrtice West. The Alabama-based painter gives us a panoramic view in her characteristic naif style of the animals gathered two by two to enter Noah's…
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Adam and Eve have returned this week in a charming folk art piece, typical of another tradition of artisan art, represented in the Schools of Sacred Art listings of the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection--the reversed glass icons of Romania. When the Transylvanian regions of this East European nation were joined to the…
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As we continue this 10th anniversary survey of pieces in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I'm featuring another work this week depicting the Creation story in the Book of Genesis--this time by an unknown textile artist from the Kuna People, who live in the San Blas Archipelago off the northwestern coast of Panama. I have set myself two guidelines…
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The majority of artworks I have collected during the past ten years deal with sacred stories of the Judeo-Christian tradition mostly found in the Bible. It seems appropriate, then, to start my survey of artists and artworks in the Sacred Art Pilgrim collection with the embossed collagraph print from Massachusetts Artist Sandra Bowden, In the Beginning Was the Word. …
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What better way to launch my 10th anniversary on-line show of Sacred Art Pilgrim acquisitions than with a look back at the artwork that began it all--the oil on paper mounted on canvas painting, Christ et docteur, from 1937 by French Artist Georges Rouault, the unrivalled master of contemporary sacred art! This powerful image of Christ's nighttime meeting with…
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This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. In celebration of this milestone, I want to take a look back at this decade of art collecting and feature one work by one art-maker currently in the Sacred Artist or Schools of Sacred Art listings once a week for the next twelve months. My 2019 retrospective…
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"Less is more" is the mantra of German Designer Oliver Fabel, who created this week's new manger scene in a minimalist style from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. With the exception of the cradle and the Baby Jesus, the other "figures" in this Christmas display are similar-sized wooden blocks, resembling pieces in a Jenga game, with printed labels to…
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Chinese artisans at the Dongyang Christian Woodcarving Factory in the coastal province of Zhejiang created this week's new Christmas display from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, carrying on a folk art tradition, dating back some 1,300 years to the Tang Dynasty. The workshop is the only one of its kind in China, founded by Master Woodcarver Zhang Wan Long,…
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To celebrate the Season of Advent this year, I will be adding new manger displays from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection to the Nativity Sets and Scenes page of the Schools of Sacred Art section in the weeks leading up to Christmas. My first offering is an 18-piece ensemble of colored, cut-out figures,…
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Humor is generally in short supply in religious works of art, so, the last of the three artists to be featured this month is a welcome addition to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. London-born Irish Artist Brian Whelan combines the sacred and the mundane, the cosmic and the comic in idiosyncratic creations that no less a sacred art critic…
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This week's new addition to my Sacred Artists listings can truly be called an artist of the Global Village. Wayne Forte was born in the Philippines, raised and educated in Southern California, and married in Brazil, studying and making art, as well, in France and Italy. The artist’s Asian heritage is reflected in…
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In the weeks leading up to the Advent season, I will be offering profiles of three art-makers now joining my Sacred Artists listings, whose distinctive cultural backgrounds and global views greatly add to the diversity of the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. This week's new Artist in Profile has the distinction of being the first in my collection to come…
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We leave politics and current affairs behind and enter the world of commerce with this week's new face of Jesus from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. The conservative Protestant faith community where I grew up frowned on holy relics, but this faux wood, bakelite plaque with a reproduction of Warner Sallman's famous Head of Christ fills that kind of…
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Czech Graphic Artist Jan Krejci offers us another "politicized" face of Jesus from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection--not a Savior of the World who is the target of bullets like the Sviatoslav Vladyka Christ of Our Freedom we just considered but the gun-toting Jesus bristling with cartridge belts of this week's featured ex libris caricature. Ever since the Emperor…
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We looked last week at a variation of “Behold the Man” imagery, where Christ was posed against a police line-up wall. My new face of Jesus from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection for this week, acquired on a recent trip to Ukaine, is also linked to contemporary issues. It reminds us of Christ’s parting promise to be with his…
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My latest face of Jesus is a strikingly unconventional variation on the “Behold the Man” motif we looked at last week. This portrait of the humiliated Christ, posed against a police line-up wall, is the work of Pennsylvania Icon-maker Jack Pachuta, who illustrates prayer cards for distribution among prisoners. A devout Roman Catholic, Pachuta wanted to do volunteer work…
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There is a different kind of portrait of Christ in his Passion on display this week from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection that is often distinguishable from Man of Sorrows imagery only in its title: "Ecce Homo" or "Behold the Man." While Man of Sorrows portraits are more timeless images of the Suffering Christ that may include the wounds…
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I have other variations of Christ portraiture related to his Passion to present in my series on new faces of Jesus in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. We will look this week at a genre of imagery known as the Man of Sorrows, depicting Christ wearing a crown of thorns, often stripped to the waist and displaying his wounds,…
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I have yet a third image of the Veil of Veronica face of Jesus from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection to present this week. It comes from an usual source--Japanese Printmaker Sadao Watanabe. The leading Japanese Christian artist of the 20th century found faith through a church founded by American Protestant missionaries and the overwhelming majority of his sacred…
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I have another variation on the Veil of Veronica face of Jesus to present this week from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. The featured linocut by German Printmaker Otto Schubert depicts the moment in sacred story when the pious woman of Jerusalem who wiped the face of Christ as he carried his cross to Calvary looks down in wonderment…
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Just as the Eastern Orthodox venerate icons of The Savior Made Without Hands, Western Christians have their own miraculous image of Christ on a cloth, known as the Veil of Veronica, the subject of this week's new face of Jesus from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. The origin of this supernatural portrait of Christ is remembered in the Sixth…
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In my continuing series on new faces of Jesus in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have a second icon of the Savior Made Without Hands to display this week by another representative of the new school of iconography in Lviv, Ukraine. Arsen Bereza works with "found objects," painting his version of the miraculous image of Christ sent to…
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My travels last month took me to Lviv, Ukraine, where I found this week's featured face of Jesus at an exhibit of recent works by Ulyana Tomkevych at the ICONART Contemporary Sacred Art Gallery. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic icon-maker offers us a striking contemporary variation in the round on an ancient prototype of a miraculous image of Jesus known…
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This Sunday marks the start of my next on-line art series, Faces of Jesus, featuring new portraits of Christ from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. During the next two months, we will be exploring how this foundational subject of Christian art has been redefined by a mix of international artists, working in styles modern and traditional. If you have…
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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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