There have been many surprise encounters with schools of sacred art, new to me, during the past decade of collecting. One of the most exciting discoveries came three years ago, when I uncovered a treasure trove of contemporary icons on the website of the ICONART Contemporary Sacred Art Gallery in Lviv, Ukraine. This week's image of the Annunciation is…
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This week's featured image of the Annunciation is one of the more unusual art objects to be found in the on-line Sacred Art Pilgim Collection, a glazed enamel on copper plate depiction of the Angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary by French Artist Hermine David. Long overshadowed by her husband, the flamboyant Bulgarian-French artist, Jules Pascin, she has…
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As we continue my tenth anniversary survey of highlights of the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have selected artworks for the month of November on a biblical story, appropriate for the weeks leading up to Christmas--the Annunciation, recorded in Luke 1:26-38, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary to tell her she had been chosen by…
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My overview of artworks of St. Francis of Assisi from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection comes to an end this week with a piece by New Mexican Artist Marie Romero Cash representing a second genre of Franciscan art very different from the whimsical depictions we have already seen of the nature-loving saint preaching to the birds. It is…
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For this week's featured image of St. Francis of Assisi from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, we travel south of the equator to the Northeast Region of Brazil, where Folk Artist Jose Francisco Borges presides over a family dynasty of woodblock printmakers, who learned their trade creating illustrations for cheaply published pamplets of stories and poems known as…
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We travel halfway around the world this week for my second featured piece from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection in this month dedicated to imagery of St. Francis of Assisi. It is a hand colored stencil print on momigami (wrinkled) mulberry paper of the nature-loving holy man preaching to the birds from more >>
As my year-long survey of highlights from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection continues into October, I will be featuring a quartet of artworks depicting Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is celebrated at the beginning of this month. My first selection is a book plate from Lithuanian Graphic Artist Antanas Kmieliauskas, found in the gallery of themore >>
My retrospective look at angel imagery in the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection comes to an end this week with a glitter-sprinkled, mixed media cardboard panel painting of Christ & the Angels in Glory by Rudolph Valentino Bostic. This self-taught, visionary artist from Savannah, Georgia, knows how to turn throw-away appliance boxes into images of the sublime, often depicting…
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Russian-Ukrainian Printmaker Konstantin Kalynovych is, without doubt, the most angelic-minded artmaker in my listings. My featured image this week of the hosts of heaven from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is one of nine bookplates with depictions of angels to be found in the gallery of the Kalynovych profile page, this time,…
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This week's featured image of the heavenly hosts from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection represents a much-loved "subgenre" of the theme: guardian angel art. In this 1955 serigraph from Sister Mary Corita Kent, the American artist-nun best known for her pop-art inspired text prints, we see a heavenly helper reaching down to…
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Last week, American Graphic Artist Ruth Starr Rose gave us a magisterical print from 1942 of the hosts of heaven proclaiming the Word of the Lord to the end of the universe. This week' featured artwork on the theme of angels from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, made six years later by Philadelphia-based Printmaker Benton Spruance, conveys a very…
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As we continue our tenth anniversary survey of artists in the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have selected pieces for September on the theme of angels, since the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels will be celebrated at the end of the month. My first featured work is a color lithograph from 1942 by American Graphic Artist…
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My final featured images this month of a miracle of Christ from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection are a rare paring of a preliminary sketch and a final etching by American Artist Earl Stetson Crawford. A grandson of famed hat-maker, John B. Stetson, he studied art in Paris under the tutelage of Early Modernist James McNeill Whistler and…
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This week's featured artwork from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection depicting a miracle of Christ comes from Nicaragua. It is an acrylic on canvas painting of Jesus stilling the storm by Jose Ignacio Fletes Cruz, a Primitivista artist whose naif style of image-making is associated with a utopian Christian community, founded in…
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Like the Ethiopian leather painting based on ancient illuminated manuscripts we just viewed, this week's featured piece from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is a modern prototype of a historic sacred school of art: Armenian ceramics. The glazed tile, depicting Christ's first miracle at the Wedding in Cana, when he turned water…
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As we make our way through this tenth anniversary year, looking at highlights of the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have selected images for the month of August, illustrating the miracles of Jesus. This week's featured painting on leather of Christ healing a blind man comes from Ethiopia, one of the oldest Christian civilizations in the world, which…
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As we come to the end of a month devoted to artworks illustrating the Parable of the Prodigal Son, I have selected a triptych of images from New Mexican Artist Michael Vargas that highlights a key activity of the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection--the commissioning of new pieces on religious themes by artists who…
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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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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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