Picture in Focus: Apostles by Bernard Brussel-Smith

February 5, 2012

Picture in Focus: Apostles by Bernard Brussel-Smith

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 South Central France. The trio of figures in the piece resembles a grouping of three Apostles on the left side of a carved stone frieze of the Disciples, beneath a central image of the Ascending Christ, on the 12th century tympanum above the entrance to the village's medieval St. Peter's Church. The print's russet-brown tones evoke the red sandstone from which Collonges-la-Rouge was built, earning it a listing among The Most Beautiful Villages of France. (John Kohan)