Pictures in Focus: Faces of Jesus Wood Engraving by Louis Jou

August 5, 2018

Pictures in Focus: Faces of Jesus Wood Engraving by Louis Jou

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 one picture of Christ you prefer above all others, then, take a look at my first offering from French-Catalin Artist Louis Jou, where you will find eight different images of Jesus on a single print sheet. The master book maker and illustrator manages to convey a whole gamut of emotions through subtle changes in the position of the head and the shape of the eyes and eyebrows in these austere and ascetic portraits of Christ.  This wood engraving with multiple variations on a single face appears to have been a study for Jou's twenty-five print suite, The Life of Jesus, dating from 1934, where Christ is depicted in different scenes from the Gospel narratives. You can view the new multi-portrait print from Jou on his biosketch page in the Sacred Artists section. (John Kohan)