The Contemplative Prophetic Photography of a Priest in a Post Modern World
The Photography of Wilfredo Benitez-Rivera
More and more I am experiencing the power of a picture to thrust the viewer into a different state of mind, into the eternal, into the infinite and universal, into the archetypal and the mysterious. The real miracle in this is that it happens in a fraction of a second. A picture has the power to touch something within us, a feeling, a yearning, or an emotion that has no need of words and finds no comfort in explanations. Indeed a picture has the power to make us pause and take note of a deeper reality, a deeper truth, a deeper essence, a deeper mystery (partially revealed) of our journey in life. Moving beyond the sublime and transcendent, pictures also have the power to denounce social injustices, oppression, and inequalities; alas they can also have a chaotically prophetic dimension that harmonizes with all of the elements I mention above.

When taking pictures I now find myself hoping to capture that moment where time stands still, and we are thrust into the core of our deepest reality, which is an enduring quality, a form of truth that is mystical in its content and
grabs hold of the viewer, regardless of the photographic theme, why put limits on this?

Reverend Wilfredo Benitez-Rivera has been taking photographs for about 25 years. His pictures are an intimate part of who he is. For Benitez, photography has become a sort of spiritual companion and practice that started to work its magic some years ago back in the early 70's. However, it has only been in the last few years that it has really taken hold of him, demanding his attention. At age 16, in 1972 Wilfredo took a photography course at the old New York Institute of Photography. During the early 80’s he studied privately under the tutelage of Puerto Rican photographer, Nestor Cortijo. Since then he has been mostly self taught. His passion for photography has reawakened with a vengeance in the last five years. Photography has become for Wilfredo a means of seeing beyond seeing, a journey of revelation beyond the ordinary and the mundane, an exploration of the power of life in all its beautiful and chaotic manifestations.

About the Artist: Wilfredo Benitez-Rivera is a frequent contributor the the Art Blog and the current rector of St. Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal (Anglican) Church, in Garden Grove, California. He is actively involved in interfaith peace and justice work. He writes, "When taking pictures I now find myself hoping to capture that moment where time stands still, and we are thrust into the core of our deepest reality, which is an enduring quality, a form of truth that is mystical in its content and grabs hold of the viewer, regardless of the photographic theme, why put limits on this? " See more of his work here.

Son of Kitson and John
by C. Robin Janning

Father of Charleen and Shane and Rebecca; grandfather of Shelby, Julia, Allison, Shani, and William; brother of Lani; husband of Elizabeth, stepfather of Robin. “For what it's worth,” Scott says, “White People tend to introduce themselves by what they do. Native people introduce themselves traditionally by who they're related to. Being vs. Doing.”

Trying to get a statement from The Rev. Scott Fisher about who he is and what he does is like trying to grab a handful of fog. You are better served by looking at the people, places, and things around him. The emphasis, he says, must be on the Church, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Fairbanks, Alaska. About his ministry he says: “It is not my ministry, it is His ministry” and “the only thing, aside from telling me to stay close, I’ve ever had a sense of God telling me is tell them I love them. I’ve never had a sense of anything else.”

He says that he came to Alaska as a lay volunteer in the Fall of 1970, “living in Chalkyitsik, Stevens Village, Beaver. Small (50-75 folk) Athabascan communities in the Northern Interior.” There follows an interesting chronology, which includes marriage, Seminary in Austin (“a GIANT cross-cultural collision, but we return to Alaska [Beaver] in the Summers”), graduation from Seminary, children, a return to rural Alaska, time as an assistant to the Bishop in Fairbanks (“I spent 80% of my time flying in to the Interior and Arrtic Coast villages—teaching, training, and pastoral care”), and then in 1991 he is called to St. Matthews. About being called to be the Rector of St. Matthew’s he says “I have been here since 1991, and I keep remembering That Voice saying “Stay close to me and I’ll stay close to you.” Nothing Scott says about the life and work he engages strays far from that sense, that understanding, that God stays close.

St. Matthews is anchored in the people, land, and traditions of Alaska—yet, reaching out and up, in the ultimate symbol of the Christ Life, holding the traditions of The Episcopal Church. The truest and most accessible image of St. Matthew’s and its Rector appears when reading the newsletters. In particular, the “Winter Voices” which not only testifies to his guardianship and watchfulness, but also shows the interrelatedness of people and land in a way that makes you understand the concept of "One.”

The April/May 2008 issue of St. Matthew’s newsletter begins: “Finally the ice is running now; these Northern rivers emptying themselves. The parade of Winter and its memories sweep by, fragmented with the ice. There goes early November on that piece; and the dark one there carries dark Advent. Across, that clean snowy white one must be part of Christmas; and that little one barely there carries that one day in February. Past us; past us; past us go the Winter and its memories. Good bye and thank you and don’t hurry back, please.”

Whatever else you were doing, or thinking, now you settle down to see, to listen, and to remember. When Scott talks about the newsletter he says: “And Maggie Castellinni's role on the Newsletter needs to be noted. She's the Editor. All I do is gather and type. She puts it in readable format, while managing two lively boys and a career/calling as a Marine Biologist. Well, and her husband too.”

“Voices” in the newsletter testifies to the river in all of us, a running leaping, joyful, and tearful catch of moments and whispers, emotions and prayers. It can’t be contained here, it is too long, too wild. But go to the newsletter and read it, you will breathe in its icy reality and some river in you will loose and also run wildly.

Scott’s photographs have appeared at Episcopal Café in the past. Photographs taken by him to document places and moments of Spirit. But these photographs were not taken by him. As he says: “I didn't take any of the Eagle Summit photographs. I'm too busy to take photos then. They were taken by our Sexton, who also does the fancy photo computer stuff on the web site, Tree Michael Nelson.”

Who is The Rev. Scott Fisher? A friend writes this:
“As to Scott, it's unimaginable that he and Alaska would not be part of each other. The influence has been mutual. He listens profoundly, says little. This is the first rule for surviving up here. But it's more than that. Scott is the most non-violent person I have ever met, which does not mean he is a pushover. Far from it. He is non judgmental, and his vision of leadership is kenotic. Scott is also inclusive; like early Semitic Christians, no questions are asked; everyone is welcome. He has an amazing improvisational gift, and if you read the newsletters, especially "Voices", you can understand how valuable this is. For Scott there is no distinction between sacred and secular; he is one of the most unified people I’ve ever met.”

Another friend writes simply “I am still stunned to think that I know a friend like this.”

Who am I? asks The Rev. Scott Fisher? “I am someone who has said Compline at Midnight, 7 nights a week, for nearly 30 years. Compline always includes The Song of Simeon, for these eyes of mine have seen...”.

“To pray it at the conclusion of the day is to ask the question: so when did I , like Simeon, see Christ today; where were the Moments of Beauty and Grace. Hence going through the day requires some attentiveness to watching for the moments of Beauty and Grace. This connects with traditional (as far as I can tell) Interior (at least) Alaska Native worldview. Here in the Interior, I think, Life is viewed primarily as GOOD. God is seen as good (as opposed to scary or judgmental). He gives us fish in the Summer, moose in the Fall, geese in the Spring, etc. Life is seen as good, as Gift, from the Creator of us all.”

It is an often-used editorial device to posit that one is the heart of a movement or a place. But The Rev. Scott Fisher is not the heart of St. Matthews. He is the Shepherd of the hearts and that makes St. Matthew’s a place where we would all like to be. In Scott’s sense of sacramental, that place is close to God—and we are all there already. Always.

On View: Midnight Eucharist. The Rev. Scott Fisher, celebrating Eucharist at midnight at Eagle Summit in Alaska.

Author C. Robin Janning serves as Director of Communication for ECVA. An artist and photographer, you can see her work at
www.gramercygalleria.com and www.gramercydigitaldiary.blogspot.com.

Hat tip to Ann Fontaine, http://seashellseller.blogspot.com

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanities' historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanities' religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
One in a series: Fernando Gallego and His Workshop
Theme: Restoration

DALLAS (SMU) – For the first time in the United States, researchers have undertaken an extensive study of a 15th-century Spanish cathedral altarpiece, and in the process, have unlocked 500 years of secrets involving art, literature, history and religion. Their findings, along with the entire group of stunning, historically significant paintings that comprise the altarpiece, will soon be on view in a special exhibition at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University.

Fernando Gallego and His Workshop: The Altarpiece from Ciudad Rodrigo, Paintings from the Collection of the University of Arizona Museum of Art, which will be on display from March 30 to July 27, 2008, focuses on 26 surviving panels from the main altarpiece for the cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo in Castile, Spain, created between 1480 and 1500.

The research findings, which include scans and X-rays of the paintings’ underdrawings, will be on exhibit along with the panels, which have survived earthquakes, war, neglect, sale and re-sale before reaching the Meadows Museum.

The panels, in oil and tempera, are considered one of the most important groups of artworks produced in late 15th-century Spain. They depict major events from Genesis, the life of Christ, and the Last Judgment, and are remarkable for their size (some nearly five feet tall and three and a half feet wide), number and sheer beauty. They rank among the most ambitious works by two of Spain’s most gifted painters of the period: Fernando Gallego and the hitherto virtually unknown Master Bartolomé. Such "master painters" often commanded large and dynamic workshops with apprentice artists, working together to undertake monumental commissions like the Ciudad Rodrigo altarpiece.

The panels have undergone two years of research and technical analysis at the Kimbell Art Museum under the direction of chief conservator Claire Barry – including infrared reflectography, ultraviolet light and x-rays – prior to their exhibition at the Meadows. Methods such as infrared have only become available in the past 25 years or so, and their application to the art field has vastly improved processes to obtain images of underdrawings.

Scholars have discovered, under the painted layer, initial drawings by the artists that don’t always match the final paintings, revealing how the artists changed their ideas as they worked. Also discovered on the panels have been handwritten notes indicating color choices. Differences between the techniques and styles of Gallego and Bartolomé have been revealed, allowing scholars to identify for the first time which works were created by which artist’s workshop. In the process, Bartolomé has been shown to be not simply a follower of Gallego but a master painter in his own right, one who could be ranked among the top Spanish artists of the period.

Such findings are significant for providing a glimpse into the inner workings of the artists’ workshops of five centuries ago, for little or no documentation from the time exists. (It was not until 1503 that methods for permanent and systematic archiving of documents were first officially established in that region.) The research results will be published in a fully illustrated 360-page exhibition catalogue, including information on the life and work of Gallego and Bartolomé, their individualized techniques, workshop practices, and historical context within the cosmopolitan communities of late 15th-century Castile.

The project represents an innovative international collaboration among scholars at the Meadows Museum in Dallas, the Kimbell Art Museum, the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and the Prado Museum in Madrid. In addition, the Kimbell’s conservation studio collaborated with The Art Institute of Chicago and the Getty Conservation Institute to carry out pigment and medium analysis. In another unique collaboration, Dallas’s Museum of Nature & Science also will be taking part in the Gallego exhibition by hosting a display on the science of art at the Meadows, while simultaneously holding an exhibition at their own museum on the art of science.

"In this project, we’ve combined both art and technology in the service of scholarly research to help unravel a 500-year-old mystery," said Dr. Mark Roglán, director of the Meadows Museum. "For the first time in the history of these paintings, we are able to reveal their underdrawings, and glimpse how the artists worked and their creative process. In addition to the catalogue, we will produce a lecture series and international scholarly symposium to help showcase these findings to the public." (Watch a companion video here>)

The history of the panels’ survival over the centuries is worthy of a novel itself. They overcame neglect, earthquakes, war – one of the panels still bears a hole from cannon fire by Wellington’s troops when they stormed Ciudad Rodrigo in 1812! – sale and re-sale, and a trans-Atlantic ocean voyage, and then underwent years of restoration in a bunker during the Cold War, before their arrival in Tucson, Arizona in the 1950s. "The fact that they survived for 500 years as a group and in such excellent condition makes them all the more extraordinary," said Dr. Roglán.

The panels are part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection and were given to the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson in 1957. Their exhibition at the Meadows Museum marks the first time they have been displayed outside of Tucson in the 50 years since, and is made possible by a generous gift from The Meadows Foundation, with additional support for the study and publication from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York.
© Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX 75205, 214-768-2000. Used with permission.

On View: Christ and the Samaritan Woman, 1480-88. Oil and tempera on panel. Photography by Robert Laprelle © Kimbell Conservation department

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanities' historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanities' religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Two in a series:Imagining Christ
May 6 - July 27, 2008 at the Getty Center, Los Angeles
Theme: Formation

From the exhibition's website:
"This exhibition features images of Christ in illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The images show the multiple ways in which Christ was understood: as the son of God and as God, as human and divine, as the sacrifice made for mankind, and as the divine judge who would save or condemn humanity at the end of time.

"The images in the exhibition, primarily from western European manuscripts, demonstrate how medieval and Renaissance faithful sought to participate in Christ's suffering and salvation through art and prayer."

The exhibition has three parts: Invoking Christ in Word and Ritual, Demonstrating Christ's Divinity, and Experiencing Christ's humanity. Visitors to this interactive web feature can view close-ups of several illuminated manuscript pages. They can also listen to audio that addresses the importance of images of Christ's wounds in medieval religious devotion, the miraculous mass of St Gregory and the making of a gold and silver plated copper statue of Christ in Majesty.

Imagining Christ is curated by Kristen Collins, associate curator in the Department of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

On View: Transfiguratio Domini (The Transfiguration of Christ), by Fra Angelico. 1387 or 1395. In the collection of the Museo San Marco, Florence, Italy. Image source: The Yorck Project. The work of art depicted in this image and the reproduction thereof are in the public domain worldwide. The reproduction is part of a collection of reproductions compiled by The Yorck Project. The compilation copyright is held by Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanities' historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Three in a series: African Christianity in Ethiopia
by Emma George Ross, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY
Theme: Objects of Devotion

NEW YORK - The adoption of Christianity in Ethiopia dates to the fourth-century reign of the Aksumite emperor Ezana. Aksum's geographic location, at the southernmost edge of the Hellenized Near East, was critical to its conversion and development. The kingdom was located along major international trade routes through the Red Sea between India and the Roman empire. The story of Ezana's conversion has been reconstructed from several existing documents, the ecclesiastical histories of Rufinus and Socrates Scholasticus. Both recount how Frumentius, a youth from Tyre, was shipwrecked and sent to the court of Aksum. Frumentius sought out Christian Roman merchants, was converted, and later became the first bishop of Aksum. At the very least, this story suggests that Christianity was brought to Aksum via merchants. Ezana's decision to adopt Christianity was most likely influenced by his desire to solidify his trading relationship with the Roman empire. Christianity afforded the possibility of unifying the many diverse ethnic and linguistic peoples of the Aksumite kingdom, a goal of Ezana's leadership. Aksum was one of the earliest states to develop a coin system in order to service its sophisticated and prosperous economy. Emperor Ezana was the first world leader to put the cross on coins that are the earliest examples of Christian material culture from Ethiopia.

Remains of distinctive Aksumite church architecture have been located in Aksum, Matara, and Adulis. These are oriented basilicas with stepped podia, which are accessed by a monumental set of stairs. These churches include an apse with lateral square chambers, introduced into the design of basilicas along the south coast of Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine by the fifth century. The construction of churches is believed to have served the religious needs of the new administrative and military officials settling in expanded territories. The growth of the Aksumite state ended after the Persian conquest of South Arabia, which displaced the trade routes of the Red Sea.

While earlier Aksumite churches were circular, later constructions deliberately attempted to mimic those of the description of King Solomon's temple in the Old Testament. The churches built in Gondar have a square sanctuary with two aisles running along the periphery. The interiors are entirely covered in both murals and paintings that were commissioned by the wealthy elite in order to assist in their ascension to heaven. This was a period of intense artistic production, including, in particular, considerable quantities of icons devoted to the Virgin Mary. ~ Emma George Ross, Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Text: Ross, Emma George. "African Christianity in Ethiopia". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/acet/hd_acet.htm (October 2002)

On View: "Pendant Icon [Ethiopia; Amharic] (1997.81.1)". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/09/sfe/ho_1997.81.1.htm (October 2006)

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Four in a series: Christian Martyrs of Nagasaki
Theme: Remembrance

This painting depicts the events surrounding the martyrdom of a group of Christians who were executed by crucifixion on February 5, 1597 at Nagasaki, known as the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan (日本二十六聖人, Nihon Nijūroku Seijin).

On February 5, 1597, twenty-six Christians – six European Franciscan missionaries, three Japanese Jesuits and seventeen Japanese laymen including three young boys – were executed by crucifixion in Nagasaki. These individuals were raised on crosses and then pierced through with spears.

Nippon Sei Ko Kai, a member of the Anglican Communion, added the martyrs to their calendar in 1959 to commemorate all the martyrs of Japan. The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America added the commemoration to their calendars during the revision of their respective prayer books in late 1970’s. Some parts of the Anglican Communion and the ELCA commemorate the martyrs of Japan on February 5 and the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England commemorate them on February 6.

Text: Wikipedia

On View: Christian Martyrs Of Nagasaki, date and artist unknown.

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Five in a series: A Mexican Muralist in East LA
Theme: Social Commentary

David Alfaro Siqueiros, one of the great Mexican muralists of the 20th century, painted América Tropical in 1932 on the second story exterior south wall of a large brick building known as the Italian Hall—one of the structures that today make up the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument in downtown Los Angeles. (Source: Getty Research Institute)

Siqueiros' murals showed strong sympathy for Mexican workers through his use of symbol, scale and setting. Many of Siqueiros’s murals reflect his political views as a member of Mexico’s Communist Party. The vivid colors, contorted figures, and sculpted surfaces of his murals help convey the artist’s urgent desire for political change. (Source: Encarta) Within a few months of the mural's unveiling in 1932, it was partially painted over with white paint. By 1952 the Siqueiros mural América Tropical and the controversy it sparked was completely whitewashed.

In 2002, the City of Los Angeles began working closely with the J Paul Getty Trust to restore and conserve the mural in its original location in East Los Angeles. Images of the restoration project can be seen here on the GRI website. At a press conference unveiling the restored mural in 2006 Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa remarked: "The people of the city of Los Angeles will finally be able to view this cultural treasure long obscured from sight. The mural, while controversial in its time, will allow adults and children of all ages to learn about and appreciate the diverse history of this city, the importance of freedom of artistic expression and the origins of the muralist movement in this city." The Mayor added, "While people can agree or disagree with the message, what’s important is that it was art, and art, while sometimes controversial, is important - because what it does is to lift the soul." (Source: Mark Vallen)

On View: América Tropical, mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros. 1932. Original mural size: ~80'w x 18'h.

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Six in a series: Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Visit the Exhibition Online
Theme: Reconciliation

Late in his career, the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn painted a series of portraits with references to religious subjects. Art historians have been at a loss to explain why this artist, living in the Protestant country of Holland in the late 17th century, would choose to create life-size portraits of apostles, saints and other Biblical figures. Some have argued that at the time Rembrandt was painting these richly animated portraits, he was under personal stress. As a series, then, these paintings may be a most intimate record of this great artist's personal struggles.

During Spring 2005, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC brought together for the first time 17 of Rembrandt's late religious portraits. The collection is viewable through an extensive online resource at the NGA website. Additional resources, including an in-depth study of Rembrandt's Abraham Entertaining the Angels, are available here at the National Gallery of Art website.

On View: Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1666, 206 x 205 c. In the collection of The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. Image source: rembrandtpainting.net

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Seven in a series:
O Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the peak of Corcovado Mountain in the Tijuca Forest
Theme: Landmark

O Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) is a large art deco-style statue, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It stands 38 meters high, a figurative representation of Christ in an upright posture with arms outstretched. The statue is located at the summit of Corcovado mountain in Tijuca Forest National Park standing at 710 meters and looking over the city.

In Portugese, this iconic monument is known as Cristo Redentor. The original design of the Christ the Redeemer statue was born by a man named Oswald. He designed it to have a globe in one hand and stand over a pedestal symbolizing the world but the design was not agreed upon. Another proposal for a monument was prepared and made in 1921 by the archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, an event named Seman de Monumento ("Monument Week") in hopes of attracting donations, which were attained mainly by Brazilian Catholics who readily awaited a design decision for an effigy.

Christ the Redeemer was designed by a French sculptor by the name of Paul Landowski and a local engineer named Heitor da Silva Costa was chosen to supervise the entire construction. The statue was built not out of steel but from reinforced concrete as that was considered a more suitable material for the cross-shaped statue. The outer layers of the landmark were constructed from a mosaic of soapstone because of the materials' known resistance to extreme weather and also due to its malleability. The Corcovado Railway was the only way to haul the large pieces of the statue to the crown of the mountain and thus was used as an important aide in the project.

Christ the Redeemer was built between 1926 and 1931 and after some time there was also a chapel built at the base of the mountain to house 150 visitors. The monument was inaugurated on October 12, 1931 in an extravagant and grand commemoration. [Source: destination360.com]

On View: Cristo Redentor, statue on Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro, by Sean Vivek Crasto. Source: Wikicommons.

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Eight in a series:
Armenian Khatchkar from the Lori Region
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Theme: Commemoration

"This Khatchkar is an exceptional example of the importance of the Gospels to the Armenian people," said Helen C. Evans, the Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art at the Metropolitan, "in that it depicts of the cross of salvation rising from the symbols of the four evangelists who wrote the Gospels – the angel of Matthew, the lion of Mark, the ox of Luke, and the eagle of John. We are extremely grateful to the many members of the Armenian community, both in Armenia and here in the U.S., who made possible this loan, which represents the great medieval artistic tradition of the Armenian people."

The Armenians, who recognized Christianity as their state religion at the beginning of the fourth century, have long maintained an independent Christian tradition. Located on the eastern border of Byzantium during medieval times, they frequently installed imposing Khatchkars as memorials to the dead and to mark local events of significance.

Text: Copyright © 2000-2008 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Additional resources: here

On View: Armenian Khatchkar (Christian Cross), from the Lori region, 1100-1200. Photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PHG

http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/ghiberti/index.html

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Nine in a series:
The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece
The Art Institute of Chicago
Visit the Exhibition Online
Theme: Narrative

The Gates of Paradise consist of ten panels—one column of five panels to each side of the seventeen-foot-high double doors. From the story of Adam and Eve at the top left to Solomon at the bottom right, each panel represents a succession of events. Often the same characters appear two or three times. The scheme allows Ghiberti to make each panel an entire narrative. (Source: John Haber, haberarts.com)

The panels illustrate Old Testament stories, whose characters include Adam and Eve, Jacob and Esau, and David and Goliath. In order to produce this immensely complex work, the artist applied his knowledge of sculpture and form to the task of capturing essential elements in each of the 10 stories.

Ghilberti's workshop trained many artists, including Donatello and Masolino. Apprentices were trained in all aspects of arts production, including the technique that Ghiberti re-invented, lost-wax casting.

On View: A panel of Adam and Eve in Ghiberti's "Gate's of Paradise". Photo by Thermos. Source: Wikicommons.

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Tenth in a series:
Maori Carving of the Head of Christ
St Joseph's Catholic Church
Jerusalem on the Whanganui River, New Zealand
Theme: Tradition

Altar Frontispiece Featuring Maori Carving of Christ Crowned with Thorns

This carving of the head of Christ is the center piece of the altar frontispiece in St. Joseph's Church at Jerusalem on the Whanganui River in New Zealand. Christ is represented in traditional Maori fashion with face tattoos (ta moko) and a crown of thorns. Paua (abalone) shell is used to decorate the carving.

Source: John Corney

On View: Altar frontispiece , St Joseph's Church, Jerusalem. John Corney, photographer.

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Eleventh in a series:
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin - Gothic Revival in English Architecture
Theme: Architecture

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, and theorist of design, now best remembered for his work on churches and on the Houses of Parliament.

He was the son of a French draughtsman, Augustus Charles Pugin, who trained him to draw Gothic buildings for use as illustrations in his books, and his wife Catherine Welby. This was the key to his work as a leader of the Gothic revival movement in architecture. Between 1821 and 1838 Pugin and his father published a series of volumes of architectural drawings, the first two entitled, Specimens of Gothic Architecture, and the following three, Examples of Gothic Architecture, that were to remain both in print and the standard references for Gothic architecture for at least the next century.

Pugin became an advocate of Gothic architecture, which he believed to be the true Christian form of architecture. He attacked the influence of "pagan" Classical architecture in his book Contrasts, in which he set up medieval society as an ideal, in contrast to modern secular culture. A fine example of his work in this regard is the church of St Giles in Cheadle, Staffordshire.

After the burning of the Palace of Westminster in 1834, Pugin was employed by Sir Charles Barry to work on the new Parliament buildings in London. He converted to Catholicism, but also designed and refurbished Anglican as well as Catholic churches throughout the country and abroad. His views, as expressed in works such as True Principles of Christian Architecture (1841) were highly influential.

Other works include the interior of St Chad's Cathedral, Erdington Abbey, and Oscott College, all in Birmingham. He also designed the college buildings of St Patrick and St Mary in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth; though not the college chapel. His original plans included both a chapel and an aula maxima, neither of which were built due to financial constraints. The college chapel was designed by a follower of Pugin, the Irish architect J.J.McCarthy. Pugin also designed St. Mary's Cathedral in Killarney. He revised the plans for St. Michael's Church in Ballinasloe, Galway.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

On View: Palace of Westminster - Westminster Hall from the south, Westminster - London - England. Photo taken by Tagishsimon

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Twelve in a series:
Ignatius' Illustrator
Theme: Illustration

Jerome Nadal (1507-1580), a Spaniard from Majorca, was one of the first ten members of the Society of Jesus (a.k.a. the Jesuits). For many years he served as the personal representative or "delegate" of the founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), in visiting Jesuit houses throughout Europe, especially to explain and implement the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus.

Ignatius himself urged Nadal to compile and distribute an illustrated guide for prayerful meditation on the Gospels, in the tradition of the Spiritual Exercises, although the work was not completed until after both men had died. Nadal selected the biblical scenes to be included, commissioned and directed the layout of the illustrations, and composed notes to accompany each scene. With the cooperation and support of Antwerp publishers Christophe Plantin and Martinus Nutius, 153 engravings were eventually produced by Bernardino Passeri, Marten de Vos, and Jerome and Anton Wierix.

Source: Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
On View: "A paralytic is healed", etching by Jerome Nadal , S. J. (1507-1580)

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Thirteen in a series
Leonardo for a Laptop Generation
Theme: Re-examination

Peter Greenaway and Leonardo DaVinci's Last Supper
"On the occasion of Saloni 2008, Peter Greenaway gives new life to the world’s most celebrated masterpiece "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci, merging an extraordinary wealth of languages including visual arts, cinema, poetry, music and some of the most cutting-edge new technologies.

"Leonardo’s masterpiece "The Last Supper" has survived both the fast natural aging process caused by experimental painting techniques conceived by the artist and the many attempts to restore its initial aspect, as well as having outlasted bombings during World War II. The Biblical scene will come to new life under the spectator’s eyes thanks to live projections of images and light bouncing on the very painted surface, accompanied by a soundscape of voices, music and noises. The performance will take place in the Refectory of the Dominican Friary in Santa Maria delle Grazie Church: on the very wall of the refectory, Leonardo portrayed the moment when Christ announces one of the apostle will betray him, causing disruption and dismay among them."

A video is available here at the Guardian Daily website.

You can visit the installation until September 7, 2008, at Santa Maria delle Grazie Church in Milan, Italy. The audience takes turns in groups of twenty-five people at a time, because of the fragile conditions of the painting. The event will loop many times during the evening, outside the normal opening hours.

To offer the same experience to a wider audience, thanks to a groundbreaking combination of sophisticated technology and craftsmanship, a perfect copy of the painting will be realized, a “clone” of the same size and scale, featuring the same exact characteristics and surface texture of the original, which will be on show in the Sala delle Cariatidi in Palazzo Reale during the week of Saloni. The project makes use of the most cutting-edge technologies ever applied to Leonardo’s fresco, thanks to an international team of collaborators coordinated by Change Performing Arts.

Source: Peter Greenaway

On View: Atmosphere - Peter Greenaway and Change Performing Arts Presents a Multimedia Event Based on Leonardo Da Vinci's Painting "The Last Supper" at Saloni 2008 in Milan - Saloni 2008 - Milan, Italy © Insidefoto / PR Photos. See more photos here>

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Fourteen in a series:
Ancient Egypt in Living Color
Theme: Restoration

Wall Painting Conservation at Dayr Anba Bishay, Sohag
[Philadelphia] Nine years ago, Temple art historian Elizabeth S. Bolman stepped into a decaying, sixth-century church at an isolated monastery near Sohag, Egypt, walked through the nave to the sanctuary and stared at its blackened walls. Beneath centuries of soot and varnish, she saw the dulled ghosts of paintings — magnificent paintings, covering almost every surface of the sanctuary.

"I was transfigured" she said. "I knew it was my destiny."

Now, after nearly a decade of planning, fundraising, diplomacy and painstaking conservation, the fragile wall paintings of Dayr Anba Bishay — commonly known as the Church of the Red Monastery, perhaps the best-preserved and most complete original late-Roman painted church interior in the Byzantine world — are beginning to show their true colors and deliciously complex patterns again.

Almost half the church's paintings have been brought back to life by Bolman's 12-member international conservation team. Emerging from the sanctuary's walls and columns are vivid motifs in pinks, greens, reds and yellows. The faces of Christ, the Virgin Mary, apostles, evangelists, prophets and angels in robes of lavender and orange look out from the niches in the sanctuary's three lobes.

Art historians have long known that church interiors of the late Roman period were brightly colored. Contemporary accounts and a few surviving churches decorated with mosaics, a more durable medium, suggest that builders of the time used color and pattern to dazzle. Yet almost all of the paintings from churches built in the Mediterranean region in late antiquity have been lost.

"That's why I was stunned when I first saw the Red Monastery Church," said Bolman, an associate professor at Temple's Tyler School of Art and an authority on Coptic and medieval art. "I recognized we had a missing link here."

The rebirth of the Red Monastery's wall paintings is paralleled by a rebirth of Coptic Christianity in Egypt, a nation that was predominantly Christian when the monastery was built. Although Islam quickly spread across the region after the Arab conquest in the seventh century, Egypt still has a vibrant Christian minority culture — a tribute, Bolman said, to the nation's tradition of tolerance. Read the full story online here courtesy of Temple University.

Diagrams of the wall painting conservation process, 2002-2007, are available here courtesy of the Yale Egyptological Institute

Source: Temple University Office of News Communications, © 2007 Temple University.

On View: Photograph of the restored wall paintings of Dayr Anba Bishay — commonly known as the Church of the Red Monastery - by Temple University art historian Elizabeth Bolman.

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Fifteen in a series:
Arte Indocristiano
Theme: Mission

"Spanish Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians in the 16th century introduced the native Indians to not only their religious beliefs, but the European arts and aesthetics. Hand in hand, they learned about each other in a cultural exchange that gave birth to what we know as Indochristian Art.

There are very few sources that give credit to the intelligence, sensibility, enthusiasm and craftsmanship of the Indians involved in the construction and decoration of the Convents and Temples of the New Spain. A seminal book on Arte Indocristiano by Constantino Reyes-Valerio (1978 first edition, reedited in 2000) analyzed in detail the work of native Mexicans under the guidance of Christian friars."

Source: Wikipedia

On View: "LA VIRGENCITA DEL NUEVO MUNDO", Mexico(The Viceroyalty of New Spain), circa 1521-40
Unknown Aztec artisan ( in a style called Indo-Christian or, increasingly, Tequitqui )
Immaculate Conception (La Virgencita del Nuevo Mundo)
Cantera stone, 14 ¾ inches high x 11 inches wide x 4 ½ inches deep

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Sixteen in a series:
Art for the Christian Liturgy in the Middle Ages
Theme: Ritual Objects

The term liturgy refers to the rites and ceremonies prescribed by the Eastern and Western Church for communal worship. The central focus of the liturgy is the Eucharist, in which Christians take consecrated wine and bread in commemoration of the Last Supper and Christ's death. While liturgical practices were codified gradually over several centuries and varied locally, eucharistic vessels for the bread and wine, the paten, and the chalice remained indispensable (Attarouthi Treasure, 1986.3.1-15; Chalice, Paten, and Straw, 47.101.26-29). The liturgy in both the Eastern and Western Church necessitated a variety of additional objects such as books, often richly decorated, for prayers, music, and Old and New Testament readings (Leaf from a Missal, 1992.238); crosses for the altar and to be carried in procession (The Cloisters Cross, 63.12; Processional Cross, 1993.163); censers for the burning of incense; and lighting devices for the sanctuary (Polycandelon with Crosses, 2002.483.7).

Because of their sacred function, liturgical objects were often crafted of the most precious materials. In a written account of Justinian’s famed sixth-century church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, one author tells of hundreds of vessels and furnishings made of pure gold with pearls and precious stones. Emulating the splendors of Byzantium in his lavish commissions for the royal abbey church of Saint-Denis, north of Paris, Abbot Suger exclaimed in the 1140s:
If golden pouring vessels, golden vials, golden little mortars used to serve … to collect the blood of goats or calves, how much more must golden vessels, precious stones, and whatever is most valued … be laid out … for the reception of the blood of Christ! Surely, neither we nor our possessions suffice for this service.

Source: Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. "Art for the Christian Liturgy in the Middle Ages". In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (October 2001)

On View: Chasuble, ca. 1330–1350, English. Silk and silver-gilt thread and colored silks in underside couching, split stitch, laid-and-couched work, and raised work, with pearls on velvet; 51 x 30 in. (129.5 x 76.2 cm)

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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith introduces the reader to humanity's historic relationship between art and faith. This daily series of articles examines the interlacing of art and faith from across the Anglican Communion. The title of the series, Religious Utterances, comes from systematic theologian Dr. Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, whose work seeks "a recovery of humanity's religious utterances through art."
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RELIGIOUS UTTERANCES - art of faith
Seventeen in a series:
The Manga Bible
Theme: Anime

No series on religious utterances throughout the centuries of human development would be complete without the addition of the anime interpretation of the Old and New Testaments, as told through the images of graphic novelist Siku.

A previous blog in this column appeared here.

Julia Evans has written an educational resource for youth groups and schools that progresses over 8 weeks. It is available here.

Ajinbayo Akinsiku, the concept artist and graphic designer for the project, is in seminary in London with the goal of ordination as an Anglican priest. He is quoted as saying, "Christ is a hard guy, seeking revolution and revolt, a tough guy." (New York Times, "The Bible as Graphic Novel" by Neela Banerjee, 2/10/08, A14)

A link to purchase The Manga Bible is available here with the convenience of one-click purchase through the Amazon.com Associates program. All purchases referred from visio-divina.com support Episcopal Cafe Art Blog, Episcopal Church and Visual Arts, and Visio Divina programming.

Source: The Manga Bible website