Session #1: Presence/Revelation
Giovanni Bellini. Christ Blessing. c. 1500. Kimbell Museum of Art.
A Humanist image of Christ
Link to high-resolution Google Arts and Culture image from the Kimbell Museum.
Giovanni Bellini depicts Christ as fully human as befits an artist of the Italian Renaissance. During this period Vesalius published the first illustrated treatise of anatomy, Da Vinci studied corpses in the morgue and scholars translated Greek, Roman and Islamic texts leading to a better understanding of ancient knowledge that had not been accessible to the public. Note the artist’s attention to accurate anatomy, especially in the posture and the bones and muscles of the neck. He also raises his hand in a gesture that the faithful would read as one blessing. The viewer is invited to directly encounter and engage with Jesus. Despite this naturalist rendering, Jesus is also portrayed as transcending the divide between heaven and earth. The beautiful sky has the colors of a sun peeking over the horizon, just at the depicted Christ’s shoulders. Christ is also the shepherd, holding a staff, and if you look carefully, you can see a sheep just under the elbow of the arm raised to bless us.
Reframing the way Christianity is depicted.
He Qi was a young man during China’s Cultural Revolution. He has long been inspired by religious paintings by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael as well as by stained glass from Christian Gothic churches. In this painting you can see a lot of the traditional symbols— a candles, a jug, the chalice and bread for communion. You can even see some similarities with Bellini on how the figure in the left foreground lifts their hand. What you don’t see is a clear gender, race or nationality—like the women and the apostles, we are not even sure that we encounter the risen Lord. This artist aims for a more inclusive, universal depiction. For more on He Qi, you might read Francisca F. Ireland-Verwoerd, “World Christianity Explored through World Art,” posted by Boston University’s Center for Global Christianity and Mission (Accessed b/28/2020) http://www.bu.edu/cgcm/annual-theme/an-image-of-world-christianity/.
He Qi. After the Resurrection (The Risen Lord). 2004. Overseas Mission Study Center.
Colin McCahon. The Marys at the Tomb. 1950. Auckland Museum. Link to Google Arts and Culture.
Christian Imagery from New Zealand in the period after World War II.
New Zealand artist Colin McCahon is not well known in the United States but played an important role in Roman Catholic church and chapel decoration in his home country. Like He Qi, this artist studied traditional Christian iconography. You can compare his image to historical European depictions of the three Mary’s on Wikipedia’s page. In a time period of greater abstraction in art, McCahon depicts fewer objects and simplifies the facial features, bodies, and spaces. This is a conceptual representation. Note, however, that like Bellini and He Qi, the sky is an important component of the setting and that the figures are close to us, the viewers. I am also interested in how the eyes in this image, like the other two paintings, are so important at connecting figures. Bellini’s Christ looks out beyond the campus; all the eyes of He Qi’s painting are open; in McCahon’s painting, the eyes are expressive, contemplative, and connect the figures to each other or inward to the soul, but do not look out at us. The Auckland Museum’s website has an augmented reality version of this image! Check it out at Google Arts and Culture.
The Early Church’s Imagining of Christ in Roman Mosaics
Santa Pudenziana Apse Mosaic, 4th Century, Rome.
Santa Pudenziana is an early Christian church—one of the oldest churches that is built after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire—post persecution. During this period imagery helped to explain theology, evangelize and teach biblical stories to the increasing number of faithful. Mosaic, the medium of this work of art, uses little pieces of glass, ceramic, stone and/or metal and to make a design and was used in many cultures around the Mediterranean. Here Christ appears to the faithful of disparate historical moments after his resurrection, sitting on a golden throne. There are a couple of elements in this work that I love—notice that like Bellini’s later painting, here the Christ figure transcends heaven and earth. Earth is represented as architectural space, in a row above a gold bond, a shimmering heaven encompasses the NEW Jerusalem. The dominant colors—gold, purple, red and blues—are significant as is the position of Jesus in a throne—he is the divine emperor!