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Favourite Graven Image?

  • 20-11-2004 8:20pm
    #1
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,768 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Christianity has 2000 years of Art/Culture knocking around in its attic. Rummaging through it, just wondering which works inspires you?

    Personally for me the paintings of El Greco.
    I like the bold use of vibrant colour and his obvious religious imagery.
    But what mostly attracts me is I feel the way the individuals seem to be in the process of transformation from earth-born to heavenly, as in his various scenes of St. Francis.


Comments

  • #2
    Godkickingboots
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10 ✭Godkickingboots


    I remember seeing Valazquez's "El Christo" in a gallery in Madrid a few years ago, it made such a huge impression on me. The Christ in the picture looks so human and so forlorn, but with a kind of quiet acceptance and just a hint of heavenly light encircling his head. I think it makes it easier to empathise without losing the import of what's happening, not just rendering him as an utterly human figure nor giving him outlandishly divine attributes. What really makes the picture so powerful is the utterly black background, it sort of sets the Crucifixion apart from whatever else was going on. Not sure if I can explain it exactly, so here's a link:
    http://www.spanisharts.com/prado/velazquez/cristo.htm

    Apart from that, and getting slightly away from 'graven' but still keeping with the Christian theme, Heironymous Bosch's 'The Garden of Delight' is just plain fun; it remind me of a medieval 'Where's Wally' book. You can spend ages pouring over it, admiring the detail.

    Great thread idea Manach!


  • #3
    Yoda
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,853 ✭✭✭Yoda


    The two-euro coin? ;)


  • #4
    Talliesin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,314 ✭✭✭Talliesin


    There was an amazing work called "Piss-Christ" (that's the 4 letter word that begins with p should the auto-censor block it). It was a picture of Christ with thorns (the picture was a close-up, along the lines of what a photographer would call a "head shot") in a rectangular flask filled with urine.

    The interesting thing was the range or reactions to it. I immediately took it as a representation of the humiliation that was part of the Passion and quite an evocative one at that (I may not be a believer, but I can still grok the story). But some people immediately reacted in a knee-jerk way and assumed it was anti-Christian (it wasn't, the artist was Christian) and the fact that it was purchased by a US museum with Federal funding was raised at Congress!

    I also love the movie Jesus of Montreal/Jésus de Montréal. It's writer/director has wryly expressed disappointment at the fact that he wasn't condemned for it by the people who condemned Piss Christ.


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