Caitlyn Ordway-Art History

ESSAY #7a

Faith and Belief

QUESTION: Is Art in any way, an intrinsic part of, or a primary factor in religion or religious expression and if so, how did it specifically play a part in the development of Christianity?

PART ONE:

SUMMARY: What I learned from answering this question was how religion and art are interconnected and what kind of impact they both had on people.

REASON: This question is being asked because art and religion are two major parts of human life and they each play their own role in their effect on people.

PURPOSE: The reason I chose to answer this question was not really because of art and religion, I am more interested in art and belief and for most people belief is religion. I believe this might give me a better understanding why religion is such an important thing for a lot of people, and how art can relate to it.

DIRECTION: Answering this question I think will give me a better understanding of the importance of art and religion in people’s lives and what drives people to their beliefs and how their art represents that.

IMPRESSIONS: Religious art is often depicted as representing biblical themes or that the artist themselves were severely religious. Well, the façade is false. Nonbelievers and those who were skeptical about religious traditions often were the artist, and strangely enough despite them painting biblical figures they themselves had no belief in it. An artist’s religious beliefs were often irrelevant to the quality of his or her work, and some of the best paintings were done by those who were nonbelievers. The question that really comes to mind though is what does religion really mean? The bible could tell you. But the bible is only one belief. And who’s to say that a person’s belief necessarily needs to be of a higher power? I believe the true definition of religion is the human journey to finding understanding and meaning in the world. This is why the relationship between art and religion is so prominent. Art is the seed of human expression and belief is life. The two cannot exist without each other.

PART TWO:

ANSWER: The world has gone through many evolutions over the years and with it so has art and religion. Religion used to be about praying to the Gods and religious rituals and traditions. But today it is hard to really place what religion is and what it represents to people, because now everything is different. Our environment has done this, and today the world is cruel. Today there are many skeptics, but even they have something they believe in. Not necessarily a God, but even your own opinions and beliefs could be a religion, because it is what the meaning and understanding is of the individual’s life. Religious art is everywhere even if you don’t you think you see it, it is there. Because religious art is not all about Jesus and biblical themes, it’s art that makes a statement about a person’s beliefs.

Roman/Christian Art

“Two important moments played a critical role in the development of early Christianity. The first was the decision of the Apostle Paul to spread Christianity beyond the Jewish communities of Palestine into the Greco-Roman world, and the second was the moment when the Emperor Constantine at the beginning of the fourth century accepted Christianity and became its patron. The creation and nature of Christian art were directly impacted by these moments.

            The beginnings of an identifiable Christian art can be traced to the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century. Considering the Old Testament prohibitions against graven images, it is important to consider why Christian art developed in the first place. The use of images will be a continuing issue in the history of Christianity. The best explanation for the emergence of Christian art in the early church is due to the important role images played in Greco-Roman culture. As Christianity gained converts, these new Christians had been brought up on the value of images in their previous cultural experience and they wanted to continue this in their Christian experience. For example, there was a change in burial practices in the Roman world away from cremation to inhumation. Outside the city walls of Rome, adjacent to major roads, catacombs were dug into the ground to bury the dead. Families would have chambers or cubicula dug to bury their members. Wealthy Romans would also have sarcophagi or marble tombs carved for their burial. The Christian converts wanted the same things. Christian catacombs were dug frequently adjacent to non-Christian ones, and sarcophagi with Christian imagery were apparently popular with the richer Christians.

            A striking aspect of the Christian art of the third century is the absence of the imagery that will dominate later Christian art. We do not find in these early period images of the Nativity, Crucifixion, or Resurrection of Christ for example. This absence of direct images of the life of Christ is best explained by the status of Christianity as a mystery religion. The story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection would be part of the secrets of the cult. While not directly representing these central Christian images, the theme of death and resurrection was represented through a series of images many of which were derived from the Old Testament that echoed the themes. For example the story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish and then after spending three days and three nights in the belly of the beast is vomited out on dry ground was seen by early Christians as an anticipation or prefiguration of the story of Christ's own death and resurrection. Images of Jonah along with those of Daniel in the Lion's Den, the Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace, Moses Striking the Rock, among others are widely popular in the Christian art of the third century both in paintings and on sarcophagi. All of them can be seen to allegorically allude to the principal narratives of the life of Christ.” (http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/smarthistory/early_christianity_smarthistory.html)

Examples of Roman/Christian Art:

“According to Christian tradition, Constantine had a vision the night before the battle in which he saw a flaming cross in the sky and heard these words ‘in this sign you shall conquer.’ The next morning he ordered that his army’s shields and standards be inscribed with the monogram XP. The victorious Constantine then showed his gratitude by ending the persecution against Christianity and recognizing Christianity as a lawful religion. He may have been influenced in that decision by his mother Helena, a devout Christian-later canonized. Whatever his motivations, in 313 CE, together with Licinius, who ruled the Eastern Empire, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, a model of religious toleration.” (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad/Michael W. Cothren, Fourth Edition/volumn 1, 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., page 208)

Constantine The Great

“Sculptors used white marble for the head, chest, arms, and legs, and sheets of bronze for the drapery, all supported on a wooden frame. The statute because a permanent stand-in for the emperor, representing him whenever the conduct of business legally required his presence.  The head combines traditional Roman portraiture with some of the abstract qualities-the defining characteristics of Constantine’s face. His heavy jaw, hooked nose, and jutting chin have been incorporated into a stylized, symmetrical pattern in which other features, such as his eyes, eyebrows, and hair have been simplified into geometric arcs. The result is a work that projects imperial power and dignity with no hint of human frailty or imperfection.”  (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad/Michael W. Cothren, Fourth Edition/volumn 1, 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., page 212)

Platter

“Dating from the mid-fourth century CE proves that artists working for Christian patrons continued to use themes involving Bacchus, allowing them the opportunity to create elaborate figural compositions displaying the nude or lightly draped human body in complex, dynamic, poses. The platter was found in a cache of a silver tableware near Milden-hall England, and although most of the objects are also decorated with pagan imagery, three of the spoons are engraved with Christian symbols. The original owner of the hoard was likely to have been a wealthy Roman Christian, living in provinces. Such opulent were often hidden or buried to protect them from theft and looting, a sign of a breakdown of the Roman peace.” (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad/Michael W. Cothren, Fourth Edition/volumn 1, 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., page 213+214)

Priestess Of Bacchus

“A famous ivory diptych attests to the close relationship between their families, perhaps through marriage, as well as to their firmly held beliefs. A diptych was a pair of panels attached with hinges, not unlike the modest object held by the woman. But in this case of a very precious material and carved with reliefs on the exterior sides. On the interior of a diptych there were shallow, tray-like recessions filled with wax, into which messages could be written with a stylus and sent to a servant as a letter to a friend or acquaintance, who could smooth out the wax surface, incise a reply with his or her own stylus, and send the diptych back to its owner with the servant. Here one family’s name is inscribed, elegantly attired priestess, burns incense beautifully decorated altar. On her head is a wreath of ivory, sacred to Bacchus. She is assisted by a small child, and the event takes place out of doors under an oak tree, sacred to Jupiter. Like the silversmiths, Roman ivory carvers of the fourth century CE were highly skillful, and their work was widely admired. For conservative patrons like Nicomachus and Symmachus families, they imitated the Augustan style effortlessly. The exquisite rendering of the drapery and foliage recalls the reliefs of the Ara Pacis.” (Art History, Marilyn Stokstad/Michael W. Cothren, Fourth Edition/volumn 1, 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., page 215)

Modern Religious Art

art and religion could never be more distanced, the truth is that religion has become an increasing point of artistic concern. Art historians, to be sure, have long ignored the last century's religious art, but such a tiresome approach is recently being itself ignored. The title of Yale art historian Sally Promey's article says it all: "The 'Return' of Religion in the Scholarship of American Art." Likewise, it's no mere coincidence that the Art Seminar series, a major forum in the fields of art and art history, concluded with a volume on religion, entitled "Re-Enchantment," questioning why religious concerns have been unjustly excluded from the world of art. Most recently, a symposium designed to continue this line of investigation, entitled "Why Have There Been No Great Modern Religious Artists?" is scheduled alongside the meeting of the College Art Association in Manhattan next month. The Symposium aims to challenge the "narratives of modernist and post-modernist art history that have tended to omit serious consideration of Christian strains in 20th century and current artistic practice." Art's chilly attitude toward religion is thawing, expressed perhaps most directly by Harvard's Camille Paglia:

            ‘I would argue that the route to a renaissance of the American fine arts lies through religion. Let me make my premises clear: I am a professed atheist and a pro-choice libertarian Democrat. ... For the fine arts to revive, they must recover their spiritual center. Profaning the iconography of other people's faiths is boring and adolescent. The New Age movement, to which I belong, was a distillation of the 1960s' multicultural attraction to world religions, but it has failed thus far to produce important work in the visual arts.’

            To be sure, the art world suffers from a secular hangover still. But one can't shake the feeling that religious concerns are the elephant in the gallery, waiting to be more fully addressed. When the dust settles from the controversy over Wojnarowicz (whose work should be understood apart from it), this refreshing proximity of art and religion, not their temporary alienation, will endure.

At the end of the day, the silliest part of the passing kerfuffle is that it betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity. The cross, at least according to St. Paul (1 Corinthians 1:23), is already an intentional offense, and nothing done to it by artists can make it any more horrifying than it already, quite intentionally, is: The most hideous of spectacles, a hole impossibly black, absorbing every awful deed committed and every good one left undone. Just what is a crucifix? It's impossible to say: "As the depths of the sea cannot be fathomed by any human gaze," wrote Gregory of Nyssa, "so too the secret of Hell is impenetrable to all human knowledge." But such was the cost of redemption. Compared to the bracing reality of the gospel itself, urine and ants are as offensive as Champagne and butterflies.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-milliner/champagne-and-butterflies_b_805398.html)

Examples of Modern Religious Art:

Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X

“Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X is a 1953 painting by the Irish artist Francis Bacon. The work shows a distorted version of the Portrait of Innocent X painted by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez in 1650. The work is one of a series of variants of the Velázquez painting which Bacon executed throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, a total of over 45 works.[1] The picture was described by Gilles Deleuze as an example of creative re-interpretation of the classical.

When asked why he was compelled to revisit the subject so often, Bacon replied that he had nothing against the Popes, that he merely sought ‘an excuse to use these colors, and you can't give ordinary clothes that purple color without getting into a sort of false fauve manner.’

In Bacon's version of Velázquez's masterpiece, the Pope is shown screaming yet his voice is "silenced" by the enclosing drapes and dark rich colors. The dark colors of the background lend a grotesque and nightmarish tone to the painting. The pleated curtains of the backdrop are rendered transparent and appear to fall through the representation of the Pope's face.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study_after_Vel%C3%A1zquez's_Portrait_of_Pope_Innocent_X)

Edward Boccia: Eye of the Painter” at MOCRA in 1996

“Boccia developed a distinctive style that wedded abstract expressionism and figurative styles through a surrealist sensibility, resulting in visually arresting but enigmatic images. He described his work as dealing with “love, lust and life,” and brought together literary themes and archetypes both pagan and Christian in his work. He employed diptychs, triptychs and polyptychs (often on a monumental scale) to depict multiple dimensions of a single concept.

It was such canvases that were displayed at MOCRA in a 1996 exhibition titled Edward Boccia: Eye of the Painter.” (http://mocra.wordpress.com/)

Patrick Graham: Landscape

“Graham’s inspiration is deeply rooted in the Irish landscape, in vistas and places that hold deep meaning for him. The Irish affinity for nature, combined with profound experience of the pain which comes from both oppression and repression, has led to extraordinary artistic expressions in poetry, music, and dance. This cultural and artistic milieu formed Graham’s visual expression. His work incorporates ambiguous symbolic forms and scripted phrases that resonate like fragments of traditional song and lyrical poetry which spring from a unique historical consciousness; through them he explores the elemental processes of life and the existential journey. Among the realities he acknowledges in a sensitive voice is the Irish religious experience, particularly of the Catholic faith, yet his work has universal appeal to those who struggle with issues of identity, freedom, or faith.” (http://mocra.wordpress.com/)

Conclusion:

Based on research Ancient religious art was more of a memorial of their great leaders and the celebration of Gods and Goddesses. Modern day religious art goes beyond that and is more about people’s beliefs about the world. Religious art is an intrinsic part of both cultures, only they both represent something different due to the evolution of life.