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Nearly 100,000 visitors were drawn to an exhibition of sacred art which recently concluded at the National Gallery in London. This was triple the number of visitors expected. According to Curator Xavier Bray, it was "the immediacy of the images" that drew such a large number of people. "The images of Christ were very truthful, profound depictions; you were meeting the Virgin, Christ and the saints in a very direct way." In a crowded gallery, he said, "there was a wonderful sense of silence - awe-inspired people. I met a Sufi woman in tears."The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600-1700, which will be housed at the National Gallery in Washington, DC from February 28th to May 31st, showcases major paintings by Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, and Francisco Pacheco, as well as painted and gilded sculptures by Gregorio Fernández, Juan Martínez Montañés, and Pedro de Mena, among others. Many of the sculptures have never before been exhibited away from their Spanish churches, convents, and monasteries. Click here to read the full article on the London show. For more information on the DC exhibition, please click here.
The Sacred Arts Academy is offering Catholic art students an intensive painting workshop in Florence June 10–July 3, 2010. Founded in 2009, the Academy seeks to respond to the call of the Second Vatican Council to establish a place of learning for Catholic artists to be trained. With a focus on both figurative and decorative arts in several media, it exists not only to teach technical expertise but also to foster in studying artists an understanding of art's deepest purpose and promise. Please visit their website for more information.
The Foundation has gained the attention of several prominent personalities, including Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, CFR, who recently wrote to the Foundation expressing his admiration for Anthony Visco, the artist we featured at a special exhibition this past October. We have also cultivated a positive correspondance with Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, who wrote to us that "...The mission of stimulating a renewed interest in the patronage and production of Christian sacred art is a most noble mission, which is particularly important in our wholly secularized society. May God bless abundantly the apostolic work of The Foundation for Sacred Arts..."
Our blessings are evident as we continue to develop our programmatic outreach for 2010, and the Foundation is pleased to announce "Shadow, Image & Reality: The Church as Sacramental Building" a lecture by Dr. Denis R. McNamara offered Satuday, May 1st at St. Thomas a' Becket Catholic Church in Reston Virgina. Please visit the Events section of our website for more information. Ad majorem Dei gloriam.
Ann Marra
Executive Director
Photo by S. Smith Photography
Kusz's "Ave Maria", is an exercise in devotion moving from contemplative fragility to powerful affirmation. Fr. Kusz -- a recently ordained Dominican who lives in Krakow -- simultaneously studied sacred music and choral conducting while training for the Priesthood. His work has already become a staple in many Churches around Poland, and is a leading musical force in the "new aesthetic" in liturgical art currently taking place there. The "Ave Maria", like his other sacred works, grows strongly out of Catholic contemplative tradition while also giving a strong nod to the Gregorian Chant idiom. While the "Ave Maria" is built upon a renaissance aesthetic, the clever harmonic choices and vocal density make it a thoroughly modern work. As a composer, Kusz certainly stands on the shoulders of giants before him, looking ahead to a new musical renaissance within the Church. To listen to "Ave Maria", please click here.
Mark Nowakowksi
Curator of Architecture
On January 10th, the Church will celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Christ. The Sacrament of Baptism instituted through Christ's own baptism has long been symbolized by the scallop shell. Often, a shell is used to pour water over the head in baptism, as we see in the painting above of The Baptism of Christ by Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci.
Additionally, the shell symbolizes pilgrimage. In Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus, also above, the figure at right wears a scallop shell pinned to his vest, identifying him with all pilgrims who seek and encounter Christ at the end of their own "road to Emmaus". This symbol and practice are closely tied to the Spanish shrine of Santiago de Compostela, one of the most prominent sites of Christian pilgrimage since the Middle Ages.
These two meanings are linked. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we are born to new life in Christ and cleansed of original sin. The gates of heaven which were closed after the Fall are reopened to us through our reception of the Sacrament. Our life, therefore, is a pilgrimage through this world, and union with God in heaven is the goal of our journey.
Rachel Ross
Curator of Art
Rembrandt van Rijn
The Return of the Prodigal Son
c.1669
The Church's historic relationship with the arts might best be understood as paternal rather than spousal. This is the view put forth by art historian Elizabeth Lev following the Holy Father's recent address to artists in Rome. The Church, as patron (from the Latin pater, meaning father), "acted like a nurturing father, providing education and boundaries but also exhorting artists to cultivate their gifts." Thus rather than characterizing the modern estrangment of this relationship as a "divorce", as it has been widely described, Lev contends that an "extended adolescence" is to blame. Modern artists, bent on self-promotion and self-expression, found the Christian narrative and aesthetic traditions contricting. "And so it came to pass that today's angry, sulky, self-absorbed adolescents of art chose to provoke instead of persuade, titillate instead of stimulate, and rage instead of reason." The Holy Father's call to artists, therefore, is for maturation, and for a return to the nurturing arms of their pater. To read the full Zenit article, please click here.
As we look forward to a new year dedicated to cultural renewal and evangelization through beauty, The Foundation for Sacred Arts is pleased to announce a number of significant milestones. Our website has been updated with image galleries, videos and other important resources. The Foundation has also welcomed new members to the board of directors. We continue to receive diverse inquires regarding our International Sacred Music Competition for Composers and creative personalities from around the globe are hard at work preparing their entries. We have also extended our deadline for our artist competition, I Believe: The Creed in Art. Our composer directory has nearly doubled in size in the last few months and we have at last unveiled the first additions to our architect directory. We anticipate the expansion of all of our directories in the coming months, and trust that these will be a key resource for pastors and patrons with a keen eye for excellence. Happy New Year!
Ann Marra
Executive Director
Daily Mass Chapel Altar Window, Saint Peters Church, West Brandywine Township, PA. 60" in diameter. Hand blown German glasses, vitreous glass paints, lead.
This contemporary interpretation of the Pieta began with digital photography. Models, dressed in traditional garments were arranged, dramatically lighted and recorded. Here the best computer imaging technology is partnered with techniques of vitreous glass painting rediscovered in the restoration of early 20th Century Bavarian windows. The goal was to create a new style of art glass window for 21st Century Churches that acknowledges the trend back toward traditional design. A style that is both familiar and challenging for a contemporary audience but without the once-upon-a-time sentimentality popular a century ago.Joseph K. BeyerFor more information on Joe Beyer Studio please click here.
The anchor is an ancient Christian symbol of hope in Christ. Given its origin in catacomb imagery, a genre that developed during the earliest persecutions and required some subtlety, the Christian meaning may not be immediately apparent. Yet we find the cross hidden within the symbol: the crosspiece of the anchor reveals the cross of Christ and represents his redemptive action upon that cross, the object of our hope. It is this hope which grounds the Christian, fixing him in place while being buffeted by worldly concerns, uncertainty, even persecution. The anchor of Christian hope prevents us from losing our way or running aground. Often, the symbol of the anchor is accompanied by a fish, one of the earliest symbols of Christ and an embodiment of his self-offering for our sake. The anchor is a timely symbol to contemplate during the Advent season, as we watch in hope for Christ's coming at Christmas, and anticipate his second coming in glory.
Rachel Ross
Curator of Art
On November 21st, 2009, the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists, and the 45th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's similar meeting with artists, Pope Benedict XVI met with some 250 artists from around the world in the Sistine Chapel. The intent of this meeting, in his words, was "to confirm the friendship between the Church and the arts." He maintained the need for artists in the Church "in order to carry out our ministry...preaching and rendering accessible and comprehensible to the minds and hearts of our people the things of the spirit, the invisible, the ineffable, the things of God himself." In this regard, he continued, there is a particular need for an authentic beauty in the arts, since beauty is "a path towards the transcendent, towards the ultimate Mystery, towards God." As "custodians of beauty" artists "are to be heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity." The full text of this address is now available in English by clicking here.
Nearly 100,000 visitors were drawn to an exhibition of sacred art which recently concluded at the National Gallery in London. This was triple the number of visitors expected. According to Curator Xavier Bray, it was "the immediacy of the images" that drew such a large number of people. "The images of Christ were very truthful, profound depictions; you were meeting the Virgin, Christ and the saints in a very direct way." In a crowded gallery, he said, "there was a wonderful sense of silence - awe-inspired people. I met a Sufi woman in tears.
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