Subscribe Feed (RSS)Is religious art relevant in Contemporary Art? Do we need it? Does it do more harm than good?
There is a lively discussion on religion and art over at Art News Blog , one of the blog sites I frequent for news of the art world.
Essentially, Carol, the intrepid blogger-journalist went on a self professed rant, more about problems that seem to stem from organized religion, like wars, and questioned whether artists should promote religious views, or moreover dogma.
To be fair, Carol then backtracked as many of the Western World’s greatest artworks are religious.
This was posted on Sunday and by the time I checked in on Monday, the comments were flying back and forth, again more dealing with religion than art.
As far as I know, I am the only founder from the USA with an original theory of religious art, Post Conceptual UnGraven Image . Being uniquely American, although Judeo-Christian based the theory is fully inclusive of most of the world’s religions and paths (see the manifesto). So of course I chimed in with a comment, adding to the original post and the comments up to that point.
It is a topic that deserves many posts, comments and dialogue. A polite discussion is healthy. It may seem corny, but communication really does build understanding, and that includes the special visual communication of art.
One of the problems with any of the current discussions about religion is simply defining the term, “religion”. People who line up against organized religion are more against the abuses that have occurred by leaders and followers who have twisted the message or been two faced for their own gain.
When a person gets an egotistic benefit, such as thinking they are superior to others, by belonging to a group or following a spiritual path that is a perversion of the intended purpose of the path. This kind of abuse, whether it happens on a one-to-one personal level or on a large scale (war), is always a perversion. It is no better than common prejudice or its extreme of ethnic cleansing.
The purpose of a spiritual or religious path is to assist a person to be closer to The Divine (my catch-all acceptable term, please substitute the name you prefer for the One). Being closer to The Divine is transformative as coincidentally this means becoming more of one’s essential self. As just about every religion, certainly the major ones teaches, we are spiritual beings who have physical forms (bodies), thus being more of who we are means being more spiritual.
Proverbs 31 – Woman of Valor Rose Bud
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When artists portray that spiritual aspect of humankind – or one specific human being, we recognize the work as great art. Many of the Western World’s greatest artists such as Michaelangelo , Rembrandt and Da Vinci were masters of this. These three noted artists also painted religious work but never fully followed the dogma of their time and controversy dogged them for that.
Fine artists were the shaman, the religious leaders of the early tribes and groups. Most great artists have always spiritually led through their work. Towards the end of his life, Andy Warhol began a series somewhat based on Da Vinci’s Last Supper, in which commercial logos were substituted for religious components. For instance, the Dove Soap logo symbolized the Holy Spirit. Having brought art into the supermarket with Campbell ‘s Soup cans and Brillo boxes, Warhol flipped the Pop focus to bring religion into the commercial world, too. The profane becomes holy, the holy profane.
Warhol predated the selling of religion that we have seen through the media. Depending on the message sold and how the power and profits earned are used, as individuals we approve or not. It was an artist to point out the then current links between business as religion and religion as business.
Personally, I would not wish to live in a world without the religious art that has been so meaningful to my own spiritual quest.
Van Gogh, a former preacher who considered himself to be a religious painter, has inspired me with his energy that presents a dance of dichotomies; pain, suffering, fury swirling with joy, lust and glory. What could be more religious?
Rembrandt, whose figures some out of the darkness into golden light to reverently take responsibility for their acts and omissions and seek or accept forgiveness.
Pissarro and Monet, the Jew and the Catholic (among others) who knew they were painting, “Let there be light…” Chagall, with his enchanting mystic villages of simple tradition and love overcoming life’s trials
Dali, who investigates the spirituality of time and quest inspiring unexpected insights.
My list it too long. I have just begun.
But notice that none of the artists were actually promoting one group over another, and that even when a specific theology is presented, such as in Da Vinci’s, Warhol’s and Dali’s Last Supper works, the theology is universally transcended by what the artist conveys.
Psalm 22 (Rembrandt)
Being an artist is a responsibility, as much as a gift. My appreciation of the gift I have been given to be a religious artist is equaled or surpassed by my appreciation of the gifts I have received from seeing the works of those artists previously mentioned along with so many others.
And since we can all learn much from a discussion – please comment!
Dock Less Traveled
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Tags: art, art blog, Art News Blog, art world, artist, artists, Brillo, comments, Da Vinci, Dali, Dove, inspirational, inspire, Last Supper, Michaelangelo, Monet, Pissarro, portraits, religion, Religious art, religious debate, Rembrandt, van Gogh, warhol, Western Art
Artistic talent was always encouraged and as a result, I actually earn a living with my art and painting. Tucker Religions
I think we need art inspired by our maker/life force/energy or whatever it is that is keeping us alive, rather than art inspired by religion. The divine seems close to what I’m talking about, but it would have to be an everyday divine, rather than a distant, unreachable divine. The mundane divine if there is such a thing
Religion is more about the worship of man. To assign god to any particular religion, people or idealology is almost absurd.
Just my opinion
Dion brings up a good point about my use of the term, “The Divine”.
I hope that you go to the main page of http://www.theartofseeingthedivine.com and read it. I use the term The Divine” as a way to allow and invite people to substitute their own best and most meaningful term or name at every instance. Even for religious people of the same branch and denomination the preferred terms and names can differ.
I am very upfront about the fact that I enjoy a personal relationship with The Divine. I marvel at people of faith who can trust and believe a god or force that they have no personal experience of. My experience is more than day to day, it is at best more like every-few-minutes to every-few-minutes or so, because my focus goes off and I get distracted. This more fulfilling relationship is a direct result of my seeing more of the essences, which makes me more attuned.
Sharing my experience through inspirational inspiration, including Visual/Exercises/Experiences so others can gain and have what I do is why I created The Art of Seeing The Divine e book. — Judy Rey
We could not do without “the Divine” (whom I as a Catholic Christian am happy to name God)in the arts. It’s that simple. Even in prehistoric times, the faint memory of Creation lasted, and Man (meaning the name of our species, not a particular gender, so let no blood pressures soar) sought God in worshiping His attributes, because they did not know Him until the prophets of the Old Testament were raised up.
There is an old Druidic story, told, I was informed, by the last Druidic King, Coel the Wise (You’ve heard of “Old King ‘Cole’) to his daughter, Elan, who was called by her Roman husband, ‘Helena’,and who was the grandfather of Constantine the Great. This was the Roman Emperor who allowed Christianity to be openly practiced in the Empire. The story goes like this:
When Adam, our First Father, died, the archangel Michael appeared to Seth, Adam’s third son, and gave him an acorn. Seth was told to plant it in his father’s (Adam’s) mouth when he buried him, and so he did. From that acord, a mighty oak grew, and it sheltered wayfarers and travelers for many a century. Then it died, and a well of healing waters formed around the root, and again, for centuries, the sick, lame, and halt would come and be healed. Then, eventually, even the well dried up. The trunk of the old oak, heavy with age and very solid, was drawn up and used as the wood of the cross that Christ was crucified upon, thus providing a straight line between the first, sinful, Man and the new, blameless, Man. Humanity had been given a second start, a second chance. Even Time reversed itself.
As artists and art-lovers, you will oftimes see a painting of the Crucifixion with a skull nestled at the foot of the Cross. Although Golgotha, the hill where Christ was crucified, was called, “The place of the Skull”, and some of the rock formations resemble a skull, the “skull” actually referred to was Adam’s skull, and its artistic placement at the foot of the Cross draws a straight line from the old, disobedient Adam, to the new, obedient Adam, Christ Himself. You may not concur with this line of thinking; but you must understand, if you are to understand art at all, that the preponderance of the inhabitants of Western civilization, especially artists, either believed it themselves or made good use of it for centuries and even a millenium.
Just thought you artists would enjoy a little background on a familiar subject. Hope it helps.
Best to all.
You can know something about an artist by the things they create. By examining his handiwork I can tell he likes to work real small, he likes lots of detail, he draws from chemistry-biology-physics-and-neuroscience, he has a thing for social interaction, he uses an array of color, he is clever-skilled-precise-consistent-systematic-and-mathematical, he employs corollaries, reason, and logic, he has an ongoing carbon based project, he loves to work with proteins, he likes puzzles, he exhibits forethought and knowledge, he is poetic-charming-musical-deliberate-experienced-playful-intelligent-and like to make new recipes.
Looking at a piece of art will not tell me….how many coffee breaks the artist took or about her diet…or what model of car he drives….or which limbs were used to arrange the materials…or whether she wears glasses…or what his lineage is…..
…or what languages she is fluent in….or whether he has offspring…or how much time he spent contemplating the idea…or what the proto types exactly looked like…
.or who she met while on vacation.
All this attention to detail that every artist does…reminds me…I am being thought of by another, my time on display is not finished, I am someone’s treasure, I am wanted, and I belong to a lover.
The love affair continues.
Just an update to the comment before this. The artist is a She not a He!
Judy Rey Wasserman
I wonder if web industry affected by crisis as well? and to what extend? Will the admins continue this web?
I can tell that this is not the first time at all that you mention the topic. Why have you decided to write about it again?
[...] hours ago Do We Need Religious Art? http://artofseeingthedivine.com/blog/200… [...]
It’s funny, my life and work is so entwined with the divine that I cannot imagine art done any other way! I know it is made without divine connection or thought, and that is a perfectly reasonable path of art, but for me as a person and as an artist and writer, I simply cannot separate my connection with the divine and what that then inspires in my work from my work.
I do appreciate the gentle reminder though that not everyone has their heads in the same place
this is a very thought provoking article, thank you!
If we move on into the twentieth century, we see that religious art continues to flourish (as it always will, given human nature), most strikingly in the service of the political religions of National Socialism. Russia made extensive use of devotional imagery), a process that rapidly spread beyond Europe, notably into the China of the Cultural Revolution. Efforts there to transform the Great Helsman into a living god (zaosheng yundong) may have reached a peak in Liu Chunhua’s rather fine 1969 depiction of a Christ-Mao visting Anyuan. Nine hundred million copies are thought to have been made of this work, and if it’s not to be considered religious, I don’t know what is…
Great peice & I enjoy all of your work!
AmericanSwagg
I agree that propaganda has often been labeled “Religious Art.” Certainly under the Holy Roman Empire art was preferred to literacy for spreading theology as it was easier to control both artists and an illiterate populace.
Yet the paradox remains that most of the Western World’s greatest artists were deeply “religious” in their own ways. For instance, Michelangelo a seeming stalwart of the church ended u being buried obscurely with many of his possessions, especially his books and writing s confiscated as his own leaning was more in line with what later became Protestant, although he sought reform from within the church.
Controversy continues to swirl around Da Vinci.
What becomes apparent is that the best artists create inspired works that do not necessarily follow any party line, whether theological or political. It is the job of the artist to inspire — and inspiring makes one a leader not a follower.
Unfortunately political leaders have found and used talented artists throughout history to create “art” to promote their policies and “greatness.”
Thanks for the very informed comment. I fully agree with you. The power of imagery is a double edged sword. -JR