Early Christian Art Exhibit at the Kimball
Last week I was fortunate to visit the Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art at the Kimball Museum of Art in Forth Worth. I've had an interest in Christian art since I taught a History of Christian Art lesson in a Sunday School class several years ago. Don't get all excited about seeing it because Saturday was the last day of the exhibit...I just procrastinated and went at the last minute. You can read about the exhibit here although I'm not sure how long that link will work.
The time period of the artifacts on display was from about the 3rd century after the death of Christ through the 6th century. There were photographs of art from the walls of Roman catacombs, carved sarcophagus, jewelry, silver bowls and plates, illuminated Bibles, & more. The sheer amount of articles was impressive in itself.
The most memorable part of the visit to me was the early depictions of well-known Biblical stories, both from the Old and New Testaments. We all, no matter what level our church involvement, have heard of the typical Bible stories, Jonah swallowed by a whale, Jesus performing miracles, etc. Seeing these stories illustrated on silver or in stone over 1700 years ago really opened my eyes to how much we have "modernized" our views of Jesus and the Bible.
In the Greek translation of the story of Jonah, whale is not mentioned, it is a ketos or "great fish." Greeks also associated this word with sea serpent, so all of the imagery illustrating this story depicts Jonah being swallowed by a large sea monster resembling a fantasy-like dragon. Sort of levels the playing field between Christianity, Judiasm and mythology a bit.
Another point of interest to me was in the earliest imagery of Jesus . In several instances, Jesus is holding a wand to perform his miracles such as multiplying the fish and loaves to feed the multitude and to raising Lazuras from the dead. Unfortunately, since I waited till the last minute to see the exhibit, I can't easily pull up examples. If you Wiki 'depiction of Jesus' it discusses early imagery of Jesus with the wand as well.
Now, keep in mind this was just simple observations on my part. I know there is a lot of history I'm leaving out (such as how much early Christian imagery borrowed from Greco Roman art..hence the sea monster) and I would like to research the development of Biblical imagery further but for now I'm just reporting my initial reactions.
Why..what is my point? Jesus didn't always sport a beard and Jonah wasn't always hanging out in the whale's mouth. The images evolved and changed over time. Sometimes we get so ingrained in how something is supposed to look or how we've been told its looks..we forget to go out and look for ourselves.
I've got another tangent side note on the Biblical/Christian/Fantasy I'll go down another day! Yes, I am a Christians..just some of my own beliefs are a little unconventional.
For now...get out there and look at the world through your own eyes!
The time period of the artifacts on display was from about the 3rd century after the death of Christ through the 6th century. There were photographs of art from the walls of Roman catacombs, carved sarcophagus, jewelry, silver bowls and plates, illuminated Bibles, & more. The sheer amount of articles was impressive in itself.
The most memorable part of the visit to me was the early depictions of well-known Biblical stories, both from the Old and New Testaments. We all, no matter what level our church involvement, have heard of the typical Bible stories, Jonah swallowed by a whale, Jesus performing miracles, etc. Seeing these stories illustrated on silver or in stone over 1700 years ago really opened my eyes to how much we have "modernized" our views of Jesus and the Bible.
In the Greek translation of the story of Jonah, whale is not mentioned, it is a ketos or "great fish." Greeks also associated this word with sea serpent, so all of the imagery illustrating this story depicts Jonah being swallowed by a large sea monster resembling a fantasy-like dragon. Sort of levels the playing field between Christianity, Judiasm and mythology a bit.
Another point of interest to me was in the earliest imagery of Jesus . In several instances, Jesus is holding a wand to perform his miracles such as multiplying the fish and loaves to feed the multitude and to raising Lazuras from the dead. Unfortunately, since I waited till the last minute to see the exhibit, I can't easily pull up examples. If you Wiki 'depiction of Jesus' it discusses early imagery of Jesus with the wand as well.
Now, keep in mind this was just simple observations on my part. I know there is a lot of history I'm leaving out (such as how much early Christian imagery borrowed from Greco Roman art..hence the sea monster) and I would like to research the development of Biblical imagery further but for now I'm just reporting my initial reactions.
Why..what is my point? Jesus didn't always sport a beard and Jonah wasn't always hanging out in the whale's mouth. The images evolved and changed over time. Sometimes we get so ingrained in how something is supposed to look or how we've been told its looks..we forget to go out and look for ourselves.
I've got another tangent side note on the Biblical/Christian/Fantasy I'll go down another day! Yes, I am a Christians..just some of my own beliefs are a little unconventional.
For now...get out there and look at the world through your own eyes!
posted by Charlotte at 9:39 PM
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