No comments about Angels.

2 comments about Creating Four-Part Harmony.

1. You're right; the title is a little misleading, BUT, this is a wonderful, insightful book if you're a beginning church musician or one that's been in the field for 25 years (my case). I pull it out every couple of years for a refresher.



2. Be careful the musicians, because this is not a book of musical harmony. But a book of ...religion. Warning to navigators, because the name swift to confusion!

No comments about Heritage of Buddhist Pala Art.

No comments about Paolo Veronese: Piety and Display in an Age of Religious Reform.

2 comments about A Land So Remote : Religious Art of New Mexico 1780-1907.

1. A LAND SO REMOTE

   Prior to the holidays, I received a great gift, a copy of the beautifully produced three-volume study A Land So Remote, authored by Larry Frank and Skip Miller, and published by Marianne and Michael O'Shaughnessy of Red Crane Books, Publishers, Santa Fe.
   Creation of a successful publication of this magnitude can only be accomplished by many who work in concert, in this case scholar, editor, publisher and, of course, those who are willing to share their treasures with anyone wishing to turn the pages in this landmark study. Frank and Miller have devoted a large percentage of their lives carefully studying and painstakingly handling objects-some of religious importance, powerful images that were the subject of daily devotion, while other objects that served a useful function in the lives of hundreds of thousands attempting to make their lives easier. To the Hispanic, Native American, and the Anglo, these objects were an integral part of daily life-whether as an expression of their spirituality, their intense religious devotion-- or to enable them to perform certain physical tasks-- cutting wood or baking bread.
   The authors, in concert with photographer Michael O'Shaughnessy, have treated each object sympathetically, whether it be a santo or bulto, or packsaddle or carreta wheels, with the same level of care, even reverence. The real joy is in seeing so many diverse objects fashioned out of wood and other materials in significant numbers. How often have we had the opportunity of examining page after page of images beautifully organized and described. The authors, of course, treat us to a display of work by lesser known santeros, as well as the most celebrated, notably José Rafael Aragon. Volume two devotes pages 288 to 377 to some of the most powerful religious images by Aragon and his followers that the reader will ever experience.
   Since 1974, I have been a frequent visitor to New Mexico and have written a few books on the Anglo painters. After reading Miller's and Frank's essays, I said to myself, "I wish I had written these words. Both scholars write with conviction and authority. They also write in a style I have labeled "an easy read." They have organized their material so that it makes sense. You understand why the objects were created, who created them and importantly, how they were created. Happily, these objects, some still in the churches in Ranchos de Taos, Chimayo, Taos, and chapels throughout the Southwest, others in museums and private collections, have been "gathered" and presented to the reader and viewer in a beautiful and effective manner (I was tempted to use the phrase elegant but refrained).
   All reviews of the publication praise A Land So Remote for its visual appeal, handsome photographs," fascinating account of the history and culture of Hispanic New Mexico," scholarship, a major contribution to Hispanic studies. One critic even suggested that, before being placed in a glass case [with other rare books], it might serve as a coffee table book. Never! If anything, it will be a banquet table book, and will be the scene of great feasts-visual and literary. But their words, like mine, fail to express the impact this handsome three-volume study will have on you-the participant. This study will, like the objects that it treats, transcends time. Secure your copy. I can assure you that it will never gather dust (although it will go out-of-print).

   Dean A. Porter, Ph. D.
   Director Emeritus, The Snite Museum of Art
   Professor of Art History
   University of Notre Dame




2. Published by the vaunted Red Crane Books of Santa Fe, New Mexico, this three volume set on religious art and wooden artifacts of New Mexico is a rare, rich visual and intellectual repast. It would be a treasured gift, one to which collectors and aficionados will return time and again.

   Larry Frank is remembered for "The New Kingdom of the Saints" (1997), while Skip Miller is curator and director, Taos Historic Museums.

   With 842 stunning color photographs and 848 pages A Land so Remote surely holds the most comprehensive and accessible information on this subject. Many of the photos included are of rare objects gleaned from nine museums and a number of private collections. Carefully selected for the part each plays in this artistic corpus, photos are accompanied by concise essays that enhance knowledge while still piquing an interest to know more.

   Volumes I and II beautifully present the growth of religious art during a period of over 125 years. It was a time when in order to undergird their faith Spanish settlers turned to santos, visual representations of saints. Thus was born an art form unique to America which once was of great import in churches, communities and homes.. Santos were, if you will, incarnations of the hopes and dreams of these immigrants.

   "Rightly understood," author Frank remarks, "santos are a kind of `liberation theology' written in the language of wood, plaster, and paint, an understanding of Christianity that empowers the poor to free themselves from unjust socioeconomic and cultural structures in the larger world and within themselves.

   Volume III centers on wooden objects, such as tools, furniture, toys, and domestic utensils. These objects testify to the influence of the Spanish on the traditions of the indigenous inhabitants of this region.

   Photographer Michael O'Shaughnessy described his task as a "...wonderful, often awesome, experience of having such close contact with material that radiates the love and importance that their makers brought to their creation."

   Such is the case with readers as they leaf through the pages of these landmark volumes.

   - Gail Cooke

No comments about Siena, City of the Virgin: Illustrated.

1 comments about Painter And Priest: Giovanni Canavesio's Visual Rhetoric And the Passion Cycle at La Brigue.

1. Featuring high-quality paper and quite a few stunning full-color illustrations, particularly reproductions of classical artwork, Painter And Priest: Giovanni Canavesio's Visual Rhetoric And The Passion Cycle At La Brigue is a close examination of Giovanni Canavesio's works in order to distinguish its characteristics drawn from Piedmontese art, Netherlandish painting, and German wood engravings. Painter And Priest emphasizes the paramount importance of intellectual and academic honesty, and how when making comparisons one should not simply "cherry-pick" iconographic imagery sources but rather look at the broader general context. An immense amount of research has been poured into this in-depth study, especially recommended for advanced scholars of religious art; extensive notes, appendices, bibliography and index round out this one-of-a-kind academic scrutiny of the history, religion, context, and philosophy of Canavesio's masterpieces.

No comments about Christianity and contemporary art forms.

2 comments about Ponder These Things: Praying with Icons of the Virgin.

1. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has written a series of meditations on three icons, specifically on three forms of icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Christ Child. The first is the Hodegetria, Mary who shows us the way. Mary and Christ in this icon manifest their unique identities in a relationship: she is one who engages us in order to point us to Christ the way that leads to life, he is one who looks with love on humanity. The second icon is the Eleousa, the tender loving Madonna, named for the obvious affection of the Virgin for her child. But Rowan focuses here more on the love with which the God-man embraces his mother and through her the whole human race, passionately leaping over the boundaries that would seem to separate humanity from divinity. The third icon is the Orans, where Mary is the sign of the Church at prayer containing within herself/itself the God-man as the source of that prayer, remarkable in his hiddenness in the Church, in society, and in our own lives. The archbishop concludes with a reflection on the legend of Mary being raised in the temple and working on the sanctuary veil. The veil is the symbol of that which separates God and humanity, a symbol rent in two at the death of Christ. These few words, however, only point in the general direction of Rowan's deeper reflections, and the book deserves rereading and further meditation. Bishop Kallistos Ware writes an appreciative introduction. Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic alike may benefit from and appreciate this work.



2. `Ponder These Things: Praying with Icons of the Virgin' is the latest book by Rowan Williams, recently appointment to be Archbishop of Canterbury after a distinguished career as an academic and cleric in the Church of England (Anglican Church). Williams has a great affinity for the wider breadth of Christian experience, drawing influences and inspiration from Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox practices across the centuries. In this book, which is introduced by Bishop Kalistos Ware, a prominent Orthodox theologian, Williams explores ways in which meditation and prayer can be strengthened and enhanced with incorporation of iconographic images.

   Protestants particularly have lost the tradition of the use of art work as representative objects for worship. However, the debate over the appropriateness of icons and other imagery is almost as old as Christianity itself. That Jesus could be depicted without violation of the `no graven images' commandment took a long time to be decided, and finally was deemed permissible because of Jesus' human nature. Rare the depiction of God or God the Father as anything more than a cloud, a hand, or some other vague symbol meant to characterise, more than anything else, the mystery involved rather than an actual physical likeness. Michaelangelo's depictions on the Sistine Chapel ceiling are remarkable not simply from their aesthetic quality, but also in that the image of God is very direct and distinctly human in form.

   However, icons are a special form of art. They are not simple paintings, however elegant, as Ware points out in his introduction.

   `The icon is not simply a work of art on the same level as any other work of art. On the contrary, the icon exists within a specific context; and, if divorced from that context, it ceases to be truly itself. The icon is part of an act of worship; its context is invocation and doxology. The art of the icon is a liturgical art. In the tradition of the Orthodox church, the icon is not merely a piece of decoration or a visual aid. We do more than just look at icons or talk about them; we pray with them.'

   Williams draws his work from an event in his own ministry back in Britain.
   `These meditations are really about how we are led by faith both to live in the world, fully flesh and blood in it, and at the same time to be aware of the utter strangeness of God that waits in the heart of what is familiar - as if the world were always on the edge of some total revolution, pregnant with a different kind of life, and we were always trying to catch the blinding momentary light of its changing.'

   Using three traditional icons and one modern piece, Williams draws us into a method of contemplation and consideration with the icons. The Hodegetria, the Eleousa, and the Orans traditional icons show depictions of the Virgin Mary in very traditional ways; one who is faithful, who is loving, who is sign and a direction of the way we are to go. Traditionally the Virgin Mary is the first human being to have faith in Jesus, faith in his mission and faith in God's direction of that purpose. The Magnificat is a verbal depiction of this kind of faith; icons are the visual depiction. As the scriptural text talks about Mary `pondering these things in heart', so to are we called, when praying with the icons, to exhibit that kind of faith and loving nature, sureness of God's call and direction to us, whatever it may bring.

   The modern piece is not what one would consider an icon in the regular sense. Using a modern art scarlet and purple fabric study by Leigh Hurlock, Williams explores a legend of Mary, the story of her weaving the sanctuary veil, a curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the eyes and physical presence of those who came into the Temple. In a sense, Mary's being provided the substance to weave both the veil and the way to see past the veil to holiness through Jesus.

   Purple is the colour of royalty; scarlet is the colour of martyrdom, or the cross. The colours are significant, as are the images, in making the completeness of the experience as an iconographic piece.

   This is a small book. It has a mere 75 pages or so of text, and thus could be read fairly quickly. However, to do so would be to deny oneself the richness of the experience. One can glance at an icon, generally a fairly small object, and think one has seen it. However, the true experience of an icon, and the true experience of this book, comes from re-reading, stopping, meditating, and slowly working through each detail. The book is generously illustrated in word and graphic art. Each of the icons is presented in full colour, with details highlighted in larger size at appropriate points in the text.

   Through all the meditations, we are looking for God, and hopefully come to realise that God also looks for us.

   `We find the God who has taken up residence in the heart of our humanity, who prays when we are not looking, not trying, who is at work when we are silent or helpless, and who can never be pinned down to a here or there in our individual lives or in the Church at large.'

   Ponder these things...

1 comments about Montien Boonma.

1. After undergoing a semester-long research project on this artist for a contemporary art history class, I can confidently say that this is the most comprehensive, helpful source available on the life and work of Montien Boonma. It was also my first introduction to his work, and after having carried the book around for several weeks and referring to it continuously, the artist has become one of my favorites, and one whose example I can only hope to emulate in my own visual work. Lovely full color with innumerable photos of the artist's work, helpful contextual review... I couldn't really say better things about this book. Definitely worth the 30 bucks!