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Christmas in Sculpture: Fatherhood of St Joseph

I am finishing 2009 on a high note with a trip to Sheffield on 29th December. It was a good trip and an interesting experience, which I will be talking about… in 2010!

Arthur de Mowbray, Nativity
Christian Fell, Nativity

In the meantime, a visit to Sheffield Cathedral has brought us two examples of Christmas-themed sculpture. I could not establish the author of the wooden carved group, although what I did manage to find suggests Arthur de Mowbray as the sculptor. It is a boldly carved Nativity scene, with careful work carried out on the minute details.

The second example is a now complete Nativity group by Brian Fell. It was produced in parts for Sheffield Galvanize Festival, and this year Mary that was created in 2008 was joined by Joseph and Jesus, and all three can now be found at the west end of the church (this part of the cathedral was built in 1966). Fell follows the same approach to depicting the baby Jesus as we have seen in the marble group at Manchester Cathedral: the newly born is wrapped up in sheets. In this sense, the wooden Nativity group that stands close to St Katharine Chapel is traditional in that it appears to follow the canonic depiction of Jesus in the nude. Fell’s group, with Joseph holding the baby, produces a similar effect of intimacy and parental amazement, as does the work by Josefin de Vasconcellos in Manchester.

St Joseph with Jesus,
R.C. Church of St Marie, Sheffield

A slightly different example, still in Sheffield, is this painted sculpture of Joseph and baby Jesus in the wall of the Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of St Marie. It is simply beautiful and deserves to be included in the post. Together with Fell’s Nativity and de Vasconcellos’s Holy Night, this is a fairly rare example of Joseph with baby Jesus depicted in art, especially in sculpture. Joseph is seen here with his flowering staff. In short, Sheffield has brought us several Nativity scenes that focus on fatherhood of Joseph rather than motherhood of Mary.

Nativity, Sheffield Town Hall

Inside Sheffield Town Hall there was an elaborate Nativity display, one of the loveliest ones I have seen in the last few years. And below is a Nativity scene from Llandudno photographed outside Marks&Spencer in December 2007.

Nativity, Llandudno

Links:

Sheffield Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul
Cathedral Church of St Marie

Full-size photos on Flickr: 

Nativity by Brian Fell
Holy Family
St Joseph and Jesus
The Holy Night

Christmas in Poetry and Song: Gladys Knight

All of us who love soul will know Gladys Knight. Midnight Train to Georgia, I Heard It Through the Grapevine… And a wonderful version of a traditional Christmas song, Do You Hear What I Hear? I don’t know about you, but for me Knight’s has long been the best version of this song, soulful, strong, magical, and the most hopeful. And the video below contains not just this beautiful song, but also Gladys Knight’s recital of a poem ‘Twas Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863).

Image credit: Christmas Carols.

Christmas in Vintage Postcards: Christmas Angels

Over at People’s Almanac there are several impressive galleries of rare postcards. In a way, there is something for everyone, be it Soviet World War II posters, pin-up girls, or Picasso’s paintings. And if you are into plants, there is a plant drawings gallery for you.

In the Vintage Holiday Vignettes album there are many old-style postcards on the main festive occasions, like New Year, St. Valentine’s Day, Easter, and, of course, Christmas. You will probably find some that you like, but here are my favourites.

These days you may be able to find a lot of Christmas cards, but I was particularly impressed by the designs over at Zazzle. Sadly or not, I cannot copy anything for illustration purposes, but when you click on the link you will be sure to find many lovely vintage Christmas postcards. This is a United Kingdom website, so it may be especially useful to those of us who bought the presents but is hunting for postcards.

And the card that impressed me so much was a vintage Christmas card showing a girl standing with her little dog by the Christmas tree.

Last but not least, there is the video on YouTube, a beautiful angelic collection by Pixie Rose Design. I am sure a few readers will be delighted to watch it. I recently found out that, just like I am mad about collecting photos of streetlights, there are people who are equally in love with angels. So, here is to you, my friends.

 

Christmas in Literature and Film: Gianni Rodari, La Freccia Azzurra

A cover of the Russian edition
of tales by Gianni Rodari

La Freccia Azzurra (The Adventures of the Blue Arrow in English) is one of the books by the Italian author Gianni Rodari that I adored as a child. Even though he was better known in the USSR for his story of Cipollino (i.e. the Little Onion) that was even commemorated in ballet, I personally loved La Torta in Cielo (A Cake in the Sky, quite literally). This in part had to do with delicious illustrations in my book that made the cake look not merely edible, but actually desirable.

La Freccia Azzurra is a Christmas story at its best, in that it is touching, beautiful, and magical, while also promoting the “eternal” values of justice, kindness, and friendship. The train called “The Blue Arrow” escapes the shop of the old fairy and makes its way along the snowy streets to deliver presents to the kids from poor families. Rodari does not avoid pointing out to the fact that presents cost money, and thus poor children would unlikely be able to afford them. Yet he does not put the pressure of making amends on the shoulders of the fairy. Rather, he invests the toys with the human ability to recognise and fight injustice.

Illustrations to La Freccia Azzurra

On their way the toys stay with children they choose to be with, and I possibly find this the most touching element because it overturns the usual process of people choosing objects: in Rodari’s story, it is toys, not children or their parents, that make the choice. This also makes for a perfect fairy tale, as it is in such magical story would we have inanimate objects acquiring the ability to move, speak, and feel. Yet the element that is often associated with the fairy tale is that it should end; there always appears to be a boundary between the fairy tale world and the “real” world. In the case with La Freccia Azzurra, the magic forever becomes a part of the real world when a little teddy dog turns into a real puppy.

Update: my mum sent me a few illustrations from the book I used to read. They are on the left and right in the passages above.

Still image from La Freccia Azzurra

Even from what I wrote The Adventures of the Blue Arrow looks like a welcome departure from the traditional Scrooge. In 1996 it was lovingly adapted to the screen by the Italian animators, headed by Enzo d’Alò. The full-length animated feature was in fact a European production featuring work from 400 artists from such countries as Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and Luxembourg, in addition to the Italian crew. The composer is a renowned Paolo Conte. Giannalberto Beldazzi over at Animation World Magazine has more about technical aspects of making La Freccia Azzurra and on how it fits contemporary Italian animation landscape (the picture on the left is courtesy of AWM).

I have never seen the cartoon before, and luckily for us, it is presently available online. Regardless of whether or not you know Italian or have read Rodari’s fairy tale, I hope you have pleasure watching it. And the Russian-speaking readers can access the Russian translation.

As for other languages, here are two French links: more information on production from Cinema Parlant and a synopsis and a few lovely screenshots from Planete Jeuness. Now, if you are in Belgium on December 24, you can watch La Fleche Bleue on TV. I cannot remember making a TV programme announcement on this blog before, so here goes.

And those who read in Spanish should benefit from the article by Beatriz Helena Robledo, Gianni Rodari: un defensor de la vida. In author’s words, ‘La flecha azul… es… una de la obras mas ermosas de Rodari‘ (one of the most beautiful works by Rodari – JD). I wholeheartedly agree.

Christmas in Painting: Alessando Botticelli

Alessandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, 1475/76
(Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy)

This painting was commissioned to Botticelli by a Florentine Gaspar di Zanobi del Lama for the church of Santa Maria Novella. Quite in line with the tradition of the time, the real-life characters were incorporated in this pictorial adaptation of the Biblical story: the three Magi are the Medicis, Cosimo (as Melchior, presenting the gift to the Virgin), Piero (in red mantle, as Balthasar), and Giovanni (next to Piero, as Gaspar). Curiously enough, all three were dead by the time the painting was made; but this also explains why Balthasar who by 1475 had already been sometimes painted as the black king appears distinctly European (or even Florentine, perhaps).

The commissioner of the painting is pictured on the right, he is an old man in light blue mantle behind the man in black and red costume, pointing at the observer. And the solitary figure on the right wearing golden mantle is Botticelli himself.

Giorgio Vasari thus described the painting in his Lives of the Artists:

The beauty of the heads in this scene is indescribable, their attitudes all different, some full-face, some in profile, some three-quarters, some bent down, and in various other ways, while the expressions of the attendants, both young and old, are greatly varied, displaying the artist’s perfect mastery of his profession. Sandro further clearly shows the distinction between the suites of each of the kings. It is a marvellous work in colour, design and composition.

Before and after this painting, Botticelli would return to the topic in other works, and it is interesting to observe the similarities and differences in composition between all three paintings. In the 1475 work we only see a part of the stables. Undoubtedly, this allowed the artist to bring the “human” component of the painting into the focus, whereby we are looking at people, rather than contemplating the symbolic or religious meaning of the scene. There are also no strict horizontal divisions, although the figures are still “assembled” in a triangular mode.

Before that date, in a tondo painted between 1470 and 1474, Botticelli applies the perspective to his composition, as well as horizontal divisions. The stables vividly evoke the structure of the church, and the artist deftly manipulates the effect to create an impression of the depth of space. The divisions allegorically takes us from the world of people (the foreground populated with both people and horses) to the world of spirit (the elongated walls of the stables).

Finally, the 1481-82 painting does not boast too many figures, but the structure of the stables comes to the fore with its elaborate design. Perspective, but also landscape, play an equally important role. Mary now appears to be accepting the gifts of the Magi in the ruins of a classical temple or a Renaissance mansion, and the landscape that is visible through the aisle conveys the sense of idyll and peace. The sudden introduction of classical elements into the painting will become less unusual if we bear in mind that in the same years – 1481-1482 – Botticelli travelled to Rome and worked at the Vatican.

Alessandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, 1470-74
(National Gallery, London, UK)

 

Alessandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, 1481-82
(National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA)

Christmas in Painting: Pavel Filonov

 Although the themes of Adoration and the journey of the Magi seem to be more common in the Western tradition in art, they are by no means alien to the Orthodox tradition, and these two works by the Russian painter Pavel Filonov (1883-1941) are good examples. Since painting on this occasion serves to interpret (i.e. to translate) the Bible, it is interesting to observe how Filonov “domesticates” his translation. On the one hand, he obviously does exactly what European painters did before him, i.e. giving the people on his canvas a distinctly Russian look. Yet on the other hand, he introduces to the Russian painting the new methods and techniques. The same is true about The Magi, which is a watercolour painting featuring the black Balthasar in the foreground. If both paintings, but particularly The Magi, offer a good example of application of the recent methods in Western painting (Futurism, Cubism) to the Russian tradition.

Derek Maus in his article explores how Andrei Bely and Pavel Filonov, the writer and the painter respectively, studied the dimensions of space, time and “strangeness” of things in their works. It seems that the “strangest” thing about Peasant Family is that Filonov had chosen to depict the villagers, not proletarians. This is partly explained by the painter’s personal dislike of the city as the epitome of hustle and bustle. In a way, too, Filonov could merely follow the tradition that depicted the holy family in the “bucolic”, and not urban, environment. But one can also agree with Maus that “widespread socio-political sympathy for the plight of the Russian peasantry as, minimally, an image of the rural proletariat, made it possible for Filonov to use this visual allegory to glorify, perhaps even deify, a peasant family“.

Pavel Filonov, The Magi, 1914
(The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia)
Pavel Filonov, Peasant Family (Holy Family), 1914
(The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia).

Christmas in Sculpture: Nativity

Manchester Cathedral - The Holy Night
Josephine de Vasconcellos, Holy Night, 1992
(Manchester Cathedral, UK)

And this beautiful and touching sculptural group can be seen by visitors to Manchester Cathedral. Located by the Lady Chapel and Chapter House, it was carved by Josephine de Vasconcellos in 1992. I particularly like the mixture of intensity, love, adoration, tenderness, and peace in this sculpture. Mary, evidently tired after giving birth to her son, rests under Joseph’s arm who also carefully cradles the baby Jesus that lies wrapped in cloth on Mary’s knees. A beautiful if playful detail: Mary rests her feet on a small lamb.

 

Christmas in Painting: Diego Velazquez

Diego Velázquez, The Adoration of the Magi, 1619
(Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain)
Velazquez, Immaculate
Conception
, 1618

This painting was probably painted for the Society of Jesus and in the same year that Diego Velásquez’s daughter Francisca was baptised. The year before, in 1618, Velázquez married Juana Pacheco, the daughter of his second teacher, on whom the artist modeled some of his paintings. The 1618 religious work, Immaculate Conception, for which Juana had modeled was likely to be very revealing, as far as the artist’s personal life was concerned.

In The Adoration of the Magi, however, it is not just Juana and the new-born baby that are present in the painting as Mary and Jesus. Velásquez’s former tutor, Francisco Pacheco, is also visible as one of the kings visiting and adoring Christ: he is Melchior, kneeling behind the young Gaspar. As often happened at the time, some of the figures are dressed according to the fashion of the day, hence Balthasar’s white lace collar contrasting his black skin. The landscape in the background is painted in the effect of back lighting and reveals the wall of a hut.

This is undoubtedly one of the most intimate depictions of the story of Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi in Western Art.

 

Christmas in Poetry and Painting: T. S. Eliot and James Tissot

The Journey of the Magi was written by T. S. Eliot in 1927, the year he became the British citizen and converted to Anglicanism. Somewhat in line with his adherence to the European legacy and bearing in mind the age, Eliot’s lyrical hero is Melchior, the oldest of the Magi who traditionally represented Europe. The hero is brooding over the lengthy journey and the splitting effect the newborn baby was to have on the world as it had been.

Some thirty years before Eliot, James Tissot depicted a similar scene in The Journey of the Magi (1894). His magi appear tense and regal, riding camels and leading a caravan. The depiction of the journey was less frequent in painting than that of Adoration, thus Tissot’s treatment was certainly unique. It is very likely (starting with the title of Tissot’s painting and Eliot’s poem) that T. S. Eliot knew the painting, and that it provided him with inspiration by offering a clear parallel to themes that interested Eliot as a poet, particularly at that stage of his life and career. Alienation, spiritual and religious crises, and the pre-empting of the new catastrophe are the topics that were as important in Eliot’s time as they had been at the time of Nativity.

You can listen to T. S. Eliot’s reading The Journey of the Magi at Poetry Archive. There is more to read about Eliot’s poem.

James Tissot, The Journey of the Magi, 1894
(Minneapolis Institute of Arts, USA)

– T. S. Eliot, The Journey of the Magi, 1927 (from ‘Ariel’ poems)

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times when we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities dirty and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wineskins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

 

error: Sorry, no copying !!