Every Picture Tells a Story
By Chris McDonnell – The early “iconography” or art of the Church, consisted of beautiful and often symbolic representations of Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints painted on walls or on pieces of...
Category: Religious Art
Artist-Priest, Fr Wilfried Joye OMI Dies
A well-known and prolific artist and Oblate of Mary Immaculate priest who has died at 79 was recalled as a man who used most of the income from his paintings to build churches and...
Sister Wendy Beckett, Art Critic and British TV star, Dies at Age 88
Sister Wendy Beckett, who gained fame in the 1990s for television shows and books explaining art, died in Norfolk, England, at the age of 88. She has been widely described as both an unlikely...
A Painting That Teaches the Nativity
A14th-century altarpiece from Siena, Italy, tells the story of the Nativity in perfect visual terms, as Jem Sullivan explains. ‘Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. Simple shepherds were the ...
Top-rated Pope Film Won’t Be Screened in SA
A critically acclaimed documentary about Pope Francis by award-winning director Wim Wenders will not go on circuit in South African, or any African, cinemas anytime soon. The feature-length documentary Pope Francis: A Man Of His Word, which was lauded by film critics worldwide, will not come to Africa because the international distributors have no plans at present of bringing it to the continent with the world’s fastest-rising Catholic population.
Gallery Exhibit Explores St Francis’ Reception of Stigmata
St. Francis of Assisi’s reception of the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, at La Verna in Italy and its depiction by artists beginning in the 15th century is the focus of a National Gallery of Art exhibit.
Deadline Closing for Marian Shrine Logo Design Contest
Time is running out for Catholics in the Johannesburg archdiocese to take part in the Mother of Mercy Marian Shrine slogan, logo and statue design contest. The project committee is inviting Catholics to submit an original drawing or logo design in accordance with the theme “Mary Mother of Mercy”.
Vatican, China Launch Joint Art Shows
As a gesture of openness, cooperation and “cultural diplomacy”, the Vatican Museums have organised two joint art exhibitions with China.
Beautiful Churches – Here’s My Favourites
Fr Sean Collins CSsR, – Father Chris Townsend’s column on worthy and beautiful Catholic churches in South Africa was a delight to read, as well as raising a “moot point”.
Art Can Distort Church Figures
How historical figures can be distorted was brought home to me while I was visiting the Prado Museum in Madrid earlier this year.
Keeping the Garden Green: Vatican uses Essential Oils on Outdoor Art
The Vatican Museums and the Vatican City governor’s office – which includes the gardeners – are involved in a five-year project to develop ecologically friendly cleaning agents and techniques to clean, restore and maintain the 570 works of art on display outside. Those works include fountains, statues and stone plaques.
British Benedictine, 82, Creates Mural to Capture Order’s Charisms
When Mother Joanna Jamieson went back to art school after more than 60 years in a Benedictine convent, she was likened by one British national newspaper to an “intergalactic time traveller” who hadn’t heard a record by the Beatles or seen a James Bond film.
