Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-04-22
Christ in Modern Art

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Christ in Modern Art
The pedestal on the facade of the
National Catholic Welfare Confer
ence Building, on Massachusetts, ave-
nue. near Thirteenth street North
west, eventually will be occupied by
a statue of Christ as the Light of the
World. A competition among sculp-
tors has been held, and those whose
models seemed most to deserve sup
Elementary consideration have been
asked to perfect them for further
study by the jury charged with
making the final choice. Meanwhile,
a helpful contribution to discussion
of the problem has been discovered
in time-stained copy Of Putnams
Monthly Magazine for December,
1906, in which Homer Saint Gaudens,
more recently director Of the Fine
Arts Division of the Carnegie 1nsti-
tute of Pittsburgh, printed an essay
on American Paintings Representing
the Saviour as He Lived on Earth"
In the opening paragraph of his
text, the author explained: Almost
all the canvases = = bear the stamp
of the present feeling toward Christ
feeling which, in simplicity and
elemental directness, contrasts with
the paintings of the artists of the
past who depicted the Saviour in the
midst of violent emotions or dramatic
incidents. None of the Christ
figures pose in eccentric positions,
but stand self-concentrated, though
perhaps at the time addressing the
outer world. So, too, the paintings
strikingly lack those old-time i'm
portant accessories, now replaced by
unity through which the artists
center their scheme of work directly
upon the personality of the Saviour
Himself" What the artists sought,
it seems, was to show IAN intimate
God who appeals to every charitable
and worthy emotion"
First of the pictures reproduced is
that of John La Fargo entitled I'm
the Valley of the Shadow" with Jesus
looking straight into the eyes of the
beholder. His right hand holding a
shepherds staff and His left raised
to His heart. Next follow two inter-
pretations of the Lord at the moment
when He said: Come unto me, all
We that labor and are heavy laden
one by Kenyon Cox and the other by
Charles c. Curran, both with out
stretched arms of invitation. Two
versions also are given of the Incl
dent of Christ's forgiveness of the
woman taken in adultery. OF these,
Frank Vincent Du Mond's suggests
Him as the defender and protector
as we'll as the pardoner Of sinners,
while Will H. Lows stresses His COM
passion above all other attributes.
Jesus as a preacher was the theme
Of Joseph LAUDER and Jesus as a
teacher that of George Hitchcock.
Regarding the former, Mr.. Saint
Gaudens wrote: Here is the Christ
that brought not only love and
mercy, but cheerfulness, into this
world" At the opposite extreme are
Carl Melchers' "Ecce Homo" and
Carl Mars I'm the Garden of Geth-
semane"-studies of the Man Of
Sorrows, acquainted with grief"
The tenth portrait bears the caption
Christ and the New Jerusalem" and
is the effort of Frederick S. Lamb,
"a wholly original conception Of the
Lord created under the inspiration
of the tenth verse of the twenty-fi first
chapter of the Book of Revelation:
And He carried me away in the
spirit to a great and high mountain,
and showed me that great city, the
holy Jerusalem, descending out of
heaven from God" In this canvas
Jesus appears in serene repose, His
countenance uplifted to the sky, His
hands relaxed in gesture of blessing
and of resignation. Around Him is
the great quietness which even ordi-
nary mortals apprehend on high
hilltops.
Admittedly, 1t would be difficult to
choose single picture as "the best"
But, though they were displayed by
Mr.. saint-Gaudens nearly 81 years
ago, they still are richly worthy Of
study as examples of conservative
modern religious art and as such
must be Of interest to the N. C. w. C.
Judges.
Pretty Boy Floyd Hamilton has
been having difficult time Within
few days this prisoner, trying to