A Month of Miracles Part 6 - Healing the Paralyzed Man

Title: They Lowered the Paralyzed Man
Artist: Sadao Watanabe
Medium: Color Stencil
Size: 68.6 x 58.4 cm
Date: 1973
Location: Various; self-published, edition of 70.

Mark 2: 1-12 - A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves: “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

The man had come for physical healing, but Jesus speaks about the more profound illness of sin, of which physical illness generally was thought to be a consequence; and about the radical healing of forgiveness, of which this particular physical healing was a sign. Jesus claims for Himself the power to forgive sins, which in all the Bible can be attributed only to God (Ex. 34:7; Is. 1:18). The teachers of the law immediately accuse Jesus of “blaspheming”, a proper conclusion if He were a mere man.

Sadao Watanabe (1913 – 1996) was a Japanese printmaker famous for his biblical prints rendered in the mingei (folk art) tradition of Japan. He was born in Tokyo, and the young Watababe worked in dyers’ shops, sketching patterns and dyeing clothes. In 1937, he saw an exhibition of Serizawa Keisuke’s (1895–1984) work, and the event sowed the seeds of Watanabe’s artistic endeavor. Few years later, Watanabe attended a study group in which Serizawa taught his katazome technique of stencilling and dyeing, which originated in Okinawa. By 1958, Watanabe received first prize at the Modern Japanese Print Exhibition held in New York City for The Bronze Serpent showing Moses and the people of Israel.

TWENTY SAINTS IN TWENTY DAYS: PART 5 – ST FRANCIS

Title: Saint Francis (Der heilige Franziskus)
Artist: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Medium: Woodcut print
Size: 71 x 55.1 cm
Date: 1919
Location: Various; Publisher Verlag Karl Lang, Darmstadt. Printer Fritz Voigt, Berlin. Edition: 50.

TWENTY SAINTS IN TWENTY DAYS: PART 5 – ST FRANCIS

Saint Francis of Assisi (born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; c. 1181 – October 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man. When about twenty, Francis went out with the townsmen to fight in one of the petty skirmishes so frequent at that time between the rival cities. While going off to war in 1204, he had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome, Francis begged with the beggars at St. Peter's. The experience moved him to live in poverty, and when Francis returned home, he began preaching on the streets, and soon amassed a following; his order was endorsed by the Pope in 1210. In 1224, while he was praying on the mountain of Verna during a forty-day fast in preparation for Michaelmas, Francis is said to have had a vision, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, a result of which he received the stigmata. Brother Leo, who had been with Francis at the time, left a clear and simple account of the event, the first definite account of the phenomenon of stigmata: "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ."

In this portrait of St Francis, Schmidt-Rottluff puts to good use the much harder and more angular style his woodcuts adopted from 1912 through 1920. The agony of the stigmata and the wizened suffering on St Francis’ face are graphically portrayed, his suffering not just spiritual, but physical, like Christ before him. And although the portrait almost becomes a caricature with its use of exprerssionism, it still seems to capture the description of Francis given by one of his first disciples, Thomas of Celano: “...frail in form, Francis had a long yet cheerful face and soft but strong voice, small brilliant black eyes, dark brown hair, and a sparse beard. His person was in no way imposing, yet there was about the saint a delicacy, grace, and distinction which made him most attractive.”

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (December 1884 –August 1976) was a German painter and printmaker. One of the main exponents of Expressionism, he was a founder of Die Brücke and one of its leading members. The gradual dissolution of Die Brücke, as its members moved one by one to Berlin in 1911, led to the group’s demise a few years later. From 1915 to the end of World War I, Schmidt-Rottluff served as a soldier on the eastern front, and these experiences were reflected indirectly in his art. He increasingly turned to introspective themes, as in 9 Holzschnitte (1918), a series of woodcuts based on the life of Christ published by Kurt Wolff Verlag in Munich. At the end of the war he became a member of the Arbeitsrat für kunst in Berlin, which saw itself as an anti-academic movement of German artists at a time of revolution.

Christ Appearing to His Disciples After the Resurrection

Title: Christ Appearing to His Disciples After the Resurrection
Artist: William Blake
Medium: Color print (monotype), hand-colored with watercolor and tempera
Size: 43.2 x 57.5 cm
Date: c. 1795
Location: National Gallery of Art, Washington.

John 20:19-23 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven”.

In visual terms, this work tells us about the things that influenced Blake as an artist. The sinuous curves that roll over the backs of the disciples recall similar effects in Gothic art (which Blake had studied during his apprenticeship). However, Blake’s typically muscular figures demonstrate other inspirations at play, owing much to the Renaissance master Michelangelo. Here, the body of Christ is firmed up and thickened, backing up Blake’s belief in the resurrection. Although the stigmata and signs of physical suffering are showing, the muscled shoulders, defined thighs and solid arms add visual weight and vital credence to this cornerstone of Blake’s faith. This image does exude a sense of intimacy, with the huddle of heads, grinding and groveling (some are even flush to the floor), an odd (and totally engaging) backdrop. The syrupy glow that emanates from Jesus sets a definitive mood too. The warm flesh tones on the exposed bits of body flush fierce focus-on-the-physical into the picture. And Christ’s (just) larger than normal eyes could make someone look at this with new eyes.

William Blake (November 1757 – August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Blake is considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. In 1788 Blake developed a process of etching in relief that enabled him to combine illustrations and text on the same page and to print them himself, thus ensuring complete independence of thought and expression. Four illuminated books appeared between 1789 and 1794. Many of his large independent color prints, or monotypes, were done in 1795. His work was largely neglected for a generation after his death and was almost forgotten when Alexander Gilchrist began work on his biography in the 1860s. It was in the twentieth century, however, that Blake's work was fully appreciated and his influence increased.

Christ Presented to the People

Title: Christ Presented to the People
Artist: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Medium: Drypoint on paper
Size: 39.1 x 45.4 cm
Date: 1655
Location: Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis.

John 18:28-40 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” They replied, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” They objected: “But we have no right to execute anyone.” This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die. Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus asked, “Is that your own idea, or did others talk to you about me?” Pilate replied, ““Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” Pilate said, “You are a king, then!” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate retorted “What is truth?” With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

Silhouetted by a dark arch, the three protagonists, Pontius Pilate, Christ, and Barabbas, stand on the podium before a large civic building. Rembrandt captures the moment when Pilate, pointing towards Christ, asks the assembles crowd the question: "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all shout back, "Let Him be crucified!" Surrounded by an extraordinary architectural setting, soldiers, and the surge of the crowd below him, Christ looks helpless and isolated. This is one of Rembrandt's most celebrated prints because of its size, rarity, and complex composition. It is one of the few that Rembrandt did exclusively in drypoint, a process in which a sharp point is used to scratch a line directly into the copperplate.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 1606 – October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history, his work contributing to a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age. Rembrandt produced etchings for most of his career, from 1626 to 1660, when he was forced to sell his printing-press and virtually abandoned etching. Only the troubled year of 1649 produced no dated work. Despite Rembrandt's financial success as an artist, teacher, and art dealer, his penchant for ostentatious living forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1656.

Christ With Shopping Bags

Title: Christ With Shopping Bags
Artist: Banksy
Medium: Screenprint on wove paper
Size: 50 x 70 cm
Date: 2004
Location: Various; published by Pictures On Walls, London, edition of 82.

With this print Banksy makes us think about what art is, the nature of symbols, and how it connects with the reality of our lives. With stark juxtaposition the artist challenges values and popular culture. Jesus does much the same thing in relation to God; he seemed to be out of place in the synagogue and temple, always making shock waves and causing controversy. He also connected through humor, irony, vivid imagery. Originally released in 2004, and ranks as one of the lowest edition Banksy prints. Just 82 prints of this edition exist, all of which were signed.

Apparently born in Bristol in 1975, Banksy's location as well as real name is not publicly known. Graffiti artist, political activist, painter and decorator - the work of Banksy is unmistakable. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humor with graffiti done in a distinctive stenciling technique, and have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Though his identity remains unknown, his work is prolific, and his art is included in some of the most important private collections in the World. On June 13, 2009, the Banksy UK Summer show, titled 'Banksy versus Bristol Museum’ opened at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, featuring more than 100 works of art, including ‘Christ With Shopping Bags’.

The Three Crosses

Title: The Three Crosses

Artist: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

Medium: Drypoint and burin

Size: 39 x 45 cm

Date: 1653

Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Mark 15:25-27 It was the third hour when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.

Mark tells us that Jesus was crucified between two bandits. The Greek word translated as “bandits” is commonly used for insurrectionists who fought against Rome. Their presence in the Gospel reminds us that crucifixion was use specifically against people who fought against Roman Imperial rule. Ordinary criminals were not crucified. Jesus was executed as a rebel between two other rebels.

Considered one of Rembrandt's greatest and most dramatic prints, “The Three Crosses” is a work which has all the power of a painting. It shows the deepest point of Christ's suffering; massive beams of light slice through the darkness that the Gospels relate descended on the entire country. The light focuses on Christ, the two bandits who were crucified beside him and the crowd round about. Rembrandt made several versions of this print. This is an impression of the third state.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history, his work contributing to a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age. Rembrandt produced etchings for most of his career, from 1626 to 1660, when he was forced to sell his printing-press and virtually abandoned etching. Only the troubled year of 1649 produced no dated work. In the mature works of the 1650s, Rembrandt was more ready to improvise on the plate and large prints typically survive in several states, up to eleven, often radically changed. He used hatching to create his dark areas, which often take up much of the plate.

Jesus Walking on the Sea

Title: Jesus Walking on the Sea

Artist: Gustave Doré

Medium: Woodcut print

Size: large folio volumes (43 cm.)

Date: 1866

Location: Pg. 185, Le Sainte Bible: Traduction nouvelle selon la Vulgate par Mm. J.-J. Bourasse et P. Janvier. Tours: Alfred Mame et Fils.

After miraculously providing five thousand of his followers with food, Jesus withdrew again to a mountain to be by himself. That evening his disciples departed by boat without him, but, as recorded in John 6:18-21 “A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. But he said to them, ‘It is I; don't be afraid.’ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.”

A floundering boat is illuminated against a distant horizon, heavy clouds roiling overhead. Into this chaos strolls a majestic figure, self illuminating, reflected against what is everywhere else a churning sea. The simple confidence exuded in Doré’s Christ is well fitted to the call of ‘It is I; don't be afraid.’ One of the disciples, realizing the identity of the figure, waves back from the bow of the boat.

Paul Gustave Doré (January 6, 1832 – January 23, 1883) was a French artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving. Doré was born in Strasbourg and his first illustrated story was published at the age of fifteen. By 1853 Doré was asked to illustrate the works of Lord Byron, and this commission was followed by additional work for British publishers, including a new illustrated English Bible. Doré's English Bible (1866) was a great success, and in 1867 Doré had a major exhibition of his work in London. This exhibition led to the foundation of the Doré Gallery in New Bond Street.

I am a Grape Vine

Title: I am a Grape Vine
Artist: Sadao Watanabe
Medium: Stencil print
Size: 22.5 x 33.5 cm
Date: 1973
Location: Private collection

In John 15:5 Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears abundant fruit. However, apart from Me you can do nothing.” The most basic point of the imagery is the obvious dependence of branches on the vine for continued life. But Jesus also uses this imagery to link himself, and the new covenant he provides, to the people of the Old Testament. For example, Psalm 80:8 states Israel was like a grapevine brought out of Egypt by God.

Japan was a Buddhist country when in the mid-sixteenth century Portuguese missionaries landed on Kyushu Island. Initially the Jesuits were quite successful in spreading the Christian gospel in Japan, especially among the lower classes. This early success was propelled in part due to political circumstances favorable to them in a country torn by raging civil wars, but eventually these same politics turned against them. Christianity was banned, and its followers persecuted with harsh and cruel methods until the nearly complete extinction of the Christian religion in Japan. As foretold in Psalm 80:16 “Enemies chopped the vine down and set it on fire.”

Sadao Watanabe (1913 – 1996), was born and grew up in Tokyo. He was a Japanese printmaker famous for his biblical prints rendered in the mingei (folk art) tradition of Japan. The artist specialized in depictions of scenes from the bible, shown in a naive-looking, sometimes humerous, Japanese-like style. As a youth Watanabe was influenced by a teacher to become a Christian and was baptized in 1930. When he became severely ill with tuberculosis, a disease that could easily kill in those days, Watanabe vowed to study the Bible and spread the Christian story through artwork if he should recover.