Excellent musings/questions all! However having just gone round and
round with the MEDART folks on a similar subject, I'm still too tired to
jump in. Besides - frankly - I don't really know what I'm talking about.
I can tell you that Saint Joseph Abbey in Covington LA features a JBap
wearing hair/fur all over his body, attending Mary Theotokos and holding
a fetus in a chalice. In my opinion, a monstrosity in an otherwise
pleasant decorative scheme. I've noticed that JBap is NOT featured among
the images in the picture gallery of their website:
www.stjosephabbey.org.
Some really great modern Romanesque is at the abbey of La
Pierre-qui-vire in France. And Prince of Peace in California was
decorated by a Mexican Benedictine; the church is gorgeous and the
tabernacle is not to be believed. It's a modern version of the Ark of
the Covenant.
KW
Angus Graham wrote:
>
> kwildgen wrote:
>
> > Be still, my heart! I can't wait.
>
> A lighthearted comment from kwildgen, but at least a semi-serious
> response:
>
> There is populism and there is kitsch. Some 15 years back I was lucky
> enough to
> visit the monastery of Baramus in Wadi Natrun (a fourth-century
> foundation,
> reputedly by Helena, who, yes, certainly got herself about). Brother
> Antony - a
> retired Cairo dentist who still does sterling work upon the teeth of the
> local
> populace and is at least as educated as I am (!) - showed me about.
> After the main
> buildings, ostrich-eggs and iconostasis* included, we came into a chapel
> which had
> a rather good icon of the Baptist in it from the 18th century. He stood
> with his
> back to it, a sly smile on his face, his hands behind his back, and
> asked us what
> we thought. As he asked, there was a click behind his back, and
> multi-coloured
> fairy lights lit up around the frame. He smiled further, and the lights
> began to
> flash. We told him what we thought, but we were nice about it. 'I did
> this' he
> said, and smiled further. We were sure to make a donation to the
> foundation as we
> left.
>
> My response to the list is: whose kitsch is this/whose religion is this?
> And where
> do we fit Ivory Madonnas? At the beginning of the 21st century, I for
> one do not
> feel too sophisticated: it's much more comfortable to look a few
> centuries back.
>
> Angus Graham, Muscat
>
> * A nice 8th-century cedar-wood piece, massive in conception. Along the
> bottom of
> which I was appalled to see an electric cable loosely tacked, leading to
> a hole
> hacked in for a socket. 'Why was this done?' I gasped. 'Oh. For the
> vacuum
> cleaner,' brother Antony answered. Sure, churches need to get cleaned.
> Features
> also need modern representation -- don't they?
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