Of the artists featured in the book about whom I have yet to post here are the following:
- John J. A. Murphy made a name for himself as a dynamic illustrator and artist. Printmaker and painter, wood engraver and book-maker, Murphy studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Students League. He moved to London to be painter Frank Brangwyn's assistant before serving in the camouflage section of the Army Corps of Engineers in France and illustrating posters during WWI. He returned to New York in 1921. A full set of his Way of the Cross wood engravings can be seen on the website of the Art Institute of Chicago.
- 'Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt came to America from Sweden when he was thirteen. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, working for a Swedish newspaper before and after his classes in order to make money. He made several trips to Europe and, like many other Chicago painters, settled for a while in New Mexico, where he was part of the Santa Fe group Los Cinco Pintores (The Five Painters). He made prints as well as paintings, and developed a new technique of woodblock printing that allowed multiple colors to be transferred in just one impression. Toward the end of his life, he believed that painting should be stripped down to semi-abstract shapes or “idea-bones” in order to express emotion, and created dreamlike compositions of religious figures, birds, and landscapes.' 'In 1921, Nordfeldt and his wife observed the re-enactment of the Passion of Christ during Holy Week. The dramatic ceremony left a strong impression on Nordfeldt, inspiring a series of etchings and paintings including Crucifixion with Birds.'
- William H. Johnson said. “My aim is to express in a natural way what I feel both rhythmically and spiritually—all that has been saved up in my family of primitiveness and tradition, and which is now concentrated in me.” 'Drawing on African American culture and history, as well as African lore, he executed several series of paintings that featured religious subjects, political themes, the rural South, and the modern military.' Amy K. Hamlin 'suggests that Johnson chose the subject of the dead Christ in response to the increased number of lynchings in the United States during the interwar period.'
- Romare Bearden 'achieved early success through his series The Passion of Christ, based on the gospels of Matthew and Mark... Whether Bearden shows us a street scene, an image of people in church or at play, a family at home (such as The Woodshed, 1970.19) or in a lush tropical landscape, the message is in the dignity of the black community and the poignancy of opportunities—both gained and lost.'
- Abraham Rattner 'searched for a philosophy of "oneness" as he depicted religious scenes from both the Old and New Testaments as well as some secular scenes. He struggled with his own life as he compared himself with Abraham or the crucified Christ. His prayerful life was dominated by a hope for peace and an abhorrence for war and the suffering it carries with it... Rattner's suffering as well as his deep spirituality and love for humanity was expressed through the dominant figures of St. Francis of Assisi and Moses.'
- 'Philip Evergood had been studying abroad when he returned to the United States in the middle of the Great Depression... Like many artists of the 1930s, Evergood was sympathetic to the plight of workers. His participation in strikes and protests often landed him in jail, and he believed that art was a weapon and a means for social change.' 'Evergood’s art, like his other activities, reflects his devotion to egalitarian ideals, and his early paintings, especially, are statements of sympathy for those who struggle against oppression.' He wrote of The New Lazarus, "Christ, with all his generosity, his goodness, his love for people is crucified, drained of his blood, and left for the vultures to devour."
- For John Steczynski, 'his images evolve out of colored ink hatchings. They relate to post-modernism in their use of the appropriation, eclecticism and focus on the body. They are to operate as visual prayers that have their roots in devotional experience. They derive from the tradition of imagery inspired by devotion, piety and faith. The imagery is focused on as mystery and presence.' Steczynski viewed himself as a liturgical artist but one who felt isolated as there seemed to be little comprehension of liturgical art and few other artists who viewed themselves as such.
- John Talleur’s 'ardor for life comes through in his work. Playful geometric forms dance on primary-colored canvases. A go-go girl dances wildly. Earlier works are more solemn. Talleur often used traditional religious iconography early in his career. “He was a very serious person who was just very alive and very happy to share what he loved with anyone willing to take part.”
- 'The vast loss of life and horrors of World War II affected Umberto Romano’s work, with a particular example being his painting Cargo (1942-43). Cargo’s central figure is a Merchant Marine sailor dying on a raft. World War II triggered a definite change in Romano’s work. A New York Times art critic on October 8, 1944 wrote, ”Something amazing and glorious has happened to Umberto Romano. This is an art transfigured.” His painting Ecce Homo (Latin for “Behold the Man”), portrays a Christ-like figure representing the effects of war and violence on man and became an ongoing motif in Romano’s painting. New York Times critic Edward Alden Jewell then wrote of Romano’s work (October 14, 1943) “I think it is the most galvanizing and purifying war show I have seen.”'
- Aileen Callahan's 'work has expressionist line and charcoal glimpses of a head, shoulders, crown of thorns, and dark instruments as though a scene is moving and one's view is a fragment. The drawings are not places in a sequence which records an event, but rather are places to repeat the feelings and focus on the theme as a meditation. The titles work with the drawings to allow multiple meanings and capture "gestures" of the images. The viewer is near the image. The viewer is in its space.' Callahan writes that 'First cognitions encounter color, shape and line. Later these are attached to ideas, associations and collective and personal human experience. Within all people and cultures, art expresses astonishingly profound levels of meaning.'
- Enrico “Henry” Pinardi, an Italian-American artist and legendary Rhode Island College art professor, left an impact on the lives of an extraordinary number of former students. Throughout his lifetime he has not only created recognizable and influential pieces of art, but also formed lifelong connections that have impacted the lives of many. Born in 1934, Pinardi faced hardships growing up between Cambridge, Massachusetts and Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella and Verona, Italy, where living through polio and post-war European reconstruction helped him find his path to his unique, dark art. “My work may veer away from the comfortable, but it is my sense that work should draw upon what is in the real world, even if it means the work is unsettling, or disturbing,” said Pinardi. His pieces, most commonly oil paintings, drawings and wooden sculptures, feature representations of death, religion and his love for the sea.
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Bob Dylan - Solid Rock.
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