The Fredösphere

This being the second in a series of posts about religious art, very broadly defined.

In my previous post on this topic, I promised you Jesus' graduation picture. Here it is. Hey, that's what we called it at the Christian liberal arts college I attended, and really I'm just trying to make fun of a work of art that, c'mon now admit it, deserves some deconstructing.

The artist is Warner Sallman, and the guy is just everywhere. There's a certain generation of churchgoers for whom Sallman is The Source for religious imagery. Go to this list and see Christ At Heart's Door. Is there a church basement anywhere in the civilized world that does not have this picture hanging on the wall? From the same list, see Christ In Gethsemane, Jesus the Children's Friend, or Christ at Dawn. In every case, we get the blue-eyed, jut-jawed winner of the Best Nordic Head contest.

I'm not writing this to make fun; well, not only to make fun. It's just that I think Sallman's ubiquitous vision did real harm. Thanks to his efforts, a certain group of people raised in churches decorated with Sallman prints found it marginally easier to dismiss Christianity as a club for old ladies and the old ladyfied at heart.

From the same link, check out The Boy Christ. If you are not revolted by that kandy-koated kid, there is something wrong with you.

Whew. I'm done. Let me use one more Sallman installment as a transition to a happier topic:

Next time on Varieties of Religious Art: Christ the Pilot! Don't touch that dial!

Labels: VarietiesOfReligiousArt