The human mind remembers primarily through impressions
because images leave impressions on an individual’s memory. Beginning from
Megiddo, dated to around the year 70 to primitive paintings that were found in
the Catacombs around Rome to icons seen at St.Catherine's monastery on Mount
Sinai, early Christianity saw the emergence of pictorial representations as human
beings experimented primarily with religious symbolism as a means of expression
in their artistic works. In the 3rd century A.D. an emergence of Christian Art and
culture evolved and from that point on, various art forms began to surface.
These art forms grew in their religious symbolism and were undertaken as a
means of propagating religious teachings enabling the parables of Jesus Christ
to gain significance in cultural traditions and giving way to personification.
Symbols such as the fish denoted Christianity and the lamb denoted the innocent
Jesus Christ. Graffiti paintings were the basic art forms that were used during
this time period.
The central theme of these early paintings were images that
were focused on the life of Jesus Christ, images depicting His birth,
crucifixion, and resurrection from the dead. Stations of the Cross and the
Virgin Mary became more common. It is through these paintings that the stories
related to Jesus Christ were beautifully presented to the culture at large. Scenes
from the Old Testament were also painted by many artists during the early
period of Christianity and were a major part of these paintings straight
through to the beginning stages of the Renaissance period and into the
protestestant movement which gave way to secular artistic works.
In mid stages of the Renaissance period the emergence of
secular artistry as compared to the prominent religious themes were dominant
factors. Artist’s switched to secular genres such as portraits, landscapes
paintings etc., and strange subjects from classical mythology gained more
importance than religious subject matters. The modern era saw diverse
experimentation in the form of realism, impressionism, and cubism in paintings,
sending the iconic religious symbols to the background. Although art forms may
come and go, the end of the 20th century experienced somewhat of a revival of
these themes.
A revival of the early religious symbolism can be seen in
modern paintings. A trend to re-establish art with themes that revolve around
faith, Christ, God, the Church and the Bible has been rekindled in the 21st
century. Artists such as Gary P.Bergel, Carlos Cazares, Makoto Fujimura, Bruce
Herman, Deborah Sokolove, and John August Swanson are working towards the
revival of this art form.
With such a saga and legacy behind Christian Art Paintings,
every lover of art and Christ will feel innately inclined towards these paintings. |
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