beatae-memoriae:jamesmdavisson:If Jesus Had Been Korean: 20 Rare Paintings of the Life of ChristJesu
beatae-memoriae:jamesmdavisson:If Jesus Had Been Korean: 20 Rare Paintings of the Life of ChristJesus was thoroughly Jewish. Even so, different cultures and ethnicities have often portrayed Jesus and others from the Bible as being from their group. Sometimes this is done to symbolize the fact that Jesus came for all the nations of the world.Since Christianity for many centuries was based largely in Europe, these important characters of salvation history have often been depicted as white Europeans. Which is fine, but other cultures have also depicted them according to their own appearances.Enter Korean artist Woonbo Kim Ki-chang. A Christian missionary during the Korean war suggested he paint biblical scenes with a Korean backdrop, and he painted about 30 within a year. “I was praying for the quick end of the Korean War and a unified peace, and soothed my painful mind with a paintbrush,” he later said.The paintings above depict, in order: AnnunciationAdoration of the MagiFlight to EgyptJesus’ BaptismJesus Calls the First DisciplesFeeding of the 5000Jesus Walks on WaterJesus Carries the CrossCrucifixionResurrectionI think there are certainly risks to “acculturating” the gospel–adapting it intentionally to help a specific culture better relate to and understand–but when it’s done well, it can be truly beautiful. I wrote an essay about this last year, using as my main example a 9th-century Saxon poem that cast Jesus as a noble king and the disciples as his warrior companions, with sometimes lovely but certainly mixed results. I think the above paintings, though, are a purer representation of what a really great acculturation of the story of Jesus can be. How BEAUTIFUL! -- source link
#catholic art#religious art