tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063618497237342315.post622560787129235279..comments2015-06-23T07:14:44.767-07:00Comments on J. Gordon Anderson - Contemporary Art: The Myth of Catholic ArtJ. Gordon Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03941152529096287366noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063618497237342315.post-68596015037680788872007-08-20T08:03:00.000-07:002007-08-20T08:03:00.000-07:00I tend to see Christian sacred art simply as art t...I tend to see Christian sacred art simply as art that has a Christian theme as its subject matter... a pretty basic definition. I have a hard time viewing a landscape, for example, as a sacred work, even though it may have been created by a devout Christian.<BR/><BR/>She writes:<BR/><BR/><I>"With characteristic brio, Gilson held that humanity continues God’s work of creation through the arts. The imitatio Dei, then, is not a matter of copying but of comprehending, and finding forms in which to render that comprehension. Gilson would have had no trouble recognizing the abstract substrate of Byzantine art without insisting that its forms were immutable or inherently sacred."</I><BR/><BR/>I don't see copying as being opposed to comprehending. One can copy, but it is always "different" from what is being copied. In other words, copying can be an act of comprehending.<BR/><BR/>I see what you mean about general revelation, Andrew... good point.J. Gordon Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03941152529096287366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063618497237342315.post-3298843460133354562007-08-15T08:32:00.000-07:002007-08-15T08:32:00.000-07:00Cool. I will offer my own comments on the essay as...Cool. I will offer my own comments on the essay as well when I get back from vacation, or when I am bored on vacation!J. Gordon Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03941152529096287366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063618497237342315.post-30518384741587195152007-08-15T08:18:00.000-07:002007-08-15T08:18:00.000-07:00"[1]Art is an instrument thoroughly of this world;..."[1]Art is an instrument thoroughly of this world; it is not revelation and has no theology. <BR/><BR/>[2]That being the case, it’s poorly suited to the spiritual burdens laid upon it. <BR/><BR/>[3]Artists themselves are not up to the task of defining or divining the Kingdom." <BR/><BR/>Well, Father, I'm back to allow myself the luxury of the following observations relative to the above quotation:<BR/><BR/>[1] seems to ignore the reality of general revelation; art is a human act whose end is the good of the work; but as Maritain also observes: every artist is a man, and as such is never exempted from the duties, obligations and ends of man; and the end of man is to know God. every human act, if it is good, is ordered, more or less directly, to this end. "art for art's sake" is every bit as mythic as "Catholic art" because the platonic form "artist" does not make art; men make art, and men do not exist for art's sake.<BR/><BR/>[2] is only true if the burden laid upon art is that described by [3]. but there are other spiritual burden's laid upon art by man (who is a spiritual being), and some men (good artists) may achieve the end of making a work which bears its spiritual burden well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3063618497237342315.post-60096179177775134242007-08-15T07:34:00.000-07:002007-08-15T07:34:00.000-07:00hey Father,I too am a bit scandalized by Western r...hey Father,<BR/><BR/>I too am a bit scandalized by Western renaissance, "sacred" art; the temporal seems to overwhelm the eternal, and it is the eternal (specifically, Our Lord's deity and the participation therein, by grace, of the saints; especially his most blessed Mother) that makes the art sacred. Of course, I sometimes am overwhelmed by the temporal aspect (which is essential to our faith); especially when I think about things like: the Cross must have been really heavy for Christ, after his beating at in light of the darkness ahead. If we suppose that his deity in any way cancels this out, then we have erred from the Faith; and I suppose that some forms of art do make this, the temporal, the earthy, the social and emotionally availabe, apparent.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, during parts of this article I was thinking about F. O-Conner's famous essay, "the Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South." She makes some necessary distinctions pertaining to the myth of "Catholic art."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com