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Views from the Choir Loft

Enough is Enough!

Gwyneth Holston · December 2, 2013

GWYN_Ingres Self Portrait of Ingres HE FRENCH Neoclassical painter, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, was so sensitive to ugliness that his wife would throw her shawl over his eyes to protect him from seeing a particularly hideous beggar or cripple in the streets. Although I find this unmanly and furthermore un-Christian, I have to admit that I wouldn’t mind if someone threw a shawl over my eyes to protect me from much of the artwork sold in the average Catholic bookstore.

Not only are the devotional images sold poor quality reproductions, they are usually so saccharine or stale as to be utterly intolerable. Most of the images of Jesus depict him as feminine or cartoony or as a surfer. The statues are even worse: cross-eyed, air-brushed, plastic, garish… why? I don’t blame the people running these bookstores; I blame it on a lack of demand. We must remember the true value of sublime art and create a market for it.

GWYN_Precious Moments Nativity Art is a sacramental! Beautiful sacred art has the power to send our thoughts soaring heavenward and to assist us during prayer. If you must get a reproduction, make sure that the original piece of art is superb: Caravaggio, Murillo, Raphael, etc. However, just as the radio is drastically inferior to live music, printed images are drastically inferior to original art. What happens when a painting is photographed and printed? So many things are lost: color, texture, detail, and (often) size. It is basically flattened.

GWYN_Madonna of the Crown by Ingres The Virgin with the Crown by Ingres Akin to the sentiments of John Senior in his book The Restoration of Christian Culture, I believe that seeking out authentic, quality experiences is the way to win the culture war. It is more satisfying to sit in front of a fire than to sit in front of an electric heater. It is more satisfying to visit a friend in person than to chat with him online. And it is definitely more satisfying to hang a framed piece of original art on your wall than to settle for a bad reproduction.

Let us sooth our frazzled nerves by taking a moment to enjoy the little-known painting, “Virgin with the Crown” by Ingres.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Gwyneth Holston

Gwyneth Holston is a sacred artist who works to provide and promote good quality Catholic art. Her website is gwynethholston.com. Read more.

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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”

— ‘His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI (11 May 2005)’

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