Arts Hound: Sniffing Out Lalla Essaydi's Work -- You Shouldn’t Miss This Week

EUGENE WEEKLY
By Alex Notman

‘Les Femmes di Maroc’ by Lalla Essaydi

OREGON---The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art opens a new exhibit April 26: The Human Touch. Selected works from the RBC Wealth Management Art Collection will bring you face to face with the work of contemporary art masters such as Chuck Close, Lalla Essaydi, Elizabeth Peyton and Roy Lichtenstein. [link]

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Museum of Islamic Art Announces ‘Building Our Collection’ Exhibition

PENINSULA QATAR

DOHA---The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) will give its visitors insight into the process of collecting and displaying art through “Building Our Collection”, a two-part temporary exhibition which opens tomorrow. Located at MIA’s temporary exhibition galleries on the fourth floor, the expo explores why MIA collects Islamic art and how the museum’s collecting and exhibition practices shape people’s understanding of Islamic art culture from China to Spain through artistic and cultural connections between different regions of the Islamic world. The majority of featured objects have never before been on display. [link]

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Art Review: Forms of Illumination in Texas Islamic Art Exhibition

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Lee Lawrence

'Bowl With Bird,' from ninth- to 10th-century Iraq. Brooklyn Museum

TEXAS---At the Dallas Museum of Art, a light-filled passageway curves gently toward a white wall where, hanging in the center, four small, circular objects radiate lines of indigo, russet, sky blue and gold. They are three 13th- and 14th-century ceramic bowls and the center of a 17th-century shield. From Persia, Spain and India, they introduce "Nur: Light in Art and Science From the Islamic World." In Arabic, nur denotes not just physical light but the light of knowledge and spiritual truths. The museum's adviser for Islamic art, Sabiha Al Khemir, adopted its multiple meanings as her guiding principle in selecting more than 150 works spanning the Islamic world, from Spain to India, from the ninth to the 20th centuries. [link]

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NYC's Museum of Biblical Art Secures Donatello Masterworks From Italy

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Randy Kennedy

Donatello’s “The Evangelist John.” Credit Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore

NEW YORK---New York City, home to a stunning number of Renaissance treasures, has never had a work in a permanent collection by one of the era’s foremost sculptural masters, Donatello, and major pieces by him rarely leave Europe. But for a few months next year, the city will become a veritable Donatello feast, the one stop for a small show of works from the Duomo museum in Florence, Italy, including several sculptures instantly recognizable from art history textbooks but never before seen in America. That the works are coming not to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Frick Collection but to a young noncollecting institution, the Museum of Biblical Art, on the Upper West Side, makes the occasion all the more unusual. [link]

Museum of Biblical Art: "Sculpture in the Age of Donatello: Renaissance Masterpieces From Florence Cathedral,” (Feb. 20 - June 14, 2015); 1865 Broadway at 61st Street, New York, NY; (212) 408-1500; mobia.org

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No Boundaries: Gay Kuwaiti Artist Tareq Sayed Rajab de Montfort

THE HAARETZ
By Eyal Sagui Bizawe

"Homage to The Forgotten Queens of Islam" from Tareq de Montfort's exhibit. Photo by courtesy

FRANCE---He already has Koran verses tattooed on his body and plans to add the Jewish and Muslim names of God. Meet Islamic avant-garde artist Tareq Sayed Rajab de Montfort. Tareq Sayed Rajab de Montfort , a young, openly gay Kuwaiti-born artist, whose one-man exhibition, “The Arab Unbound,” was shown in London in February and is now showing at “The Window” in Paris. De Montfort’s work deals with Arab identity, with an emphasis on the grace of men and the strength of women, together with the various components of his own identity: Arabness, Islam, masculinity, homosexuality, queerness, femininity and even his socioeconomic status. [link]

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Bill Viola Unveils Major New Installation At St Paul's Cathedral

ARTLYST

Martyrs is located behind the High Altar of the Cathedral next to the American Memorial Chapel

UNITED KINGDOM---Bill Viola has unveiled a major new installation At St Paul's Cathedral in London. Martyrs, has taken ten years to realise and is the first of two large-scale permanent video installations created by this internationally acclaimed artist. The was inaugurated in St Paul’s Cathedral on 21 May 2014. The installation is the first moving-image artwork to be installed in a British cathedral or church on a long-term basis. Martyrs, is joined in 2015 by a second piece entitled Mary, which the artist has conceived as a companion work. Although installed in an Anglican cathedral, the works will engage with a multi-national, multi-denominational audience, in keeping with a spiritual environment that attracts millions of people of all faiths. [link]

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Sacred Web Conference Contemplates the Importance of Religion in a Secular Age

THE VANCOUVER OBSERVER

CANADA---"When we lose sight of the sacred, we can't see each other but as dust," said Vancouver-based trial lawyer and writer M. Ali Lakhani, at the Sacred Web conference in the Segal Building on Granville Street. He spoke of a haunting remark made by a survivor of 9-11, who said: 'We were as dust in their (the terrorists') eyes." In addition to the rise of Islamophobia and the release of best-selling books such as The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, he said there were corrosive influences within religion itself. Sadly, he said, there were "homogenizers" and "fundamentalists" who imposed their views on others and attacked anyone who didn't conform to their beliefs, as well as "diluters" who adapted their chosen religion to suit their personal whims. "The homogenizers and diluters feed off each other, and lost in all this is the centre -- what is the sacred?" [link]

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Artwork Lenders Agree to Extend BYU's 'Sacred Gifts' Exhibit

DESERT NEWS
By Whitney Butters

"The Sermon on the Mount" is a well-known painting by Carl Bloch. (Det Nationalhistoriske Museum Frederiksborg)

UTAH---BYU’s Museum of Art’s “Sacred Gifts" is going to continue giving the rare opportunity to view the works of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz a little while longer. The museum announced in a news release that the exhibit has been extended through May 26, two weeks past its original closing date. [link]

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10th Biennial Liturgical Arts Festival’s Juried Art Exhibit Opened Saturday at the Springfield Art Association

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

By Steven Spearie

“Mary, Christ and St. John the Baptist,” created by Springfield’s Paul Jergens, is part of the
Liturgical Arts Festival’s juried art exhibit that opens Saturday at the Springfield Art Association.

ILLINOIS---Reflecting on the history of the Liturgical Arts Festival of Springfield, Thom Dennis recalls the 1995 suspicious fire that claimed the Islamic Center of Greater Springfield’s masjid in an unincorporated area of the city. “One of the (Jewish) temples was the first to respond to the community’s needs at the time,” Dennis recalls. “That same spirit helped to foster the festival, the idea of working together on common values.” Dennis’ idea is still being celebrated in the 10th biennial event that kicks off Saturday with a hands-on creative workshop at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and with the Liturgical and Sacred Art exhibit at the Springfield Art Association. [link]

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Pope Exhibit Coincides With Viewing of Canonization of John Paul II

BUSINESS WORLD

Eastwood City will be hosting an exhibit of relics and the live viewing of the canonization of Blessed John Paul II (photo).

PHILIPPINES---Eastwood City -- which is located in the Blessed John Paul II Parish -- will hold a live viewing of the canonization of the beloved pontiff on April 27 (Second Sunday of Easter, of the Divine Mercy) at the Eastwood Mall Open Park, with live footage directly from St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. “Totus tuus,” which means “totally yours,” was one of John Paul II’s popular apostolic adages. The exhibit will showcase the pontiff’s relics, which came from Rome and the pope’s home country of Poland, including his zuchetto or skullcap, strands of his hair, blood stains, a large part of his cassock, a rosary, a piece of the chair he used, part of the bed sheet on which he died, the Papal Medal, Papal invitations, misalettes from his masses and the 1981 Pope Mobile, among others. [link]

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Iranian Falls in Love With the Colors & Temple Erotica of India

THE HINDU
By Nivedita Ganguly

A student of Fine Arts from Iran Samira Akbari working on her sculpture for an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and print works at Andhra University in Visakhapatnam. Photo: K.R. Deepak

INDIA---Samira Akbari, who completed her fine arts course from AU, is fascinated by the many colours of the nation oozing out in every aspect of life. When Samira Akbari talks about Indian art forms, there is a certain passion in her voice. “It’s simply fascinating. The ethereal beauty of ancient Indian sculptures and temple erotica never cease to amaze me,” says Samira, an Iranian student, who completed her Bachelors in Fine Arts from Andhra University this year. Comparing Iran’s restrained creative expression to Indian art, she says: “The art and culture tradition in eastern and southern India are much more open and free. It is this freedom of ideas that pulled me towards this region.” At the exhibition, she has exhibited a nude sculpture titled ‘Virgin on the Floor’. [link]

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Japanese Artist Hiroshi Sugimoto's "Acts of God" at Fraenkel Gallery

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

Hiroshi Sugimoto, The Last Supper: Acts of God (detail), 1999/2012

CALIFORNIA---Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto’s "The Last Supper: Acts of God" will be on display at the Fraenkel gallery from May 1 - July 3, 2014. The exhibition, "Hiroshi Sugimoto: Acts of God"(1999/2012) is a five-panel photograph, more than 24 feet in length. The artist first created this work in 1999, from a life-size wax reproduction of Leonardo’s "The Last Supper," which he photographed at a museum in Izu, Japan. In 2012, while the work was stored in the artist’s basement, it was damaged by the storm surge and flooding that occurred when Hurricane Sandy hit New York City. Sugimoto chose to retain the dramatic marks, colorations and ripples that have changed the character of the photograph. This gallery display coincides with a museum exhibition at the Getty Center. [link]

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For The Love of Basquiat: 25 Years After His Drug Overdose\

VANITY FAIR
By Ingrid Sischy

ELECTRIC DUO Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat
with their collaborative paintings at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1985.

NEW YORK---More than 25 years after Jean-Michel Basquiat died of a drug overdose, at 27, his most devoted collectors, Lenore and Herbert Schorr, are sharing their treasures in a show at New York’s Acquavella Galleries. Their memories of the artist, a surrogate son, illuminate his struggle to be seen. After he’d lost faith in the art-world establishment, Basquiat even asked Herb, a scientist and self-described “nerd,” to take over as his dealer. No fool, Herb, he did not give up his day job. What he did do, though, with Lenore, was build an unparalleled collection of Basquiat’s work, some of it bought directly from the artist’s studio, all of it clearly chosen with eyes that knew what they were looking at. [link]

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Scientists Say Shroud of Turin Shows Jesus Was Crucified in 'Very Painful' Position, With Arms Over Head

CHRISTIAN POST
BY KATHERINE WEBER

A negative version photo of the Shroud of Turin, Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, revealing a face commonly associated with Jesus Christ, taken in August 1978.

UNITED KINGDOM---A new study conducted by Liverpool scientists suggests the Shroud of Turin proves Jesus was crucified with his hands over his head in a "Y" shape, rather than to the sides in a "T" shape, as traditionally depicted in Christian art. The scientist leading this recent study says this new crucifixion would be "very painful" and likely cause asphyxiation for the victim. Scientists at the Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K. announced their findings at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences earlier this year. They argue that the Shroud of Turin, believed by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus, shows an image of a man with blood stains streaking down his arms. [link]

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Monday's Mother & Child by Arthur Szyk

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

"Baby Moses" (1935) by Arthur Szyk

Best known for his World War II anti-Nazi political art and his beloved Passover Haggadah, 20th century artist Arthur Szyk (pronounced “shik”) single-handedly revived the medieval tradition of illumination. The Szyk Haggadah above features "Baby Moses" a visual-telling of the story where Pharaoh's daughter finds the baby floating in a basket in the river. The full collection of originals are currently on display at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.

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RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Jewish photographer Annie Leibovitz creates iconic and revealing celebrity portraits, and Neil Patrick Harris as "Hedwig" is her latest for Vanity Fair. The Broadway revival, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," is the tale of an innocent boy (Hansel) who is emasculated by an absent father, a distant mother, and a series of men who at first profess devotion and then deny-it. Hansel becomes Hedwig as he gets wrapped in the serpent-like coils of this life while also developing a cult-following for his super-star talents. Even without a dramatic tossing of a mascara marked "Shroud of Hedwig," the Christian allusions are clear, and that is why "Hedwig" (above) is my NEWS OF WEEK.

In other religious art news from across the USA, and around the world:

• Buddhist Art of Week: A&O Meetup for lunch at Metropolitan Museum of Art [More News]
• Christian Art of Week: Poet laureate confronts his childhood abuse by priest [More News]
• Sikh Art of Week: Sikh collectors buy back their history one bid at a time [More News]
• Islamic Art of Week: Noha Al-Sharif's sculptures reflect religion and lifestyle [More News]
• Judaic Art of Week: Rabbi leads 12 Indianapolis artists on spiritual journey [More News]

Join the journey. We are all members of one spiritual family united in the search for human meaning through art from the religious imagination. For us, it's more than Art. It's Religion. We follow artists who explore religious ideas with their creativity. When you follow religious artists, you join others who do the same. Some of us join as "Collectors" and make policy decisions; others join as "Friends" who gather for the dialogues; and most of us join as "Subscribers" to this "free" weekly newsletter; (or follow on: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, or Soundcloud).

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How Do We Explain The Evolution Of Religion?

NPR | CULTURE
By Barbara King

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Religion is a cross-cultural universal, even though not every human being professes faith in God or some other supernatural being. Those of us who are atheist or agnostic make up 6 percent of the American population. A further 14 percent with any particular religion. But religiosity is found in every human culture and biologists, anthropologists, and psychologists keenly debate how it arose. Just like language, technology and bipedalism, religion too evolved over time. But how did that happen? The answer (researchers) Crespi and Summers favor is grounded in theory, as posited in 1964 by W.D. Hamilton. Kin selection turns on the concept of inclusive fitness, the idea that an organism's biological fitness derives not only from the direct production of offspring, but also from aiding the reproduction of its other relatives. [link]

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India's Imprint on Faith on Display in New York City Art Museum

THE HINDU
By Lavina Melwani

ABuddha Granting Boons, part of the ' Lost Kingdom' exhibition
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photos: Thierry Ollivier

NEW YORK---For the first time, the cream of treasures have been gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Sometimes entire worlds disappear, yet art survives and tells us the stories that would have remained untold. ‘Sivapada’ (Siva's footprints), a wonderful sandstone sculpture by unknown artists in Northern Cambodia of 7th-8th century, shows us the imprint of Hinduism on the Southeast Asian cultures of the first millennium that have vanished. [link]

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Religious Tattoos Represent Beginning of Body Art

COLLEGIAN ALTLIFE 
By Allison Dyer Bluemel

TEXAS---No matter what events are happening around the country, religious tattoos, particularly those representing the Christian faith, continue to be popular. The imagery also gives young men and women a chance to a get a more tattoo that may be more fully supported by their families as they start to delve into body art, according to News-Journal in Longview, Texas. “It’s easier to justify a faith-based tattoo to parents than a tattoo of something else,” Jes Farris, owner of tattoo parlor Studio 13, said in an interview with News-Journal. One of the most common Christian tattoos that Farris sees is the Jesus fish with “faith” written inside of it. [link]

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From Noah to Moses, Why the Renewed Interest in Bible Films? 80 Million Tickets

FINANCIAL TIMES
By Randy Bagoda

Charlton Heston as Moses in Cecil B de Mille’s ‘The Ten Commandments’ (1956)

HOLLYWOOD---There hasn’t been this much Hollywood interest in biblical material since the last midcentury, when movies such as Quo Vadis (1951), The Robe (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur, Solomon and Sheba, The Big Fisherman (all released in 1959), and King of Kings (1961) came out to popular and critical success, establishing what we now expect from Bible movies: that they be outsized spectacles of event and feeling, frequently melodramatic, and occasionally lurid, but usually respectful of their source material. Market opportunism is clearly one of the factors informing Hollywood’s latest come-to-Jesus moment. There are 80 million conservative evangelical Christians in the US alone. [link]

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The Met Museum to Present "Treasures From India: Jewels From the Al-Thani Collection"

BROADWAY WORLD 

NEW YORK---Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that an exhibition of some 60 jeweled objects from the private collection formed by Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani will be presented at the Museum this fall. Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection, on view October 28 through January 25, will provide a glimpse into the evolving styles of the jeweled arts in India from the Mughal period until the early 20th century, with emphasis on later exchanges with the West. The exhibition will be shown within the Metropolitan Museum's Islamic art galleries, adjacent to the Museum's own collection of Mughal-period art. [link]

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Noha Al-Sharif — an Expert in Islamic Sculpture

ARAB NEWS
By Rima Al-Mukhtar

The sculptress created figurines of groups of women conducting the
Islamic prayer ritual, made from clay or marble aggregate and polyester resin

SAUDI ARABIA---Saudi sculptress Noha Al-Sharif is known for her Islamic inspired sculptures that reflect both, religion and lifestyle. The concept of modern art attracted her to this medium where she majored in Porcelain and Textile. She is interested in Islamic Art and she loves to read about Asian Art: Indian Chinese and Egyptian Art. Al-Sharif has an interest in the representation of groups and the sculptural history of how different figures relate to each other. In 2011 she studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London where she obtained a diploma in Asian, South Asian and Islamic Art and developed her interest in the relationship between sculpture and faith. [link]

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Sikhs Buy Back Their History One Bid at a Time, But Say Museum Space is a Hard Sell

THE GLOBE & MAIL
By DAKSHANA BASCARAMURTY

The sword is believed to have been owned by Maharajah Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh Empire in India.

CANADA---“In the last 10 to 20 years, there’s been a huge surge of what are classified as Sikh objects entering the market,” said Deepali Dewan, senior curator of South Asian Arts & Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum. “Because of the demand mostly coming from the Sikh community, the prices have skyrocketed … it has priced museums out of the market.” Although Canada’s Sikh population is large – 1.4 per cent of the population follows Sikhism (compared to 1.9 per cent in India) – none of the major galleries or museums has a sizable permanent collection devoted to Sikh history in India. Even internationally, representation of Sikh history in major museums is limited, Ms. Dewan says. [link]

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