Kindling the Spiritual Flame

Western influences in Ethiopian biblical art

It is the easiest thing in the world for commerce to export a new Western technique. It is infinitely harder for a Western poet or saint to kindle in a non-Western soul the spiritual flame that is alight in his own.—Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History

Although I would wager that there is one distinct culture whose soul was lit up by Western art.

This example requires another factor. Which is Christianity.

To continue with the theme of Ethiopian Biblical art, I mentioned briefly in a previous post that Ethiopian Christians maintained their faith while surrounded by pagans and Muslims by referring continuously to the Old Testament as verification of God, and as a way to behave in exemplary (or should I say, in a chosen) fashion, like the chosen people.

Well, there is another huge endeavor that they undertook. Mainly to translate the stories and messages that they received from the Bible into visual form, or art.

This was perhaps the one way where they struggled to keep in solidarity with the rest of the Christian world. While their spiritual world was mostly contained within the Old-New Testament interaction, their art, and interpretation of this spiritual world, relied considerably on outside influence.

From the very first available artworks, namely manuscripts, their influence was clearly the Byzantine world.

Over the centuries, as monks and other strong believers traveled to Jerusalem and sometimes as far as Rome, they started to imitate the art of the various periods of those regions.

Astute Kings also called for European, mostly Italian, artists and artisans to teach their artists the techniques and methods to depict Biblical figures.

Throughout the centuries, especially from the 15th to the 18th centuries, which could be called the "Golden Age" of Ethiopian Biblical art, it is evident that these instructions and examples were widely and very successfully used.

You can click on picture to see larger versions.

St. Mark from 14th century Illuminated Manuscript,
Byzantine model

Grey-haired St. Peter with folding robes, 15th Century

St. George with Unicorn-like horse, Ca. 1740-55

Confident Christianity

The strength of a society

In a recent post on Nietzsche, Christianity and the West, Lawrence Auster of the View from the Right was asked by a reader:

What did Nietzsche miss in your estimation? What did he not see? What era of Christianity is the exemplar of a healthy (non-weak) Christianity that did not give rise to, or aid and abet, liberalism?

and replied thus:

Throughout the history of Christianity we find examples of this, but mainly in the Middle Ages. We can't experience this in America. If you visit Ireland, and see the remnants of the Christian buildings from the Dark Ages, or the stone crosses and Romanesque churches from the high middle ages, or look at the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells (illuminated manuscripts from the ninth century) you will experience through them a living Christian truth, a consummate state of being. If you visit medieval churches in England, you will experience the same. Or if you read The Stripping of the Altars, about the actual Christian practice (such as Corpus Christi processionals and Holy Week observances) that were followed by ordinary people in the communities and the guilds of 15th century England, you well get a glimpse of a complete order of life based around Christianity.

I would add that a non-Western country which lived in this total, life-giving Christianity is Ethiopia. After a long hiatus following the conversion of the Axumite Kings around 300AD, a confident and well-prepared population returned to a culture infused and fortified by Christianity around the 12th century. This is exemplified by their grand rock-hewn and underground churches, and the many biblical art pieces which they produced to permeate every level of society.

This confident Christianity continued its way into history, surviving isolation, pagan incursions and the great devastation of the Muslims during the 15th century, until the mid-20th century. At this moment, modernism in its various guises proved the temporary victor.

Still, although the people have lost their footing, all that they have received is nihilistic communism and atheistic capitalism. Despite this lack of confidence, a return to the ancient faith seems to be the only solution.

On a related note, I recently sent a letter to the art critic and professor at the University of the Art, Camille Paglia, regarding her on-line article at Arion "Religion and the Arts in America." I just wanted to clarify the different traditions and histories of Christianity in Africa.

St. George and the Virgin Mary, Ethiopian pendant icon,
ca. 17th century
[Click on picture to see bigger version]

Bete Giyorgis Church in Lalibela
[Click on picture to see bigger version]

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Traditional Art in 300

Preview of essay

There are many references to the Masters in 300, and some (anachronistically?) refer to Christian themes. Here are some of my observations.

There is the reference to Goya's "The Third of May" when the brave Spaniard stands with his arms outstretched before the shooting squad. Leonidas does this before the arrows of the Persians - and we see this from behind.

There is the reference to St. Sebastian's arrow-pierced body upon seeing Leonidas fallen down after the barrage of the Persians' assault.

There are the charging horses of Delacroix, which the Persians (Arabs in Delacroix's paintings) ride.

Others have mentioned the Greek vases and their depictions of silhouetted soldiers. This makes more sense than what appear to be martial arts in the film (although the director did use martial artists to help choreograph his piece).

And there is the tradition of working with fully completed cartoons (mock drawings) before the final painting is attempted. This is pretty much what the director Zach Snyder did, quite faithfully using the already published Frank Miller's cartoon book (called a graphic novel these days) ) by the same name.

There is of course the ultimate image of all, the golden calf (or calves in this case) which adorn Xerxes' throne.

There are many more elements, including some beautiful sea imagery, which I think could have come from Turner, and more subtle Christian imagery.

Snyder did say he spent a long time looking at paintings.

The other phenomenal thing about the movie of course is the computerized imagery, which looks somewhat real rather than super real as would straight photography. I think paintings do this also, where the environment is not faithfully recorded as would be through a camera lens. Also, this computer generated imagery is an evolution of traditional art, at its most sublime, doing the same art but in modern times.

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300 - More than the Sum of its Parts

Reviewing 300

Dennis Prager, over at Frontpagemag.com, writes approvingly of 300 as an "epic of freedom-fighting biceps and torsos" that is "macho fun."

But 300 is much more . than . that.

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