2/12/2010 11:32:00 AM Looking artfully toward Lent
Image courtesy of the Morgan Library
Political Activism – Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America, a traveling American history exhibit, documents the sisters’ contributions to shaping America’s educational, healthcare and social justice institutions. Photo courtesy of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Family.
Museum going is woven into the fabric of Advent and Christmas throughout the metropolitan area by way of exhibits with religious themes. This year, the Lenten and Easter seasons have been similarly blessed.
There are rare and wonderful opportunities to explore visions of Catholic life and faith down through the centuries. On view throughout all of Lent and much of the Easter season, are two special exhibits, one in New York and one in Washington, which open windows on the way Catholics – clergy, religious and laity – kept the faith from the middle of the second millennium to the end of it.
Demons and Devotion on view now at the Morgan Library and Museum, 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, is a rare exhibit indeed, showcasing nearly a hundred individual pages from the lavishly painted 15th century Dutch manuscript “The Hours of Catherine of Cleves” which is considered among the most beautiful and sophisticated illuminated works ever created.
The manuscript has been disbound for this special exhibition which runs through May 2 revealing colorful landscapes and detailed domestic interiors that delight the eye. In the Holy Family at Work, for instance, Joseph planes a board and the Virgin Mary weaves while the infant Jesus takes his first steps in a baby walker.
Many of the miniatures comprise long, elaborate cycles of iconographic and theological complexity perfect for contemplation during the penitential season. One cycle of eight miniatures about the legend of the True Cross includes rare illustrations of Adam on his deathbed dispatching his son Seth to paradise, Seth planting a branch from the Tree of Mercy in the mouth of the dead Adam and, in the concluding scene, miracles at the pool of Bethesda.
The Hours of Catherine of Cleves are also famous for innovative borders, no two of which are alike. Some depict such everyday activities as milking cows, churning butter and baking bread. Still others are filled with butterflies, mussels, coins, fishnets, bird traps, flowers, vegetables, fruits and even pretzels, shedding true light on every day life.
Running concurrently with “The Hours of Catherine of Cleves” is a separate show of eighteen illuminated “Books of Hours” from the area around Flanders called “Flemish Illumination in the Era of Catherine of Cleves.”
This exhibition includes examples from major illuminators from this period which encompassed the late Middle Ages and the northern Renaissance. Included among the manuscripts are three by Simon Bening, considered one of the greatest Flemish illuminators including “The Da Costa Hours,” a masterpiece infused with lush landscapes, beautiful borders and keen observation of detail.
The Morgan Library & Museum is open Tuesday-Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday from 10:30 a.m.
to 9 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is closed on Mondays. Admission is $12 for adults; $8 for students, seniors (65 and over) and children under 16; free to members and children, 12 and under.
“Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America,” the traveling exhibit that reveals the role of Catholic sisters in shaping American history, will be on view at the Smithsonian’s International Gallery of the S. Dillon Ripley Center in Washington through April 25.
With the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas’ office located in Silver Spring, MD just outside Washington, DC, the Sisters of Mercy are excited to be an integral part of the planning of this historic exhibit at the Smithsonian. Mercy Sister Mary Waskowiak, president of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas is the exhibit’s local co-chair.
Among the special promotional events being planned to showcase the exhibit are a pre-opening press event, a private opening reception, public programs and school group outings.
Through rare artifacts, compelling photographs and videos, and vivid first-person narratives, this exhibit explores the contributions Catholic sisters made – and continue to make – in shaping the nation’s social and cultural landscape.
The “Women & Spirit” exhibit is open daily 10-5:30 and is presented by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Additional information on the exhibit can be found at www.womenandspirit.org
