Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP - Archives

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: July 22, 2003
Latest Update: July 22, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

David Alfaro Siqueiros: Religious Art

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, July 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

El Que Crea en Cristo Que Lo Pinte
Diego Siqueiros at 1968 Technique:Lithograph Dimensions:21" x 15 ½" 53.3 cm x 39.4 cm.
At the Adani Gallery in Dallas.
Click on image for larger version.

This is the first of a series of religious icons and modern painters for our class and site discussions on religions and epistemology.

According to the title the painting is of He Who Creates in Christ Who Paints It. Now, that's pretty literal, so some of you may need to correct me. What attracted me was the painting of the bust, no cross. From the holy pictures I received, and from the religious paintings of my experience bust portraits were pretty rare.

Adani Gallery has marked their lithograph sold, but left the larger version for us to see. I liked the limited color palette, the dripping of the paint like tears, and the slightest suggestion of a heart at the bust level. I was also attracted to the face, masked below by the dark beard, but poignantly defined by a few dark lines from the nose up. And the tears on the right side of the face seem to mingle with blood. No crown of thorns, but there may be one lost in the darkness. Arms calmly at the sides. No agony of the crucifixion.