Christian traditions depicting feelings at an exhibition in Berkeley

The Berkeley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive present an exhibition dedicated to the Christian tradition of depicting human feelings. An exhibition entitled “Devotion”, organized with the help of curator Stephanie Cannizzo, asks his audience one main question: “Is it possible to develop your feelings, your strength, by looking at objects of art?”

Attributed to Beccafumi -
Madonna and Child, 16th Century

The exposition presents the works of Rembrandt, Rubens, Caraziolo, Dürer and others. The works created during the late Middle Ages are ascetic and bear the imprint of the artist’s prayer feat, the monastic technique of meditation. At the same time, with the advent of promising drawing, the work takes on a more realistic look, the connection between the viewer and the image intensifies. Taken together, these images have a profound effect on religious practices.

The feeling of devotion is presented in the form of a cycle depicting scenes from the earthly life of Christ. Moving from picture to picture, we observe scenes from his life, from the period of infancy to his death on the cross.

Painting, sculpture, graphics, tapestry, created from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries, are arranged as a sequential narrative, a chronological account of the life of Christ on earth. Metaphors play a significant role here. For example, the Egyptian landscapes of Patinir act as a metaphor for pilgrimage through life, where a person experiences peaks and valleys, as well as the choice of paths.

While some consider art a means to achieve a transcendental state, a lower form of meditation, others allow it to become a starting point. Ultimately, the goal of this approach is to search for a divine connection in the art, the emergence of a sense of compassion and the cultivation of one’s own strength through the process of internal visualization and empathy.

Anna Sidorova