I visited the Catharine Convent Museum of Christian Heritage in the Netherlands again last week!, and, of course, there’s a lot more to say; and so I’ll write a little bit more
I wrote before about how my first visit took me back to childhood- precious memories, how they linger!
Well I went back, maybe to get more inspiration, but certainly to support the others from my church (and other churches) who were taking advantage of a SKIN (Samen Kerken in Nederland) sponsored visit to the Gospel on Display, an exhibition focussing on gospel music, its introduction to and development in the Netherlands.
As always, there was something new to view. When you like something, It sure grows on you! Sometimes, there is something new to hear. This time, though, it was my own voice I heard. On the exhibition opening night, I didn’t listen to me. I was sooo embarassed at the close-up. How I wished I’d had the services of a good make-up artist! But this time, I listened to what I had to say. I very much wanted to, as I had heard that my sharing had brought to someone tears of joy!
I also had another look at one specific painting, that is the featured image in my last post on the musem.- the visit of the Magi. It is interesting that Christian tradition has long recognised among the wise men from the East, that man of colour. It’s not only at this museum. Visit the Rijks or other art museum and you’ll see in vivid colour the black. African. Of course, there are many Arabs from North Africa, but the darker skinned Africans have often been portaryed as unwise; and Christianity has often been complicit in that notion. It even collaborated with the enslavement of those whom some Europeans thought had no souls. There, in European musea, several depictions of the wise men bringing gifts to the infant Jesus include the black man, a bearer of gifts. Thank you, Lord.
Another thing that I had more time to enjoy in the exhibition The Gospel on Display, was this “painting”- Sounds of Joy. I have placed the word painting in quotation marks as I find it to be a painting of a different sort. It is really an abstract with sculpting and painting fused into one, done by Nigerian born artist Kingsley Ogwara. In creating a texture to communicate a mass of human bodies, he tries to convey a sense of safety (rather than anomie!) as one blends in with the crowd.
This post is getting long; and seeing that I will certainly return to that museum, there’ll be time for another one. Enjoy Ogwara’s painting if nothing else!