Pieta Via Dolorosa 13
by Lianne Schneider
Title
Pieta Via Dolorosa 13
Artist
Lianne Schneider
Medium
Photograph - Digital Painting/photographic Art
Description
The 13th in a series of 14 images -
Photographic art based on a series of images I took myself of statues around the base of the 190 foot Groom Cross in Groom, Texas.
These images - 14 in all - were in fulfillment of a commission of 40x40 prints for a Catholic Church in Louisiana. The images in the series represent the 14 Stations of the Cross or Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) - vignettes along Jesus Christ's walk to Cavalry and his Crucifixion. Similar images in plaster, bronze, pewter, painted on wood panels or sculpted can be found in Christian churches throughout the world and in many communities, people from all denominations participate in "Living Stations" or "Passion plays" based on these same moments.
For many hundreds of years, from the early Middle Ages until more than a century after the Renaissance - Christian religious art dominated Western/European culture. Except for portraiture, one would have been hard put to find much secular art in Europe until the late 16th and 17th centuries.
Similar religious art still lives on in some places. In the small town of Groom, Texas, along Interstate 40, stands a 190 foot cross that can be seen across the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles from more than 20 miles away. Constructed by Steven Thomas over a period of 8 months, the huge metal cross stands today on private property near the highway. In the years following its construction, sculptor, Mickey Wells, created a series of life size bronze sculptures to add to the site. Twelve of these - representing 12 of the 14 Stations of the Cross - are placed in a circle around the central cross. Also called "The Way of Sorrows" or "Via Dolorosa," the stations depict the final hours in the life of Jesus - from his condemnation to his being laid in the tomb. There are many sensitive, enlightened people who are repelled by what seems to be a glorification of an especially brutal and gruesome death. My feeling is that the recreation of this Way of Sorrows is an attempt to understand and find meaning in suffering, particularly when it is undeserved. We ask this question every day when we are faced by the brutality human beings visit on one another and on other living creatures every single day. Why? Why do we visit such violence on one another?
One late October afternoon driving down to Texas, I was one of the 1000 people a day who stop to see the Groom cross. I had only a few moments just before sunset to take the pictures I wanted to take - and while I acknowledge that I am a Christian, albeit a very non-traditional one who embraces the teachings of the Masters of many faith traditions and non-religious philosophies, I have to admit that it was the artistry of the sculptor that totally engaged my interest and awe. In the dying and too brilliant light of sunset, I snapped as many shots as I could - unfortunately paying little attention to composition or framing of any single shot.
But looking at my rather poor photos, it occurred to me that I might preserve my own impressions of these sculptures and at the same time pay tribute to the nearly 1000 years of religious art that dominated the Western world throughout the Middle Ages right up until the post-Reformation period. Much of this kind of art can still be seen in churches and cathedrals all over the world as well as in the great museums that house the masterpieces of the Medieval and Renaissance periods. I post them here as ART. There is certainly no intention on my part to offend those of other religious traditions or non-religious traditions whose own artistic expressions I greatly admire. I've chosen to create my representation of four of the 14 stations along the Via Dolorosa in a style that I hope is reminiscent of the Middle Ages - using my own images of the sculptures found around the base of the Groom cross.
I would be remiss in not noting that all the textures including the one used for the background are from darkwood67 on Flickr.
My heartfelt thanks to the groups/hosts who chose to feature this and others in the series:
VISUAL VOICE - ANNIE
SELECTED DIGITAL ART - TAIKAN
BEAUTY - JAMES
MOTIVATION MEDITATION INSPIRATION - BARBARA
DIGITAL ART AND FABULOUS FRACTALS - KIKI ART
ART FROM THE PAST - JOUKO
PREMIUM FAA IMAGES - ROBERT
CHRISTIAN THEMED ARTWORK GROUP - GEORDIE
ARTIST NEWS - NADINE AND BOB
ARTISTS BEST FIVE ARTWORKS - TINA
TODAY'S BEST ART - CHAD
BOOK COVERS 1 PER DAY - JO ANN
SIGNATURE STYLE ART - SHARON
CATHOLIC ART GALLERY - FRANK
Copyright Lianne Schneider 2013
This is a rights managed image available for licensing at http://licensing.pixels.com/profiles/lianne-schneider.html
All images and my personal poetry/prose are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced, downloaded, distributed, transmitted, copied, reproduced in derivative works, displayed, published or broadcast by any means or in any form without prior written consent from the artist. My copyright does not imply rights to an underlying public domain image and I make no such claim. Copyright on works derived from or based on images in the public domain applies only to the subsequent manipulation or the digital painting resulting from my own style and interpretation. The original image remains in the public domain and such images are used in accordance with international law.
Uploaded
March 4th, 2012
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Comments (90)
Lianne Schneider
My most sincere thanks to the buyer from South Croyden, Surrey, England for purchasing 13 of this set of 14 Stations of the Cross. I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me. I hope you didn't inadvertently or unintentionally miss the 6th image in this series but I pray that each of these gives you comfort and hope as you contemplate each one. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Lianne Schneider
A very heartfelt thank you Frank for featuring this painting in CATHOLIC ART GALLERY. I am very humbled and honored by that.
Frank J Casella
Lianne -- CONGRATULATIONS!! Your beautiful artwork has been Featured by the - CATHOLIC ART GALLERY - Fine Art Group on FineArtAmerica! Thank you for sharing it !!
Lianne Schneider
Jo Ann and Sharon, my heartfelt thanks for featuring this image in your fabulous groups - BOOK COVERS 1 PER DAY and SIGNATURE STYLE ART. I'm so very honored.
Lianne Schneider
Thank you so much Tina and Chad for featuring this image in your wonderful groups ARTISTS BEST FIVE ARTWORKS and TODAY'S BEST ART. That means a great deal to me.