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The Golden Bible for Children

December 22, 2014 / Awc / One comment

The Golden Bible for Children: The New Testament
illustrated by Alice & Martin Provensen
Simon and Schuster, 1953

Alice and Martin Provensen met in 1943 when they were both working for animation studios. They married in 1944 and went on to illustrate over 40 books together–including The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown and A Visit to William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard. Martin Provensen also designed Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger. Of their work together Alice said, “…we were a true collaboration. Martin and I really were one artist.” (Interview in Publisher Weekly, 7/16/2001, by Leonard S. Marcus)

Other illustrations from The Golden Bible may be seen on Flickr.

I love the way way the Provensen’s give us a sense of motion in the Flight to Egypt below. The lines that cut across the two parts of the pictures move us from left to right, but the soldiers are rigid and straight, while the Holy Family follows the angel’s outstretched arm as a gently curving hill flows across the panel. It’s a nice bit of storytelling–telling us both “The soldiers are coming!” and “The angel will help them escape” and giving us a picture that enables us to hold those ideas in our imagination simultaneously. The star-like flower shapes are used throughout the book to indicate the presence of angels or the Spirit.

Flight into Egypt
Alice and Martin Provensen
The Golden Bible for Children: The New Testament
Simon and Schuster, 1953

Category: Advent, art, Bible / Tags: Evangelists, Everlasting Father, Isaiah, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Provensen, Wonderful Counsellor

The Bible Story Cube unfolds

December 16, 2014 / Awc / 4 comments

Today’s Bible story illustration is not exactly a book. It’s the offspring of the hugely successful Beginners Bible and an award-winning “dimensional promotional product” the Magic Cube. With such parentage you’d think the Beginner’s Bible Story Cube would have taken over the world, but today they’re hard to find. Perhaps the company that made them was too small. Perhaps they were simply played out of existence.

To give you a bit of historical context, the original Beginner’s Bible, written by Karyn Henley and illustrated by Dennas Davis, was in print from 1989-2004 and sold over 5 million copies–making it the best-selling Bible storybook of all time. There were many, many derivative products: books, CDs, video, toys, coloring pages, curricula, and The Beginner’s Bible became a franchise. The copyright is owned by James R. Leininger, a Texas physician, businessman, and political activist.

The Magic Cube was and is a tactile marketing object, and a multi-year winner of the Fidget Factor award (though a caveat here: I can’t discover who gives out that award). MagiCube websites proclaim, “Touch. Teach. Connect.” “right on your customer’s desktop” “deliver FUN with your advertising!”

At some point in the 1990’s, Good News Gifts must have licensed the pictures and story from Leininger to make Beginner’s Bible Story Cubes. Today Good News Gifts still markets a number of Story Cubes (and still priced at $6.95!), but they’re no longer branded “Beginner’s Bible” and the artwork has changed. (For that matter, The Beginner’s Bible has changed too, and the new edition is illustrated by Kelly Pulley.)

My story cube is just one of a number of the many ways people have come up with for children to play with Bible stories. There are Noah’s ark sets, plush whales with Jonah zipped inside, Almighty Heroes action figures, Nativity sets for little hands, and Godly Play activities. I find most of these pretty interesting as Christian material culture, but I have a soft spot for toy books and the unfolding cube. Maybe someday I’ll make my own.

Category: Advent, art, Bible, children, play /

Stick figures and line drawings

December 13, 2014 / Awc / 3 comments

The Little Jetts Bible
by Wade C. Smith
W.A. Wilde Co., 1942

According to the foreword of Wade Cothran Smith’s The Little Jetts Telling Bible Stories for Young Folks,

The Little Jetts sprang into being one Sunday afternoon when Mama was away and Daddy had to keep some little folks from missing her too much. He knew Mama had been in the habit of telling them Bible stories on Sunday afternoons, but dared not attempt to duplicate her style, knowing he would be “weighed in the balance and found wanting.” Thus came the necessity to offer novelty of some kind, and, with fountain-pen in hand, he set out upon the rather hazardous experiment (for a novice) of telling illustrated stories. Two things, however, were at once in his favor–a child’s wonderful imagination, which has no difficulty in seeing people in straight marks, and the delight of a child at seeing anything drawn, however crude.

The Little Jetts appeared at a time when a “chalk talks” (a sermon or talk presented while drawing) were very popular in America. Invented by a Methodist artist, Mr. Frank Beard, chalk talks soon spread to vaudeville and to Chautauqua gatherings. Eventually, this interest in watching drawings come magically alive would lead to animated films (through artists such as Winsor McCay), and eventually to Christian cartoons.

The Little Jetts Bible sat on a shelf in my parents’ bedroom and, peering at those pictures in the days before I could read, the Little Jetts always seemed a bit ant-like to me. The illustrations were small and intense and there was a lot of action that I couldn’t always interpret–which I suppose is what put me in mind of watching ants working in the back yard. I think I was also used to more elaborate children’s illustrations and Disney cartoons, so I didn’t perceive all the detail that was available to me.

Now that I can read the accompanying text, and can view the less sketchy book that’s available via the Internet Archive, I see what all the fuss was about. By showing us little, by suggesting much, the artist brings us into the storytelling. Wade C. Smith hoped that children might be inspired by the Little Jetts to draw their own pictures–perhaps right in the book!–to make a keepsake of their childhood familiarity with Bible stories.

Published by Wade C. Smith, Richmond, Virginia, 1916.
This book may be read on Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/littlejettstelli00smit

Thinking about the Little Jetts put me in mind of another illustrator, the wonderfully talented Annie Vallotton. In the 1960’s, Vallotton created roughly 500 line drawings to illustrate the American Bible Society’s Good News Bible. A paperback copy of the New Testament–Good News for Modern Man–was one of my go-to translations during high school and college, and Vallotton’s illustrations added much grace and lyricism to my experience of reading scripture.

I suppose that Annie Vallotton’s drawings were for me what the Little Jetts were for their time: something different, something that felt modern, something that made the Bible seem more like a great story and less like scripture. They were respectful, but not typical–which is a fine line to walk.

Annie Vallotton
Good News Bible
American Bible Society, 1976

Category: Advent, Annie Vallotton, art, Bible, Wade C. Smith / Tags: Annie Vallotton, Little Jetts, Wade C. Smith

Behemoth and porcupine

November 30, 2014 / Awc / Comments Off

Hippopotamus Illustration by Howard Berelson in Animals of the Bible, written by Isaac Asimov, Doubleday, 1977

Hippopotamus
Illustration by Howard Berelson in
Animals of the Bible,
text by Isaac Asimov, Doubleday, 1977

“Behold, Be′hemoth,
which I made as I made you;
he eats grass like an ox.
Behold, his strength in his loins,
and his power in the muscles of his belly…
Under the lotus plants he lies,
in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.
For his shade the lotus trees cover him;
the willows of the brook surround him.
Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;
he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.” (from Job 40)

Illustration by Howard Berelson in Animals of the Bible written by Isaac Asimov, Doubleday, 1977

Porcupine
Illustration by Howard Berelson in
Animals of the Bible
text by Isaac Asimov, Doubleday, 1977

For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch,
and her soil into sulfur;
her land shall become burning pitch.
Night and day it shall not be quenched;
its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it forever and ever.
But the hawk and the porcupine[c] shall possess it,
the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. (from Isaiah 34)

Category: Advent, animals, art, Bible /

Sir, we wish to see Jesus

April 10, 2014 / Awc / One comment

Head of Christ by Warner Sallman
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Cristo Redentor, Rio de Janeiro
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

King of Kings
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Laughing Jesus

christ w arms raised georges roualt 1936

Christ with arms raised
by Georges Rouault

Homeless Jesus
Timothy P. Schmalz, artist and photographer

Head of Christ by Richard Hook

Holy Card
Photo: Holy Cards for Children

The Good Shepherd icon

Cristo Redentor de los Andes
Photo credit: Andy Stuardo licensed CC-BY-SA via Wikimedia Commons

573px-Michelangelo's_Pieta_5450_cropncleaned_edit

Pieta by Michelangelo
St. Peter’s Basilica
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

And Jesus Wept
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church near the Oklahoma City National Memorial
Photo: Crimsonedge34 licensed CC by 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

16th st baptist wendy mdfadden for xn churches together

The Wales Window for Alabama, created by John Petts
16th St. Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL
Photo: Wendy McFadden – Christian Churches Together

Rembrandt Jesus Staatliche Museen Preussicher Kulturbesitz Berlin

Head of Jesus by Rembrandt
Staatliche Museen Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Berlin

Resurrection of Christ
Isenheim altarpiece
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by a sermon about our different versions of Jesus, I thought I would share a few of the many. There are thousands out there in art high and low–and that’s not even counting the kitchy plastic dashboard Buddy Jesus bobbleheads. Suffice it to say, that people imagine Jesus in all kinds of ways–which says a lot about us, and only a little about Jesus. One thing it says loud and clear is, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

The sermon also made me think about Jesus’ words to Thomas (John 20:29), “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” I always felt those words as a rebuke to Thomas, but perhaps they have a second meaning. Perhaps it might actually be easier to believe Jesus is the Son of God if you never saw him in person.

How could it be easier to believe through a story than with a real flesh and blood person in front of you? When you hear the gospel, you can imagine him in almost any way you want: white, black, brown, tall or short, clean or scruffy, humble but with a presence–any way that is not an impediment. So the fuzzy edges of understanding might make it easier to embrace the truth, to be open to growth and deepening understanding. Perhaps waiting to see Jesus can be a sort of blessing, and our knowing that we do not know a semi-permeable membrane through which the Holy Spirit may pass. Perhaps we should have a bit of compassion for the people of Nazareth who in his presence believed they knew Jesus all too well and got caught up thinking, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son?…” and they took offense at him. (Matt. 13)

Maybe we are blessed by hearing only and not seeing, and yet believing. Whatever version of Jesus speaks to us.

Category: art, Christ, faith, Jesus /

Have you but one blessing?

February 13, 2014 / Awc / 3 comments

Law and Grace, 1529
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

My musings today are a bit tangled, but I’ll see if I can unravel them at least to the point of semi-intelligibility. Sometimes that’s as good as it gets with me and the Bible.

This morning I read again the story of Esau discovering that Jacob has stolen his blessing (Genesis 27: 30-45). I felt Esau’s anguish and dismay so keenly today. His voice is especially strong in verses 34 – 38:

When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” But he said, “Your brother came with guile, and he has taken away your blessing.” Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright; and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

That last cry “Have you but one blessing, my father?” gave me pause. In my mind “father” became “Father” and I thought about God’s blessings, and how with God there is always more–more grace, more love, more peace and joy. You will never approach the throne of grace to hear, “Sorry, all out of blessings. I gave my last one to the guy in front of you in the line.”

And that led me to another thought. From time to time I hear people express something along the lines of what they call “supersessionism” or “replacement theology,” usually meaning that the Church has replaced the Jews in God’s affection and plans. It all has to do with our trying to sort out the relationship between the Law and Grace (both of which come from God), and our wondering if God ever changes his mind or takes back a promise. These are thorny issues–wicked problems perhaps–or they seem that way whenever we try to figure out eternal mysteries in a temporal world. I’m not equipped to render judgement on such topics, but I do wonder if, while pondering how salvation works, we sometimes think God’s blessings are limited like Isaac’s.

Jacob and Esau. Neither one of them comes out looking like a saint, but they seem so very human. Two brothers, two nations, contending from their birth. Fighting over all the things we always fight over: love, attention, limited resources, power. Scarcity brings out the worst in us it. May God’s endless love bring us to better than we can ask or imagine.

Category: art, blessings, covenant, Law / Tags: Cranach, Esau, Jacob, OT

War in heaven

December 23, 2013 / Awc / One comment

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Revelation 12:1-11

A story that has fascinated people for centuries: struggling bodies, tangled, and falling. Warfare the metaphor we know too well. We sense the mighty power of God. Perhaps in Advent we also sense the devil’s fear: desperate evil thrown down to earth, whose wrath is great because his time is short.

Fall of the Rebel Angels
Master of the Rebel Angels, 14th c.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-_The_Fall_of_the_Rebel_Angels

Fall of the Rebel Angels
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1562
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

durer-albrecht-engravings-st-michael-fighting-the-dragon-1089

St Michael Fighting the Dragon
Albrecht Durer, 1498

Frans_Floris_-_The_Fall_of_the_Rebellious_Angels_-_WGA7947

Fall of the Rebellious Angels
Frans Floris, 1554
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Michael fights rebel angels
Sebastian Ricci, 1720
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

441px-Luca_Giordano_-_St_Michael_-_WGA9023

St. Michael
Luca Giordano, c.1663
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Rebel Angels
from Paradise Lost, Book VI
Gustave Doré, 1866
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Triumph in heaven
from Paradise Lost, Book VI
Gustave Doré, 1866
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Category: Advent, angels, art /

Lessons and Carols with the Ghent Altarpiece

December 21, 2013 / Awc / One comment

If you want a picture of Advent to hold in your mind, the Ghent Altarpiece is about as good as it gets. Painted by Jan van Eyck in the 15th century, the altarpiece is one of the most extraordinary things a human being has ever created. Consequently it’s been the victim of crime and theft, but it’s also been photographed and analyzed in astonishing detail by the Getty Foundation. Their website “Closer to Van Eyck” is your Advent devotional for today. Spend some time exploring–macrophotography will let you zoom in to ponder every flower and angel’s wing.

Like a Lessons and Carols service, the Ghent Altarpiece moves through the history of God’s relationship with humanity: from Adam to the Annunciation to the Adoration of the Lamb.

There are prophets proclaiming. There’s music and singing

and sumptuous beauty everywhere you look.

And like Lessons and Carols, the painting leads us on a journey from Creation and the Fall to triumph and worship:

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

Take some time to inhabit salvation’s story. Look closely at Van Eyck’s masterpiece. Wonder and marvel–because that’s what we need to feel as we draw near to Christmas.

Category: Advent, art, Lessons and Carols, worship / Tags: adoration, Van Eyck

Sermons

November 14, 2013 / Awc / 2 comments

At church we listen to wise people. We remember things our mothers have told us to do. We think of words our fathers have said. Sometimes we think new thoughts.

from To Church We Go by Robbie Trent. Illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones. Follett Publishing.1956.

Category: art, worship / Tags: children, Elizabeth Orton Jones, Robbie Trent, sermons

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Archive for art

The Golden Bible for Children

The Bible Story Cube unfolds

Stick figures and line drawings

Behemoth and porcupine

Sir, we wish to see Jesus

Have you but one blessing?

War in heaven

Lessons and Carols with the Ghent Altarpiece

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