Last Saturday we left Belleville before 8:00 AM to visit the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto first, then the McMichael Gallery in Kleinberg.
We weren't sure about the AGO exhibit featuring Francis Bacon and Henry Moore, but we are members so it wasn't a financial commitment, just our time.We were both glad we attended and learned a lot about how both Bacon, the painter, and Moore the sculptor, were affected and influenced in their work by the experience of the Second World War. Both men were atheists, Bacon more vociferously, yet they both created images of the crucifixion.
Obviously the crucified Christ is central to our Christian understanding of the incarnation with all it's risk in God's identification with humanity. For these two artists crucifixion is an archetypal image of human pain and suffering, regardless of belief in God.
Today we acknowledge the cross of Calvary and Jesus' slow and agonizing death. Christians don't all agree on what that means for us, with different theological perspectives on atonement and the suffering God. We do gather today to "survey the wondrous cross" and ask again how this gruesome and yet cosmic event shapes our understanding of sin, forgiveness, and enduring love.
What are your thoughts about the crucifixion on this Black/Good Friday?
Francis Bacon Crucifixion
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