- Dennis Coke"Peace and Love" (1969), oil painting executed by artist Osmond Watson.
Georgia Hemmings, Staff Reporter
THIS year marks the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ, and to commemorate the occasion, the National Gallery of Jamaica is presenting an exhibition focussing on the life of Christ through the works of Jamaican artists.
Titled Some images of Christ in the National Gallery's Collection, the exhibition features paintings and sculpture of seven artists - Carl Abrahams, Leslie Clerk, Karl Parboosingh, Mallica "Kapo" Reynolds, William Rhule, Namba Roy and Osmond Watson.
All the pieces on show are part of the national collection housed at the gallery, and chief curator Dr. David Boxer told The Sunday Gleaner that the exhibition is one of a series intended to promote the national collection to the public in a thematic fashion.
Dr. Boxer pointed out that it is not the first time that the gallery has presented the theme of Christ's life in an exhibition, as 15 Jamaican artists participated in The Passion of Christ exhibition in 1978, and in 1982 Madonna and Child images were included in the exhibition Some Mother and Child Images in Jamaican Art.
This year's show, however, was prompted by the special 2000th anniversary, and it was felt that religious paintings by Jamaican artists showing aspects of Christ's life would be fitting for the occasion.
Four of the paintings on show - by artists Carl Abrahams and Osmond Watson - have been selected by the Post and Telecommunications Depart-ment to be featured on Christmas postage stamps.
Ascension of Christ (1977) and Boy in the Temple (1977) are the two Carl Abrahams' paintings reproduced on the $25 and $20 stamps, respectively.
Shown also are his Last Supper and Woman I Must be About My Father's Business, while Thirteen Disciples is an abstract composition in which the figures of the disciples are fused into a single unit and their faces represented by masks.
Christ, done around 1985, was presented to the gallery last year as part of the Aaron and Marjorie Matalon Collection, and presents Christ in the conventional way with long, blond hair, beard and blue eyes.
On the other hand, artist Osmond Watson relates to Christ as a black man. Peace and Love (1969) shows a very black Christ in a frame surrounded by nails, a symbolic representation.
Jah Lives (1984) depicts a Rastafarian Christ, with a halo in black, green and gold. This painting and Madonna and Child (1974) are featured on the Christmas $30 and $10 stamps, respectively.
Hallelujah is a wood relief sculpture, depicting worshippers in joyful singing, crowned by the figure of Christ (again a black man).
The late Mallica ("Kapo") Reynolds also saw Christ as black, rather than the traditional white imagery, and this is shown in Silent Night which depicts the birth of Christ in a stable, and the Man of Calvary (1955) sculpture. The face in Christ (a limestone piece done around 1965) is also painted in black.
William Rhule's intuitive painting is in more simple, conventional style, but again he represents Christ and his family as black.
Namba Roy's Accompong Madonna is a powerful piece - presenting the Virgin Mary as a unified figure where mother and child are integrated. According to the gallery, this piece has been reproduced in different media on posters, photographs and stamps. Although the artist usually works in ivory, this piece was done in wood around 1958.
Karl Parboosingh's Sermon on the Mount is from the A.D. Scott Collection at the gallery, while Leslie Clerk recreates the Biblical story of the woman caught in adultery. His dark palette in The Writing in the Sand contributes to the effect of mysticism.
The Images of Christ exhibition is expected to run until February next years, alongside the 2000 Annual National exhibition, and should be viewed for the variety of artistic styles, if not for its religious significance.
There are other works in the gallery dealing with the theme, by artists not featured in this exhibition, some of them in the permanent rooms, and these can also be studied.
