Catalan Nativity
Paysage Catalan - Miro
Altar Screen, Las Trampas, New Mexico
I love Catalan art.
I see a continuity between the early religious iconography with modern artists such as Joan Miro. I also see a connection with the early Catalan iconography and our Native American religious iconography as found in the Southwest United States.
At one point in history, Church officials tried to get rid of the simple retablo style in churches in New Mexico, but the people never let it go and the form has been revived and greatly admired. It is truly an authentic American art form.
I included the Miro because of the simplicity of line and color. I also wanted to mention something I noticed this winter. My storm windows frost up when it gets especially cold, -0. Curiously, some of the windows formed crystal patterns similar to the work of Joan Miro - circles, straight lines, check marks, and other geometric shapes. I like to study the frost patterns on windows, especially when they are opulent floral and fauna patterns, but the geometric shapes surprised me this year. All of the shapes and lines were composed fractals - each line possessed minuscule fractal 'fringe' - but from a short distance, they appeared to be clean straight lines.
I think it is very good to study nature very closely, minutely, even microscopically, it is so beautiful. You can get lost in wonder. I think that is what it means to 'stop and smell the flowers'. You can see the cosmos, the entire creation reflected in the smallest ice crystal.
I think that we can understand many things in modern art or primitive art, using nature as a reference.
Not long ago I saw a news story about a horse who paints. The horse's paintings look amazingly similar to a local artist's work I viewed at Saachi Online. I have to admit I preferred the horse's work to the artist's work. That said, thanks to the horse, I understood the artist's work better.
Hello Terry and a very Merry Christmas Season to you (I love saying that till at least Jan. 6th, feast-day of the Epiphany)!!...LOL.. Thanks for this post about "Catalan Art". I really had never heard about it but now will most likely check-it-out. The colors are rich and beautiful in the Nativity Scene and the manger is different than any I've seen before. It seems larger and really more appropriate where the animals would be able to eat from! The artist Miro I'd heard about, but do not know much about him/her. I've heard that people in that part of Spain (Catalunya) are very musical but hadn't thought of their art. Thanks for posting, though cause it's very "intriguing". God bless and a happy New Year coming up to you and ALL your readers/visitors here!!..
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