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Benjamin Miller and the Bible

By Fr. Johann Roten, S.M.

Benjamin Miller’s art received considerable attention beginning in 1927. 1927 is the year of the Salome prints and of the Flight into Egypt. The latter was included in the British publication The Woodcut of Today at Home and Abroad. It was commended for its bold and fresh design. The New York Times (December 25, 1927) published a full-size reproduction of the same print and presented it as a new look at traditional religious features.

The Flight into Egypt, a popular representation belonging to the Christmas cycle, comprises a multi-layered thematic. It highlights poverty, expulsion, and exile of the Holy Family; it records the clash between two cultures, the new culture — the culture of love — toppling the idols of Egypt — symbol of a world yearning for salvation. The Flight into Egypt also describes joy and bliss of the Holy Family on the rest from the flight, but already anticipates the future Passion of Christ.

Miller’s Flight is an intricate play of vertical, horizontal, and oblique lines. The Holy Family is set against the forbidding crisscross pattern of a hostile landscape. The child is blotted in the protective crucible formed by mother and donkey. Bent, but braving an uncertain future, Joseph combines the vertical and horizontal lines of Mary and the animal to symbolize resignation and determination.

The Bible has been strongly affected by 20th-century art. Contrary to 19th-century Bible illustrations à la Doré, which sought a certain catechetical and pastoral objectivity, beginning with the poetic and primitive symbolism of Gauguin (Vision after the Sermon, 1888), 20th-century art exploits the Book of Books as artistic quarry and source of inspiration. Events of the Bible are now translated into a second form (representation), attaining thereby a renewed presence and effectiveness. All at once, the biblical message opens itself to new interpretations and a variety of meanings. A symbiosis between artist and text develops which will give new life to the text and, to the artist, a home for his fears, phantasms, and expectations. The Bible becomes alive with a second life and breathes with two lungs: the lung of heavenly inspiration and the lung of human interpretation.


HOW TO GO:

The Prints of Benjamin Miller
May 1–July 27, 2018

Marian Library Gallery, 7th floor of Roesch Library
Open Mon.–Fri., 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. 

For special arrangements, please call 937-229-4214.

Complimentary visitor parking passes can be obtained at the visitor parking information center

 

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