Monday, February 9, 1998
Heavenly creatures
ART The Armand Hammer’s newest exhibit recognizes both religious
and secular influences of angels on world culture
By Nerissa Pacio
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
If Tony Kushner were to walk through the latest exhibit at the
UCLA Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, he might
reiterate the last scene of his own play.
"There is a great blaze of triumphal music, heralding. The light
turns an extraordinary harsh, cold, pale blue; then a rich,
brilliant, warm golden color; then a hot, bilious green; and then
finally a spectacular royal purple."
Kushner’s play, "Angels In America, Part One: Millennium
Approaches," is just one example of the prevalence of angel
iconography in contemporary America. This satiric, Pulitzer
Prize-winning drama describes anything but the pristine seraphims
in swirling colors floating across the Vatican. In fact, this work
exposes the contemporary issues of gay relationships, AIDS and fear
of the coming millennium.
But the Armand Hammer Museum’s exhibit, "The Invisible Made
Visible: Angels from the Vatican," which shows through April 12,
serves as a reminder of angel imagery throughout time.
"The Invisible Made Visible" is a reminder of the omnipresent
image of angels, past and present – in ancient Rome, during the
time of Christ, in the Vatican – but also a reflection of our
present-day fixation with these winged creatures – evident in
Valentine’s Day cards, home decor and even contemporary
fiction.
Though spanning the history of the Central and Western world,
the exhibition, which begins its five-city U.S. tour in Los
Angeles, highlights the importance of angels to the present popular
America.
"Angels in America have been a sign of national connectedness
with God," says Leonard Primiano, an assistant professor of
religious studies at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa. "We can look at
the late 18th to early 19th centuries of George Washington with
angelic messengers around him. We can look at the capital dome and
see the Dominican which is topped by an angel. We can see the
rotunda of the Penn state house decorated by angels. These are very
relevant examples of the triumphal image of America as guided by
angels."
The exhibit, which showcases items from paintings to ceramics
and sculptures to liturgical pieces used in papal masses, does not
limit itself to a particular world region. The oldest piece, dating
back to 900 B.C., is from Syria, while the most modern is Spanish
painter Salvador Dali’s 1977 "Angelic Landscape." Though angelic
images are pervasive in the American culture, the exhibit presents
the overlap between multiple religious and cultural traditions.
"Angels seem to be all-pervasive, whether it be television,
radio, books, movies or angelic music – so the theme seemed a
natural one," says Allen Duston, representative of the Pontifical
Commission to the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums. "We
tried to associate themes of angels not only in the Judeo-Christian
tradition, but also the Roman, pre-Christian tradition. … The
exhibit will be very popular because it speaks to many people, to
many cultures, of the pervasive presence of angels not only today
but throughout all time."
Though typically associated with purely religious
identifications, the exhibit encompasses pieces tracing back to
Greek and Roman eras of winged deities, revealing the history of
human visualization of these unseen spirits.
"You can see the precedence of angels before Christian
iconography," says Cynthia Burlingham, a curator of the Armand
Hammer Museum, pointing to a statue of the Greek god Eros.
Such pieces reflecting pre-Christian visualization abound in the
first of a series of multiple themed rooms, the first titled
"Origins of Angel Iconography." Other rooms of the exhibit follow
in historical and religiously chronological order, including the
theme "Angels in the Life of Christ," followed by pieces within the
theme of "Angels in the Life of Mary."
The colors and images of each piece serve as symbols of
significant religious or cultural iconography.
"The angel dressed in the color blue symbolizes that the angels
are spirits and not real beings," says guest curator Arnold
Nesselrath, the curator of Byzantine, medieval and Renaissance
paintings in the Vatican Museums and Pontifical Galleries,
surveying a particular painting.
Nesselrath’s explanation brings observers back to the idea of
the exhibit as a collection of human artistic interpretation of the
invisible made visible. Such interpretations have greatly
influenced the American population, establishing angels as popular
images of today. Such images are not limited to purely religious
figures.
"Sixty-five percent of the American population have things,
stuff that bears the image of angels in their homes. More than half
the population have some painting, popular prints, ceramic piece of
some reproduction of a work of art. And I’d have to guess that many
of those homes contain a mass-produced piece that was influenced by
the images found in this collection," Primiano says.
Whether it be an image of angels in paradise singing and making
music to the Lord, an ancient sarcophagus (stone coffin) bearing
the image of angels in chariots or even the classic image of
cherubs resting rosy cheeks on their hands as they gaze upward, the
exhibit melds classic artistic interpretations with contemporary,
sentimental and popular appeal.
Primiano recalls an encounter with someone he calls an "ordinary
American talking about her life" and what an angel is to her:
"She answered, ‘The simple pleasure of angels is a hug, it’s
that inner comfort and peacefulness … it’s when I and my feet
don’t hurt. It’s like a cup of hot chocolate.’ And this is why
people will come to this exhibit … just to spend some time with
the simple pleasure of angels."
ART: "Angels from the Vatican: The Invisible Made Visible" shows
at the UCLA Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, 10899
Wilshire Blvd., through April 12. Tickets are $4.50, $3 or $1 with
UCLA ID and free on Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m. For more
information, call (310) 825-2101.
Armand Hammer Museum
"Concert of Angels" is part of the Armand Hammer exhibit on
display through April 12.
Armand Hammer Museum
A fragment of a sarcophagus lid with cupids aboard chariots is
shown in the exhibit "The Invisible Made Visible: Angels from the
Vatican."