The Touch of the Master's Hand...

This last weekend, I went to see the new exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art--'Carl Bloch: The Master's Hand.'  It opened this Friday, and has been hyped quite a bit through various church outlets.  I venture a guess that most people don't know who Carl Bloch is.  In a way, Carl Bloch represents the end of an era.  He painted Classical style religious paintings and large altarpieces in the later 1800s.  Bloch didn't get much recognition during his lifetime mainly because his style of painting was eclipsed by the growing modern art movements of the time.

During the mid-1900s, the LDS church started to use his paintings in just about everything from magazines to pamphlets and even movies.  I would venture to guess that every Mormon church house in the world has at least two of his paintings somewhere in the building.

 The Church has been in negotiations with various people for several years to put this exhibit together.  The main focus is five large altarpiece paintings created by Bloch.  One of these paintings is "Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda," which the MOA acquired in 2001.  The other four altarpieces haven't moved from their churches in Europe since they were completed over 120 years ago.  No one has ever been able to see all of these paintings in one place before now.  So it's fair to say that this is a very special collection that BYU has here.

I have never been as impressed at the MOA as I was this last Friday.  I was genuinely moved as I viewed some real masterpieces.  Bloch had a special ability to tell a story through art, and to convey a broad range of emotions through his work.  I wanted to show you some of the highlights from the exhibit that really stuck out to me.

The first painting you view as you enter the exhibit depicts doubting Thomas as he meets the resurrected Christ.  The pictures I'm posting here really don't do this justice.  Each of the altarpiece paintings is more than ten feet tall, with most of the figures being larger than life size.  I love the way Thomas is depicted here--humbly kneeling and penitent.  He's overcome with emotion as he realizes that Christ has overcome death.  The colors and details here are wonderful (I particularly like how Bloch treated the worn and faded red in Thomas' robe).

This altarpiece shows Jesus in Gethsemane.  The Biblical account does not give us details about the angel that came to the Savior to strengthen him as he suffered in the garden.  Because of this, artists often struggle to depict this event.  Oftentimes, the angel is shown hovering over Christ, while the Savior seemingly takes no notice of them.  Other times, a simple beam of light is shown, while the source of the light in not visible.  Carl Bloch shows us a much more personal story in this painting.  You'll notice that Jesus' arms are clasped in prayer, yet they hang limply to the ground.  His expression is one of exhaustion and sadness.  The angel in this painting is just as central to the painting as Christ is.  The two of them are contrasted starkly against the dark background of the night.  I can't help but wonder what it is the angel might have said to Christ that night to strengthen him.  Or maybe there were no words, and the angel just provided a shoulder to cry on.

This painting--"Christ and Boy"--was one of the major highlights of the exhibit.  I love the relationship between Christ and the small boy.  Look at how protective Christ is.  The gesture with Christ's left hand suggests the verses of the scriptures that say we need to become like this Child.  What's barely visible in the painting is the tears in Jesus' eyes. 

This picture shows a crew installing "Christ with Boy" at the Museum of Art. It gives you a sense of scale of how large these paintings are.  Something to note: when looking at this painting in the gallery, who are you eye level with--Jesus, or the boy?

This is the last main altarpiece you see at the museum--"Come Unto Me."  This is probably my favorite painting of the exhibit.  Look at the slice of humanity we see here.  We have a man in chains who appears to be anxious about being this close to Jesus.  Over his shoulder you can see a man who appears to be skeptical of the divinity of Christ.  In front of the Savior there is a lame man, as well as a humble beggar.  There's also a mourning widow in black, and a blind man over her shoulder.  Finally, there's the child on the left side of the canvas.  Aside from Christ, this is the only character here who is looking at you.  A common theme in Bloch's paintings is a child that looks at the viewer; inviting them to be part of the painting.  Here, the girl almost seems to be saying "are you going join us?"  I really can't tell in you in writing how impressive and touching these paintings are.

The exhibit is free, but you either need to register for tickets online, or grab standby tickets at the front desk.  You can register for tickets at carlbloch.byu.edu .  I personally had no problem getting in on standby tickets on opening day.  Also, you can checkout iPads for the exhibit that give you a neat guided tour.  Currently, the iPad checkout is free because only about 20% of the content for the exhibit has been loaded on them, but a museum worker informed me that the iPads should have all the content put on them in about a week.  At that point, iPad rentals will cost $3.