7 minute read
Curator Corner
By Becky Raspe
From fi rst glance, one could be drawn into “The Fountain of Life” by Cristóbal de Velasco for its striking colors, intricate details and varied textures. Moving through the levels, sections and specifi c groups of activity, you get snapshots into moments part of a larger scene.
But on further inspection, viewers are taken into a larger narrative – JewishChristian relations in the late 1500s. Featuring Torah scrolls adorned with Hebrew texts, the painting serves as a commentary on Jewish life in Spain. On the left lower level of the painting, Christian worshipers can be seen as calm, cool and collected, juxtaposed against the movement and disarray of the Jews depicted on the other side of a baptismal basin fi lled with coins. Down the center is the artist’s rendition of Jesus Christ, pictured with a lamb, referencing his title as the Lamb of God.
Painted over 400 years ago, one is confronted with the antisemitic tropes displayed in “The Fountain of Life” that still permeate society today. Alexandra Letvin, assistant curator of European and American art at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, explores the harmful ideologies depicted in the painting, how it provides a snapshot into the lives of Spanish Jews at the turn of a century, and how modern Jews and Christians can explore it as a means to confront religious differences.
CANVAS: What makes this piece noteworthy?
LETVIN: From a visual perspective, it is a stunning painting. The level of detail – of the architecture, the individual fi gures’ expressions, the textiles and even the plant life – is spectacular. It draws viewers in and rewards close and sustained looking. I would encourage viewers to begin by orienting themselves to the composition, considering, for example, how the tripartite structure of the architecture divides the scene, and how these three different zones of activity relate to each other.
From a historical perspective, the painting is signifi cant for several reasons. It is related to a much earlier work dated around 1440-1450 and attributed to the Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck and his workshop that is now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Both the AMAM and Prado paintings present a complex message about Christian salvation based on the differences between Christianity and Judaism, personifi ed as church and synagogue in the lower level of the painting. Made 150 years apart, the paintings, however, speak to two different moments in the history of Spanish Jews.
CANVAS: What response does this painting invoke?
LETVIN: A viewer might step away from the painting awed by the artist’s use of color and handling of paint, or overwhelmed by the painting’s complex composition and theological message. But its depiction of Jews is also harmful and upsetting. In comparison to the orderly, calm Christians on the left, the Jews are shown as blind and bumbling. This refl ects a common trope at the time that Jews were blinded by an only physical, or literal, understanding of the Old Testament, unlike Christians who were able to move from a literal to a spiritual understanding of the text.
CANVAS: What was happening in the art world, or world in general, at the time that might have infl uenced the work?
LETVIN: The Prado painting was made at a time of growing antisemitism in Spain, following the 1391 pogroms and culminating in the 1492 edict of expulsion. The AMAM painting coincides with a later moment, in which there was a growing interest among intellectuals and elites in learning to read Hebrew as well as Greek and Arabic. The clearest sign of this shift in attitude in the AMAM painting is that the Hebrew text on the scrolls held by the Jews is legible and identifi able as passages from the Psalms that were understood by Christians as references to the Eucharist. In the Prado painting, in contrast, the text is illegible. This is perhaps not surprising, as the AMAM’s painting was commissioned by García de Loaysa y Girón (1534-1599), archbishop of Toledo and tutor of the future King Philip III, who would have been able to read Hebrew.
CANVAS: What makes this painting relevant today?
LETVIN: To me, a central question in discussing this painting is: how can we take a harmful image like this and use it to advance a more nuanced understanding both of the historical context in which it was made and religious difference and confl ict today? It also opens up conversations about the role of images in constructing and reinforcing stereotypes, something particularly relevant with our passive and active consumption of images online and in the world around us.
“The Fountain of Life,” 1590. Cristóbal de Velasco. Oil on panel. Allen Memorial Art Museum, R.T. Miller Jr. Fund, 1952.13.
ON VIEW
“The Fountain of Life”
Artist: Cristóbal de Velasco (Spanish, 1588-1617) Year: 1590 Details: Oil on panel, 72 1/16 x 45 1/16 in. (183 x 114.4 cm.) Acquired: Likely hung in the cathedral of Palencia in northern Spain in the 18th century; then was seized by French troops during the Peninsular War (18071814); by 1952, it was in a private collection in New York and then sold to the Allen Memorial Art Museum by a New York gallery. Find it: The painting is on view in Nord Gallery, alongside other European works from the 1300s to 1600s.
Creativity Takes Center Stage at Hawken
Given that Hawken School has always been a haven for creative minds, it’s no surprise that opportunities for students to participate in the arts abound. While many other schools are forced to cut funding for the arts, Hawken’s programming continues to grow and thrive, enabling students to participate at various levels no matter what their age or experience.
A designated arts wing on Hawken’s Lower and Middle School campus featuring four classrooms designed for exploration, creation and performance represents a physical manifestation of Hawken’s commitment to the arts. Beginning in early childhood, music educators work with students to reinforce a love of music and to provide a basis for the development of musical concepts and skills. In third grade, students are introduced to the soprano recorder; in fourth and fth grade, students select a string, woodwind, brass, or percussion instrument for musical study; and from third through fth grade, students can opt to participate in Lower School Choir, which presents an annual musical production. In the Middle School, chorus, strings and band are o ered as part of the curriculum. Students also have the opportunity to be part of the Jr. Hawken Players’ Society through participation in the annual musical either on stage, behind-the-scenes, or in the pit orchestra.
At Hawken’s Upper School, students can select from a wide variety of music, dance and theater courses including Acting Fundamentals, Advanced Acting, Chorale, Concert Band, Creative Movement, Jazz Band, Global Rhythms, Stage Craft and String Ensemble. Outside of the academic day, small performing groups like Hawken Harmony provide additional opportunities for students interested in musical performance.
One of the most popular clubs at Hawken is The Hawken Players’ Society (HPS), which produces at least one play and one musical each year. Open to all students at both the Mastery School of Hawken in University Circle and the Upper School in Gates Mills, HPS productions are largely studentdriven. Under the guidance of adult mentors, students are given the latitude, tools, and responsibility to take full ownership of their role as an artist, whether in set design and construction; props, costumes, or makeup; marketing and graphic design; acting, singing, dancing; and even assistant directing. Hawken students have been the recipient of numerous Dazzle Awards from Playhouse Square over the last several years; most recently, a senior won the Best Actor award for his performance in Hawken’s COVIDsafe, live-stream musical, Songs for a New World, by Jason Robert Brown. Hawken School also places great value on the visual arts, often in collaboration with the performing arts department. An annual Early Childhood Art Show, a Visiting Artists Program, the annual Evening of Art and Music, the creation of artwork to accompany the fourth and fth grade musical, middle school set design, and the Biomimicry Art and Science Forum mark just a number of the many highlights of visual arts programming on Hawken’s Lyndhurst campus.
Visual Arts o erings for Upper School students include Art Fundamentals, Art and Design Principles, Graphic Design, Drawing and Painting, History of Western Art, Photography, Sculpture, Ceramics, AP Studio Art, Animation, as well as several advanced courses in these subjects.
Stirn Hall academic building at the Upper School campus, with its Media and Communications Lab and Fabrication Lab, has opened up a whole new world of creative, interdisciplinary possibilities. The Creative Movement class has worked with Groundworks Dance Company on a collaborative project, which took students to Playhouse Square to perform. In addition, numerous classes including the Design and Engineering and Comedy classes have utilized the new spaces for creative, hands-on projects. The Goldberg Innovation Lab on the Lyndhurst campus provides even our youngest students the opportunity to immerse themselves in the art of creative design.
Visit hawken.edu to learn more about the full menu of arts options available at Hawken. To learn more about visiting our campus, go to hawken.edu/admission or call 440-423-2955.
