Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Vatican Wants to Be a Patron of Artists Again

July 24, 2013 by Marion Maneker

Richter Cologne Cathedral
Richter’s Cologne Cathedral window

Maclean’s magazine charts the Vatican’s wary rapprochement with contemporary artists that began in the middle of the last decade but remains fraught with misunderstanding on both sides:

In 2009, the often-reactionary Pope Benedict XVI issued a message to pontifical academies, speaking of “the urgent need for a renewed dialogue between aesthetics and ethics.” Most recently, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, lamented that while new churches continue to be built by respected architects, “inside these churches, there isn’t a dialogue with contemporary artists. There is only folk art.” […]

Not all Vatican officials will extend the embrace. In 2007, German artist Gerhard Richter was denounced by Cardinal Joachim Meisner after unveiling his stained-glass window in the Cologne Cathedral. It consisted of coloured squares whose placement was randomly generated by a computer—a nod to the apparent chaos of God’s work. “It belongs in a mosque,” the cardinal scoffed.

Jesus Is My Art Patron (Maclean’s)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Dealer Attacks Giacometti Foundation Director Over FakesDealer Attacks Giacometti Foundation Director Over Fakes
  • A Fashionable DealerA Fashionable Dealer
  • Swiss Prosecutors Reveal Seizure of Syrian Artifacts From Geneva FreeportSwiss Prosecutors Reveal Seizure of Syrian Artifacts From Geneva Freeport
  • Qatar in ContextQatar in Context
  • A Week of Rocketing SalesA Week of Rocketing Sales
  • Frieze Proves Hirst Market LivesFrieze Proves Hirst Market Lives

Filed Under: Artists

About Marion Maneker

LiveArt

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor
 

Loading Comments...