UWM Art History Graduate Student Youngchul Shin has researched and installed an exhibition on the UWM Library’s 4th Floor, entitled “Christ, Fully God and Fully Human.” Congratulations to Youngchul on this project!
Christ, Fully God and Fully Human
An exhibition investigating works in diverse mediums with images of Jesus, featuring the Nativity and Crucifixion as demonstrative of his humanity and divinity.
On view in the Fourth Floor Exhibition Gallery of UW-Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library from July 16 through September 14, the exhibition Christ, Fully God and Fully Human includes images of Christ from the medieval to the contemporary using materials from UWM Special Collections, Archives, and the American Geographical Society Library. The exhibition focuses on depictions of the Nativity and Crucifixion of Jesus. The Nativity, the story of the birth of Jesus, and the Crucifixion, the story of his death, are effective narrative cycles in helping Christians understand the embodiment of his humanity and divinity. These scenes have been beloved subjects for artists and have been used as illustrations in books since early Christendom in order to supplement readers’ imaginations and help establish their faith in the veracity of the stories.
“Based on the same biblical stories, the Nativity and Crucifixion, illustrators and authors have interpreted the stories and figures in their own stylistic approaches, each presenting their view of Jesus as human, deity, or both. Moreover, it is fascinating how many diverse mediums are used to bring the viewers closer to the biblical stories. Although most of the objects in this exhibition are categorized as books, they all have different formats, fitting the content of each one, and figures are depicted in highly individual styles,” explains Youngchul Shin, graduate intern at UWM Special Collections and curator of this exhibition. “I hope that viewers will approach the exhibition with Christ’s duality in mind, and investigate how each illustration depicts this idea differently.”
The exhibition includes works from the 16th century to the present, including a state-of-the-art facsimile of the Book of Kells, books for children from the Historical Curriculum Collection, and Barry Moser’s highly-acclaimed 1999 limited-edition, two-volume Bible with hundreds of original wood engravings.
Many thanks to Head of UW-Milwaukee Libraries Special Collections, Max Yela, for this information.
