Library Exhibit Showcases Prints from New Illuminated Bible

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Published on Sunday, 25 March 2012 13:29

A series of prints now on exhibit at the AMU library from the St. John's Bible offer the viewer a window on an opus 12 years in the making, an illuminated Holy Book, wrought by methods and materials authentically medieval
and fashioned specifically for a 21st century world.  The launching of the exhibit was marked with a lecture this past Thursday by David Allaway, Director of the Heritage Program of the St. John's Bible project, on the purpose and process that went into creating the first illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine abbey in over 500 years.

An illuminated bible is one in which gold leaf -- and often silver -- are used to signify the Divine.

The idea for such a work germinated, Mr. Alloway explained, when the Benedictine abbey at St. John's University in Minnesota  "came up with a big idea," which ultimately reached fruition under the artistic hand and direction of Donald Jackson, Senior Scribe to Her Majesty the Queen's Crown Office.   Mr. Jackson, along with a team of artists he had handpicked and trained, set to work fashioning the kind of Bible the monks at the abbey hoped to see – a work whose creation would commemorate the arrival of the third millennium, which would serve as a link of commonality among Jews, Christians and Muslims and which would be welcoming to people of other faiths.   ­­­­

The monks were not envisioning a medieval book created in modern times, but a 21st century book made for a 21st century audience, while being linked to the past  by technique and materials. Jackson and his team would employ such venerable materials as vellum, goose quill pens and paints derived from lapis, vermillion and egg to incorporate, along with the holy texts, artistic themes reflective of our times: scientific achievement, discovery, social justice and the role of women in the church.

Thus we see, in the art work pertaining to Jesus' genealogy, a double-helix and strands of DNA, both to reflect the genetic understanding of our times and to make us reflect on the fact that the humanity of Jesus extends even to the sharing of DNA.

In the seven vertical bands of art used to illustrate Creation, one portrays the heavens as viewed from the Hubble telescope; another shows cave paintings in a depiction of the creation of Man. The concept of evil is rendered in images taken from the modern world – the massacres in Rwanda, the Holocaust, and the destruction of the World Trade Center.  Wisdom is portrayed as an old and beautiful woman.

The staggering effort ended up taking  12 years, not the six years original estimated for completion, but as Alloway said with an amused smile, "Since no one had done this in 500 years, who knew?" It would take an artist about a day to hand letter approximately two columns of text, and the work entailed in creation of the opus was as monumental for a calligrapher, Mr. Jackson said, as a project like the Sistine Chapel would be
for a painter.

The original illuminated St. John's Bible will remain with the monks in their monastery in Minnesota, but over 200 reproductions of the Bible, each a seven volume set, are available, and are being acquired by university libraries, museums like the J.P. Morgan Library and Museum in New York -- which also owns three original Guttenberg bibles -- and hospitals like the Mayo Clinic. Mr. Jackson refers to these sets as "printed interpretations," to distinguish them from more ordinary "reproductions" and to better reflect the work and elevated artistry that goes into them.  For instance, the vellum in the original is so thin that on every page a shadowy image from the reverse side can be seen. The cotton paper used in the reproductions does not allow such shadows to pass through the page, so in the "printed interpretations," Mr. Jackson has actually inserted what looks like "shadows" from the opposite side. A far more affordable fine art printed reproduction is also available to the general public.

The ten prints on display on the second floor of AMU's library until May 7.  For more information on the St. John's bible, their website is http://www.saintjohnsbibleorg.

Prints that will be on display at Ave Maria University are: