“Nicodemus”

Get comfortable, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to be with you in this time of prayer. Ask God to speak to you through this image.

Let your eyes pause and focus on the part of the image they’re first drawn to. Look at just that part of the image for a minute or two.

Now look at the whole image.

• Is there a word that comes to mind as you look at it

• What thoughts or questions does this image raise?

• What emotions do you feel?

• Does a name for God come to mind? A scripture?

• What title would you give this piece?

Pray through the words, images, emotions, questions, and thoughts that came up for you. Rest in God’s presence, trusting that God is with you even if you don’t “feel” it

As you step out of prayer and into your week,

continue to watch for God. Notice where Jesus is at work in the world, “hidden in plain sight.”

For more information about this piece, see below

• About the artist

  Henry Ossawa Tanner

  The first African-American artist to achieve international prominence, Tanner was also one of the first African Americans to attend the Pennsylvania Academy. He studied with Thomas Eakins before his 1891 departure for Paris to train at the Académie Julian. Feeling at home in France, Tanner spent most of the rest of his life there, successfully exhibiting at the Paris Salon and eventually becoming a member of the Legion of Honor. After his early focus on landscapes and African-American genre scenes showing Eakins's influence, Tanner achieved his greatest success with evocative biblical paintings marked by dramatic, even supernatural, light effects. Tanner's father was a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and his religious convictions instill these works with a contemplative quietude and profoundly human sensitivity to his subject matter.

• About This Piece

  Painted during the artist's second trip to the Holy Land (sponsored by Tanner's Philadelphia patron Rodman Wanamaker), "Nicodemus" depicts a scene from the Gospel of John in which the Pharisee and "ruler of the Jews" visits Jesus by night to receive his teachings. Tanner remarked that the six months he spent in Jerusalem lent an air of authenticity to this work, and he used local people as sitters. "Nicodemus" was shown at the Academy's 1899 annual, where it was awarded the Lippincott Prize for the best figurative work and purchased for the collection.

Healing of the Official’s Son

Get comfortable, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to be with you in this time of prayer. Ask God to speak to you through this image.

Let your eyes pause and focus on the part of the image they’re first drawn to. Look at just that part of the image for a minute or two.

Now look at the whole image.

• Is there a word that comes to mind as you look at it

• What thoughts or questions does this image raise?

• What emotions do you feel?

• Does a name for God come to mind? A scripture?

• What title would you give this piece?

Pray through the words, images, emotions, questions, and thoughts that came up for you. Rest in God’s presence, trusting that God is with you even if you don’t “feel” it.

As you step out of prayer and into your week,

continue to watch for God. Notice where Jesus is at work in the world,

 “hidden in plain sight.”

“Jesus healing the son of an official” engraving by European School

“The Wedding Feast”

Get comfortable, breathe, clear your mind, and ask God to be with you in this time of prayer. Ask God to speak to you through this image.

Let your eyes pause and focus on the part of the image they’re first drawn to. Look at just that part of the image for a minute or two.

Now look at the whole image.

• Is there a word that comes to mind as you look at it

• What thoughts or questions does this image raise?

• What emotions do you feel?

• Does a name for God come to mind? A scripture?

• What title would you give this piece?

Pray through the words, images, emotions, questions, and thoughts that came up for you. Rest in God’s presence, trusting that God is with you even if you don’t “feel” it

As you step out of prayer and into your week,

continue to watch for God. Notice where Jesus is at work in the world, “hidden in plain sight.”

For more information about this piece, see below

• About the artist

  JOHN AUGUST SWANSON was born January 11, 1938 in El Monte, California, and died September 23, 2021, in Los Angeles. He painted in oil, watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media, and was an independent printmaker of limited edition serigraphs, lithographs, etchings, and giclée print editions.

  His art reflected his strong heritage of storytelling, inherited from his Mexican mother and Swedish father. Swanson’s narratives are direct and easily understood. He addressed human values, cultural roots, and the quest for self-discovery through visual images. These include Bible stories and celebrations, circuses, concerts, and operas. He optimistically embraced life and spiritual transformation.

  Swanson studied lettering and printmaking with Corita Kent in night classes at Immaculate Heart College. His style was detailed, complex, and elaborate. It was influenced by the imagery of Islamic and medieval miniatures and Russian iconography, the color of Latin American folk art, and the tradition of Mexican muralists.

• Artist's Notes About This Piece

  As I built the layers of colors during the printing process for this serigraph, I tried to create a build up of color on the faces of each character in the scene. What happened as an outcome of this is a more intense look—it recreates the drama that is part of icons and Byzantine painting. There is an unusual design that unites and yet creates three different spaces. This design is on the tiles of the floor. They are almost like semicircles around each activity: the meal at the wedding table, the dancing, and the excitement around the wine jars. Somehow one can look at them as being separate rooms or one large room with these tiles—separating and yet uniting them. The three pillars help create this framework as well.

  There is a border that is similar to a window frame that we as spectators are looking into. We are observing all these events. This border was printed one layer of a flat metallic gold ink and a second layer used a stencil with patterns of leaves and flowers. The ink for this second layer had more gold metallic content, thus creating a subtle pattern with two layers of gold inks.

  The WEDDING FEAST at Cana (John 2:1-11) celebrates life. The newlyweds want all of us to share in their joy. They bring together their community. We are all invited to their feast. Guests celebrate the couple, the promise of new life in the fruitfulness of love, and the mystery of life itself. They eat, drink, and dance with gusto, toasting “To Life.”