Paint + Paper
When you think of fine art, what kind of art comes to mind? Artists explore a variety of different artistic media to express their work and ideas, along with many methods and techniques. From paintings, drawings and original prints, to other artforms like sculpture, collage and fiber arts, the choice of medium tells us a great deal about an artist’s goals and how audiences may interact with the story or expression presented.
Paint + Paper highlights compelling narratives and various artistic media from original paintings and works on paper from the Thrivent Art Collection. These artistic expressions feature religious and historical themes including the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the Supper at Emmaus, and the Last Judgment, as well as stories from the lives of Moses and St. Jerome. Exploring a singular topic through different types of art provides a unique opportunity to see how an artistic medium contributes to our understanding of a story, and the artist’s intentions.
Paintings and works on paper serve different purposes. Artists may create drawings or prints to practice their skills or to work out ideas that may later be translated into a final print or painting. Drawings can also be made as finished compositions. Original prints are typically created as their own final, unique form of art. At times they reproduce other works of art, offering wider accessibility to an image or idea. Paintings are one-of-a-kind works; they may be commissioned at the direction of a patron or can be the artist’s personal expression.
Paintings, along with sculpture and architecture, were traditionally considered the pinnacle of fine art. Historically, paintings were primarily accessible to the elite or wealthy members of society who commissioned these works. After the mid-15th century invention of the printing press in Northern Europe, original prints helped dramatically advance early modern culture and brought a vital new form of societal communication. Prints functioned as the primary visual media in popular culture; they were less expensive to produce, able to be made rapidly and easily distributed, making them an ideal platform for all types of content from political and cultural topics, humor, event announcements, religious teachings, and fine art. Still today, prints are created and collected as an accessible, varied form of fine art.
Founded in 1982, the Thrivent Collection of Religious Art primarily consists of works on paper, including drawings, prints, and manuscript illuminations devoted to religious subject matter. The five oil paintings in this exhibition are exceptions within this special collection.
