When I wrote two recent seasonal posts here–about art-related Christmas/Chanukkah presents and about the Star Trail at the National Gallery–I had  forgotten about an exhibition whose notice I had saved. It came in a press release dated Sept. 1, and I just turned it up in a bout of cleaning out emails.
Since Oct. 12, the Liebieghaus Sculpturen Sammlung in Frankfurt has been exhibiting Holy Night: The Christmas Story and its Imagery. Since the nativity of Christ is one of the most explored subjects in art, why is this notable? For me, the subject is fascinating–as an expert in Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, but an agnostic, once told me, comparing the many images of, say, the Annunciation is a rewarding exercise for any art-lover. You don’t have to be Christian to love Christian art, even in this age of increasing secularization in the United States.
The Liebieghaus exhibition focuses on art of the Middle Ages, supplemented with Early Christian and with Baroque images. You can read more details in the press release. Since I have not seen the exhibition in person, I can only repeat that it offers “an impressive demonstration of the surprising diversity of pictorial themes related to the Christmas story.”
In addition to well-known motifs such as the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi, many stories and images that have meanwhile all but fallen into oblivion await the visitor: episodes such as Joseph’s Doubt and the Circumcision or the miracles on the flight into Egypt.
It is displayed chronologically, from the Annunciation to the return from the Flight into Egypt, and continues through Jan. 29.
I’m posting a few images that, I hope, are new (or newish) to you–of the circumcision of Jesus by the Master of the Tucher (c. 1440-50), a sculpture of a pregnant Mary from Swabia, early 16th C, and a sculpture of the Magi from the Upper Rhine, late 15th C. (top to bottom), all courtesy of the Liebieghaus.
You can see more images and installation photos here.
There’s another reason this is interesting. The Liebiehaus, as you will remember, was until recently headed by Max Hollein–now the director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Hollein has said he wants the two museums he oversees, the DeYoung and the Legion of Honor, to organize more of their own exhibitions.
If this is the kind of show Hollein green-lights, I am hopeful that he will also approve a great variety of exhibitions in San Francisco.