Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI: 10.

1163/156852910X529395
Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 632639 brill.nl/rart
RELIGION
and the ARTS
Review Essay
Te Peculiar Presence of the Body in the Arts
Tyrus Clutter
College of Central Florida
Baert, Barbara, ed. Fluid Flesh: Te Body, Religion and the Visual Arts. Intro.
James Elkins. Vol. 8 of Lieven Gevaert Series, eds. Alexander Streiberger
and Hilde Van Gelder. Leuven/Louvain: Leuven/Louvain University Press,
2009. Pp. xvi + 125 + 18 illustrations. $39.50 cloth.
Jasper, David. Te Sacred Body: Asceticism in Religion, Literature, Art, and
Culture. Waco TX: Baylor University Press, 2009. Pp. xxi + 236 + 9 illus-
trations. $39.95 cloth.
*
S
ince the Council of Chalcedon settled the debate over the dual natures
of Christ in 451 C.E., artists of all stripes have sought to examine the
implications of this mystery. Te enduring challenges posed by the Word
made esh have not abated discussions of the role of the body in contem-
porary thought. Two recent publications tackle the precarious position of
the body in art. Te rst, David Jaspers Te Sacred Body, explores the body
through the lens of the ascetic tradition via the forms of art, lm, poetry,
but especially literature. Indeed, the authors background as a teacher of
literary theory is apparent in his analysis of all these forms. While Jasper
explains that the text is planned as a continuation of his earlier book, Te
Sacred Desert, this volume, at times, only tenuously connects the body to
the desert tradition (xi). Yet the analytical progression from the rst book
to the second emerges, and stems from Christian asceticisms development
as not merely a system to deprive the physical needs and desires, but to
tame the physical appetites, that the body might become a seamless unit
T. Clutter / Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 632639 633
with the spirit. Te reader may therefore easily nd herself drawn deeply
into what initially appear as various, meandering side discussions only to
discover Jasper ultimately forging his connection to the desert through
some obscure contextual twist. Since Jasper lters his processing through
philosophers from Martin Heidegger and Immanuel Kant to Jacques Der-
rida and Michel Foucault, it is not surprising that his writing can some-
times read as densely as many more recent philosophical works.
Some of the more absorbing narrative aspects within the analysis are
revisited throughout subsequent chapters. After an examination of the
hagiographical evolution of the gure of Saint Marytransformed over
time from Mary Magdalene, to Mary of Bethany, and nally Mary of
EgyptJasper extends his discussion of the bodys ascetical relevance with
an exploration of the character parallel to Saint Mary of Egypt in Paul
Bowles existentialist novel, Te Sheltering Sky (1949), and the adaptation
of that work in Bernado Bertoluccis lm (1990) of the same title (8085).
He rounds out the discussion of the desert life of Saint Mary through his
commentary on Diego Velzquezs painting, Christ in the House of Martha
and Mary (c. 161720). Just as the character of Mary evolves from the
historical person(s) to whom she is connected so Jaspers analysis pro-
gresses. Te carnal aspects of Mary are tempted and tempered in each art
form as her spirit seeks to conform to the guidance of the desert path
(6980).
Jaspers fresh eye on visual artconsidering artists as various as William
Blake, Hans Holbein, and Vincent van Goghis similar to Henri Nou-
wens. It resides somewhere between the explicitly theological and the inti-
mately devotional. At certain points Jaspers more pragmatic side, from his
training as an Anglican priest, underscores his investigation of visual
images. And he is often aided by the writings of art critics Arthur C. Danto
and Leo Steinberg, which is a welcome supplement to his own analysis.
He is, however, clearly more comfortable when he stays closer to his
literary roots. His scrutiny of the Hans Holbein painting, Te Body of the
Dead Christ in the Tomb (1522), relies heavily on the discussion of that
work within Fyodor Dostoevskys Te Idiot (1868). Like Mathias
Grnewalds Isenheim Altarpiece (151216)also discussed by Jasper (42
43)the Holbein work focuses on the scourged and crucied cadaver of
Jesus. Both of these paintings establish a transformed understanding of the
physical beingfocusing on a gloried physical form. Christs taking on
of mortal human esh is examined in the extreme when these artists scru-
tinize the death of God and the perplexities and mysteries of the
634 T. Clutter / Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 632639
incarnation through the divine Word made esh. Yet, for the esh to be
renewed and resurrected, it must rst suer death. And it is a gruesome
and horric death as exhibited by the corpses in these paintings. Jasper
further addresses this signicant point in relation to ascetic practices, not
simply glossing over the expansive implications of Christs incarnation as
they are paralleled in the way of the desert.
Jasper truly shines when he engages poetry and literature. He sums up
his book, in the preface, when encouraging the reader to approach his
analysis as provoking and perplexing but not necessarily leading to any
specic conclusions. And that is clearly what the book oers. Te trek
through his text mimics the desert tradition, wherein the individual is pre-
sented with perplexing circumstances and given the time and arid arena in
which to contemplate them. In the sparseness of that setting, alone with
the physical body as the sole companion, the fundamental natural ele-
ments gradually work on the individual over time.
Jasper tackles the most prominent physical symbol of the Christian faith
in his chapter entitled Te Eucharistic Body in Literature and Modern
Experience (109). He conrms the sentiments of the critic Terry Eagleton
that it seems impossible for a modern or contemporary literary work to
nd a permanent place within the canon without the presence of a muti-
lated body. Te Christ-like corpsethough not the gloried and resur-
rected bodyremains a universal symbol of an expiatory sacrice for the
sins of humanity. George Herberts poetry becomes an able vehicle for
Jasper to examine the sacramental nature of text. His understanding of
Herberts poems is guided by the Anglican faith that they share, and so
Jasper concludes that to read Herbert without the benet of the liturgical
cadence of the Book of Common Prayer and the King James translation of
the Bible is not fully to understand or inhabit the words. Te reader is
meant to ingest the words of the poetry in a manner that matches the ebb
and ow of the Anglican Eucharistic service. It is not a reading that pro-
duces a comprehension within the mind alone, but sensorially within the
physical being, as well.
Te Eucharistic chapter then takes an abrupt turn to Simone Weil
(128133). Te comparison, as Jasper states, between the gures of Weil
and Herbert may seem unfounded. Te author is able to make some com-
pelling connections. Each gure chose a somewhat self-imposed seclusion.
For Herbert, the desert path was found in the lowly position of the parish
priest, though he left Cambridge well able to move into high levels of
worldly success within the England of his day. Weil, on the other hand,
T. Clutter / Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 632639 635
was secluded from the church itselfdeprived of the sacraments. Her feel-
ings of unworthiness to accept the Eucharist motivated her actions essen-
tially to oer her own body as a sacrice. Jasper convincingly makes a case
for the inuence of desert asceticism in the lives of each.
It is Jaspers knack for mingling such odd bedfellows that produces some
of the most satisfying perplexities in the book. For instance, the works of
Meister Eckhart and James Joyce form the core components of a chapter
devoted to holiness and the resurrection of the body (135). Te mystical
contemplations of Eckhart may seem a natural match for a discussion on
the holiness sought in the desert. It is the pairing with Joyces Finnegans
Wake (1939) that comes as an initial surprise. In Joyces work, Jasper nds
a parallel to the incarnation of the Word. Te reader must be fully present
in the text, a text that reveals itselfif somewhat opaquelythrough its
aural recitation. In both Eckhart and Joyce the reader is lost within the
poetry of the words, becoming one with the text just as the ascetic believer
seeks to be united with the holiness of Christ.
Jasper concludes his analysis with a chapter that acts as a template for
future theological readings, whether pure theological texts or theology
nestled within the guise of the various arts (171). For Jasper, the ascetic
tradition is simply a system by which one lives out life liturgically. We may
each approach our lives through an ascetic lens if we choose. Jasper oers
possibilities of bodily dwelling in this life through the ascetic tradition.
He suggests dwelling: on the edge, in anticipation, as vigil, with consis-
tency, at the end of history, in dispossession, and in perfect joy. Tese
approaches are meant to act as lters that usher us into the way and wis-
dom of the desert. Te practicality of this conclusion acts as priestly advice,
forming an appropriate bridge between the headiness of the preceding
chapters and the bodily life of the reader.
*
Te essays that Barbara Baert has compiled in Fluid Flesh connect with
Jaspers text through the gospel pronouncement of John that the Word
became esh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Te volume is based on a
2006 international cross-disciplinary symposium and is composed of the
resulting essays and several response statements. Te unique approach each
essayist employs when discussing the indwelling of esh is ltered through
the various disciplines represented by the authors. Te format consists of
four chapters or sections entitled: Te Visual as a Spiritual Medium
636 T. Clutter / Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 632639
Today; Iconophilia/Iconoclasm: Pro-body/Anti-body; Te Human
Body, Religion and Contemporary Lifestyles; and Premodern and Post-
modern Perspectives on Anatomy and the Visual Arts. Te artwork con-
sidered spans all periods of Christianity and nearly every imaginable style.
Te discussion benets from an excellent introduction by James Elkins,
whose 2004 book, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art, set
the standard for the current upsurge of interest in the topic of contempo-
rary art and religious faith. His approach in that earlier work, drawn from
a variety of viewpoints, likewise forms the foundation for the analysis
found in these essays in Fluid Flesh. Elkins proers a set of four statements
that may guide the discussions that follow. Tey are statements that we
would do well to recall whenever we confront the body within visual art:
Every picture is a picture of the body; Te body can never be fully
theorizedand we hope to keep it that way; Some contemporary art
discourse depends on the repression or exclusion of religious themes;
We inherit a surrealist understanding of religion, which limits our
scholarship (xixv).
Te opening chapter of Fluid Flesh begins with Jan Koenots essay, When
the Body Speaks Louder than Words. Tough she commences with a
comparison of the graphic, existentialist paintings of Francis Bacon with
the sparse color elds of Mark Rothko, this is just a starting point for her
thesis. A parade of twentieth-century and contemporary artists (from
Henri Matisse and Max Beckmann to Wolfgang Laib and Bill Viola) is
introduced to support the claims of French postmodernists Jacques Derr-
ida and Jean-Franois Lyotard. Koenot defends the Frenchmens claims
concerning the unreliability of texts, concluding that text has ultimately
been supplanted by the presence (or absence) of the gure. Te associa-
tions the viewer experiences from the human elementsboth actual and
perceivedin actual artworks is what Koenot claims provide the religious
or transcendent aspects (1419).
Jan De Maeyers response to this article probes Koenots ideas with a set
of questions, much like the ones Elkins suggests. De Maeyer wonders
whether or not the human body is all we have left, after the attempts of
philosophers have left us back at square one. Tis emptying out of every-
thing but the physical body is reminiscent of Jaspers discussions of kenosis
in the ascetic life of the desert. When all that is left is the fragile shell of the
human body then the most primitive of body-based ritualsthose that
T. Clutter / Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 632639 637
seek to bring healingcan do their work on the postmodern self. De
Maeyer even questions if there ever was or could be a true religious art.
Te Christian religious framework is related more to a specic time and
place, but all art consists of elements that reside outside of the decidedly
religious (30).
Diane Apostolos-Cappadona leads o the second chapter with a com-
pelling contrast of the role of the body within the Christian religious art
traditions of the East and West, through the formats of icons and relics,
respectively. In each case, the presence of the human gure in religious
works gains credence from the incarnation of Christ himself. Grace is
imparted through the window into eternity of the icon, but also through
the euvia (blood, milk, and tears) related to Christ and the saints (40).
Apostolos-Cappadona then examines the weighted history of the graven
image within the Judeo-Christian tradition, a history that resulted in a
relative dearth of monumental sculpture until the Middle Ages. She then
moves to an analysis of the acceptance of human representations in painted
forms, developed through the parallel paths of icons and relics. Apostolos-
Cappadona presents the veil of Veronica as an essential link, wherein the
euvia (blood, sweat, and tears) form the foundation for subsequent
painted reproductions based on a reliquary item (46).
It is a small jump to the comparisons between the representations of
euvia in Early Renaissance artworks to the utilization of actual euvia in
contemporary art practices. Again, as in Jaspers discussions, the body
serves as an eective medium for twentieth-century artistsa necessary
and recurring image that links to Christs incarnation and atoning sacri-
ce. Tese elements run through Apostolos-Cappadonas entire essay,
though related topics of gender conceptions and northern and southern
European body images in art are intriguing side notes that warrant further
explanation, albeit in another essay.
Te response by Ralph Dekoninck to the just-mentioned papers focuses
mainly on the problem of body representation within the Judeo-Christian
tradition. Te majority of his essay examines the idolatry problem that
Apostolos-Cappadona previously mentioned. In his references to ancient
forms of ancestor worship and the fealty and honor paid by proxy through
statues of ancient rulers, Dekoninck presents a passage from the biblical
book of Wisdom. It is a text (Wisdom 14:1520) that denotes the confu-
sion that worshippers through the ages have made between the statue or
idol and the unseen deity represented. Tough this is a passage warning
against idolatry, one can also compare it (see Colossians 1:15) to the
638 T. Clutter / Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 632639
concept of Christ the Son, who is the visible manifestation of the invisible
God (5859).
Dekoninck concludes his comments with examples of further contem-
porary uses of euvia by artists, often in ways that are meant to replace the
traditional conference of grace with debasement. He is evidently not enam-
ored with these recent uses, but he makes no distinction on the basis that
earlier works were produced with specic religious intention, whereas the
twentieth-century examples merely allude to the religious past, mute
though it may be to these modern artists (6162). Regardless, there is
potency in these body-based works that cannot be denied.
Te third section, by Regina Ammicht-Quinn, emphasizes the peculiar
relationship contemporary cultures have with the body. Her essay starts
with an analysis of two artworks from the late fteenth century that explore
the dual roles of the body as both the vessel of sin and redemption. One
painting depicts Eve and the Virgin bordering the sides of the Tree of Life.
Te gures represent the carnal or sinful nature as well as the obedient and
gloried body. Te other artwork is a sculpted head of John the Baptist on
a platteran image that subtly negates the role of the body (6770).
Ammicht-Quinn then moves into a discussion of how the ideas of dual-
ity, from antiquity, impacted Christian thought, which in turn has inu-
enced contemporary views of the body. Tis vacillates between a disregard
for the health of the physical body on the one hand and an inordinate
attention to the body through obsessive dieting, exercise, and cosmetics,
on the other. Te ascetic path that David Jasper explores is at the heart of
this discussion, as well. Te above concept that the body is all one has left,
when the texts have failed, is a truth that sits uncomfortably with the con-
temporary individual. Tat lone body, according to Ammicht-Quinn, is
forced to accept no form of ageing or, ultimately, death (76).
Renaat Devischs response to Ammicht-Quinn pays particular attention
to the gender disparities mentioned in the latters essay, both in contempo-
rary lifestyles and religious traditions. Tis is the shortest essay in the col-
lection and that brevity is unfortunate. Deeper examinations of the points
presented would be benecial to the discussion. Devischs consideration of
the health club or tness studio as the new church deserves greater analysis.
Te ritualistic and communal aspects of tness training are more widely
understood today than the structure and form of the mass. Te bodily rites
and routines of an exercise center are important, but there are some social
and psychological considerations that would enhance this dialogue, draw-
ing it back toward the general discussion (84).
T. Clutter / Religion and the Arts 14 (2010) 632639 639
Catrien Santings essay follows in the nal chapter, connecting the tradi-
tions of anatomical reliquaries of pre-modern Christianity with the work
of several contemporary artists. Te emphasis on the actual body, as found
in the performative body art of the French artist Orlan, complements the
theories of French philosopher Michel Onfray, whose work Santing claims
welcomes the carnal. Much of this essay is, in fact, an assessment of the
theories of Onfray, sometimes reading more like one of the responses in
this collection. Santing delves into the relic-like objects by artist Kiki
Smith, as well, nding in them a link from our postmodern times to a
mysticism long past. Her observation that the body-based reliquaries of
Smith and others seem tired and worn out, when compared to some actual
reliquaries that seem never to decay, is an intriguing revelation that mime-
sis can be powerful though it may lack some authenticity (101).
Te collection is nished, not with a response, but with another fresh
essay by Ann-Sophie Lehmann. Tis fascinating text explores the subject
of the lack of prominent female genitalia in art of the Western tradition.
Even fully nude female gures, according to Lehmann, lack accurately rep-
resentative anatomy (111112). Te essay, like many in Fluid Flesh, attacks
the subject from outside the eld of art history. Tis approach, a corner-
stone of the symposium, makes the dialogue of the book both more engag-
ing and wide reaching than theories posited solely from the concerns of the
art historical community.
Te collected essays present a broad view which is actually equaled by
the work of David Jasper. Both books rely heavily on the arts as a tool for
understanding the body/spirit conict that has plagued Western thought
for millennia. Whether it is visual art, literature, or poetry, the insights
into the human condition from these alternative sources seem to provide
more accessible comprehension than drier theological or philosophical
writings. Both books, though just a sampling of the current surge of inter-
est in art and faith, are evidence that the incarnation of Christ remains a
topic of innite consideration.
Works Cited
Elkins, James. On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art. New York: Routledge,
2004.
Jasper, David. Te Sacred Desert: Religion, Literature, Art, and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell,
2004.