Draft:Votive Offering (Saint Sebastian)
_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Exvoto (San Sebastián) is a painting made in 1912, by mexican artist Ángel Zárraga. This oil on canvas belongs to the religous art and modernism genre. Measures 1,85 m x 1,34 m.
The painting belongs to the Museo Nacional de Arte archives since 1982.
History[edit]
Author[edit]
Ángel Zárraga was born in Durango in 1886, though he did not live there long, since his family moved to Mexico City, where later he started his art studies at Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (ENBA) or the National School of Fine Arts. In 1904 he traveled to Europe, there, he built his personal style, and the taste for traditional painting.
Circa 1910 he met Amedeo Modigliani whom would become his friend, until his death in 1919. Years later, Zárraga would travel back to Mexico to continue his painting career. It is worth mentioning this relationship, since it is speculated that Modigliani was the model for Exvoto de San Sebastián.
In 1911, Zárraga moved to Paris, making it his permanent residence. Later that year, he painted La dádiva and San Sebastián, presenting them at the Salon d'Automne, gaining great comments from the critics. Given his success, in 1912, he was chosen to be jury for the painting selection. He was a plentiful artist, creating scenography for plays, newspaper articles, poetry, magazine illustrations, and murals, making several of these in Paris. In 1926 he collaborated with Alberto J. Pani, Mexico's ambassador in France at the time, decorating the Salon of Honor.[1]
San Sebastián[edit]
Saint Sebastian has been a recurring icon in christianity, his image was spread and popularized during the Black Death epidemic in the Middle Ages, he was considered to be a protector from illness, as he was shot with arrows and it was believed that the plague was spread through the air; with the making of the Printing press his image was turned into a stamp hung in doors, as a talisman to drive away the disease.
He has been represented in literature and plastics since the 15th century, presented naked as an excuse to draw male anatomy. Oscar Wilde was one of the first to eroticize his martyr, describing it as "a charming brown haired boy with red lips..." another writer to represent him was Yukio Mishima where he photographed himself as Saint Sebastian where he saw pleasure in the pain of his martyr. Though the most successful is Zárraga's painting.
Painting analysis[edit]
San Sebastián is a Symbolist work. There are two figures. To the left, a woman is found kneeling to a naked man, which denotes sensuality. With the arrow to his chest one is able to identify him as Saint Sebastian. The title for Ex voto or Votive offering is due to a writing on the lower right hand side, in the background, also because of the position and expression of both characters.
Zárraga represented the woman with dark clothing, compared to the saint, who is completely illuminated. Though opposites, they balance the composition. The painting is not only religious, but it also relates to philosphy and literature, creating a melancholic but poetic atmosphere, where one can reflect on virtues and vices in human beings.
Sebastian’s figure is tied to a pole. His half-naked body is powerless, wearing sandals and a halo with stars above his head. A large feathered arrow pierced his right nipple. The kneeling woman is praying in mourning clothing. The background is dull, a gray wall that places both characters in some sort of cube.
Ángel Zárraga was an enthusiastic catholic artist, painting was a talent that should be applied with honor and represent “the essential truths we carry deep down”.
As a result, in the painting we read: “Lord, i do not know how to cherish you like the poet in his complicated verses; but please Lord, accept this rough and humble work, which i have done with my mortal hands.” The representation of the human body is made with idealistic proportions, relating it to divinity, everytime Zárraga drew the body, he used classic beauty with perfect proportions, since he considered human beings as the epitome of divinity; his work marked a lot of contrasts between youth and old age, beauty and decay always in a physical way. Here we will find his interest for drawing and the human shape, lines and Chiaroscuro as an expression of his spirituality.[2]
Current situation[edit]
LGBTQ+[edit]
During the Viceroyalty of New Spain, when a prayer was responded, it was considered a miracle, so in gratitude to the saint, people offered stamps that were commonly known as "ex votos" or votive offerings. Then in the 20th and 21st century these acquired a contemporary meaning, though also serving for health, there is also a need to represent heartbreak, sexual orientation and diversity. Saint Sebastian became an icon for the LGBTQ+ community, inspiring many more votive offerings.[3]
In 2011, a group of LGBTQ+ christians asked Pope Benedict XVI to name Saint Sebastian as the patron saint of the community.[4]
In Losing his religion, by Richard A. Kaye, it is mentioned that the shift of Saint Sebastian as an icon of gay culture happened towards the end of the 19th century.
"Gay men immediately saw in Sebastian the message of homosexual desire and the portrait of a Closeted tortured man".[5]
Exvoto (San Sebastián) by Ángel Zárraga has been interpreted as part of the LGBTQ+ iconography.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ "Museo Nacional de Arte". munal.emuseum.com. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ Garay Molina, Claudia (2014). "Ángel Zárraga: el sentido de la creación". Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ Alpañes, Enrique (2019). "¿Cómo se convirtió San Sebastián en un icono gay?". Yorokobu. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ "Piden que San Sebastián sea el 'Patrón de los homosexuales'". La opinión de Málaga. 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ Lewis, Reina (1996). Outlooks: Gay and Lesbian visual cultures. pp. 86–105.
- ^ Abud-Armendáriz, Antonio (2021). "Martirio homosexual: paralelismos en la visualización de San Sebastián". MAGOTZI Boletín Científico de Artes del IA: 36–43. Retrieved December 5, 2023.