Cameron J. Anderson and G. Walter Hansen, eds. 2021. God in the Modern Wing: Viewing Art with Eyes of Faith. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

Is the modern wing of any art museum worth visiting? Canvases splashed in monochromatic colors hang on whitewashed walls beside grainy screen prints of Marilyn Monroe dipped in gold leaf. In the center of a gallery, elevated on a podium, geometric brass forms are stacked together. A wooden walking stick with multicolored bands leans against the wall. This is the Art Institute of Chicago.

In God in the Modern Wing, readers are led on an intimate tour through the Art Institute of Chicago to find that God is indeed present. Ten authors offer their defense in a series of essays originally given as gallery talks. These artists and art historians do a formidable job of grounding their interpretation in biographical information, historical context, and formal analysis. What is most interesting, and perhaps compelling for Christians, is the theological framework through which art is explained. This is a difficult task considering some art is quickly dismissed as unintelligible or a sham.

Upon closer inspection, we find themes in the galleries that are surprisingly relatable. André Cadere, known for his nomadic approach to art making, reminds Christians of their pilgrimage toward the eternal city. Visceral, cartoonish paintings by Philip Guston contrast with bright, candy-colored landscapes by Richard Diebenkorn as both respond to suffering in a broken world. Andy Warhol examines the value of what we worship through veneration of celebrity culture. Elizabeth Catlett honors those who defended others against racial injustice in the 1940s. Her illustrations charge people with the same question as Luke 10:29, “Who is my neighbor?”

Some readers might be skeptical about the legitimacy of applying Scripture to secular artworks, but the authors are careful to avoid two extremes. They neither compromise the gospel message in service of an artwork, nor do they broadly or haphazardly apply biblical themes to art in disregard of an artist’s original intent. A significant number of artists discussed are of Jewish immigrant heritage, such as Marc Chagall, Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman. Others have Catholic, Calvinist, or Romanian Orthodox roots, such as Salvador Dalí, Alberto Giacometti, and Constantin Brancusi, respectively. Although a tenuous relationship with religion is not by itself a redeeming quality, it should not be ignored that some artists had sincere faith, intending Judeo-Christian beliefs to infuse meaning into their work.

God in the Modern Wing also highlights artists who manipulate reality to achieve either a utopian or a nihilistic vision. Given the nonrepresentational and abstract nature of these works, the chapters engaging them are difficult to follow. Authors consider Pablo Picasso’s fractured images, Jackson Pollock’s drip, and Barnett Newman’s zip paintings. Makoto Fujimura explains the sublime qualities of Mark Rothko’s color field paintings, interpreting his work as an attempt to understand the sacred mystery of God. These discussions edge toward existentialism and may be too esoteric to convince readers unfamiliar with the formalist approach championed by art critics like Clement Greenberg.

Does this mean that modern art devolved into meaningless scribbles on canvas? Not necessarily. As Cameron J. Anderson points out, “Artists continued to create things passionately believing that these things held meaning, no matter how hidden or fleeting they might be. Their challenge and our own is this: it is one thing to emulate Nietzsche and empty the universe of archaic notions about God, but it is yet another to assign meaning and purpose to the universe that remains” (13).

God in the Modern Wing reminds us that nothing is outside the realm of God. Even the most mundane, unassuming artworks can be redeemed when understood as channels for communicating grace and the gospel to a broken world. The most provocative works force us to consider the human condition. They remind us of our need for salvation found only in Christ. Art serves as a mirror and window into what is, what could be, and what we should do about it.

As Leah Samuelson concludes, “God can find us in a museum because our common life can travel through walls, and the person leaving a room as you enter may be the provocateur who voices God’s questions in a way that is clever enough to stir you up” (162). Perhaps all artists, by imaging their Creator and offering their interpretation of reality, cannot help but express the universal desire and longing for a better world than this.

Grace Trumbo
Shaftesbury Fellow, 2021
gracextrumbo@gmail.com