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The Medieval Body exhibition opens in New York

The Luhring Augustine Chelsea has begun hosting a new exhibition entitled The Medieval Body, which examines the body as an essential image-making tool with far-reaching implications for the development of art in the European Middle Ages.

Co-hosted by Sam Fogg. the title of the exhibition refers to both a literal thread of figuration that runs throughout the works in the presentation, as well as the complex and often shifting symbolism of the human body in the medieval period. For thinkers and artists of that time, the human body served as a rich source of religious and philosophical significance, one that was in a constant state of flux between idealism and disfigurement.

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While the early Middle Ages reserved representations of suffering bodies to the margins of their world, the later Middle Ages displayed wounded bodies in the most central spaces of public life. The crucified body of Christ and the wounded bodies of saints assumed important positions as they were displayed on altars, in processions, and on the exteriors of churches. Representative of this, The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Jörg Lederer gives prominence to the late medieval trend of displaying a suffering human body at the altar, while Saint Quentin being tormented portrays a vivid murder scene meant for the façade of a church – the gruesome and emotional episode is palpable in the intricately sculpted depiction. The intimate belief in the inextricable connection between the body and the soul, whether in life or in death, also led to the worship of saints’ body parts. The enormous sacrament houses created in late medieval Germany were meant to ostentatiously display and stage Christ’s transubstantiated body.

Saint Quentin being tormented – c. 1420- 1430 – photo courtesy Sam Fogg

The exhibition, which began on January 21st, will run to March 12th. To learn more and book an appointment to visit the exhibition, please visit the Luhring Augustine website.

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The Medieval Body from Sam Fogg on Vimeo.

Top Image: Saint Sebastian, by Jörg Lederer – made in Southern Germany c.1515–20. Photo courtesy Sam Fogg

 

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