Academy

Mission

 

Christianity’s artistic tradition boasts billions of pieces, very well-known masterpieces, exceptional iconographic projects, hidden treasures. Every mosaic, fresco, icon, miniature, statue, painting, and engraving is the fruit of a question, a point of research, often a study and extensive endeavor; each church, temple, monastery, abbey, and chapel conveys its own historic and cultural context, the geography surrounding it, and at the same time is often able to exceed spaces and limitations, to open horizons to a world that transcends it.

The Academy for Christian Art is born from the desire to enable you to enjoy the beauty, versatility, diversity, and depth of Christian art, to unveil its hidden pearls, and to rediscover with new eyes the marvels it may seem as if we’ve seen too many times. From this desire we have given life to a rich curriculum of courses and points of focus – through an online platform that enables interactive exchange among participants – to enhance and instruct on the plurality of Christian art, its underlying theological content, and the different points of view of the principal Christian faiths. The curriculum adheres to the rhythm of the academic year; the courses in Italian and French focus on a range of subjects from year to year, and new specialists will participate who share and support the goals, method, and style of the Academy for Christian Art’s agora.

The Academy for Christian Art is born from fthe desire to enable you to enjoy the beauty, versatility, diversity, and depth of Christian art, to unveil its hidden pearls, and to rediscover with new eyes the marvels it may seem as if we’ve seen too many times. From this desire we have given life to a rich curriculum of courses and points of focus – through an online platform that enables interactive exchange among participants – to enhance and instruct on the plurality of Christian art, its underlying theological content, and the different points of view of the principal Christian faiths. The curriculum adheres to the rhythm of the academic year; the courses in Italian and French focus on a range of subjects from year to year, and new specialists will participate who share and support the goals, method, and style of the Academy for Christian Art’s agora.

The founders of this Academy are convinced that without the theology, the historic and geographic contexts, the spiritualities, and the hymnodies, the meaning of a narrative cannot be grasped through images that, even with colors, shapes, and human models,
speaks of a redeeming history that has its origins in the divine world. The historic and religious context of Christianity will therefore be the point of departure for the respective avenues of research, though far from offering catechesis or defending in an exclusive way a single Christian faith.

The founders of this Academy are convinced that without the theology, the historic and geographic contexts, the spiritualities, and the hymnodies, the meaning of a narrative cannot be grasped through images that, even with colors, shapes, and human models,
speaks of a redeeming history that has its origins in the divine world. The historic and religious context of Christianity will therefore be the point of departure for the respective avenues of research, though far from offering catechesis or defending in an exclusive way a single Christian faith.

Our purpose

 

Our principal goal is to introduce a way to enjoy the immense beauty and inexhaustible richness of the meaning of the centuries-old and manifold Christian artistic history. And we’ll accomplish this with the rigor of academic research, being able to study in depth the details while situating them and reading them within a long and complex history, emancipating ourselves from the limits of the current methodological choices of universities, which are generally unable to offer a transtemporal and multidisciplinary approach that moves through centuries, traverses continents, and combines styles. We will also accomplish this in that we are convinced that the splendor of the Christian message expressed in the art warrants liberation from ecclesiastical and denominational contrasts. Within this context, we will enhance our artistic horizons and theological experiences all-around, with an open mind and enthusiasm, remaining nonetheless watchful.

For a topic such as this, we have come up with a logo that could be seen as suggesting a crossing: the bow of a ship is a metaphor for a journey of discovery and exploration, To characterize with precision our journey and destination, we wanted to add an ancient and poignant Christian symbol: the Chrismon, , a sign formed by overlaying the first two letters Chi and Rho from the name of Christ in Greek, accompanied here by the Greek letters alpha and omega (Α ω), the first and last of the alphabet.
The name Academy refers to the famous Academies that have animated and enriched the cultural debate over the millennia, institutions dedicated to in-depth study and high-level knowledge.

For a topic such as this, we have come up with a logo that could be seen as suggesting a crossing: the bow of a ship is a metaphor for a journey of discovery and exploration, To characterize with precision our journey and destination, we wanted to add an ancient and poignant Christian symbol: the Chrismon, , a sign formed by overlaying the first two letters Chi and Rho from the name of Christ in Greek, accompanied here by the Greek letters alpha and omega (Α ω), the first and last of the alphabet.
The name Academy refers to the famous Academies that have animated and enriched the cultural debate over the millennia, institutions dedicated to in-depth study and high-level knowledge.

Those participating in the courses and points of focus will have the opportunity to travel to marvelous universes, confront stimulating topics, interrogate their own selves, overcome clichés, and discover fascinating horizons and open new pages that will be painted resplendently in beauty.

The speakers who, with us, will enliven these journeys of discovery or – thanks to new lenses – of rediscovery, are people we hold in high regard, advanced-level researchers, each with their own skills and their own way of transmitting knowledge to teach how to appreciate the respective arguments treated.

Those participating in the courses and points of focus will have the opportunity to travel to marvelous universes, confront stimulating topics, interrogate their own selves, overcome clichés, and discover fascinating horizons and open new pages that will be painted resplendently in beauty.

The speakers who, with us, will enliven these journeys of discovery or – thanks to new lenses – of rediscovery, are people we hold in high regard, advanced-level researchers, each with their own skills and their own way of transmitting knowledge to teach how to appreciate the respective arguments treated.

The Academy for Christian Art will be spirited and in continuous development thanks to its courses, the time for exploration, debate, and confrontation. And at the same time, there will be occasion for personal journeys, for reflections before an artwork or a cycle, a book or an author; the section “Traveling with Art” will be continuously enriched and enlivened, for free, by experts of an international caliber who, in this virtual agora, will meet, talk, and try to recapture with words their own diligent research and studies along with the wonder that they in turn have experienced at the hands of Christian art.

In order to allow many to enrich this adventure through a direct participation, the Academy for Christian Art has been constituted as a cultural association.
Those who share its spirit, goals, challenges, dreams, and are ready to be stroked mind and heart by the wind of knowledge in the many forthcoming artistic crossings, are welcome and can become members..

The Academy for Christian Art will be spirited and in continuous development thanks to its courses, the time for exploration, debate, and confrontation. And at the same time, there will be occasion for personal journeys, for reflections before an artwork or a cycle, a book or an author; the section “Traveling with Art” will be continuously enriched and enlivened, for free, by experts of an international caliber who, in this virtual agora, will meet, talk, and try to recapture with words their own diligent research and studies along with the wonder that they in turn have experienced at the hands of Christian art.

In order to allow many to enrich this adventure through a direct participation, the Academy for Christian Art has been constituted as a cultural association.
Those who share its spirit, goals, challenges, dreams, and are ready to be stroked mind and heart by the wind of knowledge in the many forthcoming artistic crossings, are welcome and can become members..

We are at the beginning of a journey we foresee as being beautiful and exciting; other projects are in development that we intend to progressively put into action so that an even larger number of people can benefit from trained their readings and beyond the framework.

 

Many of you will have the opportunity to pose questions during the courses. We did not want to create a comment section as at the bottom of a blog; if you would like to write to us after having listened to or read the materials, you will be able to do that and we will respond to you with pleasure.

 

Welcome everyone to our multifaceted adventure at the Academy for Christian Art.

 

Emanuela Fogliadini – François Bœspflug