Marian statue has no veil?

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ocuinn said:
At my local Catholic University which is run by the Bernardine sisters there is a large stue of Mary on a little chapel they have. the staue is massive and the same size as a Sacred Heart statue. The odd thing about the stue is that Mary is not wearing a veil on her head.

Is this allowed or is it appropriate?

APQ
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I don’t believe there are any Church norms for how anyone is pictured, beyond needing to do so with reverence. Taste and what is inspirational is a very personal thing. Most of the images of Mary that I have encountered verge on the “Anglo-Saxon” look and are very UN-inspiring to me. The most moving statue of Mary I have ever seen depicted her as an old woman, someone whose heart had obviously been pierced with sorrows. Far more inspirational than Mary as a perpetual near-blonde teenager.
 
How would the viewer know that the statue was portraying Mary, if it didn’t have a veil?

I can appreciate the idea that different people might see the subject of the art in different ways, and not necessarily with a veil.

But this is a public, religious statue, it would be like showing a clean shaven St. Peter or Jesus in a 3 piece suit.

Nothing particularly irreligious about either of those ideas, but how are the people supposed to know who it is, without adhering to the usual artistic standards.
 
Kielbasi said:
How would the viewer know that the statue was portraying Mary, if it didn’t have a veil?

I can appreciate the idea that different people might see the subject of the art in different ways, and not necessarily with a veil.

But this is a public, religious statue, it would be like showing a clean shaven St. Peter or Jesus in a 3 piece suit.

Nothing particularly irreligious about either of those ideas, but how are the people supposed to know who it is, without adhering to the usual artistic standards.
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This is the Our Lady of Assumption statue I’m familiar with. Who else would it be?
 
Kielbasi said:
How would the viewer know that the statue was portraying Mary, if it didn’t have a veil?

I can appreciate the idea that different people might see the subject of the art in different ways, and not necessarily with a veil.

But this is a public, religious statue, it would be like showing a clean shaven St. Peter or Jesus in a 3 piece suit.

Nothing particularly irreligious about either of those ideas, but how are the people supposed to know who it is, without adhering to the usual artistic standards.
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My all time favorite depiction of Christ, and the one that has pride of place on our home altar:

http://archive.cacradicalgrace.org/.../med/05 - Lentz - Christ of Maryknoll adj.jpg

Luna
 
Phemie said:
This is the Our Lady of Assumption statue I’m familiar with. Who else would it be?
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Good point, although there are other clues in this particular work, including the blue robe that she’s toting- the blue robe being another artistic standard in depicting Mary.
 
Luna_Lovecraft said:
Witness the statue of Mary that is above the bronze doors of the Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles.

http://thepurpleletter.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/olabvm2.jpg

Luna
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The only thing that surprised me was the short hair. That’s a Marian depiction I’ve never seen before. o.O

Then again, I’ve seen Asian depictions of her wearing a kimono. 😛
JM3 said:
The Blessed Mother would never dress so immodestly.

😦
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Please tell me you’re joking… really, please. I’m begging you on bended knees.
Luna_Lovecraft said:
My all time favorite depiction of Christ, and the one that has pride of place on our home altar:

http://archive.cacradicalgrace.org/.../med/05 - Lentz - Christ of Maryknoll adj.jpg

Luna
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Ugh, I’ve always had a love-hate perception of images like that. On on hand I appreciate how it shows our Lord… on the other, I hate how it reminds me of what I have to pass by and (painfully) ignore every day on my walk between my office and the jeepney terminal. >_<
 
Saintlucy said:
Our Lady was a young girl who lived in what we now call Palestine in the 1st century. We don’t know what she looked like. I don’t see the problem. She was veiled when she went out after she was married but I think that the artist saw her as unmarried.
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In that culture, though, wouldn’t this very short hair itself been thoroughly scandalous?

Hawk
 
dochawk said:
In that culture, though, wouldn’t this very short hair itself been thoroughly scandalous?

Hawk
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What very short hair?

I don’t think that statue of Our Lady was immodest. It may not have been what she actually wore, but it is very common to depict Our Lady and Our Lord according to the artist’s culture. Jesus also wasn’t white, but is depicted as such all the time.
 
dochawk said:
In that culture, though, wouldn’t this very short hair itself been thoroughly scandalous?

Hawk
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Go back and look at posts #29 and 30. Both have a link for the statue’s photo in a different view and it shows long hair pulled back.
 
LightBound said:
Go back and look at posts #29 and 30. Both have a link for the statue’s photo in a different view and it shows long hair pulled back.
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OK, it looked like about half-inch curly hear in the view I saw–and there wasn’t anything about it that left me wanting another view

hawk
 
dochawk said:
OK, it looked like about half-inch curly hear in the view I saw–and there wasn’t anything about it that left me wanting another view

hawk
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🤷

As a woman, I’ve worn my long hair pulled to the back of the neck and then clasped in a “ponytail” and the results were a lot like the hair in that statue. To each their own.
 
Looking at what I wrote, I was ambiguous.

it looked like one of those tight perms to me (cue my grandmother: “in my day, girls cried themselves to sleep over hair like that–and now they’re doing it on purpose” 🙂 )

there’s nothing about that statue that made me go for a second look (not the hair).

then again, with a couple of exceptions over the years, I prefer icons to statues.

hawk, whose hair did hit his collar in jr. high in the 70s, but not since
 
ocuinn said:
At my local Catholic University which is run by the Bernardine sisters there is a large stue of Mary on a little chapel they have. the staue is massive and the same size as a Sacred Heart statue. The odd thing about the stue is that Mary is not wearing a veil on her head.

Is this allowed or is it appropriate?

APQ
Click to expand...
The Bernadine Sisters are a Franciscan congregation. It is very typical of Franciscan chapels and churches to use the image of Our Lady of the Angels, which is the mother house of the Franciscan family. That particular image has never had a veil. The image of the Immaculate Conception derives from that image.

The City of Los Angeles is named after her. I believe that the name has never been changed. It’s still City of The Angels, because it was founded by Franciscan friars and named in honor of OLA.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
anp1215 said:
What very short hair?

I don’t think that statue of Our Lady was immodest. It may not have been what she actually wore, but it is very common to depict Our Lady and Our Lord according to the artist’s culture. Jesus also wasn’t white, but is depicted as such all the time.
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Actually Jesus, by all modern racial descriptions, was indeed white. As are all Arabic and Isreali ethnic groups; they’re dark but they are still considered mediterranean- like us southern Italians.
 
VENETI3 said:
Actually Jesus, by all modern racial descriptions, was indeed white. As are all Arabic and Isreali ethnic groups; they’re dark but they are still considered mediterranean- like us southern Italians.
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What I meant was, I don’t think Jesus had light hair and blue eyes, nor the Blessed Virgin, but are commonly depicted as such in European art. Which is totally fine. I don’t mind seeing them portrayed as black, or Asian, or Native American, either, I suppose it helps the culture to feel connected to them.
 
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