Non-Eurocentric images of the Saints

[JayCL]

I’m trying to find some images of St. Joseph and/or the Holy Family where they don’t look Norwegian. We know from Scripture that Jesus had “no stately form and no majesty that we should be drawn to him”. A blue-eyed blond kid in the middle of Palestine in the 1st century would certainly stick-out. But I digress and I don’t want to argue about European vs. non-European Jesus. I was just hoping someone could point me toward some images of brown Jesus/St Joseph/Mother Mary.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Google image search on “Black Jesus”, “Brown Jesus”, “African Jesus”, “Asian Jesus” etc brings up a ton of these images.

Aroosi has also posted a lot of multicultural images in the Let’s Pray a Perpetual Rosary threads.

It’s really not hard at all to find Jesus and Mary looking like every race or ethnicity in the world.

Joseph images are a little more scarce but there are plenty of him looking olive-skinned and some of him looking Asian or African.

 

[adamhovey1988]

A blue-eyed blond kid in the middle of Palestine in the 1st century would certainly stick-out.

I’m guessing you’ve never been to the Middle East, as blue and gray eyes are entirely possible there (as is pale skin). Much of the Middle East is mountainous. (Heck, even some Chinese people, like those in Liqian , have light eye colours). By the way, my great grandmother was born in Sweden and had black hair, not all Scandinavians, look like blue eyed blondes.

brown Jesus/St Joseph/Mother Mary.

That’s presumptuous, given what I just told you. My former brother-in-law is Saudi, he is dark because his mother is Yemeni, his father was Saudi, and his dad’s family is not.
With all that, I understand you wanting different representations of Jesus, and that’s understandable. There’s icons from almost every culture on earth.

 

[JayCL]

In fact I’ve lived in Israel and yes, nowadays with Jews from every corner of the earth making Aliyah, sure, there are now plenty of blue/grey/green-eyed Jews. However, 2000 years ago, I’d say not so much. The Hebrew were brown, just like the other Arab/Middle Eastern people of that region. Likely not that different looking from Egyptians. Someone always gets bothered when I say that Jesus wasn’t white or blue-eyed. Even if the Hebrews had “pale-ish” skin, Jesus almost certainly was NOT blond and blue-eyed (Norwegian Jesus).

Tradition among European artists is strong in the Church, so I suppose people will cling to the artistic renderings of Christ and the Holy Family that they’re most familiar with.

 

[DeniseNY]

Jesus almost certainly was NOT blond and blue-eyed (Norwegian Jesus).

Maybe we have different ideas of what blonde is, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a blonde Jesus; nor one with blue eyes. I’m not saying they aren’t out there, just that I’ve never seen them. Where are they popular?

 

[Beryllos]

In Western art depicting Jesus, quite often the facial structure looks French or English to me. Not blonde/blue though.

 

[MNathaniel]

I have a Holy Family icon on my home altar that I wouldn’t call Eurocentric (but I don’t know what the criteria would be). Mary’s veiled of course but both St. Joseph and the child Jesus have dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

Other icons St. Joseph tends to have white hair (he’s depicted as an older man).

But I’d say skin usually seems fairly tan, in my icon and icons I’ve seen.

You might have better luck than you think if you specifically google ‘icons’. Holy Family icons or St. Joseph icons. Traditional iconography tends to depict figures in a way closer to what you may be looking for (eg olive toned or dark skin and dark or white hair?), as opposed to less formalized devotional paintings done by Northern Europeans and their direct descendants after whatever time period.

Personally I’m scanning all the items on my altar and I have no Norwegian Jesus. Haha. Not a blonde hair up there. But I don’t doubt you may be seeing those images somewhere, based on wherever you live. (And I’m not knocking blonde-hair Jesus paintings, for those who feel close to them especially from growing up with them.)

Basically yeah, that’s my suggestion: traditional iconography. Unless you’re not a fan of the stylization of traditionally iconography?

 

[JayCL]

Google icons of St Joseph and they are abundant. I’ve actually interacted with people in Latin America who believe Jesus had to have had blue eyes because “all the paintings couldn’t be wrong”

 

[MNathaniel]

I’ve actually interacted with people in Latin America who believe Jesus had to have had blue eyes because “all the paintings couldn’t be wrong”

Haha well that’s a new one to me. Never heard it in my country (and I’m up north!)

If you’re looking for something non-European for your home altar, I’m sure you’ll find it. There’s such variety out there, especially with the Internet to connect people to the specific art style and content they prefer.

You mentioned looking for non-blond holy family, right? Or St. Joseph alone?

A quick google brought up these for me, if they’re the sort of thing you’re looking for?

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[JayCL]

Those are great! I also have a cousin in Canada who believes that since Jesus is portrayed as European in so much Church artwork it must be true.

In any event, I was actually looking for something to use as a wallpaper on my phone. I may have to open a Pinterest account again. They’re a good source too, from what I remember.

Thanks!

 

[MNathaniel]

Cheers, you’re welcome!

May St. Joseph pray for you and your loved ones. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

 

[Beryllos]

Let’s Pray a Perpetual Rosary threads

@JayCL and others who may be interested, those two threads have come to hold an incredible variety of art depictions of Jesus, Mary, and other saints, mostly having to do with the various Mysteries of the Rosary.

You can find everything from multicultural to classical European, and Eastern icons, stained glass, sculpture, popular art, and more. It could take a while to browse the many thousands of posts.

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