Image and Word: Jean Charlot and the Way of the Cross

March 9, 2008-June 15, 2008
Location: Elevator Gallery

Jean Charlot's lifelong commitment to liturgical art is explored in his numerous representations of the Stations of the Cross, showing his stylistic progression from 1918 through 1971. Drawing primarily on the resources of the Library's Jean Charlot Collection, the exhibit embodies aspects of Charlot's life as an artist, as an art historian, and as a devout Roman Catholic for whom observance of the cycles of the Church calendar were part of daily practice. It includes photographs and documentation of five mural series from churches on Kauai and Oahu. Whether drawings, prints, oil paintings, murals in ceramic tile or poured cement, or even cartoons, each representation of the Stations shows Charlot's constant quest for clarity through greater simplification. He fought accusations of "ugliness" and avoided clinical functionalism, to achieve the honesty and sincerity he considered essential to express the power and emotions associated with this most deeply felt religious theme.