Crucifixion

• Key facts:

  Made: 1946

  Artist: Graham Sutherland
• How would you describe the body of Christ in this painting?

  cubist almost, flowing blood, grey skin colours with black, clawed hands show extreme pain, feet stained with lots of blood, emaciated, elevated ribcage, arched head, arms taught and twisted
• what does the rope barrier do? two points that juxtapose each other...

  first impression it leaves is of the sanctity of the moment this is juxtaposed with the uncomfortable implication that Christ's body is on display
• How is Christ presented?

  He looks tired, dead, bleeding and touchingly human. 'a tortured christ on the cross'
• Effect on viewer


  creating discomfort in the viewer as they stand helpless and even complicit. This complicity echoes how Christ was betrayed by those who stood by as he was crucified.
• Contextual points:

  End of WW2

  Sutherland was an official War Artist who directly experienced the horrors of war.
• unusual rendition of the cross is thick, squat and brutal, with the horizontal axis reaching imposingly outwards, is eerily reminiscent of the Eagle emblem of the Third Reich. 
• Christ’s skeletal figure is visually suggestive of the emaciated bodies of Jewish concentration camp victims.
• The lines perhaps are reminiscent of the concentration camps fences he saw and the orange forms at the base like that of the entrance to a concentration camp. 
• The flat and cropped composition caused by the flat background and geometric lines only adds to Christ appearing imprisoned and helpless feeling.
• Hope? Presented where?

  in the blue background - allows our eyes to rest and move away from the contorted intensity, sheen of lilac a visual sign of something more. blue is regular, bright and hopeful
• What symbolism might be seen as a positive spin?

  the biblical story of the crucifixion sees Jesus saving humanity from its sins.
• Use of line

  shows man did this

  looks like buildings of death camps Sutherland saw

  black and white geometric lines show cubist influence - lines break it up
• Colour

  Pallid deathly whiteness of Christ's body illuminate the painting and give it centrality

  blue and orange are complementary
• Space

  strong structural/directional lines evident in orange base and blue background - flattens space. perspective seen at top of cross, giving limited space
• Scope

  The divine
• Medium

  Oil paint on board
• CQ: Sutherland focuses on

  "the strength of the human spirit"
• what pushes the figures forward?

  the dark black shadows behind the white figure of Christ but also like the two thieves who died beside Christ.
• what style is associated with Sutherland?

  neo-romanticism: loosely linked with landscape, cubists - included artists such as Sutherland, Moore and John Piper
• Key aspects to his identity

  Roman catholic

  Landscape artist

  responder to the holocaust

  Neo-romantic
• Influence

  Surrealism
• Where is the church located

  Northampton
• Commissioned for...

  St Matthews church
• Commissioner

  Walter Hussey
• his experience in the war changed his style, he moved away from ...?

  Romanticisim