Grant Wood, New Road, 1939
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
| In the Nation's Capital |
| HUMAN AFFAIRS Dialogues on events that shape our world |
"When I see the
heavens, the work of
Your hands,
the moon and the
stars which You
arranged,
what is man that You
should keep him in
mind,
mortal man that You
care for him?
Yet You have made
him little less that a
god,
with glory and
honour You crowned
him,
gave him power over
the works of Your
hand,
put all things under
his feet"
Bible, Psalm 8
heavens, the work of
Your hands,
the moon and the
stars which You
arranged,
what is man that You
should keep him in
mind,
mortal man that You
care for him?
Yet You have made
him little less that a
god,
with glory and
honour You crowned
him,
gave him power over
the works of Your
hand,
put all things under
his feet"
Bible, Psalm 8
| MEMORY AND IDENTITYExploring our heritage Testing our tradition |
| BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD Discovering the world of arts: performances and presentations |
MEETINGS AT
THE CROSSROADS
Face to face with...
THE CROSSROADS
Face to face with...
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
A place where roads meet. A time of change.
| MEETINGS AT THE CROSSROADS Face to face with... |
The idea of this “Face to
Face” series is simply to
create occasions for us to
encounter men and
women whose life and
work we find striking and
fascinating, and to ask
them to share with us their
experience. Words like
“encounter” and
“fascination” seem
especially appropriate in
the case of Etsuro Sotoo,
since all of his life and
work have been marked
by his encounter with
another man, the great
Spanish architect Antoni
Gaudì. For over 30 years
Mr. Sotoo, Japanese by
birth, has been working as
a sculptor on Gaudì’s
unfinished masterpiece,
the basilica of the Sagrada
Familia in Barcelona,
Spain. The encounter with
Gaudì has transformed not
only Etsuro Sotoo's art,
but all of his life, and has
been decisive in his
conversion to Catholicism.
In an age when it is
assumed that artistic
creation is just a reflection
of the artist's genius, it is
remarkable to meet
someone who recognizes
that great art also involves
obedience: both
obedience to the vision of
another man, but more
deeply obedience to one's
original experience of
beauty, which points to the
Mystery of God. In fact,
this obedience and the
fascination with the
Mystery of God were some
of the deepest
characteristics of Gaudì
himself, who always
believed that the designs
of nature are the
masterworks of the
Creator, and that his own
life's mission was to
produce beautiful
creations that
incorporated nature's
themes and glorified God's
work. He liked to say that
men create nothing, but
can make their
contribution by observing
nature in order to capture
a sparkle of the beauty of
God. This insight applies
to all of us: we all
participate in the Mystery
of creation by going
through our daily work, if
only we live the same
openness to the presence
of the Mystery that Gaudì
witnessed to us.
Face” series is simply to
create occasions for us to
encounter men and
women whose life and
work we find striking and
fascinating, and to ask
them to share with us their
experience. Words like
“encounter” and
“fascination” seem
especially appropriate in
the case of Etsuro Sotoo,
since all of his life and
work have been marked
by his encounter with
another man, the great
Spanish architect Antoni
Gaudì. For over 30 years
Mr. Sotoo, Japanese by
birth, has been working as
a sculptor on Gaudì’s
unfinished masterpiece,
the basilica of the Sagrada
Familia in Barcelona,
Spain. The encounter with
Gaudì has transformed not
only Etsuro Sotoo's art,
but all of his life, and has
been decisive in his
conversion to Catholicism.
In an age when it is
assumed that artistic
creation is just a reflection
of the artist's genius, it is
remarkable to meet
someone who recognizes
that great art also involves
obedience: both
obedience to the vision of
another man, but more
deeply obedience to one's
original experience of
beauty, which points to the
Mystery of God. In fact,
this obedience and the
fascination with the
Mystery of God were some
of the deepest
characteristics of Gaudì
himself, who always
believed that the designs
of nature are the
masterworks of the
Creator, and that his own
life's mission was to
produce beautiful
creations that
incorporated nature's
themes and glorified God's
work. He liked to say that
men create nothing, but
can make their
contribution by observing
nature in order to capture
a sparkle of the beauty of
God. This insight applies
to all of us: we all
participate in the Mystery
of creation by going
through our daily work, if
only we live the same
openness to the presence
of the Mystery that Gaudì
witnessed to us.
