Hungarian Plasterwork & the Statue of Liberty

An Artist's View

There is an abundance of beautiful art and architecture here in Hungary, where I am living for fall semester with my professor husband (and taking a leave from my chaplain job). Each time I walk down the 6 flights of steps, I notice the beautiful colors and exquisite plasterwork of our apartment building, which was built around 1900.

The colors include creamy white and soft yellow, lime green and yellow ochre. The decorative plasterwork in the corners and at the top of the tall ceilings was first formed in clay by an artist’s hand. Then a mold was made and the white plaster decorations were cast. After these dried, they were brought to our building from a studio and integrated into the wet plaster in the corners of the ceiling.

The designs include squirrels with jaunty tails amidst fruit and flowers, bearded wizened faces of men looking like Father Time, and women with the snakelike hair of Medusa. They blend into the décor so well that I didn’t even notice the figures until my husband pointed them out on my tenth journey down the steps.

So much detail and much of it goes unnoticed and unseen. Reflecting on this, I remembered the first sermon I heard, when I was at a YMCA camp at age 12. I had never been to church, and the messages in the outdoor chapel made such an impression that I still remember them. One morning as I sat on a wooden bench overlooking a Minnesota lake, I heard about the creation of the Statue of Liberty. The artist carefully created each hair on Lady Liberty’s head, though no airplanes were flying past at that time (1886). Yet the artist sculpted for the glory of God who saw each detail of his work.

Maybe that message I heard long ago helped me realize the value of artwork in God’s kingdom, though it sometimes goes unrecognized. We know that our Lord sees and delights in all he has created—including each person. The Lord delights in the beauty we create as creators made in his image. Scripture says the Lord counts each hair on each person’s  head, sees each sparrow that falls, and cares for them all (see Matthew 10:29, 30).

Lots of beauty in the Art Nouveau spiraling metalwork too!

Prayer: O Lord, faithful God, may we be faithful to whatever you call us to do, even if no one sees but you. In the name of Jesus, Amen.