Can beauty save the world?
These days criticism of art--whether visual, musical, or literary--is
often marked by a suspicion of beauty. What happened to the belief that
the creativity of the artist reflects the creativity of the Maker of
heaven and earth, and that art can therefore be a channel for divine
truth? Anyone who has joined with others to sing Bach's Saint Matthew
Passion or stood before a painting by Raphael or Chagall can attest to
this. At such moments, art binds people together. This issue of Plough
focuses on art that leads to such community: through theater, painting,
music, and the objects and architecture of everyday life. And while art
fosters community, building community is itself a work of creativity.
Also in this issue: original poetry by Cozine Welch Jr.; reviews of
new books by Eliza Griswold, Alissa Quart, Eugene Vodolazkin, and Nathan
Englander; and art by Denis Brown, JR, Valérie Jardin, Isaiah King,
Isaiah Tanenbaum, George Makary, Oriol Malet, Alex Nwokolo, Ashik and
Jenelle Mohan, Raphael, Aaron Douglas, Winslow Homer, Vincent van Gogh,
Wassily Kandinsky, and Jason Landsel.
Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people
eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth
articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put
Jesus' message into practice and find common cause with others.
