Title
Religion
Artist
Year
1936
Technique
lithograph
Image Size
11 1/2 x 8 11/16" image size
Signature
pencil, lower right; initialed in stone, lower right
Edition Size
not stated
Annotations
pencil titled and dated, lower left; dated in the stone, lower right; verso in artist's hand: "Unlimited until Jan 1, 1937"
Reference
Paper
cream Rives wove
State
published
Publisher
artist
Inventory ID
23033
Price
SOLD
Description
Baker depicts symbols of Christianity gathering dust and spiderwebs, as though seen through the lens of time. A carved Jesus is split through the middle by a tiny woodpecker, who is perched on the edge of a radio, symbolizing perhaps the destructive nature of commercialized Evangelicalism. Scrolls and tomes are bedecked in spiderwebs and wormholes riddle the wooden architectural details of medieval churches. Baker did not shrink from exploring difficult and often controversial ideas, using art as a platform to critique the hypocrisy of social norms and prejudices. While his work often falls into the Surrealist catgory, it was often less veiled, and more pointed, than many of his contemporaries.