plan of his heart

Mary Corita Kent

An early color screenprint by social justice activist, printmaker, and one-time nun Sister Corita Kent, later Mary Corita Kent. Kent's modernist style was appealing to young Catholics who were searching for renewed devotion in a rapidly changing world. Her imagery was seen as fresh and celebratory rather than somber, and her background as a nun who marched for peace and civil rights lent it a tangible humanity that wasn't common in Catholic art before the mid 20th century.

Here, Kent uses saturated sunset colors in her depiction of Jesus on the cross and the Sacred Heart, referring to the widely practiced Catholic devotion. The chosen title likely refers to Proverbs 16, "The plan of the heart belongs to man, but the reply of tongue is from the Lord". The Sacred Heart represents Christ's sacred humanity, and was no doubt a constant source of comfort, inspiration, and courage for Kent in her life as an activist nun whose order, Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, were barred from their duties by ultra-conservative prelate James McIntyre.

Later impressions of this work would include the traditional "I.N.R.I" inscription above Jesus' head.

Mary Corita Kent was a Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, where she ran the Art Department at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles until 1968 when she left the Order and moved to Boston.

Corita was born Frances Elizabeth Kent on November 20,1918 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. She grew up in Los Angeles, California and joined the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1936, taking the name Sister Mary Corita. She graduated from Immaculate Heart College in 1941 and then taught grade school in British Columbia, Canada. In 1946 she returned to Immaculate Heart College to teach art. In 1951, she received a master's degree in art history from the University of Southern California; it is also the year she exhibited her first silkscreen print. By the 1960s, she was using popular culture (such as song lyrics and advertising slogans) as raw material for her meaning-filled bursts of text and color. Corita's work reflected her spirituality, her commitment to social justice and her hope for peace.

By the 1960s, she was using popular (POP) culture (such as song lyrics and advertising slogans) as raw material for her meaning-filled bursts of text and color. Corita’s cries for peace in the era of Vietnam were not always welcome. In 1965 her "Peace on Earth" Christmas exhibit in IBM’s New York show room was seen as too subversive and Corita had to amend it. However, her work continued to be an outlet for her activism—in Corita's words: "I am not brave enough to not pay my income tax and risk going to jail. But I can say rather freely what I want to say with my art."

In 1967 when the Archbishop of Los Angeles, James McIntyre, a staunch conservative who was opposed to the Immaculate Heart sisters' proposed updated changes to the teaching system, ordered the removal of all the Immaculate Heart Sisters teaching in L.A. Sister Corita and 90% of the nuns chose of dispense from their vows and open a non-profit organization The Immaculate Heart Community where she taught until 1968.

Corita Kent moved to Boston's Back Bay where she died on September 18, 1986 at a friend's home.