There she sits, almost inconspicuous. But the view is open, directed forward. Maria, the most famous woman in Christianity, wears everyday clothes, a sweater over her baby bump, gray shoes, and dark hair. If Jesus were born today, Mary would probably look like this. Throughout the centuries, the Catholic Church and art have transformed Mary into a figure who has very little in common with the simple young woman of the Bible who was brave enough to do the unimaginable, namely to reach out to the world as the Son of God bring. Mary was dressed in gold, crowned, transfigured, sung about as “Star of the Sea” and “Queen of May”. With this contemporary image, the Bamberg Diocesan Museum dares to break with traditional depictions.
And so it goes on in the exhibition “Women.Actions.Works”, which opened on Saturday: The museum commissioned twelve artists to deal with twelve women from the Bible or from church history, they were accompanied by mentors. Works were created that arouse, question – and can also be read as a contribution to the current debate in the Catholic Church.
Carola Marie Schmidt (from left to right), director of the Bamberg Diocesan Museum, Susanne Grimmer and Anne-Kathrin Eisenbarth-Goletz, both speakers in the Department of Women’s Pastoral Care and Spirituality, are standing here in front of the work of art “Magdalena’s Garden I” by the artist Elke Zauner.
(Photo: Daniel Vogl/dpa)
The role of women is not only discussed controversially in the synodal path in Germany: Are declarations of intent by many bishops enough to appoint women in management positions in their ordinariates, the administrative authorities? Or aren’t women also needed as deacons and pastors, i.e. in ordained offices? In any case, the female figures, whose lives are now being illuminated by means of contemporary art in the Diocesan Museum, worked their way through the patriarchal structures of Christianity and were even able to break them up in some cases: Cunigunde (around 980 to 1033), for example, the empress who, with her husband Heinrich, Archdiocese of Bamberg founded. “She made politics,” says museum director Carola Marie Schmidt. Kunigunde was not just the appendage of a powerful man.
The aim is to show that, despite the patriarchal system, there is also a strong female tradition in church history, says Susanne Grimmer, a consultant for women’s pastoral care in the Bamberg ordinariate. Together with her colleague Anne-Kathrin Eisenbarth, she writes in the online catalog for the exhibition: What would have happened if the women had been silent about Jesus’ empty tomb? Or if women had not engaged in preaching and charity throughout the centuries? Mary Magdalene was the woman who, according to tradition, was the first to meet Jesus after his resurrection. Actually, she should be the most important witness of the religious community, but she hardly plays a role.
The artworks “Elisabeth Containing the Uncontainable” (left) by Margarete Schrüfer and “Tecla … who else should I fear?” (r) by Kerstin Himmler share a room in the exhibition.
(Photo: Daniel Vogl/dpa)
A work of art that literally breaks the frame deals with her – it is the garden in which Jesus and Mary Magdalene met. The colors leave the canvas and spread onto the museum wall. It became clear a few months ago in Upper Bavaria that some diocesan museums no longer see themselves as hoards of sacred art, when the museum on the Domberg in Freising tackled the sensitive subject of church and sex with the exhibition “Damned Lust – Church.Body.Art”. dedicated.
The Bamberg Museum also dares the controversy. With the simply depicted Mary, of course, or with a gold-colored cage that stands for the life of Saint Elizabeth – and also with the conclusion of the special show when it comes to women in the church today. Graphic designer Nina Knöll writes about her installation: Didn’t God create man and woman “in perfect equality”, as can be read in the book of Genesis? “And after all, God will surely know why and what for.”