Surrexit (Christ is risen)
Sybil Andrews Canadian, born England
Not on view
This composition is striking for its imaginative combination of different elements of Christ’s crucifixion and entombment. Sleeping soldiers guard Christ’s tomb, on top of which are three crosses that extend beyond the edge of the picture plane—one for Christ and two others for thieves—and the ladders used to lower the bodies. Yet Christ himself is nowhere visible; he has already ascended to Heaven, a passage suggested by the rays of color shooting from the upper part of the composition. A devout Christian Scientist, Andrews treated religious subjects in many of her works with an eye to expressing the intensity of the narrative moment. Here, she used four separate pieces of linoleum—one for each color—to convey both the stillness around the darkened tomb and the energy associated with Christ’s ascension.
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