Smiling Faces Beautiful Places 3-23-10

Anderson, South Carolina

The most recognized name in the art world is none other than Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, the Dutch master who lived and worked in the 17th century. He is generally considered one of the greatest artists in Europe and certainly the most important in Dutch history, painting and etching in a period historians call the Dutch Golden Age. His etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime; for twenty years Rembrandt taught nearly every important Dutch painter. His greatest achievements are exemplified in portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits, and illustrations of Biblical scenes.

The human figure, more specifically the face, is one of the greatest challenges for artists. Creating a true likeness of a subject, one that not only captures physical attributes, but also demeanor and personality, is a great technical challenge. In an era two centuries before the invention of photography, the ability to create accurate and emotive images of human figures and faces was of great commercial and artistic value. As one observer notes, “Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called ‘one of the great prophets of civilization’.’’

Rembrandt enjoyed spectacular commercial success as a portrait artist, receiving many important commissions. Despite acclaim few artists have ever known, his personal life was often marked by tragedy and moral failure. Spending far more than his substantial commission income, Rembrandt was forced into bankruptcy and lost most of his possessions and his house. Only because of accommodating creditors, was he able to continue with some aspects of his work. His work in print making was cut short by the forced sale of his printing press.

A compelling image in the Old Testament comes when Moses is about to see the Face of God while ensconced on Mount Sinai. Moses is warned that seeing God’s face unprotected would overwhelm him to the point of death. Moses is permitted to see God briefly from the back side. Even then Moses was reported to have descended the mountain with a numinous radiance ‘burned’ onto his face. Theologians and others have long speculated what phenomenon might have produced that radiance. We do know one’s face is the most important aspect of physical being. Eyes have often been referred to as windows to the soul.

When one is born with a catastrophic congenital defect of the face or suffers catastrophic disfigurement from physical trauma or disease, the consequences are life altering, and often precipitate decades of physical suffering, social isolation, and poverty. Children deprived of their faces are one of the most poignant examples of the frailty of the human condition.

There are individuals blessed with artistic expression in ways rivaling, even exceeding that of Rembrandt. Rather that working with oil and paint, or burin and plate, they use scalpels to sculpt living flesh into new forms, to create unprecedented opportunities to embrace life. Volunteer orthopedic and plastic surgeons generously give of their time and talents to reconstruct faces of children born without ears, lips, with eyes in the wrong places. Children burned to the third degree in cook fires are granted liberation from hideous life-robbing scarring and contractions. There is simply no image in all the annals of art history that comes even close to that which emerges from the hands of a good team of surgeons and their colleagues.

For forty years I’ve been blessed to have many grand images in my daily world, even images of Rembrandt’s clients. In 1971 it was possible to acquire a handful of original Rembrandt dry-point etchings of the human face, compelling ones of the Holy Family and of Jesus on the Cross. Ten years later in Vienna it was my good fortune to come into more than fifty additional images by Rembrandt, images of his clients and neighbors, recaptured by one of the greatest engravers of his time, Armand Durand. These have been central to a major art collection for decades.

A great joy in the art world is the opportunity to trade up, exchanging lesser works for more compelling ones. Being able to swap small works for life-size works of gripping quality, so real as to seem alive, is a rare event. This week the opportunity presented itself to make the ultimate trade.

Childspring International is an organization with the mission of creating opportunities for catastrophically injured, diseased, and congenitally challenged children to come to the United States for life changing surgery. As many as two hundred children each year come here for staged orthopedic and plastic surgery to correct a wide range of vast challenges, most often involving their faces. There is no work of Peter Paul Rubens, or Leonardo da Vinci, or even Rembrandt that comes close to the before and after surgical portrait pairs hanging in the Childspring Office in Atlanta. The sense of vision and life executed by our medical artisans has no equal. For our children, their work is simply priceless. For those of us involved in the mission and the art world, it is the ultimate trade.

Saturday night in Atlanta, I traded four Rembrandt faces on paper for a new face, one made out of living flesh, one full of animation, one smiling with possibilities for a full life. Years ago The Holy Family and Jesus on the Cross ended up in museums in the South East. This week four of Rembrandt’s clients ended up in the hands of collectors who also thought the ultimate trade up was for a living work by a living artist.

Melissa from Honduras received a new eye. Troy came from Jamaica to be freed from a massive tumor engulfing his face. Cachuska from Haiti received a mouth, lips, and palate. Herby received ear canals and external ears and dreams of rebuilding his family’s house in Port au Prince. From Moldova, Viorica is a current work in progress, having her face rebuilt, along with her spirit. These works of sculpture live in young lives and the hearts of collectors who know really good art when they see it.

In South Carolina where I live and auto license plates contain the phrase “Smiling Faces Beautiful Places,” the state tourism board has enjoyed grand success with its enlightened mottos and logos. In my many journeys the images I remember most are the radiant smiles of those I meet. In many of the most challenged places on earth, one find the grandest beautiful works of art, the radiant smile of a child. We can be thankful that gifted artisans are still following in the steps of the Master.

But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.