As an avid participant in modern life, it can be very easy to marvel at the swift progress of technology. I can take, edit and post a picture on my phone as easily as I can send e-mails on my computer, automatically record television shows on my satellite receiver, play video games that look like movies on my PlayStation and boil a whole pot of water in five minutes. But there was a time in which I could do none of those things, a time when most people were born and died within a ten-mile radius and all books were handwritten and illustrated. The Middle Ages were such a time, and on the surface it appears as if that period could not be more disparate from our own.
Art, however, can be the bridge between the modern world and that of eras long past. Indeed, this is the key concept behind the study of art history, as the tastes, beliefs, mistakes and triumphs of our ancestors may very well tell us a lot about ourselves. Perhaps this is why we find art so fascinating; it is timeless, often universal communication between the artist and the viewer, the predecessor and the descendant, the religious faithful and those who may not believe. Thus, even though the Middle Ages seem in no ways similar to the world we inhabit now, there are elements of their art to which we may relate.
For example, the beauty, narrative power and transfixing detail of illuminated manuscript can speak quite well to a contemporary audience. This can be seen through the recent Irish film ""The Secret of Kells,"" which is about a young abbey monk who undertakes the completion of the famous work of Irish monastic devotion, ""The Book of Kells."" Stunningly animated, scored and told, the movie has blossomed here in the United States, receiving praise from critics and gaining a loving following that belies the notion that we, an American audience of the 21st century, cannot connect to the distant Ireland from over a millennia ago. The faith, legends and humanity are known to us, as is the sway of the film's subject, the book itself.
We can appreciate these as we can appreciate the organic folds and vines, the resplendent gold and jewels and the vivid colors of the illuminated manuscripts produced during that time. Even if not subscribed to the faith behind such texts, in this case Christianity, the artistic merit of them is rarely denied, just as the architectural splendor of Paris' Sainte Chapelle or Istanbul's Hagia Sophia incite wonder in any who allow themselves to fully experience them.
Although one might have to pony up a plane ticket or two to see the latter examples, Madisonians need not venture far to see a selection of the texts. Starting in December, the Chazen Museum of Art will feature an exhibit of illuminated manuscripts complied from collections around the Midwest. Although I am not expecting the illustrations to literally spring to life as they did in ""The Secret of Kells,"" I do believe that a trip to the Chazen will provide a relaxing, pretty and thought-provoking start to the holiday season. Even if Christmas is not your holiday, perhaps the intricacies of the manuscripts will still stir up an inner sense of peace or at least curiosity. Perhaps they will lend themselves to warm drinks, a conversation with friends and family and a perfect end to the semester. If so, then that will be the ultimate testament to art's ability to affect the human spirit across centuries, oceans and states of mind.
The exhibit mentioned, Hidden Treasures: Illuminated Manuscripts for Midwestern Collections, will be on display at the Chazen Museum of Art from Dec. 18 to Feb. 27. An opening reception and curatorial lecture will be held Friday, Dec. 17 starting at 5:30 p.m.
