Reformation exhibit in Minneapolis highlights art as teaching tool and propaganda

RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
By Emily McFarlan Miller
Follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder, “Martin Luther on His Deathbed,” before 1600 © Deutsches Historisches Museum. Photo courtesy of “Martin Luther: Art and the Reformation,” via Minneapolis Institute of Art
MINNEAPOLIS, MN---When it came to art, Martin Luther was much more interested in music than in the visual arts. He once called music “half a sacrament” and said, “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” But Luther also recognized images had the power to teach ­– a powerful form of communication the church could use, said David Morgan, professor and chair of the department of religious studies at Duke University. “So from the beginning, he defended the use of images,” Morgan said. “Martin Luther: Art and the Reformation” opened at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, or Mia, on Sunday (Oct. 30). [link]


Minneapolis Institute of Art: "Martin Luther: Art and the Reformation" (Through January 15, 2017); 2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota; (612) 870-3000; artsmia.org
Tom Rassieur, the John E. Andrus III Curator of Prints at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Harald Meller, director and state archaeologist at the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt and State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, Germany, speak to the press Oct. 27, 2016, outside the exhibition “Martin Luther: Art and the Reformation” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minneapolis. RNS photo by Emily McFarlan Miller