Art Historian to Present “Illuminating Scripture: An Analysis of Imagery from The Saint John’s Bible”

Thursday, Sept. 26, 4:30 p.m. – “Illuminating Scripture: An Analysis of Imagery from The Saint John’s Bible” will be the topic of a presentation given by Jennifer Noonan, Ph.D. the Alvin R. Calman professor of art history at Caldwell University. It will be held in the Alumni Theatre on campus.  The lecture is part of the Sister Maura Campbell series and is being presented by the Department of Theology and Philosophy. 

The Saint John’s Bible is the first handwritten and illuminated Bible since the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. Caldwell is hosting the Heritage Edition of the Gospels and Acts volume, a work of art that unites the ancient Benedictine tradition with today’s technology and vision.

Noonan’s talk will address the production of The Saint John’s Bible and the collaborative acts that led to the manuscript’s creation and will analyze the images within the book. This visual analysis specifically considers how the illuminations in The Saint John’s Bible echo symbolic imagery found in medieval manuscripts and at the same time engage more contemporary images and, as a result, reflect broader artistic practices.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It is being presented as part of Caldwell University’s Year with The Saint John’s Bible and the Department of Theology and Philosophy’s Sister Maura Campbell lecture series. Sister Maura was a Sister of St. Dominic of Caldwell, a theologian, philosopher, professor, researcher and national leader in education whose scholarship and teaching spanned 50 years. For further information, call 973-618-3931.

Noonan teaches classes that cover the history of art and a course she developed on “The Art & Architecture in the Roman Catholic World.” Her research focuses on modern and contemporary art with a particular emphasis on printmaking. Her scholarship considers ways in which both the process and the object carry aesthetic and conceptual weight. Her research has entailed an examination of work by Vito Acconci, Bruce Conner David Hammons and Joyce Wieland.

Noonan’s current project looks at the 1970 Venice Biennale and considers how it fits into the International Art Program’s (a division of what is now known as the Smithsonian American Art Museum) larger practice of sending prints and print studios abroad. She has received support for this project from the Glady Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where she was the Terra Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in residence during the 2017-2018 academic year.