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Painting is symbol for religious revival
Devotees lobby to put image of faceless Jesus into a Cuban church
By David Abel
Special to The Herald
The Miami Herald
Thursday August 20, 1998
HAVANA - A simple oil painting of a robbed Jesus, his back squarely turned to observers, has become a symbol of religious revival for a growing band of admirers in Cuba.
More than 600 people have asked for reproductions of the work, The Back of Christ, according to Arsenio Marrero, a Havana audio technician who recently quit his job to devote more time to promoting the image and relaying what he sees as its message.
"The painting says, "Those of you behind me, follow me,'" Marrero said. "As soon as I saw it, I knew God was showing me the way. I knew what I had to do."
He and other devotees are lobbying Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the archbishop of Havana, for permission to hang the painting in the San Pedro Church in Cotorro, one of the Cuban capital's working-class suburbs.
The canvas now hangs in the Key Largo gallery and frame shop of Cuban-born artist Thomas Fundora, who painted it in 1962. Fundora showed Marrero a reproduction of the painting during a visit to Havana in March, when they met through a family friend.
Artist's hands crushed
The view of a faceless Jesus has sparked controversy ever since Fundora created it. Three men broke into his New York studio while the Spanish Pavilion displayed the painting at the 1964 World's Fair in New York. Unable to find the painting, they crushed his hands, he said.
"They said they wanted to break my hands so that I could not paint another controversial painting," said Fundora, 63, who said he was unable to paint for nine years.
"Critics have made The Back of Christ so controversial, when really the idea is simple," he said. "It comes from the follower's perspective. Nobody who is following Christ sees him from the front."
Fundora is amazed and gratified by the attention the painting is receiving. "I cannot sell it," he said. "It's becoming too important for a lot of people."
He appears reluctant to send the painting to Havana, however: "I painted this in this country. I have to show respect to the United States and also the Cuban people that are here," he said.
'Very complicated'
"I really don't know what to do - it's so complicated. Of course it's beautiful that it's becoming so popular in Cuba. [But] politically, it's very complicated."
Fundora has made prints of the painting. Postcards of the image sell at his gallery for 25 cents; an 8-by-11-inch print costs $15 and the full size print, 22 by 28 inches, costs $50.
"People are coming from Miami - sometimes I have 20, 25 people here wanting to see The Back of Christ," he said.
Behind the story of the painting is the personal history of Marrero, who is working to distribute the image in Cuba. Though born into an anti-religious revolution that exiled priests and persecuted worshipers, Marrero had the conviction that one day he would do God's work. As a boy, he told his family he would receive divine guidance sometime after he turned 33 years old. All he had to do was wait for the message.
More than a year after the appointed birthday, and two months after Pope John Paul II swept through Cuba in January, the reinvigorated Catholic discovered the sign when he saw a reproduction of Fundora's painting.
More followers
While Marrero considers the painting a miracle, not everyone in Cuba has greeted reproductions of the painting with such euphoria. "At first, it looked like Christ was turning his back on us - like he was mad at us for not practicing for all these years," said Julia Sancho, 46 a housewife who received a photograph of the portrait from Marrero. "But now I understand it. And I think it's a good message. Something that will bring more followers."
One of those followers is Ivan Albuerne, 26, a traveling musician, who said he met Marrero while looking for a way to become more involved in the church after the Pope's visit in January.
"If anything, this is an incentive to do something for God," Albuerne said. "It's a way to increase our faith and to know how to follow God."
Fundora's most famous work "El Cristo de Espaldas" (The Back of Christ), attracted international recognition and fame and was exhibited at the Spanish Pavilion (Pabellón de España) at the 1965 New York World's Fair. It was painted as his impression of the Master as seen by his followers and Apostles when they followed Him in his ministries.
Although this famous painting hung beside works by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, some misunderstood its meaning and regarded it as a political painting. This created a tense atmosphere, resulting in attacks on Fundora and his hands. In despair, the artist put his career on hold and went into artistic seclusion. |
