The frozen moment

A friend who weaves herblore, Christianity, Paganism, folklore and other eclectic elements into a form of magical reality recommends the paintings of Stanley Spencer depicting Christ in the Wilderness. I begin, but am not smitten yet. I recall seeing the Resurrection, Cookham at the Tate where it really pulls one in to all these mad details.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/spencer-the-resurrection-cookham-n04239

Not sure yet about the Lenten pictures though perhaps in both cases, the screen is no friend to the artist. Easy to see how they might look amazing on the ceiling of a church, but still... Not convinced.

Other responses arise when seeking depictions of Christ in the Wilderness, the time that leads to the Temptation. I saw this and it made me tremble and grow cold:

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium/jesus-the-temptation-rosetta-jallow.jpg

The tempter's face is human, seen, understood. Christ's face is hidden, so we are much closer to the tempter than the tempted. It is not some unknowable evil, we know it very well. Looking at the rest of Jallow's work, her Life of Christ paintings strike me as pretty ordinary. Except for this.

It made me freeze to look at it.

My response to art is often physical; it makes me sick or shake or smile, or go through temperature changes. Doesn't mean I dismiss art that doesn't evince those responses. It's just a thing that can happen. Music and literature move me differently again.