RESURRECTION RICHES

 

                                                Mary at the Tomb-  Frank Wesley- India

She brake the box, and all the house was filled
With waftures*  from the fragrant store thereof,
While at His feet a costlier rose distilled
The bruisèd balm of penitential love. 

And lo, as if in recompense of her,
Bewildered in the lingering shades of night,
He breaks anon the sealèd sepulcher,
And fills the world with rapture and with light.

 "The Recompense” by John Banister Tabb.

* waving

Frank Wesley was born in Azamgarh, U.P., India in 1923 into a fifth generation Christian family of Hindu/Muslim background. 

He began studying at the government school of Arts and Crafts in Lucknow  continuing to postgraduate study, later joining the teaching staff.

With the aid of an American patron, Wesley continued his art education at Kyoto Art University from 1954 to 1958, where he learned traditional and modern Japanese painting techniques, lacquer work, textile design, woodblock printing, and ink drawing, and in Chicago from 1958 to 1960, which included coursework at the Art Institute, where he learned about modern abstraction and how to work with oil paint.

Wesley returned to India in 1960 and, after a four-year courtship, married Athalie Brown, an Australian nurse working in a mission hospital in Azamgarh. They had two children. Seeking better opportunities, he emigrated to Australia with his family in 1973 and lived there until his death in 2002. Even in his new adopted country, he continued painting biblical scenes in an Indian style.

His work has been internationally recognized. He designed the urn for Mahatma Ghandhi's ashes.  Five of his paintings were included in the 1950 Holy Year Exhibition at the Vatican.  "The Blue Madonna" was used as the first UNICEF Christmas card.