TENDER PIETAS

 

 

One of my favorite artists did some amazingly poignant PIETAS. She often places an animal in her art. The piece to the left shows the dog licking the wounds of the dead Christ, reminiscent of the dogs who licked the wound of poor Lazarus.

ALENA ANTONOVA was born in Czechoslovakia in 1930. From 1949 to 1955 she studied graphic arts at the College of Applied Arts in Prague under the acclaimed Cubist painter Emil Filla. She then specialized in printmaking. The primary technique she used was drypoint, which involves incising a picture with a needle onto a metal plate, then inking it and pressing it onto paper. 

She also did etchings, woodcuts, and linocuts. The female figure is a common theme in her work and she often has an animal in the picture. The Pieta to the left shows a dog licking the wound of Jesus, perhaps suggesting the dog who licked the wounds of Lazarus, showing more mercy towards the poor man's condition than his fellow man. 

Alena died in  2021. I could find no more in English about her life.