THE WEEPING WOMEN OF JERUSALEM with Guest, FREDERICK STURM

Exalting God through ART

SMITTEN BY FAITH                  Issue # 0003                                        21st August 2021

THE WEEPING WOMEN OF JERUSALEM

My Special Guest today is my Austrian friend, Frederick Sturm who was born in the year of the wood dragon in a leap year on the last day of February - doubly auspicious dates ! The Chinese consider it a great honour ( for a man ) to be born in the year of the dragon which brings good fortune and talents while the rare leap year means very lucky omens ! 

Self-portrait by Frederick Sturm © Frederick Sturm

Frederick Sturm is a banker in Singapore where he now lives. At the same time, he is also a sensitive and gifted artist whose awareness of art came early in his childhood through his grandfather. Frederick was drawn to his grandfather’s landscapes and seascapes; paintings in oil which were scaled to large formats from postcards. This interest in art was further nurtured when his mother gave him watercolours one Christmas when he was in his teens. From then on, Frederick evolved from painting simple landscapes to portraits in the style of Hals, then later Picasso, before going back to the landscapes he had learnt from his grandfather – this time in the impressionist manner. At university, Frederick studied Business in Austria and later Urban Design in Hong Kong where he stayed on when he then joined a bank. In fact, his career as a banker in Asia is how Frederick spends the greater part of his time and life.

However, parallel with his interesting professional life, art was a constant passion for Frederick which never waned. Around 1997, he evolved from painting into sculpting. Today, Frederick creates artistic and beautiful bronze sculptures  – for private and public commissions - when time permits. Frederick’s career path has meant being in Asia and that has been most fortuitous for his sculptures too as he has been able to cast his bronzes at a reliable foundry in Thailand for the past 20 years. His favourite subjects are humans because as he says, “I like to think that I am at my best when sculpting human emotions.”

I asked Frederick why banking and art ? He tells me that they are not at all at odds. He says that the common link between his banking career and his passion as an artist is the human element. On one hand we see Frederick the banker constantly interacting with his clients on a daily personal level, trying to add value with his knowledge about capital markets and wealth structuring; on the other hand we see Frederick’s sculptures as pure artistic objects – sacred art which he prefers - whose characters and emotions he can interpret and form at his sole discretion and, in his case with an eye towards proclaiming the greater glory of God.

Frederick’s paintings and sculptures can be viewed on his online art gallery under the website : www.art-by-efes.com. Frederick, an ardent Catholic, rightly sub-titles his works, Christian Art. This is Frederick’s way to exalt God; his way to demonstrate his faith.

In 1999, Frederick was awarded his first permanent installation, to create the ‘Stations of the Cross’ for St. Anne’s Church in Stanley, Hong Kong. Today, Fred’s exquisitely sculptured figures for each of the 14 stations can still be viewed at the Church. Frederick has also created other striking works and installations in Singapore, Los Angeles, Shanghai and his native Austria, where he did another set of the ‘Stations of the Cross’.

Today, we are honoured to have Frederick Sturm kindly sharing with us, not just his beautiful bronze sculpture of the ‘Weeping Women of Jerusalem’; but also his commentary to describe this poignant piece of art about the amazing female disciples of Jesus Christ; their faithfulness and steadfastness.

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THE WEEPING WOMEN OF JERUSALEM - the most steadfast disciples of Jesus

ARTWORK AND COMMENTARY By FREDERICK STURM, 21st August 2021 - Austria and Singapore

The Weeping Women of Jerusalem by Frederick Sturm © Frederick Sturm

Detail from The Weeping Women of Jerusalem © Frederick Sturm

COMMENTARY BY FREDERICK STURM

Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem; they are within the city walls; just past the mid-way distance to Golgatha – where he will be crucified. 

I chose to share with SMITTEN BY FAITH, this particular sculpture group because my search for Christ has made me aware of the importance of women to him, his life and his mission.

Women were Jesus’ most steadfast disciples and they were also present at the end when he died on the cross. Throughout the missionary of Jesus Christ, it was the women who amongst his followers, were the most practical and it was the women who ensured the necessary logistic support during his travels through Galilee. Women were also Jesus’ most intelligent followers. If you read the Acocryphal gospels, you will see for example that Jesus found Mary of Magdala very worthy of sharing some of his innermost thoughts.

The sculpture above expresses the feelings of three women of different ages and intellect towards Christ :-

In the middle, we see Mary, the mother. Her foremost feeling, a sense of helplessness, the inability to protect her most beloved flesh, a love deep in its intensity, expansiveness and everlastingness reserved only for mothers, fathers, Christ in Trinity - for we are all his children. AGAPE.¹

Then to the right, we have  Mary of Magdala, who despite her pain, we see she is admiring not fearing; for she has fully grasped Christ’s telling; her love - a mix of EROS² AND AGAPE.

And to the left, one of the many women who accompanied Jesus with a mind perhaps like mine, swinging between despair and hope, then still in doubt, grasping Christ’s arm for assurance. PHILIA³. How different to Mary Magdala with her calmness based on knowing what will come later that day and past it.

Frederick Sturm, Singapore; 21st August 2021

Editor’s Footnotes 

1. AGAPE             the Greco-Christian word for ‘unconditional love’ 

2. EROS               passionate love

3. PHILIA             brotherly love

Editor’s Note :

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