Hidden behind the altar - a photo on Flickriver

This is a composite of 7 images, taken in the dark, immediately behind the altar of St Nicholas Croatian Church. I stitched the 3 images of the left half, and the 4 images of the right half, separately. Then I (somewhat coursely I suppose) stretched them and stuck them together.

But, unless you walk up to the altar, and look behind it, almost all of this image is completely hidden from view.

A great artist in his own right is Maximilian "Makso" Vanka, a gifted Croatian American painter. Born in Zagreb in 1890 of fairly well-to-do parents, Makso was educated at the Zagreb Real Gymnasium and University. He studied painting at the Royal Academy of Beaux Arts in Belgium, from which he graduated with first prize and gold medal. Subsequently he worked in Paris, London, Amsterdam, and various cities in Italy. He aided in the founding of the Academy of Arts in Zagreb, where he held the position of professor of painting and design for a number of years. He was honored with the M Mailles d Or and the Palme Academique at the Paris International Exhibition.

In 1934 Vanka left his native Croatia and came to this country with his American-born wife and small daughter. Presently he took up his abode in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he still lives with his wife in an old stone house tucked away on a side road near Rushland and decorated with his own deft touch, largely fresco paintings (his favorite medium of expression). From his home studio have come streams of pastels, oil pastels, wash water colors, water colors, and oils on canvas and on panels. Makso has a deep feeling for his fellow Croatians in America and has tried to help them in every way possible.

When the pastor of the St. Nicholas Croatian Church in Millvale, Pennsylvania, sought ways to beautify his old yellow brick building, Vanka responded with an effort that was truly reminiscent of a Michelangelo. He left the outside untouched, but he transformed the interior to the extent that it took on the appearance of an Old World cathedral.

The arched ceiling of the church he browded with saints and apostles. Behind the altar and in the apse he placed a 36-foot Madonna and Child in Croatian dress. In one of the many murals decorating the walls he depicted miners and workers with their priest offering the great Madonna and Child their church, which one of them holds in his hands. In a second he showed a Croatian family bowing in prayer in a pastoral setting. In a third he portrayed sorrowing women weeping at the bier of a son killed in battle. Still another mural focused attention on mothers and wives mourning beside sons killed in the mines.

Throughout all of these frescoes Croatian dress and embroideries were featured and the faces shown were those of Croatian peasants. As Makso himself explained his main purpose was to show the humanity in divinity and the divinity in humanity-divine justice, human injustice.

Vanka has not only shown his masterpieces in leading art centers in the United States, but he has also exhibited in most of the capitals of Europe. He is represented in the National Art Museum of Budapest, Hungary, Municipal Art Museum of Stuttgart, Germany, the Prince Paul Museum of Belgrade, and the Strosmajer Gallery of Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

www.croatians.com/BIOGRAPHY-AMERICA-S-Z.htm

The walls and ceiling of St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church are decorated with elaborate tempera paintings by artist Maxo Vanka (1890-1963). The murals tell the story of the Croatian peasants who left their native farm lands at the turn of the 20th century to seek a better life in the post-industrial United States of America. The evocative murals also capture Vanka's strong belief about the futilty of war and his sadness about the destruction of the motherland.
www.stnicholascroatian.com/Murals_1.html

Vanka exhibited throughout Europe, and obtained many honours, among them Palme Academique of the French Legion of Honor. Having moved to the USA in 1934, he became noted for his beautiful church murals, for example in St. Nicholas Croatian Church, Pennsylvania. Some american specialists consider these murals the best church frescos in the USA. He depicts not only traditional Catholic scenes and symbols, but also the lives and spirituality of the Croatian immigrant community.

www.croatianhistory.net/etf/art.html#vanka