Christ and Buddha 1880

Curator: Gazing at this, I feel an immediate hush, like stepping into a sacred grove thick with dreams. Editor: Interesting. For me, it’s the clash of color that stands out. We’re looking at Paul Ranson’s oil painting, “Christ and Buddha,” created around 1880. You've got this simmering orange-red background, framing a stark, crucified Christ, a serene blue Buddha head, and then a smaller, emerald Buddha figure sitting amidst these fantastic, blue-green lotus-like plants. What is Ranson doing with this mix of signifiers, exactly? Curator: Isn't it like a beautifully discordant chord? Ranson’s Symbolist style brings together these different spiritual presences. They share the same space but feel so utterly… alone. I sense a reaching out, a pondering of universal truths. The rough brushstrokes, that primal application of paint—they become conduits for raw feeling. Editor: The material conditions, though: oil on canvas wasn’t exactly cheap in 1880. What kind of audience was Ranson courting? It also looks rushed to my eye, quite unlike academic works that obsessed over photorealism and surface polish. I also find interesting his choices in representing, through color, different "iconic" statuary and the like: green Buddhas aren't usually *that* green. He clearly wanted the color and pigments themselves to convey meaning, not merely imitate some surface effect. Curator: I think you’re spot-on with the intent, if maybe less so with audience size—the Symbolists were almost militantly anti-establishment. This wasn't about showing off technical prowess; this was about stripping things bare. I see that very crude, hurried facture as crucial. Editor: Sure. By choosing inexpensive techniques of making images he is critiquing value itself. Curator: And isn't that what every artistic gesture is: a dialogue with value, perceived or real? Perhaps here, value is assigned not to technical replication but to felt empathy. It’s like Ranson is searching—are there core concepts or emotions that transcend the dogma that separates? Editor: A humanist question posed through materiality: intriguing. Curator: Exactly. "Intriguing" distills my feeling towards it nicely. It holds you between skepticism and reverence, much like belief itself, I find. Editor: Indeed.