{"id":328,"date":"2022-12-09T00:38:03","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T05:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/southsolonmeetinghouse\/?page_id=328"},"modified":"2023-01-17T14:11:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T19:11:27","slug":"gallery-south-panel-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/southsolonmeetinghouse\/frescoes-within\/gallery-south-panel-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sigmund Abeles South Gallery Fresco"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Sigmund Abeles, Jacob Wrestling the Angel<\/em>, 1956. Fresco. South Solon Meeting House (photo: David Franzen).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Sigmund Abeles\u2019s 1956 fresco at the South Solon Meeting House is located in the gallery, on the south side, directly across from Judith Roth\u2019s Noah\u2019s Ark<\/em>. Abeles\u2019 fresco is based on the Old Testament story of Jacob Wrestling the Angel (Genesis 32: 24\u201332). Jacob, once considered selfish and a liar for stealing his brother Esau\u2019s blessing from their father, is tested, humbled, and forgiven by a divine messenger. Jacob and the angel engage in a struggle, and the fight ends only when Jacob is struck and wounded in his hip, making him powerless. However, the meeting turns out to be transformative as Jacob, for a little while at least, matches the strength of the divine messenger. After their encounter, Jacob\u2019s name <\/strong>is changed to Israel, as he is worthy of inheriting the status of the patriarch of the Hebrew people (Ferguson 55\u201356). Jacob\u2019s strenuous fight with the angel represents a pivotal moment, marking the continuation of the covenant between God and his chosen people. Sigmund Abeles explained that: \u201c[t]he subject of man in actual combat with a force other than the \u2018here and now\u2014tangible\u2019 seemed to symbolize the real conflict of ourselves with ourselves; or, with the problems outside the blame of man\u2019s society\u201d (Cummings 50).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the mysterious being came to be interpreted as an angel, in the biblical text, he is referred to as \u201ca man\u201d (Genesis 32:24). In early Christian art, we see Jacob wrestling directly with God and later God is replaced by an angel to symbolize the struggle between the human and the divine. In medieval art, Jacob often clashes with a demon to illustrate the allegorical combat between virtue and vice (Ferguson 56).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel,<\/em> 1857\u201361. Oil on plaster, 758 x 491 cm.
Chapel of the Holy Angels, Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris (photo: Wikimedia Commons).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix\u2019s mural at Saint Sulpice, we see sheepherders on the right, but they do not take notice of the fight: Jacob is alone in this trial. Although in Delacroix\u2019s composition, the figures are relatively small compared to the very large trees and mountains in the distance, the viewer’s attention is drawn to the struggle in the lower left-hand corner through Delacroix\u2019s use of light, which shines directly on Jacob\u2019s muscular back. The patriarch\u2019s dynamic pose stresses his effort and contrasts with the serenity of the divine being.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sigmund Abeles, Jacob Wrestling the Angel <\/em>(detail), 1956. Fresco. South Solon Meeting House (photo: Yvonne Laube).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Abeles, on the other hand, pares down his depiction, stripping away any extraneous elements. The setting is reduced to a low horizon line and the two figures appear to be suspended mid-fight. In the book of Genesis, it was a close fight, which seriously challenged the divine power. But in Abeles\u2019s fresco, although the angel is clearly straining, he seems to be in control and even having the upper hand over Jacob, as we can discern from his contorted body and his splayed legs and flexed feet that suggest kicking and thrashing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last analysis, we can see in Abeles\u2019s fresco a fitting pendant to Judith Roth\u2019s. It is a poignant affirmation that struggles are real: even if one is chosen to become the father of nations, the fight is individual, and the path is difficult. For Abeles, who was very active in the Civil Rights movement, the theme of struggle is indeed an eternal one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Robert I. Villani<\/p>\n\n\n\n