Creche Scenes In New Haven: The Holidays Aren't Over Yet

By Shannon Hicks

NEW HAVEN - Christmas is over, yes; and Twelfth Night has also passed for another year, but that doesn't mean the enjoyment of decorations that accompany one of the holiest seasons on the Christian calendar needs to stop.

The Knights of Columbus Museum is a perfect example. The museum is continuing its annual holiday exhibition, this year a collection of creches from Europe, until February 1. Christmas is far from over for those who visit the New Haven setting.

Largely in part from the collection of Father Timothy Goldrick, "Nativities of Europe: Folk Art to Fine Art" offers visitors a look at creches - or Nativity scenes - that not only present a look at the birth of the Holy Son, but also offers a celebration of the craftsmanship represented by many countries.

The fourth annual presentation of a creche show, "Nativities of Europe"features nearly 80 creches borrowed from three American collections, as well as a vast Neapolitan diorama from Italy. Many of the creches were made by local craftsmen from about two dozen countries, representing small villages in the Alps to the newly liberated nations of eastern Europe. They show an abundance of skill and style.

Many of the scenes offer characteristics of their country of origin, making it easy to tell from where they came. The Russian nesting eggs, or the blue and white glazed ceramic plate that easy identifies it as Norwegian, are two such examples. The faces on the carved and painted wood set from Latvia, done by Ivars Kalnins in 2003, look very much Eastern European and are reminiscent of the similarly carved and painted grave markers for which the country is known. These particular pieces are from the James and Emilia Govan Creche Collection. Also represented is The European Collection of the Marian Library at the University of Dayton-Ohio.

In Portugal, a prime cottage industry of St Michael's (where one scene comes from) is the creation of

belens, or creches. Another is the weaving of baskets. One trademark of the island is the logical conversion of baskets into creche stables.

One such example on view is a scene with a basket and ten figures: The Holy Family, Three Wise Men, an angel, donkey, cow and a rooster.

Nearby, a six-piece scene from Bosnia is nearly representative in nature. Dino Sasic's carved walnut offering (another Father Timothy Collection piece), is very simple, yet still effective, in its presentation.

From Austria and featured in a shadow box frame is a

Landschaftskrippe, or Landscape Crib, featuring painted ceramic figures cast from an original mold. Artist and creation date are unknown.

One of the show's largest pieces is from Provence, France. Gustave Schneider's painted clay tableau, done in 1998, must be at least six feet wide. Its base is broken into three pieces, and the time it took to create the thing is difficult to fathom.

There are at least 33 figures, from the Holy Family and Wise Men to villagers of all ages, seemingly working their way toward the manger. There are probably two dozen individual sheep and three buildings in addition to the manger. At the top of a set of stairs leading into one building stands a man scratching his head - perhaps the legendary innkeeper who sent Mary and Joseph to the manger, now left to wonder why everyone else is going there?

Next to this, in the same gallery (the full presentation takes up three of the museum's galleries) is what appears to be the centerpiece of the exhibition - and surely of Father Timothy's collection: a 23-foot-wide creche diorama also from Provence. The piece dates to 1985, so it was created while santonnier (people of Provence who create santons, or clay creche figures, in the Italian style dating back to the early 1700s) Marcel Carbonel was still alive.

Carbonel reinvigorated the Provence custom when he established Santons Marcel Carbonel Co. in 1935. The company makes six different sized figures, from less than one inch to more than six inches tall, plus buildings and structures.

The 23-foot creche was created of clay, Styrofoam, spackling, Saran Wrap, moss, and plastic trees. It also features three figure scales: Number 1 (1½ inches tall), Number 2 (2¾ inches) and Number 3 (3½ inches). To keep the perspective correct for each viewer, the higher the elevation the smaller the figure.

In this work, townspeople and rural figures - dozens of them, easily - carrying gifts to the Baby Jesus. A few have already knelt in prayer, and five - just outside the manger, where the crowd is its most diverse - have climbed onto rooftops to witness the miracle.

Another very small Provence diorama, encased in Plexiglas and set up in the neighboring gallery, contains the smallest Carbonel santons, the

puces, which measure less than one inch tall.

The true centerpiece of this exhibition, however, is the Presepio (Ccreche) in Gallery 2. Finished last year in Naples, Italy, the scene follows the Neapolitan

presipio tradition, which is considered the benchmark of creches. It was in Naples, in fact, that the art of the creche as we now know it first flourished and from where the presipio (from the Latin presepe, or stable) spread throughout Italy. During the 1500s, many Neapolitan churches and houses created presipe.

The first known private home

presipio also appeared in Naples, in 1567. It was grand in size and scope, containing 167 figures, including the Holy Family, shepherd scenes, and a large retinue for the Magi.

The Knights of Columbus Presepio, on loan from Fine Arts Services by Lina Pontecorvo (Sorrento, Italy) is also grand. It is, in fact, breathtaking. It deserves to be given time to take in the grandness and the details, from the angel descending over one mountaintop where she is seen by shepherds (including one shepherd with a wine bottle, obviously from which he has had more than a few swigs, who probably is having a very tough time deciphering what his mind is telling him) to the goat laying on its side, having just been sheared.

A marketplace is filled with cheeses, breads, meats, vegetables and fruit; a turkey pecks at something on a stone step; a fisherman piles his nets back into his boat, having put his catch - which includes a sizable swordfish - up for sale.

The detail goes on. At least nine cherubs are flying in and around the manger, while two angels watch over the Holy Family, who are already laden with fruit and vegetables, as villages make their way toward the trio with more gifts and offerings.

Really, give yourself time to take in the grandness, artistry, and beauty of this scene. Just don't wait too long to do so. As mentioned earlier, the exhibition will close after February 1.

Also On View: Connecticut Creches

Complementing the European presentation is "Christmas in Connecticut: Nativities in New Haven, Hamden and Middletown." On view also until February 1, this presentation in yet another gallery (but adjacent to "Nativities of Europe") features the craftsmanship of students and teachers from two Catholic secondary schools and a third scene that was created by the late 20th Century ceramicist Eugenio Pattarino (1885-1971).

"Middletown Christmas 1930," depicting the Holiday Family and the Italian Immigrant Festival, uses figures from Italy created by Armando Del Guidice (painted clay, 2008). The figures have been set up within a diorama created of multiple materials by students of Xavier High School in Middletown. The students take viewers back to the 1930s, placing the birth of Jesus in the middle of the historic river port city (once the state's busiest), with the Holy Family prominent in the center of a festival at the steps of Saint Sebastian Church, which was built by Italian artisans and stone masons of the era.

Sacred Heart Academy's "Hamden Christmas 2008," done by students, teachers, and volunteers of Sacred Heart Academy, places its scene at the foot of Hamden's Sleeping Giant State Park observation tower, with contemporary and historic landmarks visible within the snow-covered diorama's distance, including The Holy Family sheltered in the West Rock Tunnel entrance of the Merritt Parkway. Its creche figures are from Naples (making it a

Presipio). They are painted clay, done by Armando Del Guidice and Pasguale Qualano just last year.

The third Connecticut creche depicts the Christmas scene circa 1882 outside Saint Mary's Church, on Hillhouse Avenue, which was the birthplace of the Knights of Columbus. The scene uses the Pattarino figures, done in terra cotta with polychrome and gold wash, which date to 1950-66 and are part of the museum's permanent collection. The setting depicts the Christ Child being adored by shepherds, Wise Men, and parish curator Father Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus.

The Knights of Columbus Museum is at One State Street in New Haven. It is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. Admission and onsite parking are free; donations are accepted. Call 203-865-0400 or visit KofCMuseum.org for additional information including driving directions.