Scenes from the life of Jesus

images by
• Natalie d’Arbeloff

from Afterword by Natalie d’Arbeloff

Although these drawings were made more than half a century ago, the idea that they might be made into a book is less than a year old as I write and the texts and references and introductory pieces have been researched and written during that time. I was an art student in New York City when I dipped a brush in Indian ink and these drawings emerged in quick succession. What I remember most clearly about that period is a sense of freedom and excitement.

Abstract expressionism was in the air and I was for a while studying with Jack Tworkov, one of its leading practitioners, in his studio next door to De Kooning. I’m not sure if these painters’ intense commitment to the spontaneous gesture was an influence but I did show the drawings to Tworkov and was very proud when he praised them unconditionally, even though my subject matter was not the sort of thing which would appeal to anyone in that secular, intellectual, bohemian milieu.

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Editions & Inscriptions

Copies of the Main Edition are Signed and numbered by the artist.