As the twelve days of Christmas draw to a close, we look forward to celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th, commemorating the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child. To mark the beginning of the New Year and a new decade, I have uploaded three images of the Wise Men from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection for January made on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, where El Dia des Reyes (The Day of the Kings) is the traditional time for distributing gifts brought by the Magi. The trio of serigraphs are the work of Puerto Rican Graphic Artist Antonio Maldonado, who belonged to "The Fifities Generation" of island artists, famed for their imaginative use of silk screen prints to promote cultural events sponsored by the Community Education Division (DIVEDCO) of the Department of Education, which enlisted leading artists from 1949 until 1986 to create public art in a progressive style, influenced by the New Deal art projects of President Franklin Roosevelt. In an undated DIVEDCO holday poster, Maldonado shows the Magi accompanied by traditional parranderos (carolers) with instruments in hand, making their way from town to town. The Three Kings seem to have lost their way in the lush vegetation of the Puerto Rican rainforest in another charming Maldonado serigraph for DIVEDCO from 1971 (above left). The long wait for one young city girl will soon by over as the approaching Magi cast long shadows on the streets of San Juan in a third 1983 placard with holiday greetings from the prolific artist. The trio of Maldanado silkscreen prints can be found on the We Three Kings page of The Coming of Christ gallery of The Life of Christ section. Happy New Year! (John Kohan)
