The Life of Christ
Object numberM2025/082:003
TitleThe Life of Christ
Creator Perle Hessing (artist)
DescriptionPerle Hessing, The Life of Christ, Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1964.
This painting is a multi-scene tableau that blends Christian and Jewish imagery into a single, continuous composition, recalling folk-art narrative traditions, where events across time are placed in a single, flattened visual space. It depicts a Nativity scene (Mary, baby Jesus and farm animals), the Last Supper and the Crucifixion with Jewish symbols such as menorah, Sabbath candles, Torah study and Passover seder, suggesting the shared roots and intertwined histories of Judaism and Christianity. For example, the dove could symbolize both the Holy Spirit and peace.
Self-taught, naive-style painter, Perle Hessing, draws on her Jewish faith, childhood memories, and personal story of survival. Born in 1908 in Poland, later settling in Australia in 1951, she began painting in her fifties, encouraged by Desiderius Orban (1884-1986), a Hungarian-Australian painter and art teacher. Her work is inspired by biblical stories from the Old Testament, folklore of shtetl life, Jewish rituals, as well as lived experience as a migrant. Her art is symbolic, blending narrative with personal and collective memory. Perle is the mother of artist Leonard Hessing (1931-2004), who was part of Australia's abstract expressionists. Keen to see how he might succeed in Europe, he ended up in London. She moved to the UK in circa 1973 where she died in 2001. In 2023, a collection of 24 paintings was generously donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum by her grandson, Theo Hessing.
This painting is a multi-scene tableau that blends Christian and Jewish imagery into a single, continuous composition, recalling folk-art narrative traditions, where events across time are placed in a single, flattened visual space. It depicts a Nativity scene (Mary, baby Jesus and farm animals), the Last Supper and the Crucifixion with Jewish symbols such as menorah, Sabbath candles, Torah study and Passover seder, suggesting the shared roots and intertwined histories of Judaism and Christianity. For example, the dove could symbolize both the Holy Spirit and peace.
Self-taught, naive-style painter, Perle Hessing, draws on her Jewish faith, childhood memories, and personal story of survival. Born in 1908 in Poland, later settling in Australia in 1951, she began painting in her fifties, encouraged by Desiderius Orban (1884-1986), a Hungarian-Australian painter and art teacher. Her work is inspired by biblical stories from the Old Testament, folklore of shtetl life, Jewish rituals, as well as lived experience as a migrant. Her art is symbolic, blending narrative with personal and collective memory. Perle is the mother of artist Leonard Hessing (1931-2004), who was part of Australia's abstract expressionists. Keen to see how he might succeed in Europe, he ended up in London. She moved to the UK in circa 1973 where she died in 2001. In 2023, a collection of 24 paintings was generously donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum by her grandson, Theo Hessing.
Production date 1964
Object namepaintings
Dimensions
- width: 1210.00 mm
height: 900.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum collection, donated by Theo Hessing.
In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this archival project.