Fragmented Devotion

The "Fragmented Devotion" exhibition will be held from 7th February to 21st May 2000 at the McMullen Museum, Boston College, USA.

This work explores the survival and meaning of fragments in our understanding of medieval art and religious life from the Middle Ages. The essays trace how those original meanings changed when the objects were collected and installed within Catholicism and nationalism in 19th century Germany.Mediaeval art survives today as fragments of larger works, usually displayed by historical period, geographic location, artistic medium or iconographic theme. "Fragmented Devotion" is the first exhibition to explore the meanings these fragments have in our understanding of mediaeval art and religious life from the Middle Ages to the present. Most of these objects have bever been shown before in North America, and many have not been published since the beginning of the 20th century. The catalogue includes essays by historians, art historians, philosophers and theologians. The writings discuss the meanings these objects had in mediaeval religious practice. The essays then go on to trace how those original meanings changed when the objects were collected and installed by Alexander Schnutgen within the larger context of Catholicism and nationalism in 19th-century Germany. Finally, the contributors look at the 1920s and 1930s when the objects were installed in a museum-like setting and consider this installation in light of the developments in mediaeval art history and the policies of national socialism.