Isabel Piczek: Vocation to Sacred Art

“Art has to gain an awareness of God’s own intentions
for this age and faithfully reflect it to God’s people…
Behind Art, Life and Being there is only one Mover,
the Splendor of Divine Love.”[1] -Isabel Piczek

            For Isabel Piczek, art was not a profession, but rather a calling, a vocation.[2] Born in Hatvan, Hungary in 1927, and a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, Piczek envisioned a new form of sacred art, “a new liturgical vision.”[3]  After the Communist takeover of Hungary, she realized that this vision would be impossible to fulfill behind the Iron Curtain.  She and her sister, Edith, also an artist, escaped Hungary by way of the Austrian border and soon arrived in Rome, where they would spend the next three years.[4]  In 1954, the sisters entered a blind competition for the commission of artwork for a large wall in the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.  They entered the contest under the name “I. Piczek,” and when their pen-and-ink drawing was chosen, the judges were astounded that the artists were two young adult women.  The 377 square foot mural, which took seven months to complete, depicted “The Second Miraculous Draught of Fish.”  Fifty-five years later, in 2011, the work needed restoration, as it was located off a dining area and kitchen.[5]  In a rare act, Isabel Piczek directed the restoration of her own work. Also in 2011, the mural received the distinction of being named a “Vatican Treasure.”[6]

California Patrons of the Arts newsletter "Massaggero," Winter 2011,
at https://californiapatrons.org/wp-content/uploads/newsletters/CPA%20W'11.pdf

              After emigrating to Canada and then the United States, Isabel and Edith continued their artwork for many years.  In 1981, Isabel was asked by Cardinal Timothy Manning of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to produce a replica of The Annunciation by Ilario da Viterbo in Byzantine tesserae, in honor of the bicentennial celebration of the city of Los Angeles.[7] This work is located on the façade of the church of La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles, also known as La Placita.  The detail of the work by Viterbo was chosen as the subject because the original work, “Our Lady of the Angels,” is located in the Porciuncula chapel at Assisi.  The Los Angeles River was named for Our Lady Queen of the Angels as “El Rio de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciuncula” by the Franciscan missionaries the day after this Franciscan feast in 1769.[8]

Our Lady Queen of Angels Church (La Placita),
the oldest church in Los Angeles (Angelus News)

Here, a close-up of Piczek's work after the style of Ilario da Viterbo:

Isabel Piczek after Ilario da Viterbo, 1981. 7'4" x 11'
at http://www.publicartinla.com/UnionStation/annunciazione.html
Photo by Ruth Wallach. 

In contrast, a depiction of the Annunciation in Piczek's own style. This window was completed in 2012:

        This style reflects the sacred vision of art that permeated Isabel’s life of dedication to portraying the beauty of God, the “monumental truths and incredible grandeur in the depth of the life of the God-Man and his Virgin Mother.”[9]  In speaking about her work, she said, “Some of the greatest theologians of the Church tell us, the first and most prominent quality of God is that he is beautiful and that God’s beauty is not just a quality, but it is himself.  Out of his beauty flows his truth and this goodness.   Mankind readily experiences God’s goodness and truth and finds it natural to adore him for these.  But does mankind truly see the beauty of the invisible God, the first of his qualities it should worship?”[10] She portrayed this beauty in many media, including frescoes, stained glass, murals, sculpture, mosaic and ceramic tile.  She described the effect of art on Catholic theology and on the individual in this way:

“Through [art], Catholic theology and the mysteries of the faith become not only read, not only known, but loved.  So it happens even the hardest, most profound mysteries become easily understood and sweet through the power of art. Brought together on a simple, single surface, the human eye by its immediacy, understands and registers the image all at once.”[11]  

To conclude, offered below are two other samples of her work, with excerpts from her theological description of each:

“The Splendor of the Cosmic Heart” depicting the Trinity and the Return of Christ
 at the Last Judgment.  The seven groups of figures depict the seven sacraments
with angels accompanying the human beings as they receive these tangible
realities of God's love. 

“[In the return of Christ,] he comes with all the freedom of Love, not to crush his creation but to bring about its final fulfillment.  The Last Day is the grand sign of God's faithfulness.”[12] 

"Christ the Healer"

“The work of Christ as Supreme Teacher is followed...by his works of mercy.  Christ came to us to rebuild creation.  Christ the Healer is a grand sign of that work... Christ, above all and before anything, first healed the blindness of spirit, its muteness, its deafness and enabled it to follow Christ and no longer be crippled with the worries and delights of the material world. First, he re-created the inner person in each.  [Here,] we especially see that in the already healed eye of the Blind.  He not only sees, but sees the wonder of God's real world.”[13]

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[1] Isabel Piczek, “The Splendor of the Cosmic Heart,” (unpublished manuscript, given to the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart, 2002), 2-3.
[2] Piczek, personal interview by 5^th grade class of Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic School, 8 January, 2014.
[3] Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart, “A Good Friend, a Rare Treasure: Isabel Piczek,” in The Gift of God: Reflections for Advent, Christmas and the New Year, 43.  Available by request at www.sacredheartsisters.com
[4] SDSH, “Good Friend, Rare Treasure,” 43.
[5] “Piczek Fresco Restored in the Biblicum,” Messaggero (Winter 2011), 3. At California Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, www.californiapatrons.org /wp-content/uploads/newsletters/CPA%20W'11.pdf.
[6] SDSH, “Good Friend, Rare Treasure,” 43.
[7] Michael Several, “Union Station: Plaza Church,” November 1998 at Public Art in Los Angeles at http://www.publicartinla.com/UnionStation.
[8] Michael Several, “L'Annunciazione (The Annunciation): Background Information,” November 1998 at Public Art in Los Angeles at http://www.publicartinla.com/UnionStation.
[9] Isabel Piczek, “The Theological and Artistic Description of the Stained Glass in the Sisters’ Chapel: Heart of Jesus Retreat Center Convent,” (unpublished manuscript, given to the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart, 2012), 1.
[10] Isabel Piczek, untitled lecture on the mural, “The Splendor of the Cosmic Heart,” (unpublished lecture text, given to the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart, 2002), 1.
[11] Isabel Piczek, “The Splendor of the Cosmic Heart,” manuscript, 2-3.
[12] Isabel Piczek, “The Splendor of the Cosmic Heart,” manuscript, 5.
[13] Isabel Piczek, “Theological and Artistic Description of the Artwork of the Heart of Jesus Retreat Center: Christ the Healer.” (unpublished manuscript, given to the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart, 2002).