A furious Moses. A callous tycoon. A battlefield Madonna. Pittsburgh church murals revived

South China Morning Post

a day ago

When the scaffolding came down inside an unassuming hilltop church, it revealed a raging storm of biblical proportions.
A wide-eyed Moses holds the Ten Commandments aloft in righteous fury, ready to shatter the tablets when his followers abandon God for a golden calf. Lightning sizzles and a tornado surges in the background.
The late artist Maxo Vanka created the mural in 1941, based on a scene from the Book of Exodus. It is one of 25 that cover the walls and ceilings of St Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church near Pittsburgh, in the US state of Pennsylvania.
Vanka, a Croatian-American immigrant like most of the original parishioners, painted the scenes in bursts of creative energy. In marathon sessions, he captured stark social inequities alongside traditional religious themes.
Art conservator Jessica Keister works on a mural by Maxo Vanka depicting the hand of God handing a tablet to Moses, inside St Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Pittsburgh. Photo: AP
St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church stands across the Allegheny River from central Pittsburgh. Photo: AP
The murals depict scenes with dualities. An angelic justice figure contrasts with a haunting figure of injustice in a World War I gas mask.