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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Branding The Devine: Albrech Dürer's Praying Hands And The Branding Of Iconography, Pamela K. Morris, Katya Maslakowski
Branding The Devine: Albrech Dürer's Praying Hands And The Branding Of Iconography, Pamela K. Morris, Katya Maslakowski
Pamela K. Morris
In 1508, artist Albrech Dürer sketched a life-study of a pair of hands clasped in prayer. Over 500 years later, the ‘Betende Hände’ can be found all over the United States as knickknacks in private homes, as civic statues and online. The phenomenon is an interesting case study of popular religion, consumer culture and the intersections of public and private worship. Using a blend of advertising and branding theory and iconographic theory, this paper proposes to illuminate the ways that the Praying Hands of Dürer became a lasting symbol of popular devotion across a wide range of media.
Praying Hands: A Christian Metaphor, Pamela K. Morris
Praying Hands: A Christian Metaphor, Pamela K. Morris
Pamela K. Morris
Sometime around 1508, when Albrecht Dürer drew a study in silver point on blue paper of a pair of hands praying in Nürnberg, Germany, he could not have thought of the popularity and the mythology that a drawing of upturned hands would inspire some four hundred fifty years later. Praying Hands are now found on candles, funeral cards, lockets, flower planters, place mats, automobile license plates, and water towers. Why? What is it that makes this once mundane image so popular in the 20th century? The co-opting of images happens in advertising all the time, but what about religion? Current …