Joseph Bremer

Romanesque Icons

romanesqueicons@gmail.com

About Me

My name is Joseph Bremer and thank you for visiting my portfolio. I began studying iconography in 2020 under the guidance of Father Elias Rafaj. As I progressed, I applied for, and was accepted to the PhD program at the King's Foundation School of Traditional Arts in London. I'm interested primarily in pre-Renaissance Western liturgical art. I hope to specifically study Romanesque iconography as a means to traditionalize the liturgical architecture of the late twentieth century.

I'm now a High School History and Theology teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, while studying part time, taking commissions for icons, and raising our new baby boy with my wife.

Painting / Writing an icon

Traditional icon painting is done in egg tempera: an emulsion made from egg yolk and white wine/vinegar, mixed with pigment powder and water. The process begins with a sketch on a high quality wood board gessoed with rabbit skin glue. Shapes are then lined in with a thick dark paint, and colors are blocked in.

Gilding is done either with gold leaf on adhesive, or more traditionally, slowly with red bole clay.

Then the skin is slowly built up with several thin translucent layers. Completed iconographic skin usually has around 10-15 layers of paint. A similar process is done for clothing and landscapes.

Outline with gilded halo

Blocked in colors

3 layers of skin tone

Completed icon

Many Catholic churches currently in use were constructed in the now-outdated styles that dominated the late 20th and early 21st centuries; and it is no secret that most practicing Catholics now find this commitment to post-modern art and architecture deeply problematic. We still inhabit the bones of these modern spaces, but the Church’s architectural turn in the late 20th century is now considered by many priests and parishioners to be a mistake. So what do we do about it? How can we traditionalize modern parishes without falling into modernism ourselves?

To the right is my article published in the journal New Liturgical Movement on my thoughts

Traditional Art Cannot be Revolutionary: Modern Churches and Traditional Parishes - Guest Article by Mr Joseph BremerSacred liturgy and liturgical arts. Liturgical history and theology. The movements for the Usus Antiquior and Reform of the Reform.

The Romanesque and the Contemporary Church The Romanesque had its architectural revival in the late 19th century- the time is right for its iconographical revival as well.

As traditional art finds revival in the Catholic church, we need to create art that is not only tasteful and appropriate, but created with an end in mind beyond decoration. I see this as possible through the revival of a Western tradition that is mostly unfamiliar: the Romanesque.

The article to the left is on my thoughts on the Romanesque's application to contemporary liturgical spaces

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