The Apocalypse: The Revelation of Saint John the Divine
- Medium
- Woodcuts and letterpress, bound volume, together with hand-painted cast plaster relief sculpture mounted in a wood box
- Dimensions
- 15 5/16 × 11 5/8 × 1 in. (38.89 × 29.53 × 2.54 cm) (closed, book) 16 1/2 × 12 11/16 × 4 3/8 in. (41.91 × 32.23 × 11.11 cm) (box with relief sculpture) 16 1/2 × 12 11/16 × 1 15/16 in. (41.91 × 32.23 × 4.92 cm) (book box)
About
This contemporary edition of The Apocalypse unites the stark and dramatic illustrations of Jim Dine with the King James Version of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament. Dating to the 1st century CE, Revelation is commonly attributed to Saint John the Divine. Revelation describes the events marking the end of the world: Jesus Christ’s return and thousand-year reign on earth, the ultimate battle between good and evil, and the Last Judgment. Dine’s twenty-nine woodcuts for The Apocalypse include an image of the white horse that Christ will ride as he vanquishes his enemies. In this context, the horse signifies justice, holiness, and victory over evil. Dine’s distinctive interpretation relies on non-narrative and abstract motifs but is nonetheless informed by the long tradition of artists illustrating the Apocalypse, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance to the present day. His use of the centuries-old technique of the woodcut acknowledges the legacy of the Northern Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), whose woodcut illustrations of the Apocalypse are renowned for their expressiveness and technical refinement.