Exhibition "Golden Picture Worlds"

Julia Bangert shows book illumination between the Middle Ages and the present day

Julia Bangert works for the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz and hand-illustrates and gilds the reprints of the famous Gutenberg Bible, which can be purchased there in the store, according to original models. She also works as a freelance illuminator and creates individually designed initials, artistically decorated initial letters and depictions of animals. Inspired by the historical models, she creates her own works in the style of the Middle Ages, but also in a current contemporary style. In the exhibition, she is showing a series of manuscripts with texts on animals in the style of a medieval bestiary. These were originally moralizing poems that linked the characteristics of animals and mythical creatures with the Christian doctrine of salvation. The artist provides insights into her working process and shows step by step how book illuminations are created. She also presents reproductions of pages from the Gutenberg Bible, which she illuminated herself.