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Departure

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Departure

1949-50

Leo Kenney

born 1925, Spokane, Washington; died Seattle, Washington, 2001

In what may be another of Kenney’s ruminations on the end of the world, he has visualized the New Testament text of St Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians that prophesies “the rapture”, and offers hope to believers in the face of God’s impending judgments upon the earth:

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
Gouache on construction paper
34 1/2 x 23 in. (87.6 x 58.4 cm)
Gift of the Marshall and Helen Hatch Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
2009.52.49
Provenance: Lamory Laumesiter, San Francisco and Mexico City, Mexico; Marshall and Helen Hatch, Seattle
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryBellevue, Washington, Bellevue Art Museum, "Regional Art", April 4 - May 9, 1983

La Conner, Washington, Museum of Northwest Art, "Leo Kenney Retropsective: Celebrating the Mysteries", June 2 - October 1, 2000

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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