Walter C. Rane (1949- ) Salem, Oregon

Please please please, don't judge Walter Rane's artistic merit by the paintings he has hanging in the LDS Conference Center. Or if you must, allow me to draw your attention to one painting, in particular. He has a total of seven paintings there:

• The Resurrected Christ, 1997
• He Annointed the Eyes of the Blind Man, 1999
• They Saw a Man Descending out of Heaven, 2000
• Alma, Arise, 1999
• One By One, 2003
• Their Joy Was Full, 2003
• Five of them Were Wise, 1999

Dont get me wrong, these works show Rane's prolific talents. It's just that these paintings are your standard LDS fare, the art that shows up in Church curriculum lesson manuals, or in pictures in the chapel library for use in sunday school lessons. The Church has definite ideas of what it wants: realistic, heroic figures that present spiritual stories in the most straightforward way. Commissions by the Church are faith promoting if nothing else:

Walter Rane
The Resurrected Christ, 1997
Hanging in the LDS Church Conference Center





This painting is a good example: perfectly suitable for gospel pedagogy, but a little short as evocative art. The one painting I recommend seeing at the Conference Center is He Annointed the Eyes of the Blind Man:

Walter Rane
He Annointed the Eyes of the Blind Man, 1999
Hanging in the LDS Conference Center





I like this non-traditional treatment of the biblical story. Most of the painting is devoted to the blind man and a large expanse of wall, with the depiction of Jesus Christ's face relegated to a tiny corner of the canvas. Behind the blind man, Rane uses the brightness of the wall awash in light to contrast with the darkness of the man. As the viewer's eye moves from left to right, we go from the dark colors of the blind man's experience to the bright light of the miracle of Christ.

Another painting where I like Rane's treatment of the subject is He is Not Here, and the similarly themed He is Risen from the Dead (not shown), a depiction of discarded burial linens piled on a stone slab, while a bright light off center indicates the direction that the risen Christ has gone.

Walter Rane
He is Not Here





The colors and the brushstrokes of He Is Not Here is exquisite and Rane's depiction of the granite(?) slab is very pleasing which makes me like this one more, but He Is Risen From the Dead has the addition of the shaft of light indicating the offscreen presence of Christ.

So which of Rane's many works do I like? This one is absolutely fabulous:

Walter Rane
Awake and Sing, Ye that Dwell in Dust, 2009
Not For Sale
Merit Award, Springville Museum of Art's Exhibition of Spiritual and Religious Art in Utah, 2009.



This painting is five or six feet tall, and jumps out from the wall. What a beautiful depiction of climbing from the dust of the earth into the light of Christ. This work reminds me of the colors of the crevices in Escalante, UT:

Grand Staircase
Escalante National Monument
Photo by Jon Cornforth
http://www.cornforthimages.com/


Notes for Collectors:
Walter Rane's oil paintings range from about $5000 to $7000 for a medium sized work on a typical interior house wall. His religious art seems to be further developed and worked on than his non-religious art, and his prices reflect this additional labor. I especially like his religious still lifes, and am intrigued by how effectively he conveys a feeling of spirituality with his still life paintings that don't contain a single religious motif. No crosses, icons, books of scripture, grotto elements. Just a pile of linen in the painting He is Risen from the Dead discussed above, or half a loaf of bread in his work Broken Bread. I hope Rane does more of these religious still lifes; they would look wonderful in a space if you don't want the space to be dominated by a explicitly themed religious story, but you would like to present your house guests with a quiet, introspective painting that makes them think long after they are gone. Guerilla proselytizing. I keep returning to this painting, and I like it more and more every time I see it.

Walter Rane
Broken Bread





Rane also sells a line of drawings at one-tenth the price of his oil paintings ($500 to $800). They seems to be preparatory sketches and studies, and if I didn't have the money for one of his oil paintings, I would go for these drawings, especially the sketches for his more well known (read: Church commissioned) paintings. Then, you'd have an intimate perspective into his influences for a painting you can point out to your kids the next time you see it in the Church History Museum, or reproduced in The Ensign.

I should add that Rane also sells giclees of his work, most of them less than $200. Large ones cost almost $400.

Walter Rane's website is http://www.walterrane.com/