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altarpiece
(redirected from Altar-piece)

   Also found in: Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.

altarpiece

Painting, relief, sculpture, screen, or decorated wall standing on or behind an altar in a Christian church. The images depict holy personages, saints, and biblical subjects. There are two types of altarpieces: the reredos, which rises from the floor behind the altar, and the retable, which stands on the altar itself or on a pedestal behind it. The diptych is an altarpiece consisting of two panels; a triptych, three panels; and a polyptych, four or more panels. Altarpieces vary in size; some are small and portable, some are huge and stationary, and some have movable wings that can be opened and closed. The practice of erecting sculptural altarpieces dates from the 11th century; altar paintings became common in the 14th century.


altarpiece
a work of art set above and behind an altar; a reredos


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(There is a telling parallel here to Barnett Newman's Shining Forth (to George) of 1961, the painter's abstract altar-piece commemorating his own brother's death in February of that year.
For Johnston, who would obviously disagree with the above, the salient chapters in Johns' life are his South Carolina childhood, his bisexuality (which, one infers, runs about 90-10 gay), the influence of Marcel Duchamp, and his encounter with Matthias Grunewald's Isenheim Altar-piece.
 
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