Hyper-Male and Hyper-Feminine Portraits of Jesus

 

God is spoken of in the Bible in mostly masculine terms but there are several feminine references as well. God encompasses male, female, and more. He is other, but has given us the Bible and Jesus to show us what he is like.

We do not know what Jesus looked like but he certainly was not a fair-skinned, blond or light brown-haired, blue-eyed European and he did not look like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_of_Christ

            Some people believe that he is depicted on the controversial Shroud of Turin but the dating of the cloth is highly, even sometimes hotly, disputed.

            Various Christian artists have rendered Jesus in paintings and drawings. Some have emphasized his masculinity, sometimes to absurd levels, and others have stressed his tenderness by depicting him in ways which many would consider to be effeminate.

Google AI says: “The term "effeminate" reflects modern sensibilities; historically, it was about portraying divine perfection and spiritual grace, not necessarily gender ambiguity in a modern sense, though it challenged traditional notions of masculine strength.”

A few examples:

Stephen S. Sawyer’s Undefeated

https://www.art4god.com/store/undefeated

A display of a series of portraits collected by an objectivist (look up objectivist)

https://oneobjectivistsartobjectoftheday.blogspot.com/2011/03/unusual-depictions-of-jesus-week.html

A controversial portrayal of Jesus as a black woman

https://janetmckenzie.com/joppage1.html

The Christ child as a little girl

https://smarthistory.org/ayala-obidos-child-salvator-mundi/

Christian Illustrators: Stephen S. Sawyer

Stephen S. Sawyer (b. 1952, Kentucky, USA) is a commercial artist, portrait painter, and motivational speaker. His most frequent portrait subject is Jesus Christ. Many of his Jesus portraits are traditional in nature, but a few are not, such as his "Undefeated ," which presents Jesus as very muscular and handsome, 
in contrast to many Jesus portraits which emphasize His gentleness.


You may find "Undefeated" to be unsettling. The reality is that Jesus was probably not handsome, He was probably very average or even unattractive in his physical appearance. He was  
someone who no one would have expected to be the Messiah. That is how God works. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." Isaiah 55:8.


On the subject of His masculinity, Jesus was surely not in any 
way physically effeminate. He grew up doing carpentry, a very hard, heavy, physical craft.