A dense, rich, almost psychedelic series from a singular artist, these one hundred and forty posters represent the thrilling oeuvre of Sister Marie Claire, a Bengaluru-based nun who spent her long career dynamically fusing traditional Christian themes with a vibrant style of Indian art. Exceptionally well-printed, scenes like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the call of Isaiah and the covenant with Abraham are vividly executed in fiery reds, inky blacks and purples. In her depictions of Jacob’s ladder, the Pillar of Fire, and Elijah on Mount Horeb, curved figures are shown against undulating flames and clouds from the heavens.

Sister Claire was born the second of nine children in an upper-caste Hindu family in Tirupati, a town in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, and given the birth-name Meera. Her passion for art began when she was a child, and her first source of inspiration was watching her mother draw Rangoli, a traditional Indian art form that involves creating decorative designs on the floor using colored powders, flowers, and other materials, usually created for festive occasions like Diwali or Holi.

Sister Claire attended a Christian School in Bengaluru (then-Bangalore) after her father moved the family there because of his work for the railways. When she was 17, to avoid an arranged marriage, she joined the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, and was baptized a year later.After becoming a nun, she was assigned to work as a teacher, but an illness left her unable to do so. While recovering, her passion for art was rekindled and she began painting. She was encouraged by her superiors to attend the State Art School. There, she earned an Art Master Golden Diploma and her work was praised as “true Indian art.”

She spent the next fifty-plus years creating works around a thousand paintings, as well as Christmas and Easter cards, illustrations for books, and posters. In an interview published a year before her death in 2018, Sister Claire summarized her work by saying:

“My art is Christian imagery, which is rooted in the Indian soil, penetrating its culture, and drawing inspiration from the life of the common people in the country. Biblical images are depicted through an Indian eye, using Indian symbols, motifs, images, themes and elements. My paintings can be grouped as devotional, contemplative and inspirational.”

These posters were published by the National Biblical Catechetical & Liturgical Center in Bengaluru, and printed by the Champion Litho Press. Located in Sivakasi in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Champion Litho Press was founded in 1957 and continues to be highly-regarded in the field of multicolor offset printing.

We have been able to locate only one other example of this collection, located in the David Allan Hubbard Library at Fuller Theological Seminary.

More images available upon request.