Jerry Saltz, Canto III (1979)

“I made and sold this opening-and-closing small altarpiece in 1979. Today gallerist @ruffed_grouse_gallery stopped me at the @outsiderartfair to say that he had recently acquired it. I was flabbergasted to see it for the first time since making it. @white_columns Director and artist @matthewhiggs2015 happened by and took these quick pics.

“As an ex-artist I was able to instantaneously remember every physical moved I made while making this work. For them I identified everything going on in the work. It is one of the works I made in the grand 25-year 10,000 work project to illustrate Dante’s Divine Comedy. It was begun on Good Friday 1975 and was to end Easter of 2000. I sold nearly every one I made.

“This was Canto III of The Inferno. On the outside – not pictured – are The Gates of Hell. Inside that wee black square are the Opportunists wildly spinning around on the tempest of Hell. Neither in nor out of Hell they are tossed forever in the murky air. Behind that is visible the punishment of the Carnal. Who are whipped in the world wind of their lust. In the upper left is a portrait of Charon in his Boat. On one side is the River Styx with Charon ferrying the Souls of the Dead to Damnation. There’s an abstract portrait of Dante and Virgil in the upper right. And much more.

“I loved being an artist as much as you do. Every second of it. Unfortunately, I listened to the demons within who constantly berate us. I lacked what all of you have and that I admire in every artist: Courage.”    -Jerry Saltz, Instagram, March 2, 2025

See more on Saltz’s Canto III here

See also, “Jerry Saltz’s abandoned illuminations for The Divine Comedy“

See also, here

Contributed by Yvonne Schmitz