Posts Tagged ‘Icons’
Wrestling with Angels: Icons from the Prosopon School
The Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton MA will premiere Wrestling with Angels, an exhibition of forty-six contemporary icons by sixteen iconographers from the Prosopon School of Iconology and Iconography, July 19-October 27, 2019. Exploring the recent renaissance of this ancient tradition, the exhibition will feature icons by the founder of the Prosopon School, Vladislav Andrejev, along with works…
Continue reading »Understanding the Icons of Holy Week
During Holy Week, the Orthodox faithful will see several icons in the center of the church being commemorated. Although we are used to interpret icons as stand alone objects, I have found that it is sometimes best to see the language of icons as an inter-connected web of elements which speak to each other across different icons types.
Continue reading »A Surpassing Gentleness: An Interview with Iconographer Ann Margitich
It is my pleasure today to present the work of Matushka Ann Margitich, iconographer based in Santa Rosa, CA. Her work has a special place in my heart, my favorite among the many icon painters I am privileged to know. She paints the most kindly and gentle figures, with a delicate beauty of color and…
Continue reading »Towards a Great Pictorial Synthesis: Interview with Ioan Popa
The following is an interview with Romanian master iconographer Ioan Popa. He’s one of the leading representatives of the contemporary icon revival in Romania, focusing in both panel and monumental fresco painting. Our conversation touches on his artistic development, aspects of the professional training of iconographers in Romania and the challenge of creative engagement with…
Continue reading »From Cubism To The Romanesque (To The Orthodox Icon?)
In a comment on my article ‘The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Council of Frankfurt & the Practice of Painting’, Baker Galloway asks if ‘to develop towards a contemporary indigenous iconography in western cultures’ we need to revisit ‘these medieval (I use the term loosely) periods in our western history, or do we start from where…
Continue reading »Conserve or Restore? A Question of Ancestor Kisses
Conserve: To protect from loss or harm; to keep quantity and quality constant through physical or chemical reactions or evolutionary changes. Restore: To bring back into existence or use; to return to an original condition. Close in definition, the differences when applied to art treasures can be catastrophic. Consider the botched effort to “restore” Elías…
Continue reading »Symeon van Donkelaar: Local Color in Icons
(Editor’s comment: Symeon van Donkelaar is a Canadian iconographer. I find his work fascinating as it is an exploration of the flatter and more stylized threads of iconography, Coptic art, early Medieval Spanish art as well as what was developed in Central and Northern Europe before the Gothic period. Lines are bold and highly calligraphic. Color…
Continue reading »Who Do You Say I Am? The Triumph of Orthodoxy
Holy icons act as signs that point to the immediacy of the depicted. The icons present to the beholder a way of being in relation with the signified. It is precisely this intimacy which many find troubling. The on-off Iconoclastic Controversy in New Rome on the Bosporus that spanned nearly a century (AD 726–87 and…
Continue reading »Contemporary Byzantine Painting: An Interview With Fikos
Contemporary Byzantine Painting: Street Art and the Icon in Convergence An Interview with Fikos By Fr. Silouan Justiniano Graffiti is one of those art forms that seems to have no relationship whatsoever with the liturgical art of the icon. Unlike the icon’s inextricable reliance on Tradition, graffiti appears to embody an anti-traditional and revolutionary…
Continue reading »The New Romanian Masters: Innovative Iconography in the Matrix of Tradition
(Editor’s note. For some time now we’ve wanted to find a way to present the burgeoning iconography which is currently happening in Romania. And so after a bit of searching, this article introducing the new school of iconography was written especially for OAJ by Mother Atanasia (Văetişi) of the Stavropoleos Monastery in Bucharest in collaboration with my own parish priest Fr.…
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