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We
do not have to be experts in art to tell at a glance that the art of the
icon is radically different from any other art form. It has neither the
realism of classical Greek and Roman art nor the mystical feeling for
the “Great All,” which is so characteristic of Chinese art. It is neither
concrete nor abstract. It is neither western nor eastern. In fact, it
is both at once. The Byzantine art form which is expressed in an icon
seeks to portray the Invisible made visible. The abstract of the East
and the concrete of the West meet in the Person of Jesus Christ, God made
flesh.
Iconographic art is strictly Christian art. It began to flower
in the fourth century, as Christianity emerged from under the shell of
the pagan Greco-Roman civilization. It received its impetus at the imperial
city of Constantinople, a city which boasted it had never known a pagan
temple. And it came into its first full bloom in the sixth century during
the reign of the Emperor Justinian I.
Borderline
Visible
An icon seeks to make visible the borderline between heaven
and earth. Its subject matter may be “in” this world but not “of” this
world. Thus the picture becomes a sort of window into heaven. For this
reason a true icon always has a rather flat appearance. There is no depth
to the picture, and that is just what disturbs us about it at first glance.
The picture seems primitive. A closer study reveals, however, that the
picture is often exceedingly complex. The flatness, for example, is sometimes
achieved by drawing perspective in reverse. The artist expects us not
to look at his picture, but through it.
During the 9th and 10th centuries, iconography underwent a decline
under pressures from two different directions. In the West, realism began
to return to Christian art. This process continued all through the Middle
Ages right up to the Renaissance when Greco-Roman naturalism was fully
revived. In the East, on the other hand, particularly in Armenia and
Syria, there were movements to eliminate religious pictures altogether.
The Moslems, like the Persians and Jews before them, objected to
portraying God in art. They considered it sacrilegous and accused the
Christians of being idol worshippers. The easternmost Christians were
particularly sensitive to these charges, so when Leo III, an Armenian,
became emperor of Constantinople, he forbade the use of icons.
More
Than Adornment
Persecution and vigorous controversies were the result. Church
leaders maintained that the icons were more than mere adornments to the
churches: they represented the very core of Christianity - the Incarnation
of God, “I have seen the human image (icon) of God,” said St. John of
Damascus, “and my soul is saved.” Finally, in 843, the government gave
in and the icons were restored to the churches.
There are two distinct schools of iconography, the Greek and the
Russian. In addition, many Western Romanesque paintings are local Italian,
Spanish, and French variants of Byzantine iconography. Byzantine Greek
iconography was the original model for all Christian art. The figures
are generally massive, with clean cut lines and brilliant colors.
Russian iconography came into its own from the 14th to the 16th
centuries. It differs from the Greek in its more subdued colors, curiously
elongated figures, and heightened sense of rhythm to the whole composition.
Northern Russian artists felt the influence of Scandinavian Romanesque
art, while from the south after the Mongol conquests of the I3th century
came Persian art. But basically Russian iconography remains Byzantine.
Work
of Worship
An icon is considered more
a work of worship than a work of art. The painter must be a faithful member
of the Church. He is expected to prepare himself by prayer and fasting.
His art must be subordinate to the rule of faith. There are strict limits
to the artistic imagination.
All these rules were kept for centuries, in recent times the art
of the icon has declined. The rules and the reasons for the rules have
been forgotten. Icons have become “just pictures.” Naturalism has replaced
symbolism. Eastern theologians consider the decline of icon-painting to
be a sign of a decay of the Faith, and a lack of understanding of the
dogmatic and devotional issues involved.
Now at last the situation is being reversed, Abstract religious
art is coming into vogue once more. Byzantine art is looked upon with
more understanding and more respect than it was a century ago. And most
significant of all, new icons are being produced by contemporary artists
which are just as vigorous and religiously moving as the great masterpieces
in the Holy Wisdom Cathedral of Constantinople painted thirteen hundred
years ago.
The Rev. Daniel H. B. Montgomery is Pastor of St. Michael’s
Orthodox Church, Beaumont, Texas
From Word
Magazine
Publication of the Antiochian Orthodox
Christian Archdiocese of North America
May 1958
Page 4
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