RUSSIAN IKONS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 March 1930, Page 7

RUSSIAN IKONS

A LONDON EXHIBITION. A FASCINATING STUDY. Thera is no more fascinating study i'or tne artist, the student, or tlie psychologist than Hussion ikon painting vwnu-e a contributor to the London ‘Observer” on the occasion of an exhibition of Ikons. From the twelfth anti] the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries it reflected with almost unbroken continuity the religious ideals and artistic conceptions of a. vast mass of people living through the vivid panorama that was Eastern Europe during those centuries. At the end of the tenth century Christianity came to Russia by way of the Byzantine Empire. The Greek Church, with its •entre a£ Constantinople, had already evolved its own orthodoxy and round it was centred the decaying but still impressive artistic tradition of Greece. .From Constantinople groups of priests and teachers spread through, the South of Russia ; tliev made their way fch i ouch the vast swamps and forests bearing with them pictures symbolising their faith. For 200 years their influence grew, and by the twelfth century we find orthodox Greek Christianity firmly established in Russia and 'dtnrehes everywhere in the Greek tradition of architecture. Tb° chief decorations of these '•burches were ikons, or sacred pictures. the earliest of which appear’ to have been brought to Russia from Constantinople. The oldest known of these, “Our Lady of Vladimir” was brought from Byzantium to Kiev in the first half of the twelfth century. Later, however, groups of Russian painters sprang up. For some time they produced work which was purely Rvzantine in feeling .but in the course n f years something essentially Russian in spirit crept into the strict techineue of Rvzantine ikon painting. This spirit found increasing expression during the thirteenth century, but it is no« until the fourteenth century that any distinctively Russian style of ikon oainting becomes recognisable. There was little modification of tradition in the subjects treated, hut the' method of treatment altered radically.'".'Byzantine painting as a whole sacrificed vitality to decorative value. The work of the new Russian school had a power ; and freshness essentially religious in snirit that, found expression in, a technioue not wholly unlike that of. modern 1 Cubism. Clear, intense colours were ] used, curves replaced bv straight lines 1 and detailed ornamentation subord’n- 1 ated to the general atmospher eof the" 1 painting. ' |

THE BEST PERIOD. ‘ During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Russian ikon painting reached the summit of its power; at its best the ikon during those centuries attained ns high a level of expressiveness and subtle richness of colour ns has ever been achieved in the realm off painting. Its inspiration centred

e chiefly in the fa into us .Novgorod School, led by the Greek Theot'anus and Andrew Rublev. Rublev’s besi known work, “The Trinity,” from tin Troitse-Sergieva Lavra near Moscow is perhaps the masterpiece of Russian Ikon painting, combining a flawless technique with great vitality and beauty. By the sixteenth century a re action to a formalised style and f taste for ornateness of detail become; noticeable. Attempts were made t< sustain the earlier tradition, partieul arly by the Strogonov school, whicl produced very marvellous work; bid from the seventeenth century, wlier the realism of Western art began t exercise a powerful influence upon it ikon painting degenerated swiftly . and increasingly lost vitality.

The i elation between the various phases of ikon paiting and the in tensity of religious feeling Russi; would he a fascinating study. Unti 1 recently it would have been an impossible one. Ikons centuries old and o' th greatest historical and artistic value have hung in damp corners old monastries and churches, unnoticed except by. casual visitors and the peasants who reaped their pray ers before them. Or, esteemed for their pious rather than their artistic value others have been systematically aiv' clumislv recoated with paint and vr r nish to preserve their visibility from a distance.

RESEARCH AND RESTORATION. Since the revolution, however, c gigantic task of research and reclama tion has been undertaken by the Com missariat of Education. From oh scure monasteries and churches al over the country thousands of ikon; have been gathered up into the centra workshops in Moscow and systematically repaired and restored. A specia technique of restoration has beei evolved. It consists of the most par of the dissolving of the successive lay ers which have accumulated in tin course of centuries of vandalistic re paintings; these are scraped off with r sharp instrument, X-rays being used and photographs taken of each stag< of the process. The work will takemany more years to complete, but I ready in this way a number of tin most valuable and oldest specimens oi ikon painting have been preserved and almost complete records built up oi the various phases of the art.

The collection of ikons which is to he exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum has been loaned by the Soviet Government to a British committee, and is likely to arouse th utmost interest. It is completely representative, copies being included ir the few cases where the originals hav-' been of too great antiquity and value to he transported. These conies arr practically indistinguishable from the originals, and are a further example of the technical perfection and skil V'diieh have been attained in the restoration workshops.