Showing posts with label iconography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iconography. Show all posts
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Friday, July 5, 2013
The Orthodox Painting Art by Michael Alevizakis
Source
The icon above and the article in this post is from the Greek
Iconographer Manuel Alevizakis. I think his work is magnificent!
It reminds me of Photis Kontoglou and Manuel Panselinos.
more of his work. It truly is amazing!
"The Orthodox Painting Art by Michael Alevizakis
The Christian Temple is an expression and visualization of the
presence of the Lord in the material world. The temple is "the
House of the Lord because there, the Lord is worshiped, his
Word is announced by sermon, and the main sacrament of his
Presence, the Holy Eucharist, takes place.
It is the place where the liturgical synaxis of the true believers
takes place, which is the visible expression of the body of the
Church, the head of which is Christ. The sacrament of Holy
Worship is reflected upon the churches’ liturgics, architecture
and iconography.
However, regarding the architecture, and especially the
iconography, soon the need to provide answers to the following
paradox came up: how is it possible to use drawings and colors
to depict not the nature, the individuality or the decay, but the
hypostasis of people and things [Saint Theodoros Stouditis: It
is not the nature, but the hypostasis of the person portrayed
that is shown forth in the icon ("Παντός εικονιζομένου ούχ ή
φύσις, άλλη υπόστασις εικονίζεται)]. How, in other words, will
they be transformed into a revelation of the salvation event?
Is it possible a way of existence, which phases out autonomy,
space and time as a sequence of the previous and posterior, to
be depicted with the material means of the artistic creation?
This extreme is achieved via the magnificent expressive force
of Byzantine icon, which elevates and transforms the natural
reality into a higher conception of form and leads from the way
of pretence to the way of truth.
The Christian art expresses the salvation event as it historically
happened. It expresses not the individual emotions but the
collective acceptance of the "impenetrable mystery which is
ministered during the Worship.
The icon invites for a direct communion/relation with the images,
for a transition to the primeval prototype; that is the hypostasis
of the iconographically represented person [Saint Basil the Great:
For any honor paid to the icon (or picture) redounds upon the
original, and whoever bows down in adoration before the icon, is
at the same time bowing down in adoration to the substance (or
hypostasis) of the one therein painted ( Η της εικόνος τιμή επί το
πρωτότυπον διαβαίνει και ο προσκυνών την εικόνα προσκυνεί
έν αύτη τού έγγραφομένου τήν υπόστασιν)]. To portray a person
according to his hypostasis means to use the artistic creation
language to present the divinized human nature.
Saint’s faces are historical but at the same time they manifest the
presence of Lord’s glory, according to Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 3:18).
The icon depicts the eschatological existence of the person
represented; it expresses the bliss of the renewed man in Christ.
The objective rules on how to make an icon subdue the individual
perception, the idea, to a view which is an event of communion. The
"work of art" is not taken as an individual creation but as a meeting
place of the Church with the Eternal God.
For the Byzantines, it is the Church that "paints the icons "by the
hand of the painter, who subdues the individual perception to a
given iconographical type. It is written in the decisions of the 7th
Ecumenical Council that: "The making of icons is not an invention
of painters but an approved institution and tradition of the Catholic
Church... (Ού ζωγράφων εφεύρεσις ή τών εικόνων ποίησις, αλλά
τις καθολικής εκκλησίας έγκριτος θεσμοθεσία και παράδοσις……).
As a consequence, there is a given iconographical type, which,
however, does not limit but rather frees the painter from his
individual impulses and, as a result, the Church recognizes her truth
inside this work of art. This does not mean that the artistic genius of
the great Byzantine masters (Manuel Panselinos, Michael Astrapas,
Theofanis the Cretan etc.) is abolished, but the icon is not just an
artistic suggestion, an individual achievement… it is mainly a
revelation, a common attitude in life.
The Byzantine art conveys to the true believer the spiritual
truths via the senses: the light and the colour are used in
awareness of their impact. The Byzantines believed that both
of them are directly associated to God: God is the Source of
light. The light being dispersed through the wall paintings
symbolizes the primeval, supernatural light, whose source is
God, the only source of every light. The Byzantines considered
vision to be the highest of the five senses, while at the same
time they considered colour and not shape to be the main
distinctive characteristic of an object.
The colour perception of the world has a deep importance: the
composition of colours and forms ends up in a completely
different rhythm, in a rhythm which, as basic it may be in art
and perhaps in life, cannot be easily rationalized.
As a result, the painters’ main task was and still is to find those
colours that correspond better to the primeval beauty.
According to them, the artistic procedure and its work could
be considered as imitation. Imitation is called the attempt to
transfer the primeval prototype into an authentic repetition,
preserving and rendering its meaning from the past till the
present. It is clear that we do not talk about servile
reproduction, restoration or formalism. Significant variations
of the form, composition or colour were and are acceptable
within certain limits.
"The Orthodox Painting Art by Michael Alevizakis
The Christian Temple is an expression and visualization of the
presence of the Lord in the material world. The temple is "the
House of the Lord because there, the Lord is worshiped, his
Word is announced by sermon, and the main sacrament of his
Presence, the Holy Eucharist, takes place.
It is the place where the liturgical synaxis of the true believers
takes place, which is the visible expression of the body of the
Church, the head of which is Christ. The sacrament of Holy
Worship is reflected upon the churches’ liturgics, architecture
and iconography.
However, regarding the architecture, and especially the
iconography, soon the need to provide answers to the following
paradox came up: how is it possible to use drawings and colors
to depict not the nature, the individuality or the decay, but the
hypostasis of people and things [Saint Theodoros Stouditis: It
is not the nature, but the hypostasis of the person portrayed
that is shown forth in the icon ("Παντός εικονιζομένου ούχ ή
φύσις, άλλη υπόστασις εικονίζεται)]. How, in other words, will
they be transformed into a revelation of the salvation event?
Is it possible a way of existence, which phases out autonomy,
space and time as a sequence of the previous and posterior, to
be depicted with the material means of the artistic creation?
This extreme is achieved via the magnificent expressive force
of Byzantine icon, which elevates and transforms the natural
reality into a higher conception of form and leads from the way
of pretence to the way of truth.
The Christian art expresses the salvation event as it historically
happened. It expresses not the individual emotions but the
collective acceptance of the "impenetrable mystery which is
ministered during the Worship.
The icon invites for a direct communion/relation with the images,
for a transition to the primeval prototype; that is the hypostasis
of the iconographically represented person [Saint Basil the Great:
For any honor paid to the icon (or picture) redounds upon the
original, and whoever bows down in adoration before the icon, is
at the same time bowing down in adoration to the substance (or
hypostasis) of the one therein painted ( Η της εικόνος τιμή επί το
πρωτότυπον διαβαίνει και ο προσκυνών την εικόνα προσκυνεί
έν αύτη τού έγγραφομένου τήν υπόστασιν)]. To portray a person
according to his hypostasis means to use the artistic creation
language to present the divinized human nature.
Saint’s faces are historical but at the same time they manifest the
presence of Lord’s glory, according to Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 3:18).
The icon depicts the eschatological existence of the person
represented; it expresses the bliss of the renewed man in Christ.
The objective rules on how to make an icon subdue the individual
perception, the idea, to a view which is an event of communion. The
"work of art" is not taken as an individual creation but as a meeting
place of the Church with the Eternal God.
For the Byzantines, it is the Church that "paints the icons "by the
hand of the painter, who subdues the individual perception to a
given iconographical type. It is written in the decisions of the 7th
Ecumenical Council that: "The making of icons is not an invention
of painters but an approved institution and tradition of the Catholic
Church... (Ού ζωγράφων εφεύρεσις ή τών εικόνων ποίησις, αλλά
τις καθολικής εκκλησίας έγκριτος θεσμοθεσία και παράδοσις……).
As a consequence, there is a given iconographical type, which,
however, does not limit but rather frees the painter from his
individual impulses and, as a result, the Church recognizes her truth
inside this work of art. This does not mean that the artistic genius of
the great Byzantine masters (Manuel Panselinos, Michael Astrapas,
Theofanis the Cretan etc.) is abolished, but the icon is not just an
artistic suggestion, an individual achievement… it is mainly a
revelation, a common attitude in life.
The Byzantine art conveys to the true believer the spiritual
truths via the senses: the light and the colour are used in
awareness of their impact. The Byzantines believed that both
of them are directly associated to God: God is the Source of
light. The light being dispersed through the wall paintings
symbolizes the primeval, supernatural light, whose source is
God, the only source of every light. The Byzantines considered
vision to be the highest of the five senses, while at the same
time they considered colour and not shape to be the main
distinctive characteristic of an object.
The colour perception of the world has a deep importance: the
composition of colours and forms ends up in a completely
different rhythm, in a rhythm which, as basic it may be in art
and perhaps in life, cannot be easily rationalized.
As a result, the painters’ main task was and still is to find those
colours that correspond better to the primeval beauty.
According to them, the artistic procedure and its work could
be considered as imitation. Imitation is called the attempt to
transfer the primeval prototype into an authentic repetition,
preserving and rendering its meaning from the past till the
present. It is clear that we do not talk about servile
reproduction, restoration or formalism. Significant variations
of the form, composition or colour were and are acceptable
within certain limits.
But the theological quest for truth applies equally to the
Church’s writings and its painting, which is the reason why we
have above mentioned the freedom from individual impulse. As a
consequence, the obligation to follow a certain archetype comes.
The morphological characteristics of the archetypes form a visual
rule of the Church within which it is difficult to alter anything.
By referring to archetypes, the Byzantine art is inevitably
dominated by the principle of repetition. In this view, repetition
is a structural need. The imitation of older prototypes, once a
certainty, gradually became an aesthetic problem, as it started
to be influenced by the principles of Western art tradition, which
compel the artist to originality as well as to constant variation,
ending up to present only individual natures. This stance results
in a deviation from older works of art.
Today, thanks to the great master Fotis Kontoglou, a renaissance
of church art has taken place; a conscious approach of the old
prototypes is attempted both in terms of iconographic types and
of artistic style. It is essential that the Byzantine icon is safeguarded
not as an object of museum value but rather as an anchor that
brings man to involvement in the bosom of the Lord, as an
expression of Church’s certainty for the constant presence of the
have above mentioned the freedom from individual impulse. As a
consequence, the obligation to follow a certain archetype comes.
The morphological characteristics of the archetypes form a visual
rule of the Church within which it is difficult to alter anything.
By referring to archetypes, the Byzantine art is inevitably
dominated by the principle of repetition. In this view, repetition
is a structural need. The imitation of older prototypes, once a
certainty, gradually became an aesthetic problem, as it started
to be influenced by the principles of Western art tradition, which
compel the artist to originality as well as to constant variation,
ending up to present only individual natures. This stance results
in a deviation from older works of art.
Today, thanks to the great master Fotis Kontoglou, a renaissance
of church art has taken place; a conscious approach of the old
prototypes is attempted both in terms of iconographic types and
of artistic style. It is essential that the Byzantine icon is safeguarded
not as an object of museum value but rather as an anchor that
brings man to involvement in the bosom of the Lord, as an
expression of Church’s certainty for the constant presence of the
"already accomplished. The testimony and the experience of a
communion of the living and the dead is the preservation of a
memory supporting a tradition, the established practice of a
timeless collective experience.
Such a goal requires respect; but respect requires, in its turn,
acquaintance, acceptance and knowledge. Nothing is preserved
without certified knowledge; nothing is kept without love; love
is the one that keeps everything together; the pursuit is a need
steaming from an already expressed demand: the demand that
wants Byzantine tradition to be everyone’s legacy. It is not yours
what you do not know while you cannot share what is not yours.
The value of the tradition lies not as much in the antiquity that
elevates it, but in the trial it undergoes, which in the end
determines what is bequeathed from generation to generation.
The work of the great Byzantine Christian artists has created a
timeless relation with each one of us, because it serves something
they knew that surpassed them, it serves community over
individuality, the Church over autonomy. This created relation lies
at the antipodes of usage, appropriation and self-interest.
This relation presupposes the resignation from ourselves, the
self-transcendence, and this is why it succeeds to defeat even time.
Michael Alevyzakis
Athens, January 2012"
Such a goal requires respect; but respect requires, in its turn,
acquaintance, acceptance and knowledge. Nothing is preserved
without certified knowledge; nothing is kept without love; love
is the one that keeps everything together; the pursuit is a need
steaming from an already expressed demand: the demand that
wants Byzantine tradition to be everyone’s legacy. It is not yours
what you do not know while you cannot share what is not yours.
The value of the tradition lies not as much in the antiquity that
elevates it, but in the trial it undergoes, which in the end
determines what is bequeathed from generation to generation.
The work of the great Byzantine Christian artists has created a
timeless relation with each one of us, because it serves something
they knew that surpassed them, it serves community over
individuality, the Church over autonomy. This created relation lies
at the antipodes of usage, appropriation and self-interest.
This relation presupposes the resignation from ourselves, the
self-transcendence, and this is why it succeeds to defeat even time.
Michael Alevyzakis
Athens, January 2012"
Saturday, July 14, 2012
What Orthodox Iconography Is, by Photios Kontoglou
Source
The religion of Christ is the revelation, by Him, of the truth.
And this truth is the knowledge of the true God and of the
spiritual world. But the spiritual world is not what men used
to—and still do—call "spiritual."Christ calls His religion "new
wine" and "bread that cometh down from Heaven." The
Apostle Paul says, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. The old things have passed away: behold,
all things have become new."
In a religion like this, one that makes the believer into a "new
man," everything is "new." So, too, the art that gradually took
form out of the spirit of this religion, and which it invented to
express its Mystery, is a "new" art, one not like any other, just
as the religion of Christ is not like any other, in spite of what
some may say who have eyes only for certain meaningless
externals.
The architecture of this religion, its music, its painting, its
sacred poetry, insofar as they make use of material media,
nourish the souls of the faithful with spirit. The works
produced in these media are like steps that lead them from
earth up to heaven, from this earthly and temporary state to
that which is heavenly and eternal: This takes place so far as
is possible with human nature.
For this reason, the arts of the Church are anagogical, that is,
they elevate natural phenomena and submit them to "the
beautiful transformation." They are also called "liturgical"
arts, because through them man tastes the essence of the
liturgy by which God is worshipped and through which man
becomes like unto the Heavenly Hosts and perceives immortal
life.
Ecclesiastical liturgical painting, the painting of worship, took
its form above all from Byzantium, where it remained the
mystical Ark of Christ’s religion and was called hagiographia
or sacred painting. As with the other arts of the Church, the
purpose of hagiographia is not to give pleasure to our carnal
sense of sight, but to transform it into a spiritual sense, so
that in the visible things of this world we may see what
surpasses this world.
Please continue reading this article here, the wonderful
Orthodox blog, 'Full of Grace and Truth'.
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