Each image has diagrams pointing to various details of the icon to explain some of the techniques, symbolism, and codes utilized in the work. It reproduces about 200 famous historical icons with a brief description of the subject, the date and author of it's creation, it's present location, and it's context in Christian faith. This book is merely a visual introduction to iconography. My favorite has always been the Christ Pantokrator, with it's depiction of an asymmetrical Jesus sternly gazing through you with one uncanny eye that would be sure to drive the narrator of Poe's "Tell Tale Heart" insane. But there are some beautiful selections here, some more famous than others. The icon challenges the contemplative to sink deeper into the fractal, into a deeper level of awareness, of prayer, of being.įar from being an exhaustive survey, this book excluded some very inspirational examples, such as the icon of the Inexhaustible Chalice, venerated by those who believe in it's powers to heal those suffering from addiction. But the way each painting is created tells a deeper story. What does a red cloth draped across the background buildings and the green platform in the foreground represent? Why are the robes of a saint highlighted in white, and why is his beard flowing symmetrically? Why does the subject have a particular facial expression? What does the position of the hands mean? Why are the mathematical proportions of a figure perfectly aligned in a spiral?Įach icon is a representation of a story, a painting of an event or an encapsulation of the life of a legendary figure. They contain codes to study and contemplate. Icons are created with ancient techniques and themes to convey universal truths. A true icon is not just a mass-produced print of a blue-eyed hippie Jesus smiling at you from a frame on Grandma's dresser. What makes the icon fascinating for me is that they are visual puzzles. The icon is many things that can be recognized across cultures and faith, but is a particular tradition among the Orthodox. It is also a like a vanity mantle, a symbol of one's own personality and values. It is like prayer beads or devotive candles, a physical prompt for prayer. But beyond that simple description, it is a mandala, a tool for meditation and enlightenment. The icon is a stylized religious painting on a block of wood. Unless you are familiar with the Orthodox Christian religions, you probably are not sure what an icon is. So if you are reading your Dostoevsky or Tolstoy for a literature class, you may run across characters sitting at an icon bench or fretting hysterically over their family icons, and such. As with other volumes in the Guide to Imagery series, this book includes a wealth of color illustrations in which details are called out for discussion. Chapters focus on the role of icons in the Orthodox liturgy and onĬommon iconic subjects, including the fathers and saints of the Eastern Church and the life of Jesus and his followers. The goal of this book is to catalogue the vast heritage of images according to iconographic type and subject, from the most ancient at the Monastery of Saint Catherine in the Sinai to those from Greece, Constantinople, and Russia.
Indeed, every attitude, pose, and color depicted in an icon has a precise meaning, and their painters-usually monks-followed prescribed models from iconographic Their pictorial language is stylized and primarily symbolic, rather than literal and narrative. It was believed that these works acted as intermediaries between worshipersĪnd the holy personages they depicted. An icon (from the Greek word "eikon," "image") is a wooden panel painting of a holy person or scene from Orthodox Christianity, the religion of the Byzantine Empire that is practiced today mainly in Greece and Russia.
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