Icons On Display
By LUANNE AUSTIN
Daily News-Record
Believe it or not, icons are not just a recent innovation of computer designers.
They are holy images of saints, Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary displayed in churches and homes of Eastern Orthodox Christians.
Thanks to a generous donation, James Madison University has a large collection of valuable and beautiful Byzantine icons in its Madison Art Collection. For the first time, part of this collection is being exhibited.
Russian and Byzantine icons from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries are being displayed at JMU’s College Center through Dec. 23.
"Icons are mirrors of actual saints," says Kathleen G. Arthur, Ph.D., professor of art history at JMU.
Virgin and Child paintings in the collection represent three different styles. In the Virgin Hodegetria — meanings "she who shows the way" — the Virgin Mary cradles the Christ child in her left arm while gesturing toward him with her right arm.
The second type is the Virgin and Child Galactotropheousa, or "nursing Madonna." The third is the Virgin and Child Elousa, the "Virgin of tenderness," in which the two are painted "cheek to cheek," says Arthur.
The icons are done in a variety of media, such as tempura on wood, gold leaf on tin and copper plate engravings.
Other icons in the collection depict the Holy Trinity, Christ as Pantokrator and images of the saints. One particularly grisly painting shows John the Baptist carrying his own head in a basket.
In Orthodox churches, icons hang on an iconostasis, a large screen, which symbolically divides the heavenly world from the human world, uniting them into a whole.
"They are always arranged in a definite pattern," says Arthur.
Images of Christ hang on the right of the Holy Doors, and the Virgin on the left, she says. Angels and archangels hover at the top of the screen.
Orthodox believers venerate but do not worship icons, says Father Dionysi McGowan, priest at Saint Basil of Kineshma Russian Orthodox Church in Staunton. He compares an icon to a picture a person might have of their grandmother.
"You might look at it and remember her with affection or be inspired," he says.
"We call icons the windows of heaven," says McGowan. "They reflect an otherworldliness… an angelic state," comparable to the function of stained glass windows in non-Orthodox churches.
McGowan points out that the form of iconography is different than other religious painting. The eyes are enlarged, he says, as though beholding the form of God. The mouth is small, representing "what needs to be said," he says.
Painters of icons, it is believed, partake in the divine act of creation, expressing a spiritual quality of the person depicted in the art.
Sometimes icons are attributed with miracles, such as healing, protection from harm or special provision, says Kathryn Monger, Ph.D., collection curator and assistant professor of art history.
"Icons don’t just hang on the wall, they do things," she says. "It’s a very live tradition."
One of the icons in the collection, The Virgin and Child Tichvinskaya, is a replica of a miraculous icon believed to have been painted by Saint Luke, says Arthur.
"Then ‘it’ decided to leave Constantinople and settle near the Tikhvinka River near Saint Petersburg," says Arthur.
One of this icon’s miracles was defeating the Swedes who invaded the area in the 17th century.
In homes, icons sometimes hang on an eastern wall, says Arthur. This part of the house devoted to icon display is called a "beautiful corner."
Yagolnikov was challenged by the translation job. A native of Russia, he came to the United States when his family fled religious persecution in the former Soviet Union.
"It helps to know the Bible," he says, since many of the pieces depict biblical characters and scenes.
The icons were donated to the university by the late John A. Sawhill, a classics professor at JMU. But they’ve been in storage since Sawhill’s death in 1975.
"It’s great to have them out where we can see them and use them for study," says Arthur.
Because of the availability of the pieces, Arthur has been able to teach an early medieval art class. Some of her students have researched and provided background on many of the icons in the exhibit.
"We in the first stage of evaluating them," says Arthur. "We think there are some hidden treasures."
