Icons v. Statues

Leao · Post by **Leao** » Wed 12 January 2005 9:25 am

It has been argued that the traditional analogy between East and West in regards to devotional art is not between icons and paintings, but between icons and statues. Statues in the West serve the same purpose as icons in the East. They are windows to the Divine, aid in the contemplation of the Divine, are kissed and reverenced in exactly the same way as icons etc. What are the qualifications needed for such a statement?

For example, it would be very difficult to have a statue expressing the Transfiguration with everything it consists of - the 6 figures, the Divine light, the mountain etc. Icons are surely much better at expressing Christian dogma comprehensively.

However, I'm more interested in icons & statues as aids to hesychast prayer, i.e. a way of stilling the heart and turning it back towards God. Icons are very good at this as there is an emphasis on stillness (through harmonious line and colour) and the Saints depicted are humbly turned towards Jesus in prayer, especially within the Deisis tier of an Iconostasis, encouraging the beholder of the icon to be drawn into the same poise. Statues appear to be similarly still and capture the humility of the Saint before God. This begs the question for me: Are icons any better or different than statues in their approach to expressing hesychast spirituality?

thanks for your time Leao

Clydester2 · Post by **Clydester2** » Wed 12 January 2005 6:05 pm

From my understanding of icons, they are a representation of the divine image of a once-living person, not a representation of how they looked while in this life. A statue is a more humanistic representation that fails to convey the heavenly image of the saints and holy ones...it can only convey the fallen flesh form they took while walking the earth. In this way, icons are a much more spiritual, much less "graven-image" form of art. And with the theology of the icon, it is believed that the person depicted is able to see through the eyes of the painted icon as a vehicle for interacting with our world. I don't think the same is believed in the West about statues.
And this is only the tip of a very large, fascinating, spiritually-enlightening subject.