Saturday, September 19, 2009

Photios Kontoglou

The current and universal availability of true Orthodox Christian ikons is probably due to the call and work of one man, Photios Kontoglou, who resurrected, as it were, Byzantine ikonography in the 20th century, so that our houses of worship and our homes could once again be illuminated by these true portals of the Eternal.


As recently as the 1970's, many if not most churches and homes were still filled with religious pictures standing in place of true ikons. By this I mean that reproductions of Western religious paintings, with an ornate border and sometimes a halo and Greek or Slavonic letters in gold added (examples shown above, click images to zoom), were what we called "ikons". Mostly these were Roman Catholic devotional pictures, often painted in pastel colors or even displaying Roman cult imagery, but there were some paintings by Protestant artists that found their way into an ikonic form as well.
Visiting the original stone temple that was built by my congregation of Aghía Triás in Portland, Oregon, in 1906, I noticed that such Roman Catholic images, even the sacred heart, were part of the motif in the stained glasswork.
(The temple is currently in use by the congregation of the Vietnamese Christian Community Church, and they have lovingly restored it as their house of worship.)

This blog is dedicated in some sense to Photios Kontoglou, a saint of modern times, who brought back to us the light of Christ as revealed in true Orthodox ikonography. Herewith follows an account of his life.

Photios Kontoglou (1895-1965), was the foremost ikonographer in Greece in the 20th century. The revival of Byzantine ikonography began in 1930 mostly due to this man. Byzantine ikonography has spread to Europe, America and elsewhere. This revival has also taken place in Romania and among the Russians of the diaspora. This form of ikonography is in demand everywhere. Photios Kontoglou's ikonography has been misunderstood by many. He had grown in his work from being somewhat rustic to his more stylized pieces. Often he diverged from his usual way of painting the ikon, in order to enhance his talent, gaining an appreciation for other techniques. Consequently, it is a mistake to stereotype his ikonography.

In 1943 he began to write about this sacred art in an extensive and authoritative way, wishing to explain its features and to show its enormous value. In 1960 he wrote Ekphrasis - the explanation of Orthodox Iconography. This book is a valuable guide for the ikonographer to learn the technique of painting the ikon according to Byzantine tradition. Also, for the general reader "to penetrate to the deeper, spiritual essence of the icons done according to this great tradition" (C. Cavarnos).

"Byzantine art," Kontoglou says, "is for me the art of arts. I believe in it as I believe in [the Orthodox] religion. Only this art nourishes my soul, through its deep and mysterious powers; it alone quenches the thirst that I feel in the midst of the arid desert that surrounds us. In comparison with Byzantine art, all the others appear to me trivial, 'troubling themselves about many things, when but one thing is needed'."

Byzantine ikonographers bring the spiritual world into time and space for which reasons the ikon is not "naturalistic" and "realistic." It's purpose has a religious function. It wants to express sanctified things to help man see with spiritual eyes the Holy Mysteries of the Christian revelation.

Ikonography offers a vision of time and eternity. Using sacred and symbolic forms and colors, Kontoglou represents that vision in a dramatic fashion. To demonstrate his purpose he employed sober colors, simple shapes and bold lines.

Photios Kontoglou never held the elitist position that painting ikons was restricted to intellectuals, or professional artists. Even the illiterate have painted them. Like the Holy Scriptures, the ikon is the work of the Holy Spirit.

His relics are incorrupt, a validation of his works.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Read and understand

No need for me to reinvent the wheel in the publication of this blog. Not only are there far better blogs and web pages than my humble blog at which to find wonderful ikons, but there are also far better explanations about ikons themselves. I will leave it to you to find the better ikon blogs (hint: there's a link to a very excellent one in the sidebar of my main blog, Cost of Discipleship, under the heading Christian Graphic Art), but here are some links to articles on Fr Stephen's blog Glory to God for All Things, where he gives those better explanations. So, if you want to learn about ikons from an Orthodox Christian perspective, try these links:




The Face of God






Bad Icons






The Role of Icons

Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Passions Project - Ikonography Today

The practice of ikonography is not a dead discipline, but one that is currently still happening all over the world, and not only within the Church where it originated. I have had the pleasure to come into contact with Marcel van Baaren, a Dutch ikonographer, a man of many talents, who lives in Utrecht province, the Netherlands. Working with his colleague, Deacon Cornelis Visser of Nicolai Church in Utrecht, a wonderful project of ikonography is in progress.
If I wanted to give visitors to this blog and entrée into the world of ikons, it would be to direct them to the The Passions Project website. There they can see how it is that ikons come into being, at the hands of followers of Jesus, called to this ancient ministry of the Word.

Ancient, because it has been practiced for nearly 2000 years, starting in the first generation of Christians who painted in the Hellenistic style, using the encaustic method; ministry of the Word, because since the beginning it was practiced to faithfully render the truths of scripture into visual form for the illiterate.

Today, though society is literate, modern technology has produced a new kind of icon that attracts man's attention away from God, instead of toward Him. It is men like Marcel and Cornelis who continue, nonetheless, to follow their hearts in the pursuit of truth, and so true ikonography lives on, even in the Western world.

Two Orthodox sayings come to mind.
Beauty will save the world (Dostoyevsky), and…
If you have a heart, you can be saved (Abba Pambo).

If you missed the link to the Passions Project website above, click here.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Jesus Christ - Pantokrator

Click the ikon to zoom full size.
GREEK ORIGINAL
Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω, λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεός, ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ὁ παντοκράτωρ.

HEBREW
אני האלף ואני התו ראש וסוף נאם יהוה אלהים ההוה והיה ויבוא אלהי צבאות׃

ARAMAIC (PESHITTA)
ܐܢܐ ܐܠܦ ܘܬܘ ܐܡܪ ܡܪܝܐ ܐܠܗܐ ܗܘ ܕܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܘܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗܘܐ ܘܐܬܐ ܗܘ ܕܐܚܝܕ ܟܠ ܀

ARABIC
انا هو الالف والياء البداية والنهاية يقول الرب الكائن والذي كان والذي يأتي القادر على كل شيء

ENGLISH (KJV)
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

JAPANESE
今も昔も存在し、やがて来られる全能の主なる神が、こう言われます。 「わたしは、あらゆることの初めであり、終わりである。

KOREAN
주 하나님이 가라사대 나는 알파와 오메가라 이제도 있고 전에도 있었고 장차 올 자요 전능한 자라 하시더라

BAHASA INDONESIA
Akulah yang pertama dan yang terakhir, kata Tuhan Allah, yang ada, yang sudah ada, dan yang ada seterusnya, Yang Mahakuasa.

Click an ikon to zoom full size.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Christ - Mandýlion - Not Made With Hands

Orthodox Christians mark August 16 as the Feast of the Icon “Not Made With Hands,” the miraculous face of Christ first left on a cloth sent to King Abgar of Edessa.
The stories of the icon are swathed in the mists of history—but the image (or representations of it on icons) remain among the most popular of Orthodox images. It is frequently the icon that graces the entrance of a Church. Continue reading about this ikon by clicking HERE.

Click an ikon to zoom full size.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Sunday, September 13, 2009