Fresco by Anton Daineko
Posted on 08/29/2019 9:07:29 PM PDT by marshmallow
Editor’s Note: This essay was originally written in Russian by master iconographer Anton Daineko of Minsk, Belarus. It beautifully explores the paradox of creativity within iconography from the very personal perspective of a lifelong practitioner.
Anton and Ekaterina Daineko regularly teach icon-painting workshops in the USA, which are highly recommended. They have upcoming workshops in October and November of this year, for which space is still available. See their website here.
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God – Matthew 16:16
An iconographer once noted, “My online friends fall into two categories: artists and iconographers. The artists share photos of their paintings, constantly heaping praise on each other’s work. The iconographers, on the other hand, constantly argue with each other.” This is a very astute observation. Indeed, heated debates, regularly arising on various websites and forums frequented by iconographers, have become the trademark of such internet venues. Disagreements mostly flare up over contemporary iconography’s path of development, that is, whether the icon should be MODERN or must stay TRADITIONAL, whether copying of icons should be avoided or encouraged, whether creativity should be part of icon painting at all.
Fresco by Anton Daineko
As a child, my favorite book was The Wizard of Oz. There, throughout the story, two principal characters – the Scarecrow and the Tin Man – are engaged in an endless discussion as to which is the more important for a person: the heart or the brain. They jump into this argument at every opportunity even as their respective actions demonstrably prove the necessity of both the brain and the heart.
Something along these lines is happening now in the field of iconography. The answers to the above questions are obvious. Should the icon be traditional? Of course it should be. To eschew tradition can......
(Excerpt) Read more at orthodoxartsjournal.org ...
“You shall not make for yourself... any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (The 2nd of the 10 Commandments, Exodus 20:4-6)
Beautiful writing. I will share with an Orthodox friend.
Did Christ become human?
Thank-you and God Bless.
The Hebrew is completely clear that it’s prohibiting idols, not “any likeness of anything”. If it were prohibiting “any likeness of anything” then God commands it to be violated in Exodus 25:18.
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