This Summer at the Newberry! Reading Russian Icons: From Byzantine Roots to Post-Soviet Context
All images are details of the icons at the Metropoltan House Museum in Yaroslavl, Russia.
What is an icon? How do we interpret icons? How do they change through time? During this course, we will learn how to “read” icons and explore the main types, styles, uses of imagery, and symbols from their Byzantine origin to their contemporary renaissance in post-Soviet Russia. We will explore the development of Russian icon types and the icon-painting traditions of Andrei Rublev, Theophanes the Greek, Dionisius, and Simon Ushakov. We will unravel the meaning of mysterious allegories and look at the most unusual images, such as the six-armed Christ, the three-armed Virgin Mary, the Orthodox centaur, and the dove with four heads.
The revival of the interest in icons occurred in Russia around the beginning of the 20th century, and Russian avant-garde artists, who rejected realist art, became inspired by the icons’ simplicity, directness, social integration, and their universal artistic and spiritual appeal. After the 1917 Russian revolution, icons were destroyed, defiled, and sold. Still, the art of icon-painting continued, and we will examine the Soviet art based on the icon-painting traditions and Soviet icons, created secretly. We will examine the post-Soviet revival of interest in icons and explore how laptops, soccer balls, and nuclear reactors appeared on modern sacred images. We will consider the existence and importance of the iconographical canon, the role of icon-painters, the clergy, parishioners, and other viewers.
“The Icon of the Day” rubric will be available on Canvas and social media. The history and fascinating stories of each icon will be analyzed according to iconographic type, subject, icon-painting school, liturgical calendar, and symbolism.
We will meet for six (6) sessions via Zoom on Saturday mornings from 10:00 am CDT to noon. Classes begin June 14, 2025 and end on July 26, 2025 (no class on July 5).
The Summer 2025 Newberry class schedule will be available online and announced by early May. Online registration opens at 9:00 am CDT on May 21.
The Newberry is launching a new event this year – an open house for Adult Education Classes. Stay tuned for more information, and mark your calendars for Saturday, May 17!
