CHAZEN MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS EXHIBITION OF RUSSIAN ICONS

THE ICON IS A DISTINCTIVE FORM OF HOLY IMAGE IN EASTERN ORTHODOX CULTURES, INTENDED TO EVOKE SACRED PRESENCE BY APPEALING TO THE SENSES. HOLY IMAGE, SACRED PRESENCE: RUSSIAN ICONS, 1500-1900 PRESENTS ABOUT THIRTY WORKS FROM THE CHAZEN MUSEUM OF ART'S PERMANENT COLLECTION TO EXPLORE THE DISTINCTIVE DEVOTIONAL FUNCTIONS, RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES, ICONOGRAPHY AND CHANGING STYLES OF RUSSIAN ICONS FROM THE 16th TO THE EARLY 20th CENTURIES. EXAMPLES INCLUDE A MANDYLION (MIRACULOUS IMAGE OF THE FACE OF JESUS), PROSKYNETARIA AND ICONOSTASIS PANELS FROM ORTHODOX CHURCHES, AND SMALL DEVOTIONAL ICONS FOR PRIVATE USE. THE EXHIBITION IS ON VIEW 12.MARCH THROUGH 5.JUNE. FOLLOWING THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917, MANY MONASTERIES AND CHURCHES WERE CLOSED AND TEH BEST ICONS WERE COLLECTED IN STATE MUSEUMS. THOSE DATING FROM THE 11th TO THE 17th CENTURY WERE PRIZED AS REPRESENTING TRADITIONAL RUSSIAN CULTURE. BY CONTRAST, SOVIET EXPERTS DENIGRATED THE STYLE AND ICONOGRAPHY OF LATER ICONS FROM THE 18th TO THE EARLY 20th CENTURIES AS 'CONTAMINATED' BY WESTERN EUROPEAN INFLUENCE. IT WAS THESE ICONS THAT THE SOVIETS EITHER RELEGATED TO MUSEUMS OF RELIGION OR, BEGINNING IN THE 1930s, SOLD TO FOREIGN TOURISTS AND DIPLOMATS IN GOVERNMENT-RUN SHOPS. AMERICAN COLLECTORS FIRST BECAME AWARE OF RUSSIAN ICONS IN THE 1920s AT OFFICIAL SOVIET EXHIBITIONS IN NEW YORK AND BOSTON, AND THROUGH SALES OF 'IMPERIAL RUSSIAN TREASURES' IN DEPARTMENT STORES IN THE EARLY 1930s. THE MUSEUM'S ICON COLLECTION ORIGINATED IN 1937 WITH THE GIFT OF 23 ICONS BY JOSEPH E DAVIES, A PROMINENT LAWYER, UW ALUMNUS, AND AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO THE SOVIET UNION.