Detail from Russian icon; 30.5 x 22.2 cm. The code open in the left hand reads, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (from Matthew 11.28) in an old Russian script and dialect.
Long admired for their evocative abstract imagery, Russian religious icons have seen a sharp rise in scholarly and commercial interest since the dissolution of the Soviet Union opened new opportunities for study and sale. Following an inquiry from one of the leading scholars in the United States on Russian art, the Art Collection staff uncovered its modest but interesting cache of Russian icons in The Vault. (Readers may recall that the splendid late nineteenth century silver gilt icon of Saint Nicholas, illustrated the Library’s holiday card in 2002).
In late June, Wendy Salmond, associate professor of art history at Chapman University in Orange, California, visited Georgetown University to see the seven pieces in the collection. Prof. Salmond has been the author of or contributor to many books on Russian art (including catalogues of works from the Hillwood Museum in Washington), on topics such as traditional icons, the Art Nouveau era, imperial art, folk art, modern art, and stage design. She was the curator for the exhibition Traditions in Transition: Russian Icons in the Age of the Romanovs at Hillwood last year.
Russian artists imaginatively adapted international styles in meeting the needs of icon production. Prof. Salmond identified two Georgetown pieces, a Christ and a Saint Prince Vladimir, as copies of work by the influential muralist Victor Vasnetsov (1848–1926), who desired to “update” the icon style, incorporating "Pre-Raphaelite" and "realist" approaches from earlier in the nineteenth century into his work. A combination painted and bas relief depiction of Saint George is surrounded by an ostentatious frame in what was called the "Neo-Russian" style, an answer to Art Nouveau. The famous "onion-dome" style of Russian churches forms the shape of a folding icon with a painting of Christ inside. Illustrated here is a nineteenth century painting on wood of Christ, more traditional in its flat, linear style but striking in its orange border and decorated, according to Prof. Salmond, with foliate patterns typical of icons from Siberia.
We would like to thank Prof. Salmond for taking the time to examine these interesting pieces from the Art Collection and to share her insights.