Icon as Communion - Iconography - Book

Icon as Communion - Iconography - Book

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Icon as Communion: The Ideals and Compositional Principles of Icon Painting

Paperback 103 pages

"Is it possible to teach Byzantine art? Can it be circumscribed within a set of artistic rules and principles that can be explained and demonstrated?" These are the questions with which George Kordis, Assistant Professor of Iconography at the University of Athens, begins his book. "Icon as Communion." This book is not an explicitly academic work, but instead an insight into the mind of an artist. It is a gathering of Kordis' thoughts, notes, and sketches, accompanied by his reflections on the holy art of Iconography.

Contents

Introduction

p. 1

1. Role of Line in Byzantine Icon Painting

p. 5

The function of line in creating the inner rhythm of the icon

p. 8

The projector, or perspectival, function of line and the communion between icon and beholder

p. 10

2. The Features of Line Byzantine Icon Painting

p. 13

3. Sketches with Commentary 

p. 19

Head in frontal pose

p. 19

Face in frontal pose

p. 20

Dynamic frontal pose

p. 21

Dynamic frontal pose with vertical axes 

p. 22

Dynamic frontal pose with covered axes

p. 22

On drawing hair and beards

p. 27

Head in the three-quarters stance

p. 29

Dimensions of the human form

p. 34

The stance in single-figure icons

p. 34

Human figure divided into eight sections 

p. 37

A figure placed dynamically in pose of the inverted S

p. 38

The seated figure

p. 40

On drawing buildings and landscape

p. 44

4. On Composition in the Byzantine Tradition

p. 47

The theological significance of the church and the philosophy of composition in Byzantine

p. 48

On the origin of the artistic principles of Byzantine art

p. 51

The Byzantine Optical System

p. 52

The fundamental principles of composition in Byzantine art

p. 53

I. The abolition or superseding of artistic depth

p. 53

II. How composition, if refined or purified

p. 55

III. The figure or composition moves out toward the beholder

p. 57

5. Icons: An Aesthetic Reading

p. 63

6. Drawings/Sketches

p. 87

About the Author

p. 103

 

Product Description

Paperback:
103 Pages