eveloped by Meridian International Center in collaboration with the National Museum, the Picture Gallery, and the Ethnography Museum in L’viv, this exhibition offers a chronological, thematic, and cultural perspective on Western Ukrainian icon painting and religious observance. It marks the first time that precious religious objects from major public collections in this region will tour the United States. Rare illuminated manuscripts and small bronze crucifixes represent the religious experience in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a period characterized by invasions, political instability, and the destruction of many icons. The exhibit focuses primarily on icons created by masters working in ecclesiastical centers between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, along with folk icons painted by popular artists of the time. It contains examples of devotional oil paintings characteristic of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Hand-carved icons from village homes and elaborate painted eggs (pysanki) offer further insight into popular religion.
he exhibition is intended both for viewers who have never seen an icon – and for others who have long-appreciated the role of icons as "windows" through which the faithful connect spiritually to the divine. Catalogue chapters by Ukrainian experts will impart a sense of what icons are and how they function. They also will provide information about icon manufacture and painting. Essays will address cultural and stylistic connections between Western Ukraine and the earliest centers of icon production, and the successive influences on this region of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles developed elsewhere in Europe. Exhibition organizers have chosen a wide range of religious topics and examined changes in their representation over several centuries. These include depictions of saints, archangels, prophets, evangelists, the holy family, and several works belonging to a large sixteenth century iconostasis. Experts in ethnography will examine the role of folk icons in popular religion – and explore the fascinating world of egg painting -- still an important tradition in many regions of Western Ukraine, including remote villages in the Trans-Carpathian range.
ainting a Window to the Divine is visually compelling and intellectually stimulating. It places icons and religious painting from this fascinating borderland between the East and West into a clear historical and cultural context, while encouraging museum visitors to learn more about this region, little-known to many Americans. It fosters learning among young people through an on-line teacher’s guide – and stimulates adults with a web site containing subjects ranging from egg painting to icon construction. An exhibition poster will accompany the full-color catalogue, web site, and teacher’s guide. The tour begins in Summer 2008 and will continue through September 2009. For further information please contact Meridian’s Traveling Exhibition Service at (202) 939-5569.
Initial funding for this project has been provided by The Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation.
