The ‘Iconic’ in Russian art: Icons and the sacred art of Russia

Serie of three talks delivered by Andrew Spira.

Please note these three lectures can be bought as a series or as individual talks.

The ‘Iconic’ in Russian art

These three lectures look at the notion of ‘iconicity’ in Russian art. The first talk will address the role of sacred icons in Russia, exploring their roots in Byzantium and the ways they were adapted to a Russian cultural milieu. The second talk will focus on the ways that icons developed in response to influence from western European art, and how the subsequent revival of interest in traditional icons precipitated the development of modern art in Russia. The third talk will focus on a single work - Kasimir Malevich’s Black Square of 1915 - and will examine how the layers of meaning and resonance that underpin it make it one of the most iconic works of art ever made.

15/2/22 Icons and the sacred art of Russia

Despite the fact that Russian icons are among the most beautiful works of art in the world, they are still little understood. This talk addresses the nature of icon painting, exploring how they emerged from the glory of the Byzantine world and became a distinctive expression of the Orthodox spirituality of Russia. The complex symbolic and sacramental meanings of icons are unraveled and their place in modern Russia is introduced.

22/2/22 Russian Icons & Russian Avant-Garde Art

How the two types of art - ancient and modern, which, at first glance, appear to be unreconcilable - are closely related in many different ways (their social contexts, their appearance, their techniques etc). 100 years after the Russian Revolution, Russian avant-garde art continues to be as compelling as it ever was. Expressing the dreams and ideals of a new world, artists at the beginning of the 20th century were inspired - often by icons - to create pictures, designs, objects and buildings for every aspect of life with distinctive passion and power. The key artists include Malevich, Goncharova, Tatlin, Kandinsky and Chagall.

1/3/22 Russian Icons & Russian Avant-Garde Art

When Kasimir Malevich’s ‘iconic’ Black Square was produced in 1915, no one had ever seen anything like it before. And yet it does have precedents. In fact, over the previous five hundred years, several painters, writers, philosophers, scientists and censors – each working independently towards an absolute statement of their own – alighted on the form of the black square or rectangle, as if for the first time. This talk will explore the resonances between Malevich’s Black Square and its precursors, showing how a quasi-genealogical thread binds them together into an intriguing, and sometimes quirky, sequence of modulations. Each predecessor both foreshadows Malevich’s work and, paradoxically, throws light on it, revealing layers of meaning that are often overlooked but which are as relevant today as ever.

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