San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts

Windows Into Heaven:

Provincial Russian Icons

from The 18th Century to the Early 20th Century

An exhibit sponsored by Ben and Beverly Stribling and Mary Hudspeth from the Collection of Gary Hollingsworth

The ikona or Russian icon derives its name from the Greek word eikon, meaning image. After the mixture of Greco-Roman and Syrian art that gave birth to icons was modified in Byzantium, that tradition was passed on to Russia when it was converted to Christianity in 988 AD. The Russians modified it in ways that reflected their own skills and character.

The sacred images on view in Windows into Heaven are of a kind once readily found in even the humblest homes of Russia, as well as its churches and public shrines. Icons appeared everywhere in pre-Soviet Russia; there were even small shrines in schools and factories.

The period from the 18th to the early 20th century is very rich in icon types and variations. The images were not regarded simply as religious paintings, but as sacred objects mysteriously linked to the holy figures they depict.

Veneration offered to a saint painted on an icon was believed to pass directly to that saint in heaven. Because of this mysterious link between saint and image, icons were seen as comforters, powerful guardians and helpers that could bring rain, cure disease in cattle, ward off fires from homes and heal physical ailments.