Like Night and Day: Pavel Florenskiĭ, Igor’ Grabar’, and the Fate of Icons in the 1920s

Authors

Wendy Salmond, Chapman UniversityFollow

Files

Description

"The preservation of medieval icons in the early years of Soviet power is deservedly considered one of the cultural triumphs of that iconoclastic period, when the very future of icons hung precariously in the balance. The nationalization of church property, the dissolution or destruction of so many monasteries and churches, and the pervasive mood of iconoclasm that followed the Bolshevik Revolution placed Russia’s most important icons in a precarious position. Their survival depended on the efforts of a small group of scholars and restorers operating under the aegis of NARKOMPROS’s museum and conservation wing (Glazmuseĭ in its various iterations; later consolidated in the Central State Restoration Workshops).1 But the physical preservation of icons was not the only challenge. At issue was whether they could acquire an acceptable meaning that would ensure them sanctuary in this hostile new world. For this reason, the language used to talk about icons was particularly important in creating a powerful rhetorical field of protection and validation. My essay considers the metaphorical refashioning of icons, from the unstable transitional years of 1918-1920, when multiple possibilities for the treatment of cultural heritage still beckoned, to 1928-1931, when those possibilities had dwindled to a single, ideologically dictated option. In this contentious process, Father Pavel Florenskiĭ and the artist and art historian Igor’ Grabar’ came to occupy positions on either side of a growing cultural abyss."

ISBN

978-88-6969-350-2

Publication Date

9-10-2019

Publisher

Edizioni Ca’ Foscari

City

Venice / Venezia

Disciplines

Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture | Art and Design | Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology | Slavic Languages and Societies

Comments

In Matteo Bertelé (Ed.), Pavel Florenskij tra Icona e Avanguardia.

Recommended Citation

Salmond, Wendy. "Like Night and Day: Pavel Florenskiĭ, Igor’ Grabar’, and the Fate of Icons in the 1920s." In Pavel Florenskij Tra Icona e Avanguardia, edited by Matteo Bertelé, 79-87. Venice: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2019. https://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-350-2/007.

Copyright

The author

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.