Search
Submit an article RU
Slovo.ru: Baltic accent

2017 Vol. 8 №1

Back to the list Download the article
ENG
Сохранить XML для: JATS (вып.)
RUS
Сохранить XML для: JATS (вып.)
Gubareva O. V.

Rhythm and Metaphor in the Art of the Icon

Abstract

Using art history interpretation methods and the methods of historical cultural studies, the author demonstrates the role of rhythm and metaphor as the most expressive artistic means of icon painting. The interaction of rhythm and metaphor is an integral part of the imagery and semantics of icon painting. It is stressed that the entire theological and aesthetic image of icons, which is based on rhythm and metaphor, expresses the cosmogonic ideas of the Church Fathers. However, the practical realisation of this image would have been impossible without the conscious creative contribution of the artist. Icon painters never perceived iconography as a dogmatic prescription. Iconography played the role of a cognitive scheme steering artists’ creative ideas. Creating visual metaphors required the development of rhythmic symmetry, based on linear repetitions and figurative semblances of elements. This principle of iconography is clearly seen in Russian icon painting.

Reference

1. Averintsev, S. S., 2002. The order of the cosmos and the order of history. In: D. K. Burlaka and S. S. Neretina, eds. Avgustin: Pro et contra: Lichnost' i ideinoe nasledie Blazhennogo Avgustina v otsenke russkikh myslitelei i issledovatelei: Antologiya [Augustine: Pro et contra: Personality and ideological heritage of Blessed Augustine in the evaluation of Russian thinkers and researchers: Anthology]. St. Petersburg.
2. Alpatov, M. V., 1967. Questions of study and interpretation of ancient russian art. Iskusstvo [Art], 1, pp. 64—70.
3. Alpatov, M. V., 1979. The “Crucifixion” of Dionysius. In: Etyudy po vseobschey istorii iskusstv. Izbrannye iskusstvovedcheskie raboty [Studies on the general history of art. Selected art criticism works]. Moscow. pp. 167—183.
4. Bychkov, V. V., 1992. Russkaya srednevekovaya estetika XI—XVII vekov [Russian medieval aesthetics XI—XVII centuries]. Moscow. p. 637. 5. Bekker, L. M., 1998. Psikhika i real’nost’. Edinaya teoriya psikhicheskikh protsessov [Psychic and reality. Unified theory of mental processes]. Moscow.
6. Gubareva, O. V., 1998. “Trinity” of the monk Andrey Rublev. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo otdeleniya Rossiyskoi akademii Estestvennykh nauk [Bulletin of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian academy of natural sciences], 2(3), pp. 288—292.
7. Gurevich, A. Ya., 1972. Kategorii srednevekovoi kul’tury [Categories of medieval culture]. Moscow.
8. Dvoskina, Ye. M., 1998. Antichnaya teoriya ritma: Traktat Avreliya Avgustina “Demusicalibrisex” [Ancient theory of rhythm: A treatise of Aurelius Augustine “Demusicalibrisex”]. Ph. D. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory.
9. Kolcheva, T. V., 2004. Ritm kak kul’turologicheskaya problema [Rhythm as a culturological problem]. Ph. D. State Academy of Slavic Culture. 
10. Raushenbakh, B. V., 1997. Before the Holy Trinity (Transfer of the ternary dogma in icons). In: Pristrastie [Partiality]. Moscow.
11. Romanenko, Yu. M. and Chulkov, O. A., 1997. Metaphor and symbol in cultural circulation. Metafizicheskie issledovaniya: Al’manah Laboratorii Metafizicheskikh Issledovanii pri Filosofskom fakultete SPbGU [Metaphysical research: Almanac of the Laboratory of Metaphysical Research at the Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg State University], 5, pp. 46—59.
12. Saltykov, A. A., 1975. On spatial relations in byzantine and ancient russian painting. In: V. N. Lazarev, O. I. Podobedova and G. V. Popov, eds. Drevnerusskoe iskusstvo. Zarubezhnye svyazi [Ancient russian art. Foreign connections]. Moscow. pp. 398—404.
13. Sokolov, B. G., 2001. Rithm and sense. In: D. U. Orlov, K. S. Pigrov and A. K. Sekatskiy, eds. Sotsial’naya analitika ritma. Sbornik materialov konferentsii [Social analytics of rhythm. Conference proceedings]. St. Petersburg. pp. 171—174.
14. Tarasenko, V. V., 1996. Fractals and measurement of chaos. In: K. Kh. Delokarov, ed. Informatsiya i samoorganizatsiya [Information and self-organization]. Moscow. pp. 92—108.
15. Arutyunova, N. D. and Zhurinskaya, M. A., eds., 1990. Teoriya metafory [Theory of metaphor]. Moscow.
16. Vzdornov, G. I., ed., 1981. “Troitsa” Andreya Rubleva. Antologiya [The “Trinity” by Andrey Rublev. Antology]. Moscow.
17. Ufimtsev, R., 2010. Khvost yascherki. Metafizika metafory [Tail of a lizard. Metaphysics of metaphor]. Kaliningrad.
18. Muratoff, P., 1928. La Peinture Byzantine. Paris. p. 256.
19. Ouspenskyy, L. and Lossky, W., 1956. Der Sinn der Ikonen. Bern, Olten. p. 201.