Religion 242 - THE RUSSIAN ICON

Same as RES 242. As devotional object, political symbol and art commodity, the Russian icon has been revered as sacred, vilified as reactionary, and displayed and sold as masterpiece. This course examines the complex and multifaceted world of the Russian icon from its Byzantine roots to its contemporary re-emergence in the public sphere of post-Soviet Russia. Consideration of the iconographic vocation and craft, beauty and the sacred, devotions and rituals, the icon and Russian national identity, the “discovery” of the icon by the modern art world, controversial images and forms of iconoclasm. In addition to icons themselves, sources include historical, devotional, liturgical, philosophical and literary texts. No prerequisites required. Open to first-year students.