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Behind the myth of ByzantiumSplendour and mysticism abound, but the
Royal Academy's epic exhibition of Byzantine treasures is touchingly
human
Guardian/UK
Jonathan Jones
Thursday October 30 2008 14.36 GMT
A 7th-century icon originally from Constantinople showing saints
Sergios and Bacchos. Photograph: The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum
of Arts, Kiev
Byzantium at the Royal Academy, in London, is a mind-expanding
exhibition. It's the kind of exhibition the Royal Academy has always
done superbly, shatteringly well - the colossal blockbuster that lets
you encounter the treasures of an entire civilisation in one go.
Byzantium 330-1453 Royal Academy, London W1J 0BD Until March 22 2009
Details:
+44(0)870 8488484 £12 (adults) Venue website
Today it gets even richer, for although it opened on Sunday it was only
last night that precious works of art from the Monastery of Mount Sinai
could be installed. I happened to be there recording a Guardian video
about the show (which you can see next Monday) and it was fascinating
to see the black-robed art-expert priests from Mount Sinai mounting
their treasures in the heart of London.
But this exhibition is actually better in some ways than previous RA
marathons. Splendour is controlled by a searching intelligence that
matches recent British Museum extravaganzas. The curators don't give us
a mere spectacle but a thought-provoking look at the reality of
Byzantium, behind the myth. The classic image of Byzantine art is one
of abstract mysticism and remoteness, but the city that preserved an
evolved version of classical culture for a 1,000 years after the fall
of Rome was also a place where people lived their lives. This show
includes such touching surprises as a child's hooded garment and tiny
shoes, exhibited among the gold jewellery in a way that wakes you up
and makes you think - blimey, Byzantines were people! They didn't spend
their entire lives chanting!
There is a wonderful display of icons, and the first thing you notice
in these religious pictures is not the ethereality but the humanity:
faces have a muscular vitality and gazes between Mary and the Angel are
animated and passionate. The brilliant choice of Byzantine paintings
quietly demonstrates how artists in the east shared many of the
emotional nuances of Italian painters by the 14th century.
And of course, there's copious evidence of the influence of Byzantium.
There are treasures here from San Marco in Venice, whose entire gold
mosaic-covered, multi-domed interior is a vast homage to the eastern
empire. There's even a tremendous pair of bronze doors made in the east
and exported to Italy. There are illuminated Armenian books, a fresco
from Belgrade and a mosaic from Kiev. It's an exhibition that starts in
the age of Rome - one of the first things you see is a portrait of the
emperor Constantine - and takes you from there to the Renaissance.
In the early history of Byzantine art you see marvellous ivory carvings
and a page from a 6th-century AD gospel manuscript. Most moving of all
for me was the gigantic face of Christ in an icon painting reminiscent
of the emotional power of the Russian painter Andrei Rublev.
The exhibition is proving popular, with sold-out lectures on issues
like the meaning of the Ascension and the "three genders" of Byzantium
(men, women and eunuchs). I guess it's further proof that, in art,
militant atheism doesn't get you very far. People are fascinated by the
supernatural and the unreal and if you eradicated the religious impulse
you might eradicate the artistic one as well. Orthodox Christianity,
anyway, has produced some exquisite expressions of the human spirit.
Royal Academy's epic exhibition of Byzantine treasures is touchingly
human
Guardian/UK
Jonathan Jones
Thursday October 30 2008 14.36 GMT
A 7th-century icon originally from Constantinople showing saints
Sergios and Bacchos. Photograph: The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum
of Arts, Kiev
Byzantium at the Royal Academy, in London, is a mind-expanding
exhibition. It's the kind of exhibition the Royal Academy has always
done superbly, shatteringly well - the colossal blockbuster that lets
you encounter the treasures of an entire civilisation in one go.
Byzantium 330-1453 Royal Academy, London W1J 0BD Until March 22 2009
Details:
+44(0)870 8488484 £12 (adults) Venue website
Today it gets even richer, for although it opened on Sunday it was only
last night that precious works of art from the Monastery of Mount Sinai
could be installed. I happened to be there recording a Guardian video
about the show (which you can see next Monday) and it was fascinating
to see the black-robed art-expert priests from Mount Sinai mounting
their treasures in the heart of London.
But this exhibition is actually better in some ways than previous RA
marathons. Splendour is controlled by a searching intelligence that
matches recent British Museum extravaganzas. The curators don't give us
a mere spectacle but a thought-provoking look at the reality of
Byzantium, behind the myth. The classic image of Byzantine art is one
of abstract mysticism and remoteness, but the city that preserved an
evolved version of classical culture for a 1,000 years after the fall
of Rome was also a place where people lived their lives. This show
includes such touching surprises as a child's hooded garment and tiny
shoes, exhibited among the gold jewellery in a way that wakes you up
and makes you think - blimey, Byzantines were people! They didn't spend
their entire lives chanting!
There is a wonderful display of icons, and the first thing you notice
in these religious pictures is not the ethereality but the humanity:
faces have a muscular vitality and gazes between Mary and the Angel are
animated and passionate. The brilliant choice of Byzantine paintings
quietly demonstrates how artists in the east shared many of the
emotional nuances of Italian painters by the 14th century.
And of course, there's copious evidence of the influence of Byzantium.
There are treasures here from San Marco in Venice, whose entire gold
mosaic-covered, multi-domed interior is a vast homage to the eastern
empire. There's even a tremendous pair of bronze doors made in the east
and exported to Italy. There are illuminated Armenian books, a fresco
from Belgrade and a mosaic from Kiev. It's an exhibition that starts in
the age of Rome - one of the first things you see is a portrait of the
emperor Constantine - and takes you from there to the Renaissance.
In the early history of Byzantine art you see marvellous ivory carvings
and a page from a 6th-century AD gospel manuscript. Most moving of all
for me was the gigantic face of Christ in an icon painting reminiscent
of the emotional power of the Russian painter Andrei Rublev.
The exhibition is proving popular, with sold-out lectures on issues
like the meaning of the Ascension and the "three genders" of Byzantium
(men, women and eunuchs). I guess it's further proof that, in art,
militant atheism doesn't get you very far. People are fascinated by the
supernatural and the unreal and if you eradicated the religious impulse
you might eradicate the artistic one as well. Orthodox Christianity,
anyway, has produced some exquisite expressions of the human spirit.