Old Russian Painting [antikvár]

THE OPINION THAT NORTHERN ICONS WERE SOMETHING MYSTE-RIOUS, fascinating, with hidden meanings, is of long standing. This attitűdé to the painting of the North arose at the beginning of the century, chiefly among artists, and was opposed to the sober, academic approach of the historians. Lately, in connection with the generál heightening of interest in monu-ments of national culture, there has been a corresponding increase in the attention paid to the North. There are very few who have not visited this part of the country or at least dreamt of making a trip there, enchanted by its idyllic countryside, quiet villages, and old churches, full of time-darkened icons. In the 1950s and 1960s a number of expeditions of museum workers went there, seeking and collecting works of early art. Relics of medieval art and works of folk art were found to be in a better state of preservation in these distant parts than in the central regions; the expeditions brought abundant results, and these successes, in their turn, gave wide popularity to Northern icons. The discoveries of the last few years have enabled us to study Northern icons more thoroughly than before. They certainly stand out from among the surviving examples of other Russian schools,—perhaps due to the special qual-ities of the painting which possesses an attractiveness of its own. Their emo-tional content is not complicated; it is mostly focused upon a single psycho-logical state. This makes them easy to understand and gives them greater force of expression. Northern icons have something of the simple austerity of an idol. The outward appearance of the characters is highly expressive; their awkwardness at times approaches the grotesque. The unsophisticated faces and fixed stares seem to invite immediate communication. Such works do not call forth intellectual contemplation, but rather direct, emotional study. This is alsó helped by the pictorial techniques: the lucid composition of the scenes, the laconic linear and colour solutions, the decorativeness of the colour rangé, the free handling, the fluidity of transparent colour or the crudity of near-impasto, and the almost physical tangibility of the painting. These qualities are characteristic, to a greater or smaller degree, of all early Russian painting, but they are more sharply outlined in the Northern works. Here one sees a simple-hearted, reverential attitűdé towards an icon typical of simple folks who lived in the naive hope of direct help and speedy intercession of saints. Though the admiration for the Northern painting is sometimes caused by its naive folk style, their sincerity and poetic feeling give the icons a true and potent charm.