Tradition and historical reconstruction in modern Church art on the example of the “Apocalypse” by Nikolai Masteropulo (from the point of view of the Medievalist)

The article deals with Apocalypse cycle of cloisonné enamels created in the early 2000-s by Russian and Greek artist Nilolaos Masteropoulos. The article analyses the concept of this creation, conceived as an actual art work made by medieval tool — ancient technique of cloisonné enamel, reconstructed and reconceived by the artist. The choice of the old technique which disappeared in byzantine tradition in 13th century is united with the subject which was not typical for byzantine art at all and appeared only in the early 15th century in the wall painting of Annunciation Cathedral of Moscow Kremlin, ordered by Russian prince and painted by Byzantine artist Theophanes the Greek. This union, demonstrating the artist’s deep knowledge in the art history and scientific literature, does not turn this Apocalypse into intellectual rebus or kind of historical reconstruction. Reviving ancient techniques and using ancient symbols, Nikolaos Masteropulos created an actual art work, intended for beholding by his contemporaries.

Architects and construction of religious buildings in Bessarabia (Second half of the XIX century - 1917)

Religious architecture in Bessarabia from the beginning of the XIX century to 1917 is the subject of special research, since many architects, who worked during this period designed the buildings of monasteries, Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches, chapels, houses of worship and synagogues. The creativity of such architects as Luka Zaushkevich, Alexander Bernardazzi, Leopold Scheidewandt, Karl Gasquet, George Cupcea, Mikhail Serotsinsky, Vladimir Tiganco, Lavrentii Lozinsky and others was especially vivid. Their heritage in church art is very diverse and worthy of careful study. On the one hand, the study opens new unknown pages related to the history of architecture and the creative practice in Bessarabia during the specified period. On the other hand, the newly discovered archival materials on this topic will be allow to reveal and supplement the authorship of many religious buildings in Bessarabia. The article examines both published materials and archival documents, some designs of religious buildings built in Bessarabia, due to which new facets of the talents of architects become more obvious and are of interest both for the history of architecture and, in general, for the preservation of the rich cultural heritage of the Republic of Moldova

‘Art is different from life’: Doctrine and agency in Thokozile Philda Majozi’s insights and imagery

Established in apartheid South Africa, the tapestry-weaving venture at the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre, Rorke’s Drift, was situated in a complex mission environment, on the junction between evangelised and unevangelised isiZulu-speaking communities. Although local women who worked at this centre in the 1960s and early 1970s were trained in creative strategies by Swedish artists, their lives were constrained by missionary strictures, inherited customs and apartheid laws. Little has been written on the tapestries made by these marginalised women, whose experiences were discounted in the socio-political milieu. Yet even as they were subordinated by political and social hierarchies, some found ways to assert their individualities. One of the most prolific was Thokozile Philda Majozi. As this study demonstrates, her woven iconographies, as well as her personal insights on those of others, provide a lens through which local Lutheran agendas and prejudicial social practices may be read. Some works anticipate the mission’s eventual change of heart on inherited customs and African-initiated churches. Majozi’s discussion also reveals how weavers often ignored Lutheran restrictions in the interests of artistic experience, despite the systems of control that defined their lives. Yet Christian weavers such as Majozi also complicated their representations of mission life, deploying images of un-evangelised women that articulated their own ambivalence towards them.

Artistic peculiarities of Nikolay Koshelev’s church painting

This article is dedicated to the works of the Russian artist Nikolay Koshelev of the turn of the XIX – XX centuries in the genres of religious and church painting. The introduction of the principles of historicism and realism into the Russian culture of the XIX century discovered a new perspective on religion themed easel paintings, church art and iconography, as well as created opportunities for the new content and formal means for depicting the subjects of painting. The article leans on the monumental cycle “The Passion Journey of Christ” by Nikolai Koshelev for the Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky in Jerusalem. The article traces the complex intertwinement with of the features of church painting with the features of academic easel religious painting in the context of artistic culture of the turn of the XIX – XX centuries. The detailed analysis of the monumental cycle of “The Passion Journey of Christ” at the Alexander Metochion in Jerusalem (created between 1890 and 1900)  reveals certain peculiarities of the artistic form of Nikolay Koshelev's works in the context of Russian church and religious painting of the XIX - early XX centuries. This topic should be viewed in relation to the general problems of modernization of public consciousness and cultural life in Russia of that time.

A Decolonial Feminist Dante: Imperial Historiography and Gender

This chapter brings a decolonial dimension to Euro-American feminist readings of Dante’s constructions of gender and sexuality. Corroborated by the religious art of the first millennium of the church in Rome, the Commedia’s concern with gender and sexuality relates directly to Pope Boniface VIII’s official disenfranchisement of women as part of his effort to imperialize the papacy. The ‘decolonial’ turn taken by several feminist theorists over the last forty years draws upon strategies and metaphors similar to Dante’s to challenge a post-1492 colonial sex/gender system. Early church art needs to be consulted in Dante studies for evidence of an anti-imperial Christian culture, subjugated and occluded by Dante’s time, that embraced the sensuous, the female, and a decentralizing relational imaginary. The ninth-century Basilica of Santa Prassede in Rome and the story of Titus unfolded across Purgatorio and Paradiso suggest a ‘decolonial’ alternative to the sex/gender system on which imperial sovereignty depends.

Works of I. D. Mansvetov as the First Historian of Church Art at the Moscow Theological Academy

Статья посвящена профессору Московской духовной академии, преподавателю кафедры церковной археологии Ивану Даниловичу Мансветову. До настоящего времени в публикациях рассматривалась его деятельность как литургиста, в то время как он много трудов посвятил изучению памятников церковного искусства и разработке проекта церковно-археологических музеев при духовных учебных заведениях. Замысел проекта был основан на изучении опыта Фердинанда Пипера, основателя Берлинского музеума христианских древностей, и его системе монументального богословия. В статье подчёркивается значение преподавательской деятельности И. Д. Мансветова как первого преподавателя церковной археологии, обратившего особое внимание на изучение истории церковного искусства в её неразрывной связи с литургической жизнью Церкви. The article is dedicated to Ivan Danilovich Mansvetov, Professor of Moscow Theological Academy and lecturer of the Department of Church Archaeology. Up until now, many researchers have viewed him primarily as a liturgist, while many of his works were also dedicated to church art, development of the church-archaeological museums by theological educational institutions - the project based on the study of the Berlin Museum of Christian Antiquities by Ferdinand Piper and his system of «Monumental Theology». The article emphasizes the importance of I. D. Mansvetov’s teaching, as the first professor of church archaeology, who paid special attention to the study of church art history in its connection with liturgical life of the Church.

National, Regional, or Just Catholic?—Dilemmas of Church Art in a German–Polish Borderland. Upper Silesia, 1903–1953

The rise of nationalism threatened the integrity of the Catholic milieu in borderlands such as Prussian Upper Silesia. Facing this challenge, the ecclesiastical elite developed various strategies. This article presents interpretations of sacred art works from the first half of the 20th century, which reveal different approaches to national discourses expressed in iconographic programs. The spectrum of attitudes includes indifference, active counteraction to the progress of nationalism by promoting a different paradigm of building temporal imagined communities, acceptance of nationalistic metaphysics, which assumes the division of humanity into nations endowed with a unique personality, and a synthesis of Catholicism and nationalism, in which national loyalties are considered a Christian duty. The last position proved particularly expansive. Based on the primordialist concept of the nation and the historiosophical concept of Poland as a bulwark of Christianity, the Catholic-national ideology gained popularity among the pro-Polish clergy in the inter-war period. This was reflected in Church art works, which were to present Catholicism as the unchanging essence of the nation and the destiny of the latter resulting from God’s will. This strategy was designed to incorporate Catholic Slavophones into the national community. The adoption of a different concept of the nation by the pro-German priests associated with the Centre Party—with a stronger emphasis on the subjective criteria of national belonging—resulted in greater restraint in expressing national contents in sacred spaces.

Inscriptions in the Artistic Structure of the Items of Medieval Silversmiths. Works of Church Art from Tikhvin in the State Russian Museum

The article presents the results of studying inscribed and dated objects of applied art of the 16th–17th century from the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. The subject of the research is the set of church plates from the monasteries of the Dormition of Our Lady and the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple in Tikhvin and the precious tsata from the Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God (Stockholmskaya) from the Tikhvin Cathedral of the Transfiguration. In 1928, the items were given to the State Russian Museum from the department of ecclesiastical property of the State Museum fund. The majority of these items were made in the Moscow workshops. The study provided an opportunity to identify the items fabricated by Tikhvin silversmiths. The authors analyze the iconography, style, structural and technical features of a number of art works including liturgical vessels, a church lamp and several altar Gospels. The study substantiates new attributions of the chalice and the church lamp from the Cathedral of Dormition of Our Lady. Attention is given to the inscriptions on the items. The authors examine the specifics of the forms of inscriptions and cite new data on the donors such as Ivan Nikitich Romanov, Ivan Ivanovich Shuiskii and the Mikhalkov family.