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Chapter 4 - Representation

The Icon and Artwork

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2023

Stephanie Rumpza
Preface by
Jean-Luc Marion
Stephanie Rumpza
Affiliation:
Sorbonne Université, Paris
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Summary

Using several examples, I discuss the features of Byzantine icons as a form of representational art. In addition to tensions which can occur within the image itself, I point out tensions between the expression of a glory which surpasses the limitations of the aesthetics alone (through the use of gold, perspective, and the mandorla) as well as an impoverishment which falls well beneath what images are capable of (the submission of the painting to prescribed word, in content, style, and name). This paradoxical inclusion of highs and lows, straining against the limits of representation on both sides, hints that the icon is aiming to express a meaning greater than the image alone.

Keywords

iconsaintByzantine aestheticsgoldlightmandorlaperspectiveaesthetic paradoxgloryaesthetic povertynamerepresnetation
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Chapter
Information
Phenomenology of the Icon
Mediating God through the Image
 , pp. 133 - 160
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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