How Divine Images Became Art: Essays on the Rediscovery, Study and Collecting of Medieval Icons in the Belle ﾉpoque (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781805111597)

How Divine Images Became Art tells the story of the parallel 'discovery' of Russian medieval art and of the Italian 'primitives' at the beginning of the twentieth century. While these two developments are well-known, they are usually studied in isolation. Tarasov's study has the great merit of showing the connection between the art world in Russia and the West, and its impact in the cultural history of the continent in the pre-war period.
Drawing on a profound familiarity with Russian sources, some of which are little known to Western scholars, and on equally expert knowledge of Western material and scholarship, Oleg Tarasov presents a fresh perspective on early twentieth-century Russian and Western art. The author demonstrates that during the Belle ﾉpoque, the interest in medieval Russian icons and Italian 'primitives' lead to the recognition of both as distinctive art forms conveying a powerful spiritual message. Formalist art theory and its influence on art collecting played a major role in this recognition of aesthetic and moral value of 'primitive' paintings, and was instrumental in reshaping the perception of divine images as artworks.
Ultimately, this monograph represents a significant contribution to our understanding of early twentieth-century art; it will be of interest to art scholars, students and anyone interested in the spiritual and aesthetic revival of religious paintings in the Belle ﾉpoque.

Author: Oleg Tarasov
ISBN-10: 1805111590
ISBN-13: 9781805111597
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Language: English
Published: 02/09/2024
Pages: 230
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.38lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.75d