The sacred images on view in this exhibition are of a kind once readily found in even the humblest homes of Russia, as well as its churches and public shrines. Centuries-old artistic conventions are juxtaposed with new, Westernized formal elements and vernacular interpretations of these new forms. For Orthodox Russians, icons served as more than just religious paintings; they were relic-like objects directly linked to the holy figures they depicted. They were seen as comforters and powerful guardians. Icons were the direct line from the real world to the spiritual and appeared everywhere in pre-Soviet Russia.

Since the 11th century, Russian icons remained remarkably unchanged in style, rooted in the Byzantine tradition of vivid color and flat perspective. By the mid 17th century there was a great schism in the Orthodox Church that split into two major divisions—the conservative “Old Believers” who kept the traditional forms and rituals, and the State Church, which was more open to change and Westernization. During the 18th century came the ascension of the Romanov tsar Peter the Great and his creation of St. Petersburg as a “window to the West.” As a result some icons began showing the influence of Western European renaissance paintings created centuries earlier. As the years passed, State Church icons exhibited increasing realism. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, one of Stalin’s main agendas was to abolish religion. In the spirit of revolution and through intimidation, thousands of families voluntarily destroyed their icons or gave them to government officials to destroy or sell in the Western market. Many were used for scrap lumber or firewood; others were defaced. Amid the turmoil, thousands of people fled Russia for Western Europe and the United States. They took their Orthodox religious roots with them and saved many icons from destruction. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country encouraged the foreign sale and export of icons from the Romanov era.

This exhibition introduces the public to these beautiful and complex sacred objects and demonstrates the rich variety of styles and techniques used during this period.