Issued by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media - Jordan. Editor-in-chief Fr. Rif'at Bader - موقع أبونا abouna.org

Published on Sunday, 11 November 2018
London: Icons for Unity Exhibition

By John Clawson/indcatholicnews.com :

The Church of St Saviour in Lupus Street, Pimlico is the venue once again of an exhibition of Icons from around the UK and even further afield - as far as Hong Kong in fact. The exhibition (from 15 to 17 November) has been arranged by The British Association Of Iconographers which was established 11 years ago with the stated aim of deepening the knowledge and inner understanding of icons and the spirituality associated with them, whilst establishing contact with all iconographers, leaner's, beginners and those with great proficiency.

There will be more than 140 exhibits of members work on show. World renowned contributors such as Stéphane René, Aidan Hart and Peter Murphy are exhibiting. Stéphane René is a leading exponent of the Neo-Coptic School and is delivering a lecture entitled 'Coptic Iconography in the 21st Century. Aidan Hart is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church living in Britain, and has been a full-time icon painter and carver for over twenty-five years. He will deliver a lecture 'Nature of Divine Beauty - a tough Love'' and Peter Murphy is a British artist working in traditional egg tempera and gold leaf techniques. His lecture is titled 'Icons of the Veneto Cretan Tradition.'

Also exhibiting are many more professional Iconographers including Sr Esther from Turvey Abbey who teaches iconography in Hong Kong and Turvey in Bedfordshire and is President of the Association. This Sacred art form is enjoying a revival in Europe, USA Russia and many parts of Christian Asia and the Association has over 300 members from many different parts of the world.

However not all the artists are professionals, Members, professional and amateur alike, are encouraged to show their work. The exhibitions are a showcase of many beautiful images. Iconography, is often described as a branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so. OK it is this but it is also much, much more. To many people it is a window into paradise. Take a look and judge it for yourself