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IKONA - The Modernist Invention of the Icon in the Russian Art World, 1900s-1920s

IKONA - The Modernist Invention of the Icon in the Russian Art World, 1900s-1920s cover

IKONA - The Modernist Invention of the Icon in the Russian Art World, 1900s-1920s

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Pre-order. Available 10 Jun 2027
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Description

This book argues that ikona, the Russian word for 'icon', is a modernist concept invented by Russian avant-garde artists and art critics at the turn of the 20th century. Clemena Antonova argues that the very notion of ikona is modernist in the sense that it grew naturally out of the evolution of Russian avant-garde art and art criticism. Quite literally then, the Russian icon was not 'discovered' at the beginning of the 20th century, as we are often told; it was invented. Further, this invention was not the work of backward-looking, religious mystics and Orthodox conservatives – an all too frequent implication – but, as Antonova convincingly contends, the creation of some of the most trailblazing figures among the avant-garde and circles associated with the avant-garde.

IKONA - The Modernist Invention of the Icon in the Russian Art World, 1900s-1920s casts a fresh look at the much misunderstood idea of the Russian icon. Rather than accepting the conventional view that the icon is a remnant of medieval art which continues to cast its spell over modern image-making, it approaches ikona as a concept that was developed at the crossroad of ideas that were central to the emergence of Russian modernism.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • PDF/UA-2, 1.4
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

Has alternative text descriptions for images

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: Taking the Icon out of History or Why Ikona Is of Little Use to Art Historians
Chapter 2: Inventing an Artistic Tradition or How the Avant-garde Discovered What Was Already There
Chapter 3: Developing a Theory or Picasso's Unexpected Role in the Story of Ikona
Chapter 4: The Black Square as Ikona or Taking Malevich at His Word
Chapter 5: The Rise and Fall of the Russian Icon: The Stalinist Cultural Counter-revolution or How Stalin Saved Ikona?
Chapter 6: The Afterlife of Ikona: The Russian Orthodox Church and Illiberalism in Putin's Russia
Conclusion
Biographical notes of some members of the art world

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 10 Jun 2027
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Pages 144
ISBN 9781350574977
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 3 bw illus
Series Russian Shorts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Clemena Antonova

Clemena Antonova is Research Director of the 'Worl…

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