UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 23, Page 6
March 10, 1994
Orthodox icons featured in gallery exhibition

     An impressive collection of icons, sacred images in the orthodox
Christian tradition, will be on display at the University Gallery from
March 11 through April 15.
     "Orthodox Icons from a Modernizing Age from the Collection of Mr.
Leslie M. Burgess and Dr. Sarah Jastak-Burgess, Burgess-Jastak Foundation,"
will open with a public reception at the gallery from 4:30-7 p.m., Friday,
March 11.
     Icons are usually paintings on specially prepared wooden panels. Their
subjects are often portraits of Christ, his mother or saints, but they may
be narratives or even depictions of hymns.
     Icons were not created for aesthetic enjoyment but for public worship
and personal devotion. According to the exhibition catalog, the orthodox
icon tradition has its roots in commemorative portraiture- especially
funeral portraits or honorary portraits of benefactors- from the
Greco-Roman era. When the subject of the portrait was a holy person
empowered to aid petitioners, icon worship took on more than commemorative
or honorific meaning-the icon became the vehicle of communication between
the worshiper and the spiritual realm.
     Icons are not beautiful in conventionally accepted ways. The
compositions are conservative, and the saints are clearly formulated types,
although icon painting almost never produces strict duplicates.
     Many icons were made for use in the church, but they also were kept in
private homes. In Russian homes, they were placed on a high shelf at the
corner of two walls, which was called the "beautiful corner."
     In the church, portable icons are carried in procession during the
liturgy and at festivals. Others are set up on special stands for
veneration during their festival season, day or month. Still others are
fixed to the piers or walls and to the chancel barrier.
     Both in the church and in homes, icons might be covered with
embroidered cloths. Offerings such as flowers and lighted candles might be
left before them. In some areas, kissing an icon remains an act of
communication with the divine.
     The Russian church inherited the icon tradition from the Byzantine
upon the baptism of Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev in 988. Throughout the
Middle Ages and into the modern period, Greek icons and painters traveled
to Russia where they were especially esteemed.
     The majority of the Burgess-Jastak Collection is in 19th-century
Russian icons, with one icon from Bulgaria and one from Greece, all
spanning the period from the late 18th century through the early 20th
century.
     The diversity of stylistic approaches found in these icons and the
interest in the fine metalwork that adorns many of the them reflect the
collectors' personal vision of this traditional and venerated art form.
     Carefully selected over a period of many years, it is likely that the
Burgess-Jastak Collection, coupled with three other examples already in the
University Gallery Collection, represents Delaware's largest publicly held
repository of orthodox icons.
     Given to the University of Delaware in 1991, the icon collection is
not only a generous gift of considerable artistic dimension but symbolizes
as well a statement of faith by the donors in the educational mission of
the University, according to Belena S.Chapp, gallerty director.
     Both Burgess and Jastak-Burgess, who is an alumna (M.A. '53 and Ph.D.
'63), have long been supporters of the University, evidenced by their many
contributions to students scholarships and recently through major donations
of art. In 1993, the University was once again the recipient of their
generosity with the gift of an extensive collection of amber-believed to be
one of the largest privately held in the world-in addition to 68 paintings,
Gobelin tapestries, Gandharan sculptures and African carvings.
     The icon exhibition is made possible with additional support from
Leslie M. Burgess and Sarah Jastak-Burgess, the Burgess-Jastak Foundation;
the Office of the University President; the Fluor Foundation; Unidel
Foundation; the Faculty Senate Committee on Cultural Activities and Public
Events; and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency committed to
enhancing and supporting the arts in Delaware.
     The University Gallery is located on the second floor of Old College.
For information call 831-8242.
                                                  -Beth Thomas