Alexander Sokolov's Exhibit in Washington D.C.
Viktor Olevich
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Religious art was in official disfavor in the Soviet Union,
and American visitors to Soviet Russia often tried to pick up bargains in
painted religious icons, an art form that goes back more than a millennium.
The new Russian Cultural Centre in Washington is lodged in the building that
used to hold the Soviet visa office, where Americans went for permission to
visit Russia. And beginning Monday, the center will host an exhibit of icons by
a painter who carries on the ancient tradition today, Alexander Sokolov. It's a
joint show with his wife, Maria Veshnyak, who paints in a more recent and
realistic style.
She comes from a family of painters and specializes in landscape, but her
subjects include monasteries, churches and other religious subjects.
``Icon painting in the traditional style continued under the Soviets, but it
was a private thing, like baptism,'' Natalie Batova, the center's director,
said in an interview. ``I was baptized.''
In the Soviet era, members of the Communist Party had to profess atheism, and a
religious background hindered professional advancement. Vladimir Putin,
Russia's acting president, made a career in the KGB, however, even though he
was baptized.
Now Batova shows off her center's own icon of St. Nicholas, revered by many
Russians as a patron of education. Teaching is among the center's jobs, and
Batova stopped to greet a Russian language class on the way from her office to
the reception room where the icon hangs.
``We ordered it last year, and when it came in, we couldn't tell it from an old
one,'' she said proudly.
Painters base icons on ancient traditions, emphasizing symbolism and spiritual
values. The figures' ritual gestures and stiff figures make no attempt at
realism. The art is being actively revived and the demand among Russians is so
great that schools for icon painters are being set up.
Sokolov entered the movement early when he became founder of a new school in
Poland and has since taught in Japan as well as Moscow.
Batova also displayed a Russian Orthodox church calendar for this year,
decorated with reproductions of brightly colored icons painted by Sokolov.
A biographical note by critic Irina Yazykova calls Sokolov ``one of the
outstanding modern iconographers of Russia.'' She cites an image of the
``Virgin of the Inexhaustible Cup'' that he painted for a Russian monastery.
``This icon became very popular,'' she wrote, ``not only because this icon
heals the illness of drinking but because it is a creation of heart and soul.''
The icon shows the Virgin Mary, with a cup in front of her and an image of the
child Jesus emerging from the cup.
``Classical Iconography'' and ``Traditional Russian Realism'' will be at the
Russian Cultural Centre, 1835 Phelps Place N.W., Washington, until April 6.
Admission is $5.
On the Net: Russian Cultural Centre: http://www.russianembassy.org/ click on
Cultural Centre
AP-NY-03-25-00 0134EST