East Asian Iconography?

[Xpycoctomos]

Can anyone tell me if they know of any sites with Orthdoox Japanese/Chinese (or any East Asian) icons? I have seen some of the icons in some photos of Orthodox Churches, but the icons are simply Russian Style. Is there any local inspired style?

And if not, does anyone know of East Asian Christian art/iconography, even if not Orthodox?

Anything would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

John

 

[InnerPhyre]

 

[Xpycoctomos]

very beautiful... it would be great if there were some like this that had some chinese writing on them in the same place where the Greek is written. Very beautiful! Thanks IP!

Keep the info comin guys!

 

[repentant]

St. Mitrophan and the Holy Chinese martyrs..

 

[repentant]

 

[Emmanuel-A]

These icons are nice. I thought that Japanese icons were basically russian icons with stuff written in Japanese on them, like this one.

 

[prodromos]

I have seen an icon of the last supper painted in the traditional asian style, but I can't for the life of me remember where I found it. You'll just have to settle for the flag of the Autonomous Orthodox Church in Japan

Cool huh

[edit] bah! it needs to be on a dark background or have a border around it [/edit]

 

[Petronius]

For me, at this moment, these look like icons, but I am not sure if these are icons. Michael the Iconographer should express his opinion as a trained icon-writer.

 

[walking.away.123]

I got some here in Taiwan, but my scanner's not hooked up. Look at the Orthodox Church of Singapore and check out their iconographers. There are some more Chinese style icons of St. Mitrophan and the Holy Martyrs of China, and also a couple of Christ Pantocrator in a Chinese style.

 

[Michael G]

St. Mitrophan and the Holy Chinese martyrs..

Thank you for posting these!

 

[repentant]

Your welcome..if you notice in the 3rd one I posted, Jesus has an Asian look to Him. You can't really tell from this, but in the real one you can see it.

 

[Michael G]

For me, at this moment, these look like icons, but I am not sure if these are icons. Michael the Iconographer should express his opinion as a trained icon-writer.

Give me some time to ponder this question. I need to study these images to figure out what I think on the matter.

 

[Michael G]

The colors seem to be a bit off, but then we are talking about East Asian art and not Russo-Byzantine or Byzantine art. Usually the Theotokos and Christ have set colors they wear in icons, no matter what form the icons take. However, the form suggests an iconographic style. But then, I am not an expert in East Asian art. I would suggest that these do meet the criteria of being iconography, but would leave the final decision up to someone who has studied it a bit more.

 

[Xpycoctomos]

Thanks everyone!!! Anyone know where I could order one? Especially one with Japanese or Chinese Characters? Thanks.

John

 

[Michael G]

I have no clue as to where you can get an icon print done in a Japanese or Chinese style. For that matter, I don't know of any iconographers who write icons in that style.

 

[Orthodox Andrew]

I liked the other Asian Icons. But I don't see how these is any way resembles an Icon.

 

[Xpycoctomos]

They have halo's and the poses are very similar. They are not verosimil (just like ours), although they are a bit 3-dish (and our can be sometimes depending on teh tradition) and lack writing. I think it's hard to say at this time (As Orthdooxy is so young in Eastern Asia) what proper iconography would have to be over there in order to speak to and through their culture, their way of understanding pictoral representations and symbolism. I think thse are beautiful, but I kind of doubt they come from Orthodox (I base that on nothing more than "what are the chances") so I wouldn't call them "icons" in the traditional sense or being able to read deeper theological and spiritual truths into them... but rather Eastern Christian art. It's still nice though, if you ask me. Very beautiful actually and I wouldn't mind one of them in my apartment.

John

 

[prodromos]

A friend of mine who also happens to be an iconographer was describing to me the other day how byzantine iconography is largely a developement of an existing Greek art form which already had a couple of centuries of history behind it. He showed me a number of examples of Greek art fro the 3rd century BC onwards which contained many of the elements that are found in iconography such as reverse perspective, the large eyes and narrow nose, and painting from dark to light. Some of the pictures were almost indistinguishable from icons despite preceeding Christianity by hundreds of years. The point he wished to make was that Christ did not come to teach us to paint. The church took something that was already a part of the local culture and adapted it for her needs. Since East Asian countries already have a rich tradition of art, it is incumbant on the local church to adapt this for its own ends so that it becomes a tool for worship and teaching that can be readily received by the local population.

It is easy to see how chant was also localised in this way. When the Slavs were converted they were initially taught Byzantine chant, but it didn't take long for the church to adapt the existing local music traditions for use in the church slowly replacing Byzantine chant with the polyphonic chant now heard in russian churches. So too the church in Georgia has its own distinctive chant which is neither Russian nor Byzantine.

John

 

[Michael G]

A friend of mine who also happens to be an iconographer was describing to me the other day how byzantine iconography is largely a developement of an existing Greek art form which already had a couple of centuries of history behind it. He showed me a number of examples of Greek art fro the 3rd century BC onwards which contained many of the elements that are found in iconography such as reverse perspective, the large eyes and narrow nose, and painting from dark to light. Some of the pictures were almost indistinguishable from icons despite preceeding Christianity by hundreds of years.

Iconography did develope out of Greek, Roman and Egyptian art that had existed for centuries prior to the development of iconography. Coptic iconography clearly resembles pre-christian Egyptian art, and while the base style of Byzantine iconography spread to Russia in the 900's it did not take long at all for the Russian iconography to develop into it's own style. However, being Orthodox there are certain elements which need to be present in iconography. Color is one of them. East Asian iconography will develop on it's own as the Japanese and Chinese churches establish themselves, but there are certain elements of Orthodoxy which tend to be universal no matter what style of iconography we look at.

 

[walking.away.123]

I've seen painings like those before around here. Those look Japanese to me, and are almost certainly Catholic. I can assure you they didn't come from any Orthodox church in my Jurisdiction (SE Asia). If you want to see some more Chinese style paintings of biblican scenes check out Christ the Eternal Tao by Hieromonk Damascene.

S.