A comprehensive study of the theology of the Icon and its history, the aesthetics of the Icon and its structures, and the techniques and steps to paint an Icon, this book contains more than 100 color and black-and-white photos and a similar number of drawings which show the technical details and preparations of painting an Icon, from pigment colors to selection of wood.

A comprehensive study of the theology of the Icon and its history, the aesthetics of the Icon and its structures, and the techniques and steps to paint an Icon, this book contains more than 100 color and black-and-white photos and a similar number of drawings which show the technical details and preparations of painting an Icon, from pigment colors to selection of wood.

A beautiful introduction Icons -- the "beating heart of the Christian East" Religious icons have been at the spiritual heart of the Christian East for nearly two thousand years, a tradition continuing vibrant and unabated to the present. Their mysterious, peaceful quality, and almost magnetic power arrests the eye and draws the gaze of the viewer. Yet their apparent simplicity belies a depth and sophistication of composition and symbolism, making them eloquent expressions of a tradition of deep spirituality and theological reflection. Their geometrically structured and proportioned underlying drawing, gracefully elongated figures, clearly defined color areas and absence of shading, and its unusual or mixed perspective, give them a monumentality emphasizing that their subjects are inhabitants of another, transcendent, world. They are not simply the art of the Christian East, but the expression, the beating heart of its spirituality, meant to be not simply objects of admiration, but of meditation, reflection, and veneration. Dennis J. Sardella's beautiful book will: - Introduce you to icons and instill a desire for a deeper appreciation of them - Teach you about their origin, their historical evolution, their complex symbolic language, and their role in the spiritual and liturgical life of the Eastern Churches, both Orthodox and Catholic - Answer your questions about when and where the first icons were created - Show the physical and spiritual steps in their creation - Explain the different types of icons, the symbolism that is key to deciphering them, as well as their role in Eastern Christian spirituality and liturgy.

This book argues that the extraordinary force of the image in contemporary life?the contemporary imaginary?can be traced back to the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy of the eighth and ninth centuries.

This twentieth anniversary edition (more than 111,000 copies sold) brings Henri J.M. Nouwen's writings on Eastern Orthodox icons to a new generation and adds to the Nouwen collection published by Ave Maria Press. With a foreword by Br. Robert Lentz, a well-known painter of contemporary icons, this classic Nouwen book invites readers to pray with four Russian icons with their eyes open by emphasizing seeing or gazing, which are at the heart of Eastern spirituality. Nouwen's meditations reveal his viewing of the icons not as decorations, but holy places. The book includes four full-color icons for private contemplation or meditation.

"The nature of the icon cannot be grasped by means of pure art criticism, nor by the adoption of a sentimental point of view. Its forms are based on the wisdom contained in the theological and liturgical writings of the Eastern Orthodox Church and are imtimately bound up with the experience of the contemplative life. The present work is the first of its kind to give a reliable introduction to the spiritual background of this art. The introduction into the meaning and language of the icons by Ouspensky imparts to us in an admirable way the spiritual conceptions of the Eastern Orthodox Church which are often so foreign to us, but without the knowledge of which we cannot possibly understand the world of the icon." -- Back cover.