More than 140 devotional objects depicting saints, virgins and other sacred Christian subjects will together reveal centuries of spiritual and aesthetic tradition.
Tracing a journey rich in universally human emotions, the exhibition intersects with Mona’s interest in what determines behavior and the ultimate biological motivation for the things we earthly beings do.
While painting an icon may begin as an act of piety, the resulting object also lives as a work of art far beyond its initial purpose.
Heavenly Beings: Icons of the Orthodox Christian World / Mona/Jesse Hunniford Image courtesy of the Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
“We can consider the icon as a “window to heaven”, as believers believe; but also as a mirror, through which we can glimpse the deeper purposes – deeper than awe and transcendence, than culture or a higher power – that are served by human creativity.
A number of Ethiopian, Egyptian, Syrian, Balkan and Palestinian icons are striking reminders of other traditions that flourished in the distant but interconnected Orthodox world, while retaining their distinctive local histories and meanings.
The exhibition is built around the extensive collection of John McCarthy AO, with additional icons generously loaned by private collectors and public institutions.
In addition to the painted icons, there are stunning silver crosses, portable altars, holy books and an 18th-century pilgrim’s “souvenir card”, the personalized memento of a pious man’s journey to the Holy Sepulcher inside the walled city of Jerusalem.