The fate of the icon in Revolutionary Russia: From the discovery of ancient Russian painting to the era of “iconoclasm”

During the revolutionary period, a peculiar discovery of ancient Russian painting took place. For a long time, the ancient icon faded over time, so that it looked more bright and impressive, was renovated and prescribed. The most ancient paintings were hidden under a layer of the latest updates. In addition, ancient Russian art was considered primitive and crude. At the beginning of the 20th century, restoration artists began to clear such icons from old records. It is surprising that it was in the era of wars and revolutions that a peculiar discovery of ancient iconography took place. Gradually, collecting icons is becoming fashionable. Some figures of the Orthodox Church considered such a secular attitude towards church art unacceptable. But some church leaders and Patriarch Tikhon supported the restorers. The Patriarch even officially blessed the clearing of ancient icons. The most famous icons, including the works of Andrei Rublev, were cleared of later records at that time. At the same time, a kind of antique market of ancient Russian icons was formed. Collectors of ancient Russian icons, especially during the period of revolutions, often replenished their collections in obviously dishonest ways. In parallel with the discovery of ancient Russian art, there was also persecution, and subsequently the destruction of much of what was related to the Orthodox Church. The Bolsheviks called their policy on religious art “iconoclasm”. Icons were initially removed from public places where they hung. Then the icons began to burn. Restorers and connoisseurs of ancient Russian art were afraid that valuable icons would simply be destroyed. It seems that this is why some of the most famous icon connoisseurs were not against selling them abroad. Subsequently, icon painting began to be considered as folk art. And the icon turned from a once religious relic into one of the symbols of a secularized culture.

1. Anisimov A.I. (1983a) The pre-Mongol period of ancient Russian painting. O drevnerusskom iskusstve. Sbornik statei = About Ancient Russian art. Collection of articles. Moscow : Soviet Artist. P. 275-350. (In Russ.).

2. Anisimov A.I. (1983b) Disclosure of monuments of ancient Russian painting. O drevnerusskom iskusstve. Sbornik statei = About ancient Russian art. Collection of articles. Moscow : Soviet Artist. P. 81-103. (In Russ.).

3. Antonov D.I. (2022) Sacred garbage: the practice of ritualized disposal in the modern Church tradition. Zhivaya starina = Living Antiquity. No. 1. P. 21-24. (In Russ.). EDN: FIFYVR.

4. Antonov D.I., Doronin D.Y. (2022) Icons of the Soviet era: faces of tradition. Moscow: Indrik. 183 p. (In Russ.). EDN: CZPOKG.

5. Bobrov Yu.G. (1987) The history of restoration of ancient Russian painting. Leningrad: Artist of the RSFSR. 162 [2] p. (In Russ.).

6. Buseva-Davydova I.L. (2021) Russian iconography from the Armory to Modernity: the search for a sacred image. Moscow: BuksMArt. 475 p. (In Russ.).

7. Vzdornov G.I. (1986) The history of the discovery and study of Russian medieval painting, XIX century. Moscow: Iskusstvo. 382 p. (In Russ.).

8. Georgievsky V.T. (2000) Letter to N.P. Kondakov, March 26/ April 2, 1923. Kyzlasova I.L. Istoriya otechestvennoi nauki ob iskusstve Vizantii i Drevnei Rusi (1920–1930 gody). Po materialam arkhivov = Kyzlasova I.L. History of the national science of the art of Byzantium and Ancient Russia (1920-1930). Based on the materials of the archives. Moscow: Publishing House of the Academy of Mining Sciences. P. 198-205. (In Russ.).

9. Grabar’ I. (1987) V.M. Vasnetsov (essay). Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. Pis'ma. Dnevniki. Vospominaniya. Dokumenty. Suzhdeniya sovremennikov = Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. Letters. The diaries. Memories. Documents. Judgments of contemporaries. Moscow. P. 335-337. (In Russ.).

10. Grishchenko A.V. (2022) Questions of painting. The Russian icon as the art of painting. Moscow: Omega-L. 270 p. (In Russ.).

11. Kravetskii A.G. (2022) A report by Bishop Prokopy (Titov) on icon painting in Russia. November 7, 1917. Dokumenty Svyashchennogo Sobora Pravoslavnoi Rossiiskoi Tserkvi 1917–1918. Protokoly zasedanii i materialy Otdela o bogosluzhenii, propovednichestve i khrame i Bibleiskogo otdela = Documents of the Holy Council of the Orthodox Russian Church of 1917-1918. Minutes of meetings and materials of the Department on Worship, preaching and the Temple and the Bible Department. Moscow: Publishing House of the Novospassky Monastery. Vol. 15. Book 2. P. 1021-1029. (In Russ.).

12. Kravetskii A.G. (2022) Reports by V.M. Vasnetsov “On Russian iconography”, “Iconography in urban and rural temples”, “On factory imitation of images”, “Electricity in temples”. November 25, 1917. Dokumenty Svyashchennogo Sobora Pravoslavnoi Rossiiskoi Tserkvi 1917–1918 godov. Protokoly zasedanii i materialy Otdela o bogosluzhenii, propovednichestve i khrame i Bibleiskogo otdela = Documents of the Holy Council of the Orthodox Russian Church of 1917-1918. Minutes of meetings and materials of the Department on Worship, preaching and the Temple and the Bible Department. Moscow: Publishing House of the Novospassky Monastery. Vol. 15. Book 2. P. 1044-1063. (In Russ.).

13. Kolcherin Aleksii, protoierei (2018) Documents of the Holy Council of the Orthodox Russian Church of 1917-1918. Moscow: Novospasskii Monastery. Vol. 7. Book 2. 1280 p. (In Russ.).

14. Kapkov K.G. (2020) Darkness. Tragedy. Terror. The story of the ruin of the Nikolo-Solbinsky Monastery and the fate of 8 of its inhabitants, 1918-1938. Problems of reading investigative cases. Nikolo-Solbinsky Convent (The town of Solba, Yaroslavl region). Moscow. 333 [2] p. (In Russ.).

15. Kaulen M.E. (2002) The role of temple museums and monastery museums in the preservation of the Christian historical and cultural heritage of the North. Khristianstvo i Sever. Po materialam VI Kargopol'skoi nauchnoi konferentsii = Christianity and the North. Based on the materials of the VI Kargopol Scientific Conference. Moscow. P. 115-132. (In Russ.).

16. Kravetskii A.G. (2022) The liturgical way of the Russian Church and the Holy Scriptures in the works of the Local Council of 1917-1918. Dokumenty Svyashchennogo Sobora Pravoslavnoi Rossiiskoi Tserkvi 1917–1918 godov. Protokoly zasedanii i materialy Otdela o bogosluzhenii, propovednichestve i khrame i Bibleiskogo otdela = Documents of the Holy Council of the Orthodox Russian Church of 1917-1918. Minutes of meetings and materials of the Department on worship, preaching and the Temple and the Bible Department. Moscow: Publishing house of the Novospassky Monastery. Vol. 15. Book 1. P. 5-88. (In Russ.).

17. Kyzlasova I.L. (2006) On Patriarch Tikhon's blessing of the works of cultural figures on the preservation and restoration of monuments of ancient painting. Vestnik PSTGU. Ser. 2. Istoriya. Istoriya Russkoi Pravoslavnoi tserkvi = Bulletin of the PSU. Episode 2. The Story. The history of the Russian Orthodox Church. No. 1 (19). P. 27-33. (In Russ.). EDN: JRGZMZ.

18. Lepakhin V.V. (2008) “The Golden Age” of legends about miraculous icons. Moscow: Pilgrim. 315 p. (In Russ.).

19. Likhachev D.S. (2021) Memoirs. Moscow: OGIZ. 463 p. (In Russ.).

20. Matorin N.M. (1931) Iconography in antireligious propaganda. Sovetskii muzei = Soviet Museum. No. 2. P. 45-54. (In Russ.).

21. Muratov P.P. (2008) Russian painting before the middle of the XVII century: the history of discovery and research. St. Petersburg: BIBLIOPOLIΣ. 429 p. (In Russ.).

22. Georgievskii V.T. (2000) An unsent letter from to N.P. Kondakov. October 25/12, 1918. Kyzlasova I.L. Istoriya otechestvennoi nauki ob iskusstve Vizantii i Drevnei Rusi 1920–1930 gody. Po materialam arkhivov = Kyzlasova I.L. The history of the national science of the art of Byzantium and Ancient Russia 1920-1930. Based on the materials of the archives. Moscow: Publishing House of the Academy of Mining Sciences. P. 209-217. (In Russ.).

23. Osokina E.A. (2018) The heavenly blue of angelic robes. The fate of the works of ancient Russian painting, 1920-1930s. Moscow: New Literary Review. 655 p. (In Russ.).

24. Pivovarova N.V. (2014) Monuments of Church antiquity in St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad. From the history of the formation of museum collections: the 1850s-1930s. Moscow: BuksMArt. 432 p. (In Russ.).

25. Prigodina O.B. (2002) Antireligious persecution in Kargopolye. Christianity and the North. Based on the materials of the VI Kargopol Scientific Conference. Moscow. P. 63-66. (In Russ.).

26. Rogoznyi P.G. (2020) Civil War and icons. Grazhdanskaya voina v Rossii. Zhizn' v epokhu sotsial'nykh eksperimentov i voennykh ispytanii, 1917–1922. Materialy XI Sankt-Peterburgskogo mezhdunarodnogo kollokviuma po russkoi istorii. Sankt-Peterburg, 10–13 iyunya 2019 goda = Civil War in Russia. Life in the era of social experiments and military trials, 1917-1922. Materials of the XI St. Petersburg International Colloquium on Russian History. St. Petersburg, June 10-13, 2019. St. Petersburg: Nestor-History. P. 193-207. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.51255/978-5-4469-1699-3_2020_193. EDN: EKYCHF.

27. Tarasov O.Yu. (2016) Modernity and ancient icons. From a shrine to a masterpiece. Essay. Moscow: Indrik. 283 p. (In Russ.).

28. Fedotov G.P. (1991) New Russia. Sud'ba i grekhi Rossii (izbrannye stat'i po filosofii russkoi istorii i kul'tury) = Fate and sins of Russia (selected articles on the philosophy of Russian history and culture. St. Petersburg: Sofia. In 2 vol. Vol. 1. P. 197-227. (In Russ.).

29. Shakhnovich M.M. (2021) Locally venerated Orthodox saints in Russia in the end of the 1920s – early 1930s (based on ethnographic expeditions). Religiovedenie = Religious Studies. No. 3. P. 5-14. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2021.3.5-14. EDN: WOUUCA.

30. Shitz I.I. (2022) “And fear, crazy fear…”. The historian's diary : (March 1928 – August 1931). Moscow: Terra. 428 p. (In Russ.).

31. Sokolov Y.M. (2010) Letter to B.M. Sokolov, on June 21, 1920. Iz dalekikh dvadtsatykh godov dvadtsatogo veka (ispovedal'naya perepiska fol'kloristov B.M. i Yu.M. Sokolovykh) = From the distant twenties of the twentieth century (confessional correspondence of folklorists B.M. and Y.M. Sokolov). Moscow: IMLI RAS. P. 370-376. (In Russ.).