I've been wondering something, though I don't really know how to ask without it possibly sounding rude and most likely dumb. So I'll just go for it
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Okay, I had this entry all written up but I decided not to post it, because I don't really want to deal with long and detailed discussions that would naturally arise from it. But I don't at all mind answering your question! Here is the part of the entry that applies to what you asked (and I may eventually post the whole thing anyway
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Thanks! Yes, that helps answer the question, for sure. I have a lot I could say, but there's no need to get into a whole discussion that you're trying to avoid.
Except, those images you paste do have shadows. I guess you mean no shadows of the whole body on the ground or something..?
I don't mind if you have more questions. I just don't want to really open up a big thing in my whole friends list. (Of course, anyone can view this entry, but most people probably won't.)
Yeah, I guess that is what it means. There is shading in them but not shadows like you mention.
Yeah..shading is essentially shadows, but whatevs. :)
Well, it's just that I learned very differently about that style of art. That it looked that way because of lack of progress in artistic ability, style, etc. I'm totally paraphrasing, but you can see a progression in art and it goes from like the little drawings found on ancient walls to more realistic (and eventually abstract again...) stuff of the Renaissance period. So....it wasn't like, "We want it to look like this!" when they originally painted those icony pictures, but it was just where they were in the craft and the style of the day.
I just woke up a bit ago so this isn't very clear, and definitely not intelligent or sensitive.
I have to go so I'll leave it at that for now. :P Sorry.
As am I! The concept of revering certain styles of art like that is definitely a new one.
I guess a better question for you is just how you feel about that. I mean, did you like this style of art before you became Orthodox? Do you like it much now, beyond because you're taught to appreciate it?
Hm, well, I guess I didn't really think about it much before I started looking into Orthodoxy. I didn't have a particular affinity for icons, nor did I dislike them. There were certain aspects of some of them that I thought strange, like the fact that the icons of Mary with Jesus depicted Jesus looking not like a baby but like a small adult. I didn't understand why they made them that way; I thought perhaps it was just a quirk about the style or something. But it's meant to show that He was fully mature even in his infancy.
Now I find icons to be quite beautiful, and the more I learn about them, the more I like them. The richness of the symbolism makes them more beautiful to me than they would be just as pictures (although I do like the way they look and I think there is little more beautiful than a church full of them).
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Except, those images you paste do have shadows. I guess you mean no shadows of the whole body on the ground or something..?
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Yeah, I guess that is what it means. There is shading in them but not shadows like you mention.
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Well, it's just that I learned very differently about that style of art. That it looked that way because of lack of progress in artistic ability, style, etc. I'm totally paraphrasing, but you can see a progression in art and it goes from like the little drawings found on ancient walls to more realistic (and eventually abstract again...) stuff of the Renaissance period. So....it wasn't like, "We want it to look like this!" when they originally painted those icony pictures, but it was just where they were in the craft and the style of the day.
I just woke up a bit ago so this isn't very clear, and definitely not intelligent or sensitive.
I have to go so I'll leave it at that for now. :P Sorry.
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I guess a better question for you is just how you feel about that. I mean, did you like this style of art before you became Orthodox? Do you like it much now, beyond because you're taught to appreciate it?
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Now I find icons to be quite beautiful, and the more I learn about them, the more I like them. The richness of the symbolism makes them more beautiful to me than they would be just as pictures (although I do like the way they look and I think there is little more beautiful than a church full of them).
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Yeah, it is weird how Jesus has like a man face on a small body, but the symbolism makes sense.
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