Icons: Worship and Adoration

Description

When considering the term "icon", how can the idea of cultic worship be connected with the concept of the transcendental today? The qualities of the traditional icon continue to have an effect, particularly in the spiritual presence and auratic power of many modern and contemporary artworks. This volume presents masterpieces which expressesaspects of spirituality and reverence in a variety of individual ways. The works extend from Russian icons via Caspar David Friedrich, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko and Yves Klein to Andy Warhol, Niki de Saint Phalle, Isa Genzken and Andreas Gursky. Everyday icons from the world of brands and pop culture complete the range of images. The choice of works and the essays by selected authors contrast the interpretation of the traditional concept of the icon in art with the phenomenon of the creation of icons in our day-to-day environment. The publication aims to demonstrate the spiritual power of art and invites the reader to contemplation.

Christoph Grunenberg is the director of the Kunsthalle Bremen Museum in Bremen, Germany. His previous publications are Last Year in Marienbad: A Film as Art and Picasso and the Model: Sylvette, Sylvette, Sylvette. Eva Fischer-Hausdorfer is the curator of modern and contemporary art at Kunsthalle Bremen.