
Icon Museum and Study Center
Season 6 Episode 3 | 28m 29sVideo has Closed Captions
A visit to the Icon Museum and Study Center in Massachusetts.
The Icon Museum and Study Center holds a collection of over a thousand Russian, Greek, and Ethiopian icons and Orthodox works of art. Explore these examples of art and discover the work that goes into their conservation.
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Treasures Inside The Museum is a local public television program presented by Rhode Island PBS

Icon Museum and Study Center
Season 6 Episode 3 | 28m 29sVideo has Closed Captions
The Icon Museum and Study Center holds a collection of over a thousand Russian, Greek, and Ethiopian icons and Orthodox works of art. Explore these examples of art and discover the work that goes into their conservation.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Narrator] Coming up next, visit a place where religious icons are displayed as works of art.
(gentle music) Discover the histories of where they come from and take a closer look at some of the stories they tell.
And we'll go behind the scenes with an art conservator, offering insight into the meticulous work that goes into a piece before it makes its way onto the gallery walls.
This is "Treasures Inside the Museum".
(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music) These buildings in Central Massachusetts that were once home to an old mill, a courthouse, and jail, are now gallery spaces for a unique collection.
The Icon Museum and Study Center is home to an extensive collection of icons and Eastern Christian art.
(gentle music continues) - We actually are the only specialized museum for icons and Eastern Orthodox art in the Americas, including South America.
So, we specialize in Russian icons, Greek Cretan icons.
We embrace the whole world of Eastern Christian art.
(gentle music continues) We see icons as images of Christ, saints, feasts of the Orthodox Church, painted on wood or cast, for traveling icons, in brass, mostly.
- Icons are oftentimes a portrait of a saint, but in the medieval period, they began painting scenes from their life to resemble something like a modern picture book.
So, oftentimes, you have the saint standing with a cross or some sort of attribute of their power or strength or authority, and then in the frame around them are scenes from their life and then the wonders that they work later in life.
And these scenes told the story of all of their feats.
- When you're looking at icons, it's actually very different from Western art.
It's like touching the roots of Christianity itself.
- [Narrator] The museum came into being as a result of one man deciding to share his collection with a wider audience.
- Gordon Lankton is the founder of this museum.
He started doing business with Russia in the 1990s, and one day, he arrived at an open air market, where he found an icon of Saint Nicholas.
Small icon, a very simple folk icon, and he fell in love with it.
He bought it, and that was the beginning of a real passion.
He collected over 1,000 icons since then.
And in 2006, he opened this museum to show his passion, his collection of icons.
- [Narrator] Since opening more than 25 years ago, the collections have expanded.
Today, several permanent galleries across three floors exhibit a variety of religious icons.
- So icons come in all different sizes, all different formats, and really, all different media.
And this gallery shows you a span of images that come both from monasteries as well as from churches, as well as from sacred spaces in the household.
One of the things that we emphasize is that Orthodox families celebrated the life of the church in certain spots within their homes.
They might have a corner near the kitchen or near the family room where they displayed icons, they might have reliquary crosses, and we have examples of those in this gallery.
(choral music) (choir vocalizing) (choral music continues) (choral music continues) - [Narrator] It's important to remember that collections here should not only be seen as religious icons, but also as important works of art with historical and cultural significance.
- This is one of the highlights in our collection.
It is a very impressive icon of Christ enthroned.
- [Justin] It is a massive panel, several feet tall and several feet wide.
It would've stood at the very center of the iconostasis.
The iconostasis is the chancellery barrier between the nave of the church and the altar.
- Christ enthroned in the center.
He's surrounded by choirs of angels.
What you're seeing here are these beautiful colors, the reds, the greens, the blues.
- [Justin] And it shows Christ appearing as the Christ of Majesty, the Christ of the Last Judgment.
- [Simon] This is a very good example of what icon painters wanted to do.
They wanted to show us a world that is actually not feasible.
Through these colors and shapes and these very interesting mystical figures, they just lift a little bit of the curtain and they show us that world that we actually cannot see.
- It's an extremely important icon because it allows us to show something of the size and the grandeur that Orthodox icon painters all over the world aspired to.
(gentle music) - [Narrator] More than being a repository and exhibit space for icons, the museum is also a research institute.
A library here, complete with manuscripts and documentation, is available to scholars and researchers interested in learning more.
Discovery is an ongoing process.
As such, they are always thinking about provenance.
Where do the icons come from?
Who made them?
And who possessed them through the centuries?
- Oftentimes as curators, we're highly disappointed because we know so little about the provenance, and that's not an accident.
This was oftentimes information that was kept secret.
On rare occasions though, we do know an awful lot about our icons.
So, one example that we have in this gallery is an icon, 17th century, of the Fatherhood.
It shows God cradling Christ, and the Spirit in between them.
It's an image of the Trinity.
And we know that it came from the late 19th century collection of Mikhail Postnikov.
And we know that because on its reverse, it has a little accession note, and it even gives an attribution and attributes it to Kargopol, a city in Northern Russia, where they made these types of images in the 17th century.
The crown jewel, though, of our research on provenance is this icon, which is a 16th century example of the anastasis.
It shows Christ breaking into hell and liberating all of the saints.
But what's so interesting is that on its reverse, it has a whole journey of the icon in the late 19th and the early 20th century.
So what we're looking at on the back is all the different accession notes from the different collections where it was kept.
It begins with this museum up in the top left.
It probably then, after that, went to the Tretyakov Gallery, which is one of the preeminent collections of icons in the late 19th century.
It was then deaccessioned for reasons that we don't always know, and probably entered the collection of State History Museum.
And then after that, in the 1920s, when the Soviets were selling off lots of their cultural heritage to fund their wars, it probably entered into a Western collection, perhaps a Swiss or German collector.
And then eventually, when they sold it in the early 20th century, it came to our collection.
This is extremely rare.
Oftentimes, these stickers are taken off or they're marked over and we don't really have any information.
But this is a typical example of the types of icons that come to the West because of the vicissitudes of history and the communist period in Eastern Europe.
(choral music) (choir vocalizing) As curators, what we're always thinking about is what will our audiences see on the walls of our museum?
However, there's also a story to be told about the back side.
And when you flip over an icon and you see this, you're just absolutely overjoyed, because there's so much information about where this icon was, whose hands it was in.
We even have here specific reference to the book in which it was published.
(gentle music) - [Narrator] There is an exhibit here that offers insight into some of the tools and materials that would've been used to make a lot of the icons displayed here.
They shed light onto the types of pigments and precious metals used by artists to create and protect their works.
Long before any piece is put on exhibit, each one has to be carefully examined and cataloged.
Hidden away in a back room, there are numerous works that are in different stages of the process.
Inside these drawers are pieces whose stories are still being uncovered, while others await a close examination and possible restoration.
Some icons may spend years in the shadows before they are ready for the spotlight.
An expert has been brought in to examine this recent acquisition, and the initial first look is raising more questions than anyone anticipated.
- When an icon comes into the museum, it has to be seen what conservation it might need.
You know, is it structurally sound?
That's the first thing you look at.
You know, is the wood holding up, is it being eaten by woodworm, so forth.
So, the minute it comes in, it has to be examined.
So, that would be the first treatment you would do.
Whether you do anything else, whether you then bother about the surface at that point is another matter, and then that will be discussed.
So, it is good to come...
It's remedial work, first of all, and it's very important.
When it comes into this museum, it will be at the correct humidity and the correct temperature.
Now, it may not always have been in that situation, so the temperature might be changing for it, the humidity might be changing for it, so it might start to react quite quickly when it comes in here.
What you're looking at is layers, the original icon, and then it goes through layer upon layer upon layer, what has happened to it over a certain length of time.
It became obvious straight away that this part is later.
I can see how the brush isn't the same.
That's how I can see it.
Because the brush line isn't as sharp.
And then you can see little faint areas of paint.
From a distance, that's a bit of a surprise, straight off.
All of this was painted in later, so, to match this.
So, that's a problem when you're gonna come and clean, because that's possibly gonna be taken off, and we're gonna have to reconstruct this area to be as similar as it is now, but to actually really match this area.
This one is particularly complicated because there are so many different workings on this.
It's not easy to see, but it looks like under the ultraviolet light that this goes all the way down here.
That, with its very heavy crackling, I would assume is original.
This is the beautiful part.
Christ's head is, we think, at this point, untouched.
When I say untouched, it's been restored, but it's well intact.
So that's the part that's really the most exciting part about this.
- [Narrator] The approach is often a balance between making a piece look as good as the day it was created and understanding that the icon has had a life, and that each layer is part of that story.
- We try not to put too much back.
And so if this icon has been painted over 100 years, again and again, we'll sometimes keep the different areas, because they are the same.
It's the same prototype.
It's Christ enthroned.
There may be variations in the paint, there may be variations in the paintbrush mark, but it should be a similar image.
- [Narrator] Photographs are taken before any work begins.
The first order of business is to do no harm.
It helps to know exactly what to expect before starting.
- You can either wrap a little bit of cotton around the Q-tip or just use the Q-tip.
In this case, I'm putting a little bit of cotton around it because the chemical, which is dimethylformamide, is quite a strong chemical.
And then before I start, I take something that will neutralize the chemical.
And then you just start rolling.
It is beginning on the Q-tip to get a very slight varnish coming up.
Now, this one has had conservation, and then to some extent, repainted.
As opposed from conserved, and then just the bits that were missing, there's a whole area which is actually missing.
So that gives you an idea that this, this, this, and this is problematic.
I certainly wouldn't go straight into here.
We could try on the gold, 'cause that might give me something that shows me how much gold there is here.
This gold is behaving as I would like it to, in that the varnish is coming off.
That doesn't mean to say that there isn't something beyond and below this, but if this is so intact, we may not want to go to another level.
We'll sometimes want to leave areas that have been damaged, as long as you can read the icon.
So, there's a different sensibility one brings to icon conservation, in that respect.
- [Narrator] A lot of work remains before this piece is ready to take its place in the spotlight.
Ultimately, the decisions about how to proceed with conservation efforts will be made by the museum staff.
once the evaluation is complete.
Every option will be carefully considered so that future generations will be able to appreciate the icon.
In the meantime, there's no shortage of remarkable icons for visitors to examine.
Exhibits include both two and three dimensional objects.
Each one has a unique story to tell.
(choral music) (choir vocalizing) This collection, while not complete, is nevertheless important enough to display.
- What we're looking at is a set of 10 icons out of an original 12 that were painted in the 19th century by a group of old believers who were a particular sect within the Russian Orthodox Church that broke away in the 17th century and began forming their own communities, some with priests and some without priests.
And they were masters in icon painting.
They held to older traditions of painting, meaning 16th or early 17th century, which they viewed as the correct form of icon painting.
This particular set of feast icons would have been created for a church.
These were icons that were stored in cabinets, sometimes within a small chest within a church, and they were brought out at particular moments of the liturgical year.
So for instance, the feast days of Epiphany, which is celebrated in January.
This icon would've been brought out for the feasts.
It oftentimes was placed on a small table within the church.
There might be flowers placed around it, votive offerings.
And the Orthodox, when they entered the church, they would have venerated the month icon, and then their attention would've been drawn through various other directions within the church, too, particular icons on the iconostasis, murals on a wall, or so forth.
So the icons sort of held a central place within the space of the actual church.
Calendar icons all pretty much follow a similar format.
You have rows of saints, usually three, four, five rows, and each one is given a particular space.
They're kind of packed in all tight, like sardines.
But what's so interesting is that when you look really, really closely, you see the care taken to individualize each particular face, each particular gesture, whether they are a marcher, whether they're a miracle worker, whether they are part of the holy family, or whether the scene is part of the Christmas story, for instance.
(choral music) (choir vocalizing) (choral music continues) (choral music continues) These are called tablet icons, which means that they are painted on a very thin piece of board.
And they were painted in this style to resemble older 16th, 17th century pieces that were painted on canvas.
So, the canvas was assembled layer by layer.
It was adhered with a glue called gesso, which was sometimes made of rabbit fat or other natural organic chemicals.
And they were painted this way, in a very thin form, to show all the saints of the liturgical year.
So there were 12, one for each month, and they were made reversible with about 15 of the days of each month on each side.
And they were painted in this way to provide models and to provide examples of each saint alongside of their label and the different feats or wonders that they were known for working.
They're very fragile and they're also extremely rare, so this is the only example in North America of a surviving set of menon icons.
The Greek word for month is menon.
And they survive in cathedrals and rich monasteries in Eastern Europe, in Russia.
They go back to the 12th century in their format.
So we have, for instance, 12 icons of the months at a famous monastery, St. Catherine's on Mount Sinai, where Moses supposedly received the tablets of the law.
It's a highly venerated place within Orthodoxy.
Icons were made with tempera, which is an emulsified pigment which is mixed with an egg yolk emulsion.
So, the painter would take the egg yolk, dip it into a pigment, and then apply it to the board, which had been prepared with gesso and some underlying surface.
And then they would articulate the different outlines.
So, these icons are all made using a tempera technique.
This particular set of icons was made by a master workshop, meaning that it would be a lead painter, and then oftentimes, an apprentice or two.
Such an elaborate set of icons would have required probably two to three to four hands.
And oftentimes, a master would make the schema, the original outlines, fill in the most important details, and sometimes another painter might fill in the garments or add the inscriptions or add the border decorations.
Icons in the 19th century were, like also in earlier centuries, were a group effort, and each, sometimes, painter had a division.
There was a division of labor where each painter performed a particular task.
What these icons really show us is a desire to systematize worship and veneration of the saints in Orthodoxy, and using tablets divided up month by month by month to show a sort of pantheon of the saints.
It's sort of like a mythological system is being created to inspire veneration, to inspire worship in a very old format, but for a modern audience.
(choral music) (choir vocalizing) - [Narrator] While most pieces on display at the Icon Museum and Study Center are part of a permanent collection, there is also a separate gallery allocated to temporary exhibits.
This recent show focused on printed icons, and the different printing methods that made it possible for icons to proliferate beyond the churches and monasteries and into the streets and homes of the faithful.
(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) In another space in the museum, a small area has been dedicated to an emerging collection.
- Well, many of us know that that is part of the Eastern Christian world.
There's Russia, there's Greece, the Orthodox art.
But Africa has been part of that world as well, and still is.
And it's really interesting, I think, to pay attention to that part of Orthodox art, because it is different, But at the same time, there are so many similarities that we really want to share that with our audiences.
- [Narrator] The centerpiece of the exhibit is this 20th century Ethiopian painting on goat skin.
Another smaller object being featured is a well-worn treasure that was once someone's personal icon.
- This is a very special object.
This is a triptych, a triptych from Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
And this is a triptych that was painted in the second half of the 17th century, during the Kingdom of Gondar.
As you can see, on the front is a cross.
These triptychs were worn around a neck like this.
They were in a leather case.
I'll open it for you.
So as you can see, beautifully painted, with here, a warrior saint.
And this is Saint Basil.
This is an Ethiopian saint who is riding on horseback, represented as a warrior saint.
And what is absolutely fascinating about this particular triptych is this text here underneath, because it says, in Ge?ez, which is the liturgical language of Ethiopia, that this triptych was in the possession of Walder Cristos.
And we don't know who that is.
But there are more icons from the 17th century with this exact same inscription.
Here is an image with the resurrection of Christ.
With Christ here in the center, and Adam and Eve to his left and to his right.
And here, the crucifixion of Christ with the mother of God, the Virgin Mary, and Saint John.
And here are a few Ethiopian saints.
I will turn it around, the triptych.
And what you see here then is the virgin again, the mother of God here in the center with the Christ child, and two angels with drawn swords to her left and her right side, protecting her.
These triptychs were worn by the nobility, so they were very, very pricey, let's say.
And they were beautiful objects that were also used as amulets.
And they were worn like this.
They're pretty big, actually.
But they were in a leather case, and that's the way they used them.
This museum is about art in a very broad sense.
And whatever brings you to the museum, there's so much to learn, to explore, and to experience.
- [Narrator] It's a place where one can pause and reflect while discovering an often underappreciated art form.
(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] This program and other episodes of "Treasures Inside the Museum", as well as digital extras, are now available to watch anytime by visiting rhodeislandpbs.org or the Rhode Island PBS YouTube channel.
Take a private tour with exhibit curators, get an inside look at the conservation process, and go behind the scenes to see hidden treasures.
Whether you are interested in artifacts, paintings, photography, architecture, or history, you'll be inspired to learn more.
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Treasures Inside The Museum is a local public television program presented by Rhode Island PBS