Last updated on Μάιος 9th, 2024 at 11:27 πμ

Can a painter paint an icon? 

Interview with icon-painter Gevorg Poladyan, a resident of Crete

The Armenian iconographer living in Crete creates murals and icons for the temples of the Greek island, as well as for the churches of Armenia and Artsakh. In an interview with Sputnik Armenia, he expressed his opinion on whether artists can paint canonical icons and why the school of iconography is necessary.

One of the oldest monasteries in Europe is “hidden” in the Old Town of Heraklion, the Armenian Church of Saint Hovhannes the Baptist, built in 1669.The history of the church is very special. First it was Catholic, and when Crete came under the rule of the Turks in 1669, an Armenian named Abro, born in the Ottoman Empire, bought the building and donated it to the local Armenians. It was then that the church of Hovhannes Mkrtchi was founded there. Today, the cathedral is decorated with many icons and one fresco depicting the meeting of the Virgin Mary and Saint Elizabeth, which took place a few days after the Annunciation. The author of this mural, as well as five icons, is the iconographer Gevorg Poladyan, who settled in Crete in the 90s.

“I have always drawn, but I began to seriously engage in painting at the age of 25. And I have been painting icons for about 10-11 years. That’s when I fully understood that this direction is the closest to me,” says the artist.According to Gevorg, he had been living in Crete for a long time when he learned that the local school of iconography is one of the most famous and prestigious schools in the world.”When I learned about it, I thought that it was no accident that I ended up in Heraklion. Apparently it was God’s intention for me to learn to paint icons right here. And I paint mainly in the Cretan style,” he says.At the same time, when decorating the walls of Armenian temples, Gevorg uses the Armenian traditions of mural painting and miniature painting, often referring to the Byzantine school.

The artist draws attention to the fact that Armenians have rich traditions of church painting and miniature painting, but now, for some reason, the temples are without frescoes. At the same time, he notes that the frescoes on the walls of the monastery were not only for decorating them.”Biblical scenes, scenes from the Gospel were often depicted on the walls of the church, so that even the illiterate could understand the Bible.”As for icons, they are less common among Armenians. Gevorg connects this with the fact that icons are easier to steal and destroy than murals. He draws parallels between the Armenians and the Greeks, noting that if among the former it is customary to present khachkars to the church, then among the latter – icons.He himself painted several icons for Armenian churches. 

Two of them (Saint Gevorg and Mkrtutyun) decorate the Church of Saint Gevorg in Noragavit, the icon of Christ is in the Church of Our Lady of Khachik village (XVII century). Gevorg also created the image of St. Barsegh for the chapel of the same name in the Akhtala monastery complex, and the icon of the Mother of God is displayed in the main church of the Akhtala complex. By the way, in 2016-2018, he worked on the mural of the Holy Martyrs in the Armenian Church of Kyiv.

The symbolism of the number “seven”.

Gevorg remembered an interesting story related to the icon of St. Nicholas that he painted, which he donated to the Ghazanchetsots church in Shushi.”In 2017, Pargev was hosted in Crete. I told him that soon I will have a son, whom I want to name Nicholas, and that I want to donate the icon of Saint Nicholas to one of the churches of Artsakh (at his discretion). I had only seven days to finish the work, because the Bishop was returning to his homeland. In the end, I managed and painted it in exactly seven days,” says the artist.

It is interesting that the artist’s son was born on 17.07.2017 at 17:37. And after that, the reverend took the canvas to the 777th anniversary of Gandzasar. Then it was displayed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (Ghazanchetsots Monastery).After the shelling of the temple during the 44-day Artsakh war of 2020, Gevorg was informed that all the icons in the temple were damaged, except for the image of St. Nicholas, which was moved to the residence.”Unfortunately, it remained there,” the iconographer notes and adds that in 2021 he made an exact copy of that icon for Pargev Srbazan.

When a painter paints an icon

It is common in Armenia for benefactors to order icons from artists to donate to the church. In this regard, Poladyan notes that the painting technique may be very good, but it cannot be called a canonical icon. He gives an example of the Armenian church architecture, which cannot be confused with anything else due to the distinguishing features that are unique to it: cross-domed system, layer of tuff, features of the dome, etc.

As for icons, even in one church there can be such eclecticism . The complete absence of any rule rules here,” says our interlocutor. According to him, in the case of icons, it is necessary to form a school. To create guidelines that will guide icon writers. Gevorg hopes that this issue will be resolved over time. He cites the example of Georgia, which once sponsored icon painters and sent them to study in different countries of the world. Later, returning to their homeland, they formed their own school. Summarizing, the iconographer nevertheless notes that regardless of all the rules, everything that is created by faith is acceptable by the church.

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18:12 20.11.2022 (Updated: 18:21 21.11.2022 )

Article: by Lilit Harutyunyan

@The article was translated from Armenian language. The original version in Armenian language you can read here.