Posted by vrcvanderbilt on Thursday, March 22, 2018 in Divinity School, Events, Fine Arts Gallery, HART, News, VRC.

Drawn from Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery’s collection of Zdenka Živković’s full-scale fresco copies created from the original paintings found in Macedonian and Serbian monasteries, the exhibition “Eikon: A Triple Encounter” opens Friday, March 23, at the Divinity School, room G-20, with a gallery reception from 4 to 6 pm. The exhibit will remain on view through April 20.

Curated by Julia Liden, MTS’18, the exhibit serves to illustrate the central role such frescoes played in communicating Christianity to the faithful. These large works were created in the medieval fresco technique by Zdenka Živković (1921-2011), the internationally recognized fresco copyist and restorer who sought to produce a large number of copies of frescoes, especially from endangered churches and monasteries in Serbia and Macedonia. Their presentation in the Divinity School exhibit will be augmented by icons and other devotional objects.

In 1986 the artist was present at the initial showing of her works in an exhibit in the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, which was then housed in the Old Gym. As part of the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Collection, they were later on display in an exhibit entitled “Byzantium: Art and Ritual” (February 11-March 21, 1999), which was curated by Joseph Mella, gallery director and curator.

Sponsored by Religion in the Arts and Contemporary Culture & Sacred Borders, the current Divinity School exhibit is in conjunction with the lecture, “The Canopy and the Byzantine Church,” presented by HART alumna Jelena Bogdanovic, MA’02, associate professor of architecture, Iowa State University, on Saturday, April 14, at 3 pm in the Divinity School, room G-23. Following her lecture, there will be a gallery tour of the “Eikon: A Triple Encounter” exhibit. Additional sponsors for Bogdanovic’s lecture are the Department of History of Art, the Program in Classical and Mediterranean Studies, the Department of History, and the Department of Religious Studies.

Liden, a candidate for the master of theological studies degree this year, has worked as a research assistant in the area of Syriac studies with David Michelson, assistant professor of the history of Christianity at the Divinity School. She and Michelson curated the exhibit “Syriac: Preserving an Endangered World Culture,” currently on view in Cohen Memorial Hall, which showcases the enduring presence of Syriac culture around the globe.

Gallery hours for “Eikon: A Triple Encounter” are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from noon to 2 pm in room G-20 (ground floor) of the Divinity School; and by appointment (religionandarts@vanderbilt.edu).

Photograph of Zdenka Živković courtesy of Jan a Goran Živković a Vuk Petrović. Beograd, April 2011.