Tarasov's second book -- kovcheg

Wed May 9 18:45:50 UTC 2012

Thanks for the various suggestions and definitions. Perhaps things did change somewhat in the English version. I’ve provided some quotations from the book that use kovcheg or ark to indicate the margins rather than the central recessed area.

Best,
Kenneth Allan 

University of Lethbridge

“The margins of an icon – its ‘material frame’ – come into being as a result of a hollow being cut into the middle of the icon, on which the images of Christ, the Mother of God or a saint is painted. In the Russian language this icon frame was given a special name: ‘ark’ (kovcheg).” [28]

“This function of concealing the holy object was performed also by the metal overlay of the icon, its casing and curtain cloths. All these served as an ‘ark’ and ‘adornment’ for the sacred countenance, separating it out and protecting it within the surrounding space.” [32-33]

“The ark as frame points in two directions: it is directed both to the centre – the image of Christ – and outwards, to the world itself and to humanity. The frame of an icon not only delimits the image of Christ within the surrounding space, but also links the two together.” [35]

“This is clearly seen if we take the example of the curtain or veil (a symbolic ‘frame’) of the sacred image. The medieval icon was veiled (in an ark or under cladding) in the same way that authentic existence or beauty were concealed and inaccessible to human imagination.” [51]

“Its iconography, decorations and construction are typical of the time and once again confirm the conception of the frame in the Baroque age as an independent work of art. Representing the ark of an ancient shrine, the frame does not so much conceal it from the eyes of the multitude as attempt to tell the people about it, to bring it close to the world and to the individual.” [68]

“Ultimately, Baroque aesthetics and rhetoric led to the appearance of icons with complex frames of multiple components, or rather with separate marginal frames, which replaced the medieval ‘ark’ with margins that were integral with the board or boards.” [69]

Re-iconostasis: “This supporting structure, carrying the icons, served as no more than a symbolic ‘framing’, not differentiated from the representation itself, like the margins (or ‘ark’) of an icon.” [126]

“It was at this time that the gradual destruction of the ark of the medieval icon, and its replacement on the prayer image by a ‘picture frame’, took place; the latter could be detached from it in order to adorn a secular image on paper, canvas or metal.” [153]

“The first is an ornamented frame, resembling a cut-out section from the horizontal structure of a later sixteenth-century or early seventeenth-century iconostasis, or an ‘ark’ separated from its icon – more precisely the ornamental margins of an icon.” [154]

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] on behalf of Alexandra Smith [Alexandra.Smith at ED.AC.UK]
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 10:42 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] Tarasov's second book -- kovcheg

Dear Allan,

I've read Tarasov's book "Ritorika obramleniia v russkom iskusstve"
(2007) about a year ago or so. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of
it right now. I do remember that in one of the chapters Tarasov talks
about the disappearance of frame per se in Russian 20th-c. art
(including icons produced by modernist artists). It seems that the use
of the word "kovcheg" in a loose way to which you refer occurs in
Tarasov's discussion of some 20th-c. icons, since the notion of
framing was abandoned altogether.
I note that in one of the chapters from Tarasov's 2007 book (available
on the internet) Tarasov  refers to the notion of "kovcheg" (ark) in a
traditional sense, too. He writes about one 18th-c. icon thus:
"В следующем столетии линейная перспектива и картинная рама
окончательно утверждают свои позиции в русском церковном искусстве. В
житийной иконе святой Варвары (вторая половина XVIII века, ГИМ)
средневековый ковчег исчез, а иконные поля превратились в тонкую
живописную рамку — линейная перспектива и новая риторика образа
заставили мастера пересмотреть концепцию рамы изображения."
See this page:

http://www.icon-art.info/book_contents.php?lng=ru&book_id=93&chap=6

Perhaps, you could tell us more about the passage of the book you have
in mind? It would be useful to see it in order to understand why the
word kovcheg is used in a different way.

All best,
Alexandra

--------------------------------------------
Alexandra Smith (PhD, University of London)
Reader in Russian Studies
Department of European Languages and Cultures
School of  Languages, Literatures and Cultures
The University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JX
UK

tel. +44-(0)131-6511381
fax: +44- (0)0131 651 1311
e-mail: Alexandra.Smith at ed.ac.uk

--
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Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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