Page 17 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Introduction
What led to the writing of this book is a conviction that when science is creative it be- comes equal to art, whereas when art is revelatory it becomes equal to science. But nei- ther of these two phenomena can occur, unless through either science or art we pose the right questions. Having this in mind, we wish to pose two critical questions so that we can address them in this work both through the means of critical observation and through the means of visual analysis and visual demonstration. The first question, which defines the topic of the first part of this book, is: How would we experience Byzantine painting if we were able to view it not only through modern and contemporary eyes but also through Byzantine eyes? The topic of the second part of this book is defined by the sec- ond critical question: How could those great examples of Modern abstract painting of the 20th century, which were significantly inspired by the Byzantine tradition, be experi- enced, if besides our contemporary perspective we were able to view them simultane- ously through Byzantine eyes? These two questions, which correspond to the two re- spective parts of this book, have inspired its final title: Byzantine Painting through Contemporary Eyes. In this sense, the phrase “through contemporary eyes” simultane- ously alludes to the diachronic significance of the aesthetics of Byzantine painting.
Besides being based on the PhD thesis defended in 2012,1 this book is a product of the author’s innate love of Byzantine cultural and artistic heritage as well as a product of a number of years of in situ examination of Byzantine frescoes, mosaics, and icons. Through its visual analyses, it aims at interpreting the aesthetics of Late Byzantine painting be- yond the obvious stylistic specificities of the Byzantine artistic tradition in order to make the diachronic character of Late Byzantine painting more observable than what it ap-
1 Uros T. Todorovic, “The Diachronic Character of Late Byzantine Painting: The Hermeneutics of Vision from Mistra to New York” (PhD diss., University of Sydney, 2012). Note: The photographic material in this book, including the au- thentic visual comparisons and visual demonstrations created by the author, is the same as in the doctoral dissertation defended in 2012. Also, the printed colour version of the doctoral dissertation has been available at university libraries since 2012. Therefore, authentic visual comparisons and visual demonstrations included both in this book and in the doctoral dissertation entail author’s rights since 2012.
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