Page 215 - Uros Todorovic Byzantine Painting Contemporary Eyes

Chapter IV
the following case-study how in Kandinsky’s later works, although the Late Byzantine element became seemingly less evident, it simultaneously played a significant role in producing a distinct numinous effect.
Twilight and Tempered Elan through Byzantine eyes
Our main hypothesis in this case-study is that the abstraction of Kandinsky’s last works relates to the tendency towards abstraction in Late Byzantine painting to an extent which is much greater than what is currently acknowledged in the domains of art theo- ry and Byzantine aesthetics. In order to practically explain the relevant phenomena we shall again necessarily adhere to a methodology of aesthetic comparison and visual demonstration.
In Byzantine painting the tendency towards abstraction does not constitute only an external quality of its style. Rather, this tendency is an aesthetic consequence of the con- sistent desire of the Byzantines to transcend the material realm of existence and objecti- fy, through art as a form of liturgy, their culturally and spiritually specific, Biblical per- ception of the created world. Therefore, any methodological assessment of the specific reason behind – as well as of the aesthetic effect of – the aspect of abstraction in Late Byzantine painting owes to carefully consider this historical reality.
This is of particular importance when the possible relation between the tendency towards abstraction in Byzantine painting and the abstraction of 20th century Modern painting is discussed. A noteworthy publication on the related topic is the book entitled The Character and the Reason of the Abstraction in Byzantine Painting written in Greek by Georgios Kordis.34 While using Vasily Kandinsky and Paul Klee as his main references to Modernist abstraction, in continuation, Kordis offers his understanding of abstraction in Modern painting, as well as discusses its difference to the tendency to- wards abstraction in Byzantine painting. For example, in discussing a 16th century por- trait (fresco) from the Asteriou monastery in Attica (image 33) Kordis states that if we were to extract a segment from it in order to observe it on its own, we would then easily encounter an abstract work of art.35
In spite of this insightful observation, Kordis concludes his book by expressing some
34 Γιώργος Κόρδης, Ὁ Χαρακτῆρας καὶ ὁ Λόγος τῶν Ἀφαιρετικῶν Τάσεων τῆς Βυζαντινῆς Ζωγραφικῆς (Ἐκδόσεις Ἁρμός, 2007).
35 Ibid., 25–27.
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