Romanian Icons: 19 – 20 Centuries

This exhibition presents 52 Romanian icons painted on glass and wood (most of them from the 19th and 20th centuries) reflecting Old and New Testament themes and characters. All icons are national treasures of Romania and the objects were chosen from the National Museum of Art and the Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucharest. The project was initiated by the Center for Jewish Art of the Hebrew University, academically supervised by Professor Shalom Sabar, Chair of the Department of Jewish and Comparative Folklore, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The exhibition centers upon folk glass icon made at the villages in Transylvania. These small and glamorous framed icons reveal in their bright colors and expressive designs the inner religious world of the peasants who produced and used them, and reflect the work of local folk artists. These icons are totally different from those we are accustomed to see in art books and museums. Firstly they are painted in the technique of reversed glass rather than the more traditional direct painting on wood panels. Secondly, the tradition of their production and veneration is relatively new – dating from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century – and is still alive nowadays, strikingly surviving the Communist era.
The exhibition aims at revealing to the Israeli public a genuine approach of significant figures familiar in the Tanakh, and from the New Testament, thus inviting to a rewriting of the bridge between the two cultures and traditions.

This exhibition was orgenized by The Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv, in partnership with the Artists House in Jerusalem, the Center for Jewish Art of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucharest, and the National Museum of Art in Bucharest,

Prof. Shalom Sabar – about the exhibition

In the winter of 1993 I traveled to Bucharest with Moshe Kones, in order to visit Romanian museums and select materials for an exhibition we planned to mount in Jerusalem in conjunction with the Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The uncomfortable feeling due to a snowy and chilling weather that expected us upon this first visit of mine in Romania was dramatically changed when we visited the museums and met with the curators and other staff working there. Here welcome us cheerful people, full of excitement and love for their work and willing to help in every aspect. One could observe how they cheered up vividly every time they showed us one of the precious objects in the collections and libraries under their responsibility.
The enthusiasm of the curators that especially caught my attention and impressed me most concerned one type of object, about which I never heard before: the folk glass icon of the villages in Transylvania. One after the other, the small and glamorous framed icons revealed in their bright colors and expressive designs the inner religious world of the peasants who produced and used them. To be sure, religious icons are not unique to Romania and the tradition of making artistic icons has a long and fascinating history in the Byzantine and later Eastern Orthodox churches. However, these Romanian icons are totally different from those we are accustomed to see in art books and museums. Firstly they are painted in the technique of reversed glass rather than the more traditional direct painting on wood panels. Secondly, the tradition of their production and veneration is relatively new – dating from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century – and is still alive nowadays, strikingly surviving the Communist era.
The images on the glass icons obviously reflect the work of local folk artists, who did not acquire any formal training or attended an art school and many of them remain anonymous. Nevertheless, the icons succeed in capturing the sincere feelings, deep sentiments, and appealing imagination of their makers – clearly showing their great affection and identification with the topics depicted. For those acquainted with traditional Christian art, the basic stories and figures are well-known and familiar. Many of them reveal the special fondness of the peasants towards events and heroes of the Hebrew Bible, or more precisely the Old Testament. However, having examined the many biblical icons that were shown to us it soon emerged that the there are certain topics and figures that recurred more often – evidently alluding they were more favorite than others. It was amazing to discover that the principal “hero” on these folk icons was the prophet Elijah, commonly shown ascending in his fiery chariot to heaven. In the Jewish tradition, Elijah is likewise the most popular national hero of the past, and there are more stories told on him among the Jews of Christian Europe and the Islamic East than any other figure in Jewish folklore. But aside from his mutual popularity, the only connection between the two traditions concerns the belief in the miraculous qualities of the beloved prophet who never died. Thus, in the Transylvanian villages Elijah has been venerated and became a central figure on the icons because he is believed to be a rainmaker (cf. I Kings 17-18) – making him an ideal patron-saint of the peasants.
Naturally, this kind of story and the naïve beauty in which the other biblical themes were depicted led for the selection of the glass icons for this exhibit. Though removed from their original ambience, where they crowded the walls of the simple houses and lovingly adored by the villagers, we hope something the warm atmosphere they evoke is conveyed in this exhibit. Thanks are due to all curators who welcomed and consulted us, the lending institutions, the Center for Jewish Art, the Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv that was instrumental in bringing this exhibit to Jerusalem, and to the Artists’ House that provides the space for this important exhibition.Prof. Shalom Sabar
Chair. Dept. of Jewish and Comparative Folklore
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem