Orthodox aesthetics on modern and contemporary Art. Between Redemption and Art for Art’s sake: The Romanian case

Abstract

This paper aims to outline the current Orthodox aesthetics vision on modern and contemporary art, based on a thorough exploration of relevant Orthodox theological writings published in Romania. After going through a significant part of the theological literature that deals with aesthetics written by Romanian authors such as Nichifor Crainic, Dumitru Stăniloae, Ioan Bizău, Mihaela Palade, etc., and by internationally well-known Orthodox theologians translated into Romanian such as Paul Evdokimov and Leonid Uspensky, we are able to highlight the main features of a coagulated Orthodox vision on modern and contemporary artists, art movements and artistic phenomena. There is a general agreement among Orthodox theologians that Renaissance was the age when the spirit of individuality and formal freedoms entered art, which led to a distancing of artworks and artists from God. Also, modern art and contemporary art are usually regarded as harmful to the human soul and to its Salvation. These views also reverberate among some circles of Romanian visual artists and art critics with strong Orthodox personal beliefs. Furthermore, this aesthetic vision might partially explain why the Romanian Orthodox Church has remained fairly uninterested in recent art phenomena and why it hasn’t tried to establish a theological or practical dialogue with the artworld, in the past few decades.