These
articles are presented in Adobe PDF format. If you do
not have the Adobe Reader software on your computer, you
can download it for free by
clicking here...
Recently
added articles
ICONS
AND THE SPIRITUAL ROLE OF MATTER by Aidan Hart
An article written for the Vatican newspaper "l'Osservatore
Romano", appearing December 2011.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
THE
ICON by Aidan Hart
Written for The Royal West of England Academy's (RWA's)
art magazine "ART", appearing in the Winter
2011/2012 edition.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
ADVENT
AND TRANSFIGURATION: God's descent and man's ascent
by Aidan Hart
A talk given by Aidan Hart on 27th November 2011, at All
Saints Anglican Church, Baschurch, Shropshire.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
New
Book "Techniques of Icon and Wall-painting" by
Aidan Hart
The
most comprehensive book to date on the techniques of icon
and wall painting. 460 pages, with over 450 colour illustrations
and 160 drawings. 227mm x 278mm. Hard cover, £40.
BUY NOW
For more information and
to preview book.
WALL
PAINTINGS AND MOSAICS IN CONTEMPORARY CHURCHES: Theological
principles determining their subject matter and placement
by Aidan Hart
A talk given in Belgrade, 2011, which outlines principles
to keep in mind when designing and making contemporary
mosaics and wall paintings.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
THE
MOTHER OF GOD IN FESTAL ICONS: Theology in colour and
form by Aidan Hart
A talk given for "The Friends of Athos" Conference,
Madingley Hall, Cambridge, 26th February, 2011. It looks
at the theology implicit in all the festal icons that
include the Mother of God, drawing on the witness of liturgical
texts, patristic teaching and the Scriptures.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
BEAUTY
AND THE GOSPEL by Aidan Hart
This article has been published both in "Epiphany
Journal" (USA) and "Second Spring" (U.K.).
It attempts to describe a theological understanding of
beauty, based on the five unions effected by Christ as
described by St Maximus the Confessor. The inspiration
is to find a new way of communicating the love of God
to a secular culture through using divine beauty as the
dominant image, rather than legal or moralistic terminology.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
SACRED ICONS
by Aidan Hart
This text is from a catalogue of an exhibition of new
and old icons. It explains the basic theology and use
of icons for a readership unacquainted with them.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
ICONS OF THE 20TH CENTURY by Aidan Hart
This is a talk given in 2000. It gives an overview of the situation at the turn of the century, and describes the contribution made by key twentieth century iconographers in reviving the traditional iconographic style. It then discusses some of the challenges facing iconographers in the coming decades.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
CELTIC, ANGLO-SAXON AND ROMANESQUE ICONOGRAPHY by Aidan Hart
This is a talk given in 1997 to an Orthodox arts group.
Its premise is that the icon tradition is a living rather
than a copyist's one, and as such it responds to the culture
from which it arises. As a basis for the natural development
of iconography in the west this article traces the main
influences which produced three of the main iconographic
traditions of western Europe, namely the Celtic, Anglo
Saxon and Romanesque.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
CHRISTIANITY AND SACRED ART TODAY by Aidan Hart
A talk given at Hillsdale College, USA, in 2005. It identifies the main features of the icon tradition and then discusses how contemporary art can be renewed if it returns to the role of art as mediator between a higher, divine realm and our own.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
TRANSFIGURING
MATTER - ICONS AS A PARADIGM OF CHRISTIAN ECOLOGY by
Aidan Hart
A talk given in Oxford in 1998. It discusses how the making
and use of icons reveals the Orthodox Church's understanding
of how we were intended to relate to the material world.
The talk considers this using “the classical images
of prophet, king and priest. Another way of expressing
these roles is to say that we were created to be the poets,
artists and musical conductors of the cosmos.”
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
ICONOGRAPHY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by Aidan Hart
Two consecutive talks given in 2005 at Cambridge. The first briefly discusses the spiritual and practical challenges facing iconography (and church architecture) in the 21st century e.g. we have unprecedented access to icons through books and travel, but how do we digest this plethora of information? The second states: “If the Orthodox Church is to fulfil its calling in the twenty-first century it must gain prophetical, intelligent, sympathetic insight into the art and culture of the West.” It suggests ways certain non-liturgical art can reflect spiritual truth.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
ICONS AND THE MATERIAL WORLD by Aidan Hart
This talk given in Iona, Scotland, outlines the role in our spiritual life played by the material world and our bodies. It begins with life in paradise before the fall and passes through all the great salvific events, showing how these affected the cosmos and our relationship with it.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
THE ICON AND PASTORAL CARE by Aidan Hart
This article discusses the healing role of icons in our times. Drawing mainly from personally known instances of blessing and healing brought to people through icons, the article shows how these sacred images can help us pass from being isolated individuals to becoming persons in relationship with God, one another, and the world around.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
PRINCIPLES OF
ORTHODOX CHURCH ARCHITECTURE by Aidan Hart
This article aims to identify the timeless principles
that underly traditional Orthodox churches, in the hope
that these will help develop an indigenous Orthodox architecture
in non-Orthodox countries. This is a paper given in 2003
at the foundation of the contemporary Orthodox Church
Architecture Group, and has also been published in the
online journal of Hexaemeron (http://www.hexaemeron.org/htms/newsletter_ss07_hart.htm).
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
THE SACRED IN ART AND ARCHITECTURE: TIMELESS PRINCIPLES AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES by Aidan Hart
This talk given in Cambridge in 2005 outlines some of
the fundamental principles of sacred art and architecture;
without understanding these sacred art descends into mere
copying. The article then goes on to discuss ways in which
non-liturgical art - “gallery art” - can,
at its best, overlap with many of the aims of overtly
sacred art. It then outlines some of the challenges that
face contemporary art, both sacred and secular.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
CHURCH WALL PAINTINGS
AND MOSAICS: PRINCIPLES OF THEIR ARRANGEMENT AND RELATIONSHIP
TO ARCHITECTURE by Aidan Hart
A seminar given in 2003 in London, this shows how wall
paintings, as with all genuine sacred art, forms part
of a seamless liturgical whole, particularly in this case
with the church's architecture. It shows how different
parts of a traditional church are ideally suited for particular
scenes and personages.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI by Aidan Hart
An article printed in Second Spring. Brancusi, a Rumanian, is considered the founder of modern abstract sculpture. This article discusses the influences of his Orthodox roots on his sculpture and thought.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
NEW ART: OLD ICONS by Aidan Hart
A lecture given at the Shrewsbury Art Gallery and Museum, 2003. In contrast to Post-modernism, most early modern art was an attempt to return art to its spiritual roots. The talk identifies general characteristics of the icon which can inspire a renewal of the spiritual in art, chiefly that art can mediate between ourselves and a higher realm.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
ICONS AND MODERN ART by Aidan Hart
Notes for a talk at Bear Steps Gallery, Shrewsbury, 2004. A brief assessment of Western art movements from the point of view of the philosophy behind the icon. Ends with quotes from a number of leading 20th century artists showing the spiritual basis of their work.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
INTERVIEW BY DAVID CLAYTON by Aidan Hart
A brief interview which formed the basis of an article in The Tablet, on creativity in iconography and what the tradition might say to Western art.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
THE ICON AND ART
by Aidan Hart
A talk given at the School of Economic Science, Waterperry,
Oxford, 7 March, 2000. Describes the theology and stylistic
features of the icon, and then suggests two forms of art
- threshold art and the art of compassion - which though
not liturgical in their function nevertheless share many
of the icon's aims.
Click
here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
THE ICON AND THE HUMAN PERSON by Aidan Hart
This article (a talk given at Iona, Scotland in 2000) considers what it means to be in God’s image.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
WHERE ARE WE GOING: A SPIRITUAL ANATOMY by Aidan Hart
This outlines the three stages of the spiritual journey, describes the various faculties of the human person, and finally, the basic elements of how temptations come to us and how we can rebuff them.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
ICONS AND MODERNITY by Aidan Hart
This describes the main elements of the icon tradition, highlighting those which cast some light on modern art. It identifies the chief elements in two early modernists, Brancusi and Matisse, which accord with the icon tradition.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
A HISTORY OF THE EARLY CHURCH OF THE BRITISH ISLES by Aidan Hart
This thirty-one page article tells the story of the church in the British Isles for the first thousand years after Christ. It draws on contemporary sources, archaeological discoveries, and modern scholarship.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
SAINT THEODORE OF TARSUS: ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY by Aidan Hart
This remarkable man was a Greek from Tarsus of Cilicia, almost certainly studied in Antioch and Constantinople, later lived as a monk in Rome where he was probably involved with Saint Maximus the Confessor in the Lateran Council, and eventually became one of the most important Archbishops of Canterbury .
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
GILDING TECHNIQUES by Aidan Hart
A detailed description of the techniques and materials needed for water gilding, oil mordant gilding and assist...
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
THE PAIN OF THE EARTH by Aidan Hart
A talk given in Minsk, Belarus, May 2001, at the European
Council of Churches Christian Environmental Network Conference.
This is an outline of Orthodox theology as it reflects
on ecology. If we are acting wrongly in our relationship
to the earth, it is because we are thinking wrongly.
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
PROGRAMMES AND TAPES
Below are given links to radio interviews involving Aidan, which you can download and listen to, and also details of tapes of talks he has given that can be bought.
