From 18 October 2024 to 9 February 2025, the Ikonenmuseum Frankfurt in conjunction with two other museums of icons is presenting an exciting exhibition at the Design Museum in Frankfurt: IKONA – Holy Women as depicted in icons from the 15th to the 21st century. As part of the accompanying programme of lectures, I was able to present on parallels in the way in which Northern German nuns portrayed holy women in their manuscripts, on wall paintings, and on tapestries.
From the website of the design museum:
Holy women are protagonists in the history of religion, they are rulers, helpers and healers, as well as shapers of their own environments. The exhibition IKONA. Holy Women at the Museum Angewandte Kunst is the first to be dedicated to the diversity of their historical functions, hard-won scope for action and current social significance. The 78 iconic representations of female saints show the plurality of Orthodox cultures from more than six countries. They tell the stories of well-known and lesser-known women from early Christian times to the late 19th century. Their stories raise questions concerning spiritual practice in the context of sacred art, as well as about the tradition of power relations, role models and how they might change.
The icons were mostly created in Russia and Greece, but also in Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Egypt and Bethlehem between the late 15th and 21st century. Exhibiting such a multifaceted spectrum of female holiness in various local traditions and different media at the Museum Angewandte Kunst is possible thanks to the unprecedented collaboration of the three largest icon museums in Western Europe in Kampen (Netherlands), Recklinghausen and Frankfurt am Main and their associated private collections.
The sound installation VIRIDESCENCE, developed especially for IKONA by the composer Raphael Languillat and the soprano Maren Schwier, creates a sonic bridge between the female saints depicted in the exhibition and the Saint Hildegard of Bingen, who formulated the principle of viriditas (greening power).
Curators: Dr. Konstanze Runge in collaboration with Liesbeth van Es and Dr. Lutz Rickelt
Press release
Exhibition Booklet