Shields of Faith: Russian Icons from the 16th to the 20th centuries

June 21, 2001 - January 6, 2002

tep back into Imperial Russia... view the jeweled, gilded, and silver-decorated icons at the Higgins Armory Museum.

The rare, never-before-seen icons of this exhibit come from the collection of Mr. Gordon Lankton, CEO of Nypro Inc. Mr. Lankton, a prominent Central Massachusetts businessman, received a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University in 1954, and after two years in the army, spent nearly a year riding a motorcycle around the world. He started at Nypro as general manager in 1963, and has been president for the past 30 years. Nypro started with two molding machines in a garage in 1955, and now has sales of approximately $700 million. The company has built a global network of precision injection molding and assembly plants serving large, multi-national customers. Mr. Lankton, together with his wife Janet, has been collecting Russian icons for many years.

The Icon, a small, easily transported devotional image, originated in the Greek Orthodox Church. Icons have often been referred to as "windows to heaven", and to understand icons, they cannot be regarded simply as representations of saints in the same way those subjects are regarded in Western art. The word is derived from the Greek word eikon, or image. In the Orthodox Church the term is a theological one referring to the idea that visible things are revealed images (eikon) of invisible things. Through the icon the believer could gain contact with the spiritual world. Icons do not represent the earthly realm, and that is why the figures do not cast shadows; the glittering gold backgrounds remove reference to the transitory natural world.

Icons were regarded not merely as religious paintings, but as sacred objects directly connected to the saints they portray. Because of this connection, icons were seen as powerful guardians that could bring rain, heal diseases in humans and cattle, and keep away bad fortune. Russian soldiers often carried icons into battle, prizing them for these protective properties.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 abolished religion, many icons were destroyed or sold on the Western market. However, many others survived, hidden by believers or carried into exile. Icon painting never died, even under Communism. There is now a flourishing collectors market in Russian icons. The painted saints of old Russia, long hidden in dark corners of churches and private homes, are now recognized and celebrated throughout the world.