Curator

Jessica Wright

Jessica Wright majored in Art History and Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University where she focused her independent research on contemporary Middle Eastern art. She managed a gallery and cultural program in Washington, DC that showcased modern visual, literary and performing arts by Arab and Arab-American artists. Born and raised in Jordan to American parents, she is a native Arabic speaker with a broad understanding of regional issues and extensive experience in promoting cross-cultural understanding.

From the Curator

Icons—An Eastern Artistic Expression of the Divine

Jessica Wright, Curator

Icons, from the Greek word eikon, meaning ‘image’, have been an important part of Eastern Christian worship for centuries.  Coptic icons occupy a unique place in Christian iconography with their ties to Ancient Egyptian and Hellenic visual culture, and their subsequent influence on Islamic art.  Coptic icons are notable for their restrained and spare aesthetic, with simple designs and strong, clear colors.  The naïve nature of the figures and scenes depicted is a deliberate artistic technique whose goal is to create visual pictures of divine subjects inspiring devotion and worship.  Each gesture has its own significance and the colors carry symbolic meaning. 

The techniques employed in the making of icons on wooden panels have not changed over the centuries.  Iconographers prepare the panels with gesso, a white background made of lime and glue.  The gesso is applied in multiple thin layers to achieve a hard but porous surface then sanded vigorously. Once the panels are ready, iconographers apply the gilding and paint the design with tempera, a fast-drying paint medium of pigments mixed with a binding agent such as egg yolk.  

Coptic iconography reached its zenith during the Coptic period, between the 4th-7th centuries. Coptic artists and craftsmen were also prolific during the Fatimid period in the 10th-12th centuries, a period of church building and restoration that brought about a renewal of Coptic art. By the second half of the 19th century, Coptic iconography had all but disappeared.

Thanks to Dr. Isaac Fanous, the founder of the contemporary or Neo-Coptic School of Iconography, Coptic art and iconography have benefitted from the general renaissance of Coptic culture which began in the 1950s and 1960s.  Because of this renewed interest in Coptic art and the resultant training of new artists and iconographers, this ancient and beautiful art form is now accessible to us today.