Divine Matter/Earthly Matters: The Material Dimensions of Christian Devotional Images

The study of Christian icons has long focused on questions of representation. “Icon,” after all, derives from the Greek word eikṓn, meaning “image,” “likeness,” or “portrait.” Since the religion’s founding, however, Christians have also attended to their material dimensions. They recorded accounts of miraculous images, including divine imprints, where the likeness of holy figures transferred from one material to another without human intervention. Meanwhile, image makers used materials ranging from wood and natural pigments to metals, precious stones, and mosaics in the creation of sacred images.

Theologians and clergy also contended with the material nature of images as they debated whether icons should be used in Christian devotional practices. Iconoclasm, or the destruction of images, peaked in the 7^th and 8^th centuries. At the Council of Hieria (754 C.E.), bishops declared that icons were “lifeless pictures with material colors which are of no value.” This view was grounded in theological and political concerns, as clergy feared images would lead worshipers into idolatry, defying the Ten Commandments and echoing Pagan and Roman Imperial practices. Others, however, advocated for icons as both didactic tools and sacred images that act as thresholds between earthly and heavenly realms. Making arguments for images, some theologians, like John of Damascus (c. 647-749 C.E.), highlighted the inconsistencies regarding images in the Old Testament, while also reasoning that visual representations of holy figures could be made because God became visible and corporeal in Jesus.

Divine Matter/Earthly Matters returns to these questions about the materiality of Christian devotional images, not to assess their theological validity but to explore their earthly entanglements. It brings together icons, hand crosses, and retablos from different religious traditions and places including Ethiopia, Mexico, Russia, and Syria, inviting visitors to consider materials, techniques, and the role images play in liturgy and personal devotion.

This exhibition was curated by Katie Loney, Ph.D., Post-Graduate Fellow in European and American Art.