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VISIT THE COLLECTION
- Icons of the Madonna and Child
- Icons of Christ
- Icons of Saints
- An Easter Egg attributed to the Fabergé Workshops
- Iconostasis. A drawing of the partition separating church from sanctuary space.
- Festival Icon depicting Orthodox cycle of feasts based on the Life of Christ and the Virgin.
- Typological Artworks juxtaposing scenes from the Old and New Testaments
- Russian History A very brief history
of Russia from its ninth century founding to the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917
- A biography of Eric Hulmer
- Glossary of Artistic Terms and Techniques
- Gallery of all the works on the site.
- Links to related sites.
- Credits and Bibliographical Resources
ABOUT THE HULMER COLLECTION
Little is known of the manner in which Eric C. Hulmer acquired these works. Some are said to have come from the collection of Vincent Nesbert, a Russian national, and several of these may have been purchased through Armand Hammer, although only
one (No. 530 Saint Nicholas) can be so documented. Most of these items are nineteenth- and twentieth-century in date, from undetermined provenance in Russia. Yet it is easy to conjecture the circumstances in which collections like this were assembled in the mid-twentieth century.
The ideology of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia was fundamentally committed to a militant atheism, and its suppression of Russian Orthodoxy also included a program to eliminate Church art. As early as 1918, all Church property was nationalized. Repressive legislation enacted in the years 1929-1934 and purges of 1937-1939 have guaranteed that the largest proportion of Orthodox artwork in
Russian Churches was destroyed. By the 1950's, although worship was permitted, a generation of young Russians had been raised without formal religious training and found little use for liturgical props. These difficult times for icons created opportunities for the collector.
The size and nature of these pieces indicates that most were items
acquired by individuals for private domestic usage. Every Orthodox
home had a special place for icons, candles and other liturgical
objects, often the "front corner" just at the entrance to the house.
It was not uncommon for Orthodox worshippers to receive icons of
their name saints at baptism, or as special Easter gifts (as with
No. 454, the Icon Easter Egg). Icons were also
given as wedding gifts (perhaps our Festival Icon
No. 535), or on special anniversaries (see
Nos. 452 and 453). Even the most
modest Russian icon can evoke the divine presence. Passed through the
generations of a family, these precious works were the focal points
of daily prayer.
A few items in the collection were clearly destined for liturgical
use, as, for example, No. 457,
the crucifix. The large drawing of an iconostasis
(No. 503) reflects an ecclesiastical
commission probably unrealized.
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