Monday, December 13, 2010

Kenneth D. Dowdy, Byzantine Iconographer

For some while I have intended to share with you the work of Kenneth D. Dowdy, an American iconographer in the Byzantine tradition who studied under an apprentice of the well respected Greek iconographer, Photios Kontoglou -- the latter of whom I first became familiar after reading Dr. Constantine Cavarnos's two volume Guide to Byzantine Iconography.

Different iconographers will often bring different stylistic nuances to their iconography -- one can think, for example, of the characteristic aspects of Andrei Rublev's iconography, or that of Theophanes the Greek. In a more modern context, that of Leonid Ouspensky or Aidan Hart also come to mind. In the case of Kenneth Dowdy, I was struck by the clarity and luminous quality of his work. Here is a sampling.









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