Taras Voznyak

  Ukraine, and especially Galicia, is the place for a new meeting and dialogue of Eastern and Western Christian traditions. After the split between the Roman and Constantinople Churches in 1054, two theologies, two Christian philosophies and two fine traditions emerged.

  The question we are interesting in is  the fine traditions of East and West. Can we portray the Creator, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as Our Lady and the Saints?

  How to portray them as a  human being  in the form of a painting or a sculpture, or in the form of a sign - an icon - as an entry into a world inconsolable - essentially as a pretext for prayer, a hieroglyph? Is it not the pride and sin to portray the face of God on the basis of our understanding and vision? According to the Apostle Paul, the body is the temple of the Spirit ("Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" 1 Cor. 3:16).But the temple becomes a body only thanks to God, who breathes the spirit into man. And so the apostle writes, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us”(2 ???.4: 7) because the physical body is perishable, it must sooner or later give way to the spiritual body, because

“there is sown a psychic body; there is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44).

   In early Christianity, sculptural images were honored. For example, Eusebius of Caesarea (IV c.) mentions the statue of Christ erected in the city of Paneade (Banias, Paneas, Πανειάς, Caesarea Philippi) by a bleeding wife known to us from the Gospel (Mt 9: 20-23). In the catacombs there is a sculptural image of Christ the Good Shepherd with a sheep on his shoulders.

   However, in Byzantine Christian art, there is a rejection of the image of God, even of icons, and of the voluminous sculpture.  In 726 in Byzantium, the iconoclastic movement (εἰκονομαχία; or iconoclasm - from εἰκόνα - "image" (icon) and κλάω - "to break") emerges - a doctrine that opposed the use of images of God and saints in worship and public life. Iconoclasts in Byzantium believed that even an icon far from the imagery is an idol, and therefore fought with it. Iconoclasts said: By portraying Christ you blaspheme twice. Firstly, you are trying to portray a Deity, which is impossible in principle. Secondly, if you try not to portray God, but only man, you dissect Christ, and this is monophysitism, and his flesh is human - it turns out that you are idolatrous. You are either sinning or sinning or sinning. For monophysitism (from μόνος - "the only" and φύσις - "nature, being") claims to be the only (divine) nature of Jesus Christ, not the dual - divine and human (dyophysitism), which is sin. Two branches of Christianity - both Eastern and Western - adhere precisely to dyophysitism (δυοφυσιτισμός consists of δύο (dio) meaning "two" and φύσις (physis) meaning "nature") Christian flow, which confirm that divine and human, exist in one person of Jesus Christ.

   Therefore, even in Byzantium iconoclasm was overcome. But the main genre of Eastern Christianity is the icon. But it is not a large-scale sculpture.

   In Rome, Christianity developed differently than in Byzantium. On the contrary ,the Roman Church actively testify, through corporeality, the authenticity of the incarnation and the reality of the Savior's sufferings. The statues of saints in western temples appeared to which believers refer to an objects they turn to in prayer - as icons that are not images but signs.

   Western masters hypertrophy the human body to show, for example, the suffering of the Lord or the exertion of martyrs and ascetics, the prayer life of ascetics. But with all the naturalism and the rejection of the icon, the artists are inspired by deep theological ideas, strive to convey the spirit and teachings of the Church.

   In the East, they have never resorted to such means, on the contrary, they have always sought to escape from affectation, impaired imagination, and passion. In the Renaissance in European art, there is a definitive departure from canonism and symbolism in art. Art loses direct subordination to theology, but does not cease to convey Christian ideas to the Commonwealth. Moreover, the Roman Church faces the overwhelming task to overcome Protestantism. In the XVI century the European world finally split into the North and South - Protestants and Catholics. Extremely effective tools for influencing the faithful were needed.

Protestants, like the Byzantine iconoclasts, threw out icons, paintings, sculptures from churches, inspired by the Lutheran slogan "Soli Scriptura!" - "by Scripture alone". In Catholic countries, on the contrary, the slogan becomes "Soli Gloria Dei!" - "Glory to God alone". And as the style of counter-reformation appears the baroque (from the word "chimeric, elegant"), the style of extreme visualization, incredible fantasy and energy. Baroque turned the human eyes again to the sky. The temples were filled with amazing architectural and sculptural ensembles.

   The folds of the saints' garments move like the wind, energetic gestures, poses and most unexpected aspect, eyes raised to heaven, lips seem to whisper prayers. This art is active. It does not require contemplation or meditation, but the active involvement of the believer in an ecstatic state, a mental attack on him. It forces to complicity and cooperation.

   Both Ukraine and Galicia became a meeting point for both traditions. Modern Ukraine may have acquired its definitive self-definition precisely as a meeting point for Eastern and Western traditions. Perhaps, this is exactly what distinguishes us from Poland and Muscovy who represent these traditions in their purest form. Ukraine has never been restricted from cultural influences, especially Galicia, or even more narrowly - Lwów Land, Ruthenian Voivodeship.

   In philosophical and theological terms, the basis of openness to such influences was first Ukrainian Orthodoxy, which absorbed all the achievements of the European Renaissance and Baroque (which differs from Moscow Orthodoxy), and then Greek Catholicism - the outline is a bit unclear, but the point is understood correctly - it has become not only a religious platform between two branches of Christianity, but also a cultural platform. Was it easy to build this content? We know from turbulent political history that it was not so easy. For many, there was nothing further from the Oriental understanding of the image than the Baroque sculpture, in which there is no place of silence, impartiality, that Hesychasm (from ἡσῠχία - peace, silence), which is the eastern ideal of the silent, even to dissolution, to stand before God. There were times of action, not meditation and Anchorite. And all over Europe and the territories where its influences reached, the Baroque and its baroque sculpture flourished.

   We have not yet fully erected all those treasures that we managed to preserve in one way or another in our territory. We have not yet fully comprehended the artistic and philosophical and theological tasks that solved the Baroque and Renaissance artists, which combined the two traditions - and it was not easy for them, because they did not create their images in cozy workshops, like the present "brave" avant-gardes. It was not easy to introduce a voluminous sculpture in the temples of the Eastern Rite, such as at the main temple in Lviv - St. George's Cathedral and combine with Byzantine Hesychasm. Nevertheless, it succeeded. And then how! She reached her apogee in the XVI-XVIII centuries,  particularly in Galicia.

   Fortunately, not only abstract ideas but also people gathered in Ukraine and Galicia. Of course, it began with tradespeople, followed by artisan and artists. That is why the whole groups of masters who have understood the work of stone and wood, have reached our territory from the Italian lands, German and Bohemian. And with them came crafts, fashion and trends of the time. Of course, this was superimposed on the tastes and crafts of local craftsmen. Eventually, the newcomers became local. At that time, people did not divide so sharply by nationality. The religious and regional determinant was more important. Over time, local art schools were created that were even equal to European ones at the time, and sometimes even surpassed them, as evidenced by the fact that today they have achieved worldwide recognition - the Louvre and Belvedere.

   However, many questions still remain. How to outline the diverse environment of masters, apprentices and students who created this powerful layer of culture in our region? Which stratification of their entire environment will be most adequate, because we often do not know which master was the patron for another. Moreover, they are not entirely sure of the attribution of the work itself. We may be wrong to belong some work to another master. We should also think of a primitive, folk sculpture, which, of course, was ubiquitous. With many masters, such as Johann Georg Pinsel, Jan Jerzy Pinsel, approx. 1707 or ca. 1720 - between September 16, 1761 and October 24, 1762, probably Buchach) the situation is unclear - we do not know where he came from, whether he was always here, where he learned such skills, and in general what kind of personality he was. How to stratify it, for example, from (Johann (Hans) Pfister, 3 August 1573, Breslau - until 1642/1645 Berezhany) - a sculptor of a German school, although he is rather Dutch in origin? And what kind of relationship did Pinsel have with his "students" or "school", or were they, whether direct or indirect, through his work? And were they his "disciples", or rather colleagues? And how did they fit in with his contemporary Sebastian Fesinger? - after 01/01/1770, Lviv - the author who was as popular as Pinsel? And with Franciszek Olenski or Antoni Osinski, 1715, Lviv -? Somewhat younger than Pinsel, but not too much?

Then whole dynasties or family clans of sculptors appeared in Lviv, such as: Fesinger, Polejowski, Bernikovich, Wuertzers, Gets, Komarinski, Kulyavsky, Macwarty, Obrocki, Perth, Stazhevsky, Stobensky.

   It is not easy to understand the nationality of the masters who worked in Lviv at that time. We judge from our perspective. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the national identity began to dominate. Instead, at that time, it was rather a guild or religious affiliation than a national one. People were changing their religious affiliation and national self-awareness. When arriving in Lviv, masters from German lands, marrying local burghers, gradually became Slavic and they already gave their children Slavic, Polish, names. That is why it is so difficult to reconstruct their identity, based on the origin of the master, if it known. Another landmark was where a particular master satisfied his needs - where he married - in a Roman Catholic church, a Greek Catholic church or a Lutheran church. However, despite the tradition established in Ukrainian art history regarding the names of the masters found in the church books, and they were usually Latin, because the note was Latin, the author does not only indicate the Latinized name of the master, but also the national or folk, which was then widespread. And at the same time, the author firstly  puts the name in the Ukrainian version, regardless of whether the master was of German or Polish origin, - according to the norm that appeared in the humanities of Central Europe - so it makes sense to submit all names before 1800 first in the national transcription then in the original transcription.

   However, the book showed how integral was the environment of the masters. Yes, sometimes they had legal action against each other. However, they married more, contracted joint projects, baptized each other's children. This is how the Lviv corporation snycar and sculptors formed. A strong influence is clearly felt from the West, the lands of German and Italian. And it imposes on the tradition of the East and gives a fantastic flourish of Lviv sculpture.

   Boris Shengera's first book "Lviv Sculptors and Sculptors in the Eighteenth Century"  may answer part of these questions. Obviously , it can be called "prolegomena to the encyclopedia" - modestly, of course, as in Immanuel Kant; 1724, Kenigsberg - 1804, Kenigsberg - to mention his "Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics". So, we have "Prolegomena to every future encyclopedia of Lviv sculptors and sculptors of Lviv of the eighteenth century, who can appear."

Warsaw June 29, 2019