Week Five: Adam and Eve by Elena Beniceru

February 3, 2019

Week Five: Adam and Eve by Elena Beniceru

Adam and Eve have returned this week in a charming folk art piece, typical of another tradition of artisan art, represented in the Schools of Sacred Art listings of the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection--the reversed glass icons of Romania. When the Transylvanian regions of this East European nation were joined to the Habsburg Empire at the end of the 17th century, local Eastern Orthodox peasants adapted a form of painting on glass popular with their Austro-Hungarian rulers to make cheap holy images.  Producing reversed glass icons required a bit of forethought and a steady hand, since artisan painters began by putting the finishing touches for their image on the flipped side of a piece of glass, working in reverse order with the background areas coming last. Romanian Artist Elena Beniceru is helping to preserve this centuries-old tradition with this whimsical, contemporary painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. How do you like them apples! (John Kohan)