Picture in Focus: Noli me tangere by Andriy Vynnychok

April 23, 2023

Picture in Focus: Noli me tangere by Andriy Vynnychok

To round out the Easter season, I have an icon by Ukrainian Artist Andriy Vynnychok to present this week of Christ's first post-Resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene, when he asks her not  to touch him, since he has yet not ascended to his Father. The scene is often depicted in European art under the Italian title, Noli me tangere (Touch Me Not). Vynnychok gives a different spin to the time-honored theme, paying homage to a 1638 painting by Rembrandt, where the Dutch master takes Mary’s initial confusion of Christ with a gardener quite literally and depicts the Risen Lord wearing a straw hat with spade in hand. As the Second Adam of biblical tradition, the Resurrected Christ must get to work breaking the ground for a new Garden of Eden in a new heaven and a new earth. The contemporary West Ukrainian icon-maker sets his stylized figures in an abstract, broad-brushed background that copies the color palette of the 17th century original. Vynnychok has just joined the list of artists on the New School of Iconography in  Lviv II page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. Pray for Peace in Ukraine! (John Kohan)