Mayor Dimoldenberg with Dr Irina Bradley and her husband Jerry at the exhibition. ( The large painting behind them is a portrait of Irina.)
The London Street Jesuit Centre in Mayfair has been hosting a wonderful exhibition of Sacred Art since January. The Inner Light show of icons and religious portraits ended on Friday with a reception attended by the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg.
Many of the icons were the work of prominent iconographer Dr Irina Bradley. She studied in Moscow for six years before attending the Kings Foundation School of Traditional Arts, where she was awarded a Doctorate in 2015. Irina’s icons and modern art have been exhibited in numerous other locations in the UK, including Buckingham Palace, Fulham Palace and the Saatchi Gallery.
Most of the portraits in the exhibition were by Alastair Dunstan and Gabriel J Lewis, who studied at the Cecil School in Florence.
Other exhibitors included Irina’s students Wayne Wentworth, Yuri Popov, Lui Saatchi, Marina Iaroslavtseva, Katharine Liu, Dimitru Popescu and Yusef Hourani, some of whom had never painted before and some of whom are, or have been, homeless. The standard of their icon-painting was strikingly good and in some cases outstanding.
Of especial note among numerous beautiful icons of Christ and His Mother were a miraculous ‘Madonna at the Annunciation’ and a particularly touching ‘work in progress’ named ‘Mother of Tenderness’.
Along with depictions of the prophet Elijah, the archangels Gabriel and Michael, St Mary Magdalene, St Paul, St Jerome, St Francis of Assisi, St Olga of Kiev and St Benedict Joseph Labre, patron saint of homeless people and those with mental health difficulties, there were also icons of saints of Britain – Alban, Cuthbert, Etheldreda, Ninian, Frideswide and Julian of Norwich, together with portraits of Aidan, Bede, Cuthbert and Melangell (a 7th century Welsh saint, depicted with a rabbit.)
The exhibition will be returning later in the year, at several more London venues. ( We’ll be publishing the dates when they are confirmed.) See more pictures soon on ICN’s Facebook page.
LINKS
Dr Irina Bradley: www.irinabradley.com/
Kings Foundation School of Traditional Arts: https://schooloftraditionalarts.org/
London Jesuit Centre: www.londonjesuitcentre.org/
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