Isaac Fanous (; December 19, 1919 – January 15, 2007) was an

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian Copt iconographer, scholar and theologian, who single-handedly founded the most popular style of contemporary

Coptic art Coptic art is the Christianity, Christian art of the Byzantine empire, Byzantine-Roman Egypt, Greco-Roman Egypt and of Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic Christian Churches. Coptic art is best known for its wall-paintings, textiles, illuminated ma ...

today, commonly referred to as "Neo-Coptic".

Early life and studies

Fanous was born in Al-Minya and moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

to gain his degree from The Faculty of

Applied arts The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Univ ...

now part of

Helwan University Helwan University is a public university based in Helwan, Egypt, which is part of Greater Cairo on over . It comprises 23 faculties and two higher institutes in addition to 50 research centers. Overview Helwan University is a member of the ...

in Egypt in 1941 and got a diploma in teaching in 1943. Fanous was one of the first students of the Institute of Coptic Studies founded in 1954 and he obtained his doctorate in 1958 . His two-year study grant in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in the mid- 1960s was a turning point in his career. He took the opportunity, while in France, to study icon painting under Léonid Ouspensky, under whose patronage he developed a passion both as artist and theologian. This would lead, eventually, to him developing a style that was to become the new face of Coptic

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

in the mid-20th century.AlAhram weekly article on Isaac Fanous
Fanous chaired the Coptic Art department at the Institute of Coptic Studies in

, and he has trained a number of other Coptic artists from outside Egypt.

Political influences

As wealthy patrons of the arts disappeared from Egypt's cosmopolitan art world following the

1952 revolution The Egyptian revolution of 1952, also known as the 1952 coup d'état () and the 23 July Revolution (), was a period of profound political, economic, and societal change in Egypt. On 23 July 1952, the revolution began with the toppling of King ...

, they were gradually replaced by select state-funding, causing the art world became more competitive: the highly innovative career of Fanous took off from the struggles and experiences of his time. During this period, he was known to have become more keenly aware of his Egyptian heritage and was proud of everything that came from Al-Minya since the time of Akhnaten, who founded his city.Copts United article in Arabic by Shafik Botrous
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Modern Coptic iconography

For centuries before painters like Isaac Fanous the

Coptic Orthodox The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the Apostolic see, See of Alexandria i ...

church had its own style which is recognised as the traditional Coptic style. Under the influence of the European art, which spread to Egypt in the nineteenth Century, a lot of the Churches in

appeared, with

Icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

s that were stylistically similar and often identical to a lot of Western Christian art, especially that of

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. Fanous's contemporary school of iconography came about as part of a general renaissance of Coptic culture, which began during the patriarchate of Pope Cyril VI (1959–1971). He drew on the already established old Coptic style, like that of Yuhanna al-Armani, as well having taken the influences from popular Western Protestant art, gradually developing in his own style, his style became widely recognized for its amplified

symmetry Symmetry () in everyday life refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is Invariant (mathematics), invariant und ...

, added

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

and exaggerated

Idiosyncrasy An idiosyncrasy is a unique feature of something. The term is often used to express peculiarity. Etymology The term "idiosyncrasy" originates from Greek ', "a peculiar temperament, habit of body" (from ', "one's own", ', "with" and ', "blend o ...

of previous Coptic art; his style is widely referred to as "Modern Coptic Style" or simply "Neo-Coptic". He is not just considered a pioneer in this field, but Fanous is held to be the father of modern Coptic iconography and the initiator of the modern renaissance in

. Fanous painted all the illustrations and icons in St. Takla Haymanot's Church in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, which was consecrated in 1969. Between 1977 and 1978, he spent six months in the UK to paint icons i
St Mark's Coptic Orthodox church
in Allen Street,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Image:StAnthony.jpg, Coptic icon of

Saint Anthony the Great Anthony the Great (; ; ; ; – 17 January 356) was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from Saint Anthony (disambiguation), other saints named Anthony, such as , by various epithets: , , , , , a ...

Image:StMaurice2.jpg, Coptic icon of

Saint Maurice Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, Maurits, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptians, Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Roman Empire, Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favourite and most widely venerated saints of tha ...

Awards

Gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

from the Institute of Oriental Studies, Venice, 1987 *

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

, from Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, Cairo, 1984

References

External links

Obituary for Isaac Fanous in Al Ahram daily newspaper in Arabic

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929151907/http://www.stmark.org.uk/index.php?option=com_copperminevis&Itemid=45&place=thumbnails&album=3 St Mark's Coptic Orthodox church website , which includes a gallery of the Icons of the church ]
Coptic Icons.

The Coptic Icons from Holy Virgin Mary Church in Los Angeles
*http://www.copts-united.com/wrr/go1.php?subaction=showfull&id=1169064300&archive=&start_from=&ucat=79& *http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cce/id/2162/rec/1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanous, Isaac Egyptian people of Coptic descent Coptic Christians from Egypt Art historians Coptic art 1919 births 2007 deaths Academics from Cairo Artists from Cairo Helwan University alumni Icon painters 20th-century Egyptian painters

Early life and studies

Political influences

Modern Coptic iconography

Awards

See also

References

External links