By Chris Bergeron/DAILY NEWS STAFF
Framingham, Mass, September 27, 2012
The first artist-in-residence at the Museum of Russian Icons, the Moscow native used his decades of training and artistic temperament to paint the wooden frame now supporting a row of 12 recently purchased "Festival’’ icons believed to have once separated the nave of a church south of St. Petersburg from its sanctuary.
A member of the conservation team of the V. Surikov Moscow State Academy Art Institute and chief conservator at the Grabar Institute, Gassel, who came to the United States 30 years ago, has determined the icons were made around 1650, most likely in the Pskov region southwest of St. Petersburg.
The icons bear images, painted by monks in egg tempera, commemorating holy days in the Orthodox Christian calendar, such as the birth and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
"This is very, very special,’’ said the Swampscott resident, pointing to the row of icons in their 18-foot-long and 4-foot-high frame in the museum’s South Gallery. "There is nothing else like them in the United States.’’
Gassel might have been describing the Clinton museum that was financed and built by industrialist Gordon Lankton, a connoisseur of collecting with diverse interests.
The chairman of the board of Nypro, Inc., a $1.2 billion plastics products manufacturer with offices in 14 countries, Lankton has acquired the largest private collection of Russian icons outside of Russia in the world and built a gorgeous $3.5 million museum at his own expense to house them.
Museum Curator Kent dur Russell said this "Festival row’’ likely had as many as six more icons because some of the most important feast days, according to the church’s liturgical calendar, are missing. Lankton said he’s working with his dealer and other experts to locate and acquire the missing pieces to return his "Festival row’’ to its original glory.
After purchasing the 12 icons, he commissioned construction of the wooden frame according to the specifications of similar pieces and asked Gassel to decorate it with paint and gold leaf in the traditional 17th century floral and vine motif found in Russian churches.
Lankton said he purchased the 12 icons in May from a dealer in Berlin during a five-hour layover only after examining the faces of the images of the saints and deities from 12 inches away to evaluate their authenticity and quality and ensure they originally were displayed together.
For Alexander "Sasha’’ Gassel, the chance to paint the frame holding an extremely rare series of 17th century Russian icons provided a poignant connection to the homeland he left many years ago.
The first artist-in-residence at the Museum of Russian Icons, the Moscow native used his decades of training and artistic temperament to paint the wooden frame now supporting a row of 12 recently purchased "Festival’’ icons believed to have once separated the nave of a church south of St. Petersburg from its sanctuary.
A member of the conservation team of the V. Surikov Moscow State Academy Art Institute and chief conservator at the Grabar Institute, Gassel, who came to the United States 30 years ago, has determined the icons were made around 1650, most likely in the Pskov region southwest of St. Petersburg.
The icons bear images, painted by monks in egg tempera, commemorating holy days in the Orthodox Christian calendar, such as the birth and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
"This is very, very special,’’ said the Swampscott resident, pointing to the row of icons in their 18-foot-long and 4-foot-high frame in the museum’s South Gallery. "There is nothing else like them in the United States.’’
Gassel might have been describing the Clinton museum that was financed and built by industrialist Gordon Lankton, a connoisseur of collecting with diverse interests.
The chairman of the board of Nypro, Inc., a $1.2 billion plastics products manufacturer with offices in 14 countries, Lankton has acquired the largest private collection of Russian icons outside of Russia in the world and built a gorgeous $3.5 million museum at his own expense to house them.
Museum Curator Kent dur Russell said this "Festival row’’ likely had as many as six more icons because some of the most important feast days, according to the church’s liturgical calendar, are missing. Lankton said he’s working with his dealer and other experts to locate and acquire the missing pieces to return his "Festival row’’ to its original glory.
After purchasing the 12 icons, he commissioned construction of the wooden frame according to the specifications of similar pieces and asked Gassel to decorate it with paint and gold leaf in the traditional 17th century floral and vine motif found in Russian churches.
Lankton said he purchased the 12 icons in May from a dealer in Berlin during a five-hour layover only after examining the faces of the images of the saints and deities from 12 inches away to evaluate their authenticity and quality and ensure they originally were displayed together.
"It was amazing. The colors all matched. They passed the test,’’ said a smiling Lankton who has lots to be smiling about these days.
He recently announced he is quadrupling the display space of his nearby Gallery of African Art in a downtown storefront to exhibit his collection of more than 400 African tribal masks, figures, sculptures and artifacts. Exemplifying another of Lankton’s collecting passions, these objects crafted in stone, wood, clay and bronze span 32 West African tribes and traditions including Dogon, Baule and Bamana art.
Lankton said he’s planning a "grand reopening reception’’ for the expanded museum on Saturday, Oct. 27, when he and African art specialist Stephen Humble, of Winchester, Ky., who sold him many of the works, will give opening remarks.
Internationally acclaimed Malian musician Balla Kouyate, regarded as one of the world’s most renowned players of the balafon, or African xylophone, will perform with the World Vision Concert group.
Initially, fewer than 100 of Lankton’s African works were displayed in a space connected to the Sunrise Boutique at 62 High St., a short walk from the Museum of Russian Icons.
The expanded 3,000 square-foot gallery has been designed by Durrant Design, of Harvard, Mass., the same team that created the soft lighting and cathedral-like atmosphere of the Museum of Russian Icons.
Lankton said Russian icons "are still my number one love,’’ but added he was intrigued by the craftsmanship, energy and originality of African art.
Julia Metzidakis, the executive and educational assistant at the museum who’s now cataloguing the African art, said, "Gordon just has this feeling for them – their faces, the artisans’ skill and the roles they played in peoples’ lives.’’
Lankton has been an inveterate collector since his boyhood in Peoria, Ill., when he collected 100,000 pennies and began to accumulate the vintage model cars that can be found in his office.
Asked the roots of his passion for collecting, Lankton smiled and replied, "I don’t like to psychoanalyze myself.’’
"I just like to have fun and to make things interesting,’’ he said, motioning toward dozens of African statues and sculptures waiting to be put in new display cabinets. "I like to be walking around here with all this wonderful art and be setting up a new museum so other people can enjoy it.’’
"It was amazing. The colors all matched. They passed the test,’’ said a smiling Lankton who has lots to be smiling about these days.
He recently announced he is quadrupling the display space of his nearby Gallery of African Art in a downtown storefront to exhibit his collection of more than 400 African tribal masks, figures, sculptures and artifacts. Exemplifying another of Lankton’s collecting passions, these objects crafted in stone, wood, clay and bronze span 32 West African tribes and traditions including Dogon, Baule and Bamana art.
Lankton said he’s planning a "grand reopening reception’’ for the expanded museum on Saturday, Oct. 27, when he and African art specialist Stephen Humble, of Winchester, Ky., who sold him many of the works, will give opening remarks.
Internationally acclaimed Malian musician Balla Kouyate, regarded as one of the world’s most renowned players of the balafon, or African xylophone, will perform with the World Vision Concert group.
Initially, fewer than 100 of Lankton’s African works were displayed in a space connected to the Sunrise Boutique at 62 High St., a short walk from the Museum of Russian Icons.
The expanded 3,000 square-foot gallery has been designed by Durrant Design, of Harvard, Mass., the same team that created the soft lighting and cathedral-like atmosphere of the Museum of Russian Icons.
Lankton said Russian icons "are still my number one love,’’ but added he was intrigued by the craftsmanship, energy and originality of African art.
Julia Metzidakis, the executive and educational assistant at the museum who’s now cataloguing the African art, said, "Gordon just has this feeling for them – their faces, the artisans’ skill and the roles they played in peoples’ lives.’’
Lankton has been an inveterate collector since his boyhood in Peoria, Ill., when he collected 100,000 pennies and began to accumulate the vintage model cars that can be found in his office.
Asked the roots of his passion for collecting, Lankton smiled and replied, "I don’t like to psychoanalyze myself.’’
"I just like to have fun and to make things interesting,’’ he said, motioning toward dozens of African statues and sculptures waiting to be put in new display cabinets. "I like to be walking around here with all this wonderful art and be setting up a new museum so other people can enjoy it.’’
The Museum of Russian Icons
WHERE: 203 Union St., Clinton
INFO: 978-598-5000, www.museumofrussianicons.com
Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x422898654/Precious-and-few#ixzz27tjWlMTp