The Nativity Stories, A. G. Leventis Gallery, Nicosia
‘How much do we really know about the story of the birth of Christ?’ The A. G. Leventis Gallery’s first international exhibition explored the iconography of the Nativity, bringing together art – from Byzantium to Modernism – and text from a broad spectrum of sources including the Bible, apocryphal writings, hymnography, but also poetry. The exhibition investigated the ways in which the Nativity narrative has been embellished through time, from Byzantine and Western medieval iconography through to the 17th century and onwards, in the aftermath of the Baroque, to the esoteric readings of the 19th and 20th centuries, into diverse, and at times highly personal, readings of the story. It also included a contemporary photographic element that invited viewers to think about the impact of context and the viewer’s response to our interpretation of Nativity imagery. Critically acclaimed, the exhibition was a collaboration with important international public and private collections and was accompanied by a publication that examines the play between art and text in the retelling of one of the best-loved stories of all time, Τhe Nativity Stories.
Grant given:
2014
