100 Years On: Revisiting the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922

100 Years On: Revisiting the First Russian Art Exhibition of 1922
Author: Isabel Wünsche
Publisher: Böhlau Köln
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2022-12-12
Genre: Art
ISBN: 3412525650

The First Russian Art Exhibition (Erste Russische Kunstausstellung), which opened at the Galerie van Diemen in Berlin on October 15, 1922, and later travelled to Amsterdam, introduced a broad Western audience to the most recent artistic developments in Russia. The extensive show – more than a thousand works, including paintings, graphic works, sculptures, stage designs, architectural models, and works of porcelain – was remarkably inclusive in its scope, which ranged from traditional figurative painting to the latest constructions of the Russian avant-garde. Coming on the heels of the Treaty of Rapallo, the exhibition was a first cultural step towards bilateral relations between two young and yet internationally isolated new states – the Weimar Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic. Moving away from the narrow focus on the avant-garde, the volume presents new research that examines the exhibition's broader historical scope and cultural implications. The reception of the exhibition within artistic circles in Germany, Europe, the United States, and Japan in the 1920s is addressed, as well as the disposition of many of the works exhibited. The combination of longer, thematic essays and short features, along with reproductions of newly identified works and a selection of unpublished archival materials make this book valuable to both a scholarly and a general readership.

Antosha & Levitasha

Antosha & Levitasha
Author: Serge Vladimir Gregory
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
ISBN: 9780875807317

Antosha and Levitasha is the first book in English devoted to the complex relationship between Anton Chekhov and Isaac Levitan, one of Russia's greatest landscape painters. Outside of Russia, a general lack of familiarity with Levitan's life and art has undermined an appreciation of the cultural significance of his friendship with Chekhov. Serge Gregory's highly readable study attempts to fill that gap for Western readers by examining a friendship that may have vacillated between periods of affection and animosity, but always reflected an unwavering shared aesthetic. In Russia, where entire rooms of galleries in Moscow and St. Petersburg are devoted to Levitan's paintings, the lives of the famous writer and the equally famous artist have long been tied together. To those familiar with the work of both men, it is evident that Levitan's "landscapes of mood" have much in common with the way that Chekhov's characters perceive nature as a reflection of their emotional state. Gregory focuses on three overarching themes: the artists' similar approach to depicting landscape; their romantic and social rivalries within their circle of friends, which included many of Moscow's leading cultural figures; and the influence of Levitan's personal life on Chekhov's stories and plays. He emphasizes the facts of Levitan's life and his place in late nineteenth-century Russian art, particularly with respect to his dual loyalties to the competing Itinerant and World of Art movements. Accessible and engaging, Antosha and Levitasha will appeal to scholars and general readers interested in art history, late nineteenth-century Russian culture, and biographies.

Sister Wendy's 100 Best-loved Paintings

Sister Wendy's 100 Best-loved Paintings
Author: Wendy Beckett
Publisher: SPCK
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2019-09-19
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0281083312

'Sister Wendy’s deep and insightful commentaries are utterly unique. You will want this splendid book for yourself but also to give to others.' Delia Smith Hailed by The New York Times in 1997 as 'the most unlikely and famous art critic in the history of television', Sister Wendy Beckett went on to present numerous TV documentaries and published over thirty popular books on art history and appreciation. Shortly before she died in December 2018, and nearly thirty years on from her first book, Sister Wendy was working with SPCK on an anthology of her all-time favourite paintings. The result is this enthralling collection, which will delight her many fans all over the world while also inspiring a new generation of art lovers as they develop their understanding of the depths and subtleties of some of the world's greatest works of art.

Bolshoi Confidential: Secrets of the Russian Ballet from the Rule of the Tsars to Today

Bolshoi Confidential: Secrets of the Russian Ballet from the Rule of the Tsars to Today
Author: Simon Morrison
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2016-10-11
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0871408309

In this “incredibly rich” (New York Times) definitive history of the Bolshoi Ballet, visionary performances onstage compete with political machinations backstage. A critical triumph, Simon Morrison’s “sweeping and authoritative” (Guardian) work, Bolshoi Confidential, details the Bolshoi Ballet’s magnificent history from its earliest tumults to recent scandals. On January 17, 2013, a hooded assailant hurled acid into the face of the artistic director, making international headlines. A lead soloist, enraged by institutional power struggles, later confessed to masterminding the crime. Morrison gives the shocking violence context, describing the ballet as a crucible of art and politics beginning with the disreputable inception of the theater in 1776, through the era of imperial rule, the chaos of revolution, the oppressive Soviet years, and the Bolshoi’s recent $680 million renovation. With vibrant detail including “sex scandals, double-suicide pacts, bribery, arson, executions, prostitution rings, embezzlement, starving orphans, [and] dead cats in lieu of flowers” (New Republic), Morrison makes clear that the history of the Bolshoi Ballet mirrors that of Russia itself.

Delphi Complete Paintings of Kazimir Malevich (Illustrated)

Delphi Complete Paintings of Kazimir Malevich (Illustrated)
Author: Kazimir Malevich
Publisher: Delphi Classics
Total Pages: 617
Release: 2020-12-13
Genre: Art
ISBN: 191348744X

The work of the Russian modernist Kazimir Malevich had a profound influence on the development of abstract art in the twentieth century. He developed his own art movement, Suprematism, which sought a form of expression away from the world of natural forms and subject matter, accessing the supremacy of pure feeling and spirituality. Malevich worked in a variety of styles, assimilating the movements of Impressionism, Symbolism, Fauvism and Cubism. Gradually simplifying his style, he developed an approach consisting of pure geometric forms and their relationships to one another, set against minimal backgrounds. Many art historians now regard Malevich as the first prominent artist to exhibit paintings composed entirely of abstract geometrical elements. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Malevich’s complete paintings in beautiful detail, with concise introductions, hundreds of high quality images and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * The complete paintings of Kazimir Malevich – over 300 images, fully indexed and arranged in chronological and alphabetical order * Includes reproductions of rare works * Features a special ‘Highlights’ section, with concise introductions to the masterpieces, giving valuable contextual information * Enlarged ‘Detail’ images, allowing you to explore Malevich’s celebrated works in detail, as featured in traditional art books * Hundreds of images in colour – highly recommended for viewing on tablets and smartphones or as a valuable reference tool on more conventional eReaders * Easily locate the artworks you wish to view * Includes a wide selection of Malevich’s drawings and posters – explore the artist’s varied works Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting e-Art books CONTENTS: The Highlights Landscape with Yellow House (1904) Self Portrait (1909) On the Boulevard (1911) The Mower (1912) Woman with Water Pails (1913) The Knife Grinder (1913) Samovar (1913) Lamp (1914) Black Square (1915) Airplane Flying (1915) Supremus No. 57(1915) Suprematist Composition: White on White (1918) To the Harvest (1927) Unemployed Girl (1930) The Athletes (1931) The Artist (1933) The Paintings The Complete Paintings Alphabetical List of Paintings The Drawings List of Drawings Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to buy the whole Art series as a Super Set

The Eisenstein Reader

The Eisenstein Reader
Author: Sergei Eisenstein
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2019-07-25
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 183871877X

For the first time in one volume, this book presents in concise, chronological form, Sergei Eisenstein's most significant work, including his famous theories of montage and articles on subjects as diverse as sound, film language and Russian history. The selection ranges from early writings on his silent masterpieces The Strike, October and The Battleship Potemkin, to later works, hatched in the hostile and paranoid environment of Stalin's Soviet Union. Drawn from the acclaimed four-volume Selected Works, this collection, which includes a new introduction and explanatory notes by Richard Taylor as well as many illustrations, further illuminates the startling originality, diversity and power of the greatest and most flamboyant of all Russian film-makers. Legendary director Sergei Eisenstein has emerged as cinema's most influential theorist and author of some of the most important aesthetic writings of the twentieth century.

Making Modernism Soviet

Making Modernism Soviet
Author: Pamela Kachurin
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2013-10-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 0810167263

Making Modernism Soviet provides a new understanding of the ideological engagement of Russian modern artists such as Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Rodchenko, and Vera Ermolaeva with the political and social agenda of the Bolsheviks in the chaotic years immediately following the Russian Revolution. Focusing on the relationship between power brokers and cultural institutions under conditions of state patronage, Pamela Kachurin lays to rest the myth of the imposition of control from above upon a victimized artistic community. Drawing on extensive archival research, she shows that Russian modernists used their positions within the expanding Soviet arts bureaucracy to build up networks of like-minded colleagues. Their commitment to one another and to the task of creating a socially transformative visual language for the new Soviet context allowed them to produce some of their most famous works of art. But it also contributed to the "Sovietization" of the art world that eventually sealed their fate.

From Museum Critique to the Critical Museum

From Museum Critique to the Critical Museum
Author: Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2016-03-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1317132041

Since the late nineteenth century, museums have been cited as tools of imperialism and colonialism, as strongholds of patriarchalism, masculinism, homophobia and xenophobia, and accused both of elitism and commercialism. But, could the museum absorb and benefit from its critique, turning into a critical museum, into the site of resistance rather than ritual? This book looks at the ways in which the museum could use its collections, its cultural authority, its auratic space and resources to give voice to the underprivileged, and to take an active part in contemporary and at times controversial issues. Drawing together both major museum professionals and academics, it examines the theoretical concept of the critical museum, and uses case studies of engaged art institutions from different parts of the world. It reaches beyond the usual focus on western Europe, America, and ’the World’, including voices from, as well as about, eastern European museums, which have rarely been discussed in museum studies books so far.