Two black-framed works on a white wall show glass decanters in watercolour on yellowish paper. Wall labels sit beside them; a visitor with a phone is reflected in the glass.

NB!

Two drawings of a decanter in the Purist style, mid-1920s, on display

Coming Up · Archive · Art · Moscow · Museums

Exhibition of over 300 works by Ivan Klyun from a family collection runs until 16 September

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Ivan Klyun Foundation present an exhibition devoted to one of the key artists of the Russian avant-garde, Ivan Klyun. Ivan Klyun (1873–1943) was a associate of Malevich, the author of the first kinetic constructions in Russian art, and a theorist

Archive · Mores · Ethnography

Nardek, a Don watermelon dessert, as described in 1891

There is an ancient Cossack dish called nardek. It is a most delicious dessert made from watermelons. Since the watermelon season is upon us, I suggest we recall how the Cossacks' favourite sweet is prepared. Nardek is a Don dessert, prepared exclusively on the Don, in the stanitsas, by

NB! · Aristocracy · Architecture · Art · Museums · New York

Magnificent woodwork in the studiolo from the Ducal Palace at Gubbio, created for Duke Federico da Montefeltro around 1480

Magnificent woodwork in the studiolo from the Ducal Palace at Gubbio, created for Duke Federico da Montefeltro around 1480. In the nineteenth century the studiolo was bought by a German art dealer and taken to Venice. In 1939 it was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum

NB! · Archive · Faith · Geography · Maps

The Creation of Woman and the Fall of Man, from the atlas of the French geographer and publisher Claude de Mornas, 1762

Art · Observations

Who Has More, Who Is Better

Alexander Deineka, 1930

Cinema · People · Reportage

I realised I had to stop, I don't want to be one of those who drop dead on a film set

Michael Douglas, aged 80, on his departure from the profession, at a conference held as part of the 59th Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Archaeology · Museums · Mores · Ethnography

Ancient Egyptian headrests used for sleeping and found in tombs

A wooden ancient Egyptian headrest recalls an architectural model of a Greek portico. The Egyptians used such contrivances for sleeping. The head was placed upon the headrest in lieu of a pillow. If the bed stood close to the ground, this offered protection from insects and scorpions. On the other

Books · London · Mores · Ethnography

"In Britain many men sleep with one wife, and many wives lust after one husband," reports a Russian chronicler

This is not the only mention of polygyny and polyandry in the British Isles. Already in Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War there is an account containing the detail that "[in Britain] ten or twelve men have wives in common, and particularly brothers with brothers, and

NB! · Archive · People

Stalin in 1918

Archaeology · Moscow · Museums

The Pushkin Museum today showed a new acquisition for its collection: an ancient Egyptian magic wand made from the tusk of a male hippopotamus

The wand is broken, so no magical powers remain in it. It is the third such object in the museum's holdings; the other two come from the collection of the Russian Egyptologist Vladimir Semyonovich Golenishchev. The newly acquired piece comes from the collection of the Australian surgeon Harley

Architecture · Interviews · Moscow · Museums

Not long ago, the Bakhrushin Museum held a preview of the Centre for Theatre History, part of the museum and theatre quarter

Not long ago, the Bakhrushin Museum held a preview of the Centre for Theatre History, part of the museum and theatre quarter. This large-scale and in many respects unique project has long been discussed with interest in the museum community. The other day TASS published a substantial, programmatic interview

Alexandr Radayev