Interviews · Art · Books
V–A–C Press has published a translation of the monograph "The Russian Experiment in Art, 1863–1922" by the British scholar and researcher of the Russian avant-garde Camilla Gray. The book is one of the first Western studies of the Russian avant-garde and has become
The East · Observations · Heritage · People · Nature
A friend on Insta posted a photo of the memorial stele to Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in the Majorelle Garden, not far from their villa Oasis in Marrakech, and I noticed the plaque: I remember it used to say simply "In memoriam Yves Saint Laurent", at
Archive · Books · People · Humour
"Nine-tenths of writers will die off, nobody will remember them, such is their specific (weight). Whereas I shall shine through the ages. You have seen to it that Gorky wants for nothing, and Tolstoy receives 36,000 roubles a month. Why am I not provided for in the
NB! · Art · Monarchies · People
Portrait of the second Russian Empress, niece of Peter I and daughter of Ivan V, Anna Ioannovna, engraving by F. Setone. 1734
NB! · Art · People
NB! · Society
Observations · Pop Culture · Nature · Humour
Cindy Crawford in Giorgio Armani's 1992 campaign has two Rassies from «Electronic», the Russian schoolboy sci-fi film, at once. I have always dreamed of having one like that. But then the Airedale terrier, bred in England in the mid-nineteenth century, is not merely handsome: it also
Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
The Taming of the Shrew. What do you think: is that really Elizabeth II writing to say that she is not dead, that Charles has packed her off to a desert island so that he might become king, and that, having no access to the royal funds, she begs me
NB! · Monarchies · People · Saint Petersburg
On 17 November 1796, Catherine II died in the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. The Empress was 67 years old
Architecture · Monarchies · Moscow · Heritage
The Red Gate was the first triumphal arch in Russia. The original, Petrine arch on Myasnitskaya Street was built of wood after 1709, and it burned down and was rebuilt more than once. In Catherine's reign the arch was pulled down and built anew. But under Anna Ioannovna
NB! · Books · Observations · Mores
Art · Society · People
Perhaps the chief hater of the American banking system has been found. The contemporary Los Angeles artist Alex Schaefer rose to international fame when, during the great American recession of 2008, he began painting fantastical, politically charged plein-air pictures showing bank branches on fire, major bank holding companies in