NB! · Architecture · Geography

Venice, Piazza San Marco

Cinema · Books · Observations · Mores

Reading Werner Herzog's memoirs "Every Man for Himself and God Against All", I have reached the chapter "Wives, Children", already nearing the end of the book, after the chapters on his youth, childhood dreams, film shoots and how he solved a puzzle in a

I am reading Werner Herzog's memoirs, "Every Man for Himself and God Against All", and have reached the chapter "Wives, Children". We are already close to the end of the book, after the chapters on his youth, childhood dreams, film shoots and how he

Moscow · Museums · Observations · Pop Culture

Pianist Riad Mammadov releases an album recorded at the Pushkin Museum in April 2023

My friend, the pianist and composer Riad Mammadov, has released a new album of academic repertoire and his own compositions, recorded during a solo concert in the Italian Courtyard of the Pushkin Museum in April 2023. The programme of the recital, and of the album, is made up of works

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Queen Victoria in life and Queen Victoria in a drawing by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Queen Victoria in life and Queen Victoria in a drawing by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Oh, these British artists

Old photograph: a nun in a dark veil sits at left; at right a dark-haired woman lies on pillows, eyes closed. Behind them are carved furniture and floral wallpaper.

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Nun beside a reclining woman's bed in a room with a carved cabinet

NB! · Cinema · Observations

Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Vampyr" of 1932 is an indisputable classic of the horror film

Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Vampyr" of 1932 is an indisputable classic of the horror film, and a treasure-house of the earliest special effects besides. If you are in the mood for a certain refined dread and a Victorian chill, I recommend it for your viewing.

Coming Up · Art · Museums · Ethnography

We all love stories about old men and women who adorn their cottages with the gold of village baroque, turn plain country houses into galleries of the lubok and, with no artistic training whatever, paint vast canvases on themes…

We all love stories about old men and women who adorn their cottages with the gold of village baroque, turn plain country houses into galleries of the lubok and, with no artistic training whatever, paint vast canvases on themes of simple Russian life. These artistic phenomena are usually classed as

Books · Observations

Pavel Pepperstein's new novel “Barkhatnaya kibitka” on childhood in the USSR and family

I have received Pavel Pepperstein's new novel "Velvet Wagon" (Barkhatnaya kibitka), published by Alpina Non-Fiction. It is mostly about Pepperstein's own childhood, but in places also about childhood in general, about childhood in the USSR, about the childhood of a privileged cub. Besides

NB! · Art · Books · Humour

An Eighteenth-Century Barbie: The English Poet Christopher Anstey and His Daughter in a Portrait by William Hoare

NB! · Observations · Humour

The only videoconference I would actually like to attend

Open wooden doors reveal a hall with painted walls, a mosaic floor and marble statues; beyond, grey columns and a red carpet line a staircase hall.

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Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting: view through open doors to the staircase

Page of Russian text with an illustration: a boy in a yellow shirt leads a pigtailed girl by the hand, a building with a Chinese-style roof at right. The text names Wang, Liu, Chen and Min.

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