Cinema · People · Humour

Werner Herzog and the ship which he (or rather 700 Indians) hauled over a mountain during the filming of Fitzcarraldo, 1982

Werner Herzog and the ship which he (or rather 700 Indians) hauled over a mountain during the filming of Fitzcarraldo, 1982. If you have not yet seen this epic film about the madcap attempt of a fanatical music-lover to build an opera house in the heart of the Peruvian

Art · Museums

Two Monginot family portraits by Rigaud and de Troy and the dispute over authorship

A witty dialogue between painters, or an amusing family tradition? The first image is a work of 1688 by the French Baroque painter Hyacinthe Rigaud, showing the 21-year-old Jean-Baptiste Mongino, whose biography will tell us little, with an oval portrait of his young wife. The next canvas,

Top view of a corner of artificial turf on a lit white floor, with a green projected hand icon, signal waves and the text aLTE. Feet in black trousers and shoes are visible below.

NB!

Green aLTE projection on artificial turf and feet in black shoes

In the Press · Art · Moscow · Museums

The “Choosing Distance” exhibition at the Garage museum and a text about it in a new art media outlet

How to Enjoy Speculations and Fakes at the New Exhibition at Garage? At the height of the pandemic, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art invited artists to reflect on the future, and the result is a large exhibition, "Choosing Distance: Speculations, Fakes, Forecasts in the Age of the Coronacene&

Two black-and-white photographs side by side: an infant on the left and an elderly balding man in a dark suit and tie on the right.

NB! · Cinema · Observations · Humour

Childhood and adult portraits of Hitchcock with the same facial expression

Astonishing, really. Hitchcock carried the same unchanging expression through his entire life

Art · Moscow · Observations · Society Pages · Ethnography

Seychelles coral amulet by Chanel Alphonse at Hide Gallery in Cube.Moscow

At a tiny exhibition at Hide Gallery in Cube.Moscow I came across this island talisman. The sculpture has a most interesting history: the gallerists found it in the studio of an artist who carves such figures from coral in some little village in the Seychelles, to protect his family

Museums · Observations · Mores · People

The history of the Anke pie of the Tolstoy family and the recipe from Dr Nikolay Anke

As Far as I Know, This Cake Was Once Served to Putin at Yasnaya Polyana. The Anke pie is a celebrated dish of the Tolstoy family, served at the museum on special occasions. I was lucky enough to try it, and the pie was to my taste, so I am

Archaeology · Museums · Ethnography

Funerary wreaths of ancient Greece and their place in the rites of farewell to the dead

The funerary rites of Ancient Greece bear some resemblance to the customs of bidding farewell to the dead in many modern cultures. The dead were washed and dressed, a wreath or a precious headband was placed on the head, and only then could one take leave of the deceased at

NB! · Faith · Monarchies · Moscow

The Coronation of Nicholas II on 14 (26) May 1896

Coming Up · Books · Museums · Heritage

Ekaterina Tolstaya, at the presentation of the “Tolstoy” theatre festival, which will run from 24 to 27 June, said that for the centenary of the museum at Yasnaya Polyana, besides the restoration of the early eighteenth-century mirrors, the balcony, the b

Ekaterina Tolstaya, at the presentation of the “Tolstoy” theatre festival, which will run from 24 to 27 June, said that for the centenary of the museum at Yasnaya Polyana, besides the restoration of the early eighteenth-century mirrors, the balcony, the blind areas and the threshing barn, two new venues

NB! · Books · Observations · Mores · People

Of Sofya Andreyevna I shall say this: who are we to call her a harridan?

Archive · Books · Heritage · People

First of all, the inscription cut into the cornelian of Pushkin's ring seemed a riddle

First of all, the inscription cut into the cornelian of Pushkin's ring seemed a riddle. The poet, according to numerous accounts, was convinced of a special, almost magical significance in the incomprehensible words, now referring them to the Kabbalah, now to other mystical formulae, and even assuring his

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