Art · Books · Observations

The Sorceress in Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” as a Trial for Gerda, Not an Enemy

The old witch combed Gerda's hair with a golden comb and told her: "You will stay here for ever, my little angel" Illustration by the Scottish artist Eleanor Vere Boyle for an edition of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen", 1872. In

Faith · Art · Books · Society

Maximilian Voloshin's 1919 poem on Rus' in flames and the city of Kitezh

All Russia is a bonfire. An unquenchable flame From border to border, from age to age Hums, roars... And the stone cracks. And every torch is a man. Have we not ourselves, like our forefathers, Set the grass fire? And the hurricane Has fanned it, and in acrid smoke are

NB! · Faith · Art · People

A Reminder from Leonardo da Vinci: God Is with Us

Art · Observations · Humour

Look at this 1904 drawing by Sasha Schneider, “Hypnosis”, reflect that every conversation contains an element of hypnosis, and reconsider your circle of acquaintance

Not medical advice

Art · Moscow · Observations · Paris · Humour

I Am Being Painted Again

I am being painted again. Presumably they hope that on canvas I will behave better than I do in life. Serious people, brushes, an easel, inspiration. They say: “We need to capture your inner self.” I say: “Capture the outer one first, so that I can at least recognise myself.

Art · Observations · Society

Ugliness in art from the Middle Ages to today and a reflection on the displacement of beauty

In the Middle Ages, ugly images were meant to frighten, and through that fright to achieve certain didactic, admonitory ends. In the Baroque era, ugliness is used for emotional engagement; in the age of modernism, the unlovely aesthetic calls for revolt against the bourgeois idea of beauty; postmodernism and post-

NB! · Art · Pop Culture · Society Pages

Highlights from Art Basel, and Not Without Picasso

A huge green inflatable figure stands on Place Vendôme in front of a mansard-roofed façade, beside black cars and a police motorcycle.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Observations · Paris

Giant green inflatable figure on Place Vendôme in Paris during Art Basel

The Place Vendôme, one of the most beautiful squares in Paris, looks like this during Art Basel. Does anyone find this an outstanding work of art, or shall we settle for the phrase "such times, such talents"?

Art · Books · People

Gennady Shpalikov's poem on the impossibility of return and the wish to go back to 1945

Whether by misfortune or by luck, The truth is simple: Never return To the former places. Even if the burnt-out site Looks quite decent, What we are looking for cannot be found, Neither by you nor by me. A journey backwards I would forbid, I ask you as a

Faith · Art

Angels with orbs in Guariento di Arpo's cycle for the chapel of the Carrara residence

Angels by Guariento di Arpo (1310-1370) from the cycle of angelic hierarchies for the chapel in the da Carrara residence. In the angels' hands are spheres known as the orb, the globe, the mirror or the sovereign's apple. As a rule, these are large spheres bearing

Listings · Moscow · Coming Up · Art · Museums

Five exhibitions for October and November, from Moscow nonconformists to early photography

A new selection of Moscow exhibitions that I recommend visiting this week:. 📌 Group exhibition “Moscow Nonconformists. In Search of Identity” at Arts Square Gallery, until 26 October 📌 24 October: opening of an exhibition from Polina Bondareva's private collection in the new space masters:dom on Sofiyskaya Embankment 📌 Collective

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Or, as the critics put it, the work turns to the theme of the authenticity of the gesture and the contingency of form, the artist calls into question the boundaries between creator and observer, a subversion of the academic tradition