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,

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&

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

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

Art · Books · Museums · Heritage · People

Tropinin's Portrait of Pushkin and the Posthumous Portrait by Karl Masur

Tropinin's portrait of Pushkin and the posthumous portrait by Karl Masur. In both, the poet wears a ring with a red stone on his thumb. Around this ring, one of Pushkin's favourite, a great many legends have clustered ever since it first appeared. They begin with

Art · Cinema · Museums · New York · Humour

Four-year-old Luise Perthes, captured by her parents' friend Philipp Otto Runge at the moment she realised that in the future she was destined to become a misanthropic lady with pigeons, wandering Central Park in New York in search of Kevin McCallister

Four-year-old Luise Perthes, captured by her parents' friend Philipp Otto Runge at the moment she realised that in the future she was destined to become a misanthropic lady with pigeons, wandering Central Park in New York in search of Kevin McCallister. Portrait of 1805, environs of Hamburg.

Art · Museums · Rome · Humour

Who are you, creature?

Who are you, creature? What are you? Marble sculpture Boy in the Mask of the Satyr Silenus. 1st century AD, Villa Ludovisi. It probably captures a scene from the ritual festivities in honour of Dionysus, in which the figure of Silenus, one of his tutors, held an important place.

Art · Museums · Observations · Society

Tsikoriy Contemporary Art Centre opens in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk Region

Meanwhile, in Zheleznogorsk, a town of a hundred thousand in the Kursk region, the Tsikoriy (“Chicory”) Centre for Contemporary Art has opened. The governor himself came to the opening, no less. The centre was launched with the support of Garage. The atmosphere at the opening was very warm and inspiring:

Aristocracy · Archive · Art · Moscow · Museums · Society

Speaking of aristocrats and art: on the upper floor of MAMM, an archival exhibition by Lauren Greenfield on the life of the Moscow post-Soviet elite, a photographic project of 2012-2014 in which the artist set out to capture the daily life and pretensions

Speaking of aristocrats and art: on the upper floor of MAMM, an archival exhibition by Lauren Greenfield on the life of the Moscow post-Soviet elite, a photographic project of 2012-2014 in which the artist set out to capture the daily life and pretensions of Russia's wealthy.

Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society Pages

Yesterday MAMM opened an exhibition of photographs by Yulia Mayorova, but I did not manage to see it: I had time only to fortify myself with two glasses of champagne and snap the corridor, with the works glimpsed at its far end, since the opening was dela

Yesterday MAMM opened an exhibition of photographs by Yulia Mayorova, but I did not manage to see it: I had time only to fortify myself with two glasses of champagne and snap the corridor, with the works glimpsed at its far end, since the opening was delayed and I had

Architecture · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The Museum of Architecture opens “The Fifth Wave”, an exhibition of artists who left Russia

In the enfilade of the main building of the Museum of Architecture, an exhibition has opened that continues my beloved 2020 Garage Triennial of Contemporary Art. If you remember, the selection of works for the 2nd Triennial at Garage was built on recommendations from artists who had taken part in