Observations · Society · Paris
Rents in Paris Are About to Go Through the Roof. France's Council of State has annulled several decrees regulating rents in Paris at a stroke. In effect, a blow has been dealt to the neo-Bolshevik course of the Paris city hall. The National Union of Property Owners
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
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! · Books · Observations · Mores
NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
The East · Books · Observations
Have you read "The Cossacks"? Prince Olenin, disillusioned with life and sunk in complete moral decline, goes straight off to the active army in the hope of distracting himself amid new circumstances and places. He hopes that closeness to nature and to the simple folk will help him
Art · Museums · Observations · Saint Petersburg
The Ascent. Perhaps this is the chief thought that comes to mind on viewing the grand retrospective of Karl Bryullov at the Russian Museum. An ascent at once of you, the viewer, and of Russian art itself, up to the level of Bryullov, who became our first great painter to
Art · Observations
A mistake is a gift from God. Do not try to correct it, then. On the contrary, try to understand it, to be imbued with its meaning, to grow used to it. And liberation will come. Salvador Dalí
NB! · The East · Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami now makes footwear. Well, evidently the world has been feeling a certain shortage of rubber goods. Owners of Crocs, accordingly, should hasten to change their shoes.
NB! · Art · Museums · Observations · Saint Petersburg
Interviews · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations
Marina Loshak said many interesting things in a recent interview. But as someone who has been inseparably bound up with museums for almost ten years, and who has been collecting art for about as long, and a rather original, non-standard collection at that, I found the following passage especially