Art · Observations
Mortal Things. By the English Pre-Raphaelite artist Evelyn De Morgan, 1897. One might think that this is the Mother of God spreading her starry heavenly veil over our world; the symbols, at any rate, point that way. But the artist's allegory is that the angel of death,
NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Society Pages · Humour
Moscow · Observations · Mores
Do you know Furmanny Lane in Moscow? The Helmholtz Institute of Eye Diseases stands there. Well, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, furmanshchiki was the name given to catchers of stray dogs. The word most probably derives from fura, a cart or wagon, a furmanshchik being one who
NB! · Observations · Mores
A festive little cake to an ancient Roman recipe, with honey and sourdough, in honour of 33,333 subscribers! Thank you all for the good company and your interest, and my mother for a touching moment) I love you all 🤍
Cinema · Museums · Observations
At the centre of "The Weekdays and Holidays of Serafima Glukina" stands a lonely grown woman, Serafima, played by Alisa Freindlich, a museum employee, for those times somewhat not of this world. Today she would be called a representative of the ideas of New Sincerity. A little clumsy,
Cinema · Observations
In our regular Cinema slot today: a Soviet drama of the perestroika period about the loneliness of cultivated people. The Weekdays and Holidays of Serafima Glyukina (1988) is a little-known and far from outstanding film, but I am sure it will appeal to those who value subtle reflections on
NB! · Cinema · Observations · Humour
Lyudmila Prokofyevna Kalugina in the film "Office Romance" is, by the plot, only 36. Alisa Freindlich was 43 at the time of filming. Do take care of yourselves, stress included, so that at 36 you are not played by a lady of 43
Almaty · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Heritage · People
Today Itkind's sculptures are displayed in many museums around the world and held in private collections, while a considerable part of the master's legacy is in Kazakhstan, where the most productive decades of his life were spent. Unfortunately, for a time some of the wooden sculptures
NB! · Observations · Humour
Books · Observations · Education · Humour
The Kultura television channel. Former Minister of Culture Shvydkoy reminds viewers that the Decameron was written during the plague of the 14th century. Are you serious? That is the eighth-form school syllabus
Art · Museums · Observations · People
Remembering Goethe today, 188 years since his death. I do like the way that, in the portrait by his friend Johann Tischbein, who won his fame precisely through his portraits of Goethe, he has settled himself in the pose of an ancient Roman upon a ruined Egyptian obelisk, beneath an
Architecture · Observations
A model of that very black house with an exoskeleton by Alexander Konstantinov, whose photographs once went the rounds of every architectural magazine. Quite possibly the most extraordinary dacha I have ever seen. One of these days I shall show a photograph of the house in the flesh; it really