Architecture · Observations

Model of the Black House with an Exoskeleton by Alexander Konstantinov

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

Art · Museums · Observations · Society Pages

The heart of the exhibition, as Max Boxer himself puts it, is a special space that holds exclusively family things: the works of his father, Anatoly Boxer, his grandmother's personal belongings, furniture from his mother's flat, remember…

The heart of the exhibition, as Max Boxer himself puts it, is a special space that holds exclusively family things: the works of his father, Anatoly Boxer, his grandmother's personal belongings, furniture from his mother's flat (remember, I wrote of how she lamented the emptying of

NB! · Art · Museums · Observations

Eighteenth-Century Silver and Table Curiosities Made from Nuts

Eighteenth-century silver and table curiosities made from nuts. I wrote once about similar exhibits in the Armoury Chamber and in the Metropolitan Museum. But some people simply keep such things at home

NB! · Art · Museums · Observations

Display cases with eighteenth-century glass: for the collector what matters here is not the glass but the engraved design, since the whole conception of this collection rested on the uniqueness of the engravings

Museums · Observations · Society · Saint Petersburg

The Hermitage announces epidemic measures and says the museum stays open

In view of the spread of coronavirus, the Hermitage announces the following. - A crisis management plan has been drawn up, which includes possible options for the museum's operation should the situation deteriorate. - The Hermitage does not plan to hold any mass cultural events with more than 1,000

Architecture · Art · Observations · Society · Paris

Studying the bas-relief of the Palais de la Porte Dorée, one notices a peculiarity shared by all the colonial figures: like the images of ancient Egypt, they face the viewer in profile, and only the allegorical figure of France, on the central axis of the

Studying the bas-relief of the Palais de la Porte Dorée, one notices a peculiarity shared by all the colonial figures: like the images of ancient Egypt, they face the viewer in profile, and only the allegorical figure of France, on the central axis of the composition above the doorway,

Architecture · Art · Observations · Paris

Whenever I recall the delightful façade of the Palais de la Porte Dorée on the edge of the Bois de Vincennes, I wonder whether mankind will ever invent anything so aesthetically flawless and inspired as the Art Deco tradition.

The building, which now houses a tropical aquarium and a museum of the history of immigration, was originally created as an exhibition space for the six-month Colonial Exhibition held in Paris in 1931. The entire façade of the Palace of the Golden Gate is covered with bas-reliefs depicting

Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society

The Tretyakov Gallery only recently announced with pride that it was ready to receive the public and to furnish its guests with hand sanitiser

The Tretyakov Gallery only recently announced with pride that it was ready to receive the public and to furnish its guests with hand sanitiser. Until thunder strikes, the peasant will not cross himself.

NB! · Observations

Well, It All Adds Up

Observations · Mores · Humour

The drunkard's cloak and the scold's bridle as punishments for drunkards and quarrelsome women

The drunkard's cloak: a barrel with holes for the head and arms, in which alcoholics were dressed and sent to walk about town, though sometimes the man in the barrel was also tied to a post. Beside the drunkard stands a quarrelsome woman in a scold's

Books · Observations · Society

Final scene of Alexander Sumarokov’s tragedy “Dimitry the Pretender” and the death of its hero

There is a tragedy by Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov called "Dimitry the Pretender". And it contains these lines: ... Parmen (with a drawn sword, tearing Ksenia from his hands) Your cruelties and your thunderings are over! Our people are delivered from deaths, persecutions, wounds, The tyrant in his impotence is

Coming Up · Interviews · Art · Moscow · Observations

Moscow collector Max Boxer's exhibition opens at the IN ARTIBUS foundation on 19 March

The Art Newspaper has run a piece on a grand exhibition by the well-known Moscow collector Max Boxer, which opens on 19 March and will transform the IN ARTIBUS foundation's space into a flat filled with genuine belongings and interiors of the Boxer family. I gather that