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Ivan Aivazovsky and the Russian Painters of Water
Master of the Sublime, he made the ocean the principal subject of his work. Sometimes wild and raging, sometimes calm and peaceful, the life of the ocean is composed of as many allegories as the human condition.
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Do not judge a building by its façade.
Public housing has a rather negative image – initially associated with slums and poverty, these areas were (and still generally are) avoided by middle to upper income citizens. Whether in fear of catching starvation, encountering violence, or simply being disturbed to see how the other half really lives, public housing venues are the last place you would find the “well-to-do”. However, this sort of housing can actually be quite nice, and some countries are incorporating it into their city schemes for the entire population, not just the poor, huddled masses.
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A Searching Truth
Question for the day: What brings us to make particular choices? Choices which range from our music preferences to major life decisions? Religion is one such important life choice. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism… the Big 5 (in terms of the most well-known religions). Today I shall be looking at Buddhism. What is the draw? Why is it becoming more and more popular in the Western world?
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Art from the Land of the Rising Sun
Japan, in comparison with many other countries, is rather small, though it ranks tenth amongst the world’s highest populations. More fascinatingly, it has one of the richest and most eclectic art histories to speak of when considering it on its own. Yes, various countries in Europe do this or that, and Africa has a slew of artistic variety, but we’re just talking one country – 6852 islands, if you really want to talk about how amazing Japan’s universally-acknowledged solidarity is. Continuously infiltrated by other powers (China, Russia, Germany’s money, and the United States), art in Japan has successfully maintained a focused and healthy presence in the art world since the…
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Breaking up and making up
When I think of the relationship between Russia and Germany the first thing that comes to mind is Carrie and Mr Big or maybe Ross and Rachel for those of you that never dug into Sex and the City – in which case, shame on you. The on-again, off-again saga of their affairs is almost too much for the common person to handle. They’re on – they’re politicking together and mutually militaristic; Russia is sharing her energy sources because of her dependence on Germany’s finances. If that’s not a relationship, I don’t know what is! And then Leo von Caprivi had to go and cut Russia out, ruining the three-way…
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The Secret to Being a Great Artist…
Serov has been hailed as the defining Russian artist of the transitional period between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, perhaps the best portrait painter in Russian art, whose “early rise to the top is almost unparalleled in the history of art”. What factors contributed to this artist’s greatness? Could it be an inherent talent? He was born into a creative family and immersed in an artistic environment from childhood; indeed, both his parents were famous composers. Or, could it be his drive and his determination to succeed? There’s no doubt that Serov was a hard worker and a competitive artist, who strove to be at the forefront of…
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Ilya Repin: Stalin’s Golden Boy
Ukrainian-born Ilya Repin’s life spanned the turn of the 20th century, a particularly turbulent period in Russian history. A member of the Itinerants, he is one of the most celebrated social realist painters of all time, painting the lives of poor peasants and revolutionaries in exquisite detail, eschewing the burgeoning contemporary European impressionist movement. His paintings are a satirical commentary on the contemporary society of the Russian Empire, depicting scenes of peasantry (‘Barge Haulers on the Volga’), political and military scenes (‘Demonstration 17 October 1905’) and Cossack life (‘The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mahmoud IV’). Soon after his death in 1930, Repin had developed into a cult…
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