Wednesday, May 13, 2009

1920's Russia Book

Another one of my birthday presents this year, aside from the Tortilla Girl dress, is a superb book called Moscow and St-Petersburg 1900-1920. It covers the arts and culture in those cities during the Russian "Silver Age", when artists such as Kandinsky or Chagall created great paintings, while the likes of divine Anna Pavlova (bottom pic) and Michel Fokine turned Russian ballet into a eternal legend. In some works, you can see elements that would later inspire Yves Saint-Laurent, Paul Poiret, generations of designers and creators. As the Russian empire was about to crumble, the arts bloomed. The book also includes extraordinary pics of historical figures like the last tsar, Nicholas II, Rasputin, and others, as well as heart-wrenching shots from World War 1.

27 comments:

La chica said...

Me encanta!!

Laura in Paris said...

I look forward to seeing every image of this beautiful book!

Kwana said...

What a gorgeous book. Did I wish you a happy birthday? If not Happy Birthday way late!

Debra said...

What a lovely book. Hope your Birthday was fabulous.

Mary-Laure said...

A WORLD IN A PAN - thank you for giving it to me, I love it.

KWANA & DEBRA - thanks for your wishes. I spent my bday with my sister. I took a ballet class in the morning, went for a walk on the beach with Benjy in the afternoon and then my sister treated me to a delicious Italian dinner at a very nice place...

Anonymous said...

so lovely! you really are of another time ;)
nancyxx

THE GEYSER said...

"A WORLD IN A PAN - thank you for giving it to me, I love it."

No she didn't!!! me Me ME!!!

Seeker said...

That's a great book, with beautiful pictures, lucky girl :)

xoxo

Mary-Laure said...

GEYSER - it was YOU? AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!

drollgirl said...

what?!??!?! what a fantastic and phenomenal gift!!! i love it! and i hope the birthday was just fab. :)

Emily said...

Thank you for visiting & commenting =)

Anna Pavlova is such an inspiration!! Great book.

Beverly Ash Gilbert said...

Happy Birthday!
I love the dancer, so graceful, her movement timeless, but so obviously from another time.

Mary-Laure said...

DROLLGIRL - yes I was spoilt...

BEVERLY - I really like what you say about Pavlova being both timeless and obviously from another time. I think that could be said about all great art.

Yoli said...

So happy to find a kindred spirit. Thank you for passing by my blog. I too am a vegetarian but my oracle is not a pretty little dog but loud Macaw.

Gabbi said...

Gorgeous book, I only own a couple of art books but it's so inspiring to pull them off the shelf and browse when I need inspiration... truly a great gift!

Ina in Alaska said...

Hi from Anchorage! And my little doggies send a friendly woof back to yours!! xo

natsumi said...

Such a beautiful book! The colors are gorgeous.

Mary-Laure said...

YOLI - it's one of the magical features of blogs, how they allow us to find kindred spirits.

GABBI - yes, I only have a few but I treasure them. The texts in this book are really exceptionally interesting, I just read them in a couple of days.

Dagmar said...

Hi, I've just saw you put a comment on my blog. Thank you very much. As I was going through yours I was stunned in how many countries you've been. Great pics.Talk soon.

Sherin said...

Wow, this looks like an absolutely amazing book. It looks reallly interesting.

kulululu said...

thank u.
grat book

muchlove said...

that book looks beautiful! I love going through vintage images.

d. moll, l.ac. said...

Every page a gem! Enjoy.

Dave King said...

Lovely, lovely book. I hope you had a fab birthday.

Rebecca said...

That looks like a very neat book!

Anonymous said...

Estupendo libro!!!Como bibliófilo me apasiona.Fernando Cristeche

lune_blanc said...

The book sounds so interesting and it's full of lovely images....what a nice b-day present.