An exhibition celebrating St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary
http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/programs/exhibition.html
The website "An Exhibition Celebrating St. Petersburg's 300th Anniversary" contains images of some exhibits from the Hillwood Museum exhibition (Washington) which was held between February and December 2003. The exhibition is dedicated to the celebrations in honour of the 300th anniversary of Russia's northern capital, St. Petersburg. Since its establishment in 1703 St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) has always been symbolic of people's beliefs about Russia as a whole. The exhibition explores various impressions and beliefs that Russia's rulers, artisans and inhabitants have held about the city. First opened as a public museum in 1977, Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens features the most comprehensive collection of 18th and 19th century Russian imperial art outside of Russia. Examples of images displayed on this page include: a statuette of Peter the Great; a box with Catherine as Minerva; an icecup; the vestments of the clergy serving at the coronation of Nicholas II; a view of the Alexander Column; and a portrait of Peter the Great. The images displayed on this page are for reference only and cannot be reproduced without special permission.
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Art of Mikhail Vrubel
http://www.phys.lsu.edu/students/alexey/index.html
This online resource is dedicated to the life and art of the Russian painter Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910). Vrubel's paintings show the influence of Symbolism, Neo-Romanticism, Art Nouveau and Cubism. He is famous for his religious art and his masterpieces: The Demon Seated, The Demon Fallen and The Swan Princess. This website contains his biography and a bibliography of helpful reference works. A number of his paintings can be viewed online in the site's virtual gallery. It is planned to add links to related Internet resources in the future. This online resource is aimed at the general public, but it will also be useful for students of Russian art and culture.
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ARTINFO: visual arts
http://www.artinfo.ru/en/VisualArts/default.asp
This website has been created by ARTINFO Ltd. (established in 1991), which is one of the first Russian multimedia publishers. The main objective of this project is to conserve Russia's cultural wealth and make it available to users worldwide as well as to provide information support to Russian artists, art students, critics and art lovers. Apart from high quality digital images, the site provides various materials on each painter, which include his/her picture; biographical information with a personal website if available; collections where his/her works are held; participations in exhibitions; critics' opinions; and bibliography. At the moment the site covers 1268 authors arranged in the alphabetical order, with 7528 images of their works, and contains information on 286 art establishments, such as museums, art galleries, research institutions, exhibition halls and other places of interest all over the former Soviet Union.
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Children's books of the early Soviet era
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/russian/
The Web Site "Children's Books of the Early Soviet Era" is an excellent online exhibition curated by Irena Murray at McGill University, Canada. It provides a wonderful insight into Soviet era propaganda, fed to children and calculated to reinforce Soviet ideals in their parents. The exhibition focuses on the prominent writer-illustrator pairing of Samuel Iakovlevich Marshak (1887-1964) and Vladimir Vasil'evich Lebedev (1891-1967). The reproduction of book pages, covers, and fantastic illustrations are of interest to those who are studying the era in Russian literature, children's literature, history of propaganda, and many other subjects. The site is divided into the following sections: language mosaic; revolution and industry; in the animal world; women as partners; agit-prop; pioneers; and the Soviet North.
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Dorich House
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/dorich/
Dorich House, Kingston-Upon-Thames, was the residence of the sculptress Dora Gordine (c.1900-1991) and her husband, the Russianist Richard Hare (1907-1966). It was built in 1936 in a mixture of Eastern European and modernist styles. The house is now owned by Kingston University and holds a permanent collection of Gordine's sculptures and Hare's collection of Russian art. The house is open on request to scholars and members of the general public. The website describes the history of the house and the lives and careers of its residents. It contains an online catalogue and gallery of both Dora Gordine's sculptures and Richard Hare's Russian collection. Access details to the collections are provided, along with information of open days. Forthcoming conferences are also publicised. Dorich House has recieved numerous research grants from the AHRC and British Academy.
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Early twentieth-century Russian drama
http://max.mmlc.northwestern.edu/~mdenner/Drama/
Originally developed by Andrew Wachtel and two of his colleagues as a "virtual textbook" intended to accompany a course on Russian modernist theatre at Northwestern University, this website was subsequently enhanced for a wider audience online. Its straightforward design belies a rich and complex seam of data on the artists, designers, playwrights, directors and impresarios at the heart of the groundbreaking theatrical scene in Russia from the turn of the twentieth century until after the Revolution. The website presents four main points of access to its resources: Designers, Plays, Visual Arts and Directors, covering artists including: Natalia Goncharova; Vladimir Tatlin; Alexandra Exter; Vsevolod Meyerhold; Alexander Tairov; and Konstantin Stanislavsky. Each section cross-references the others, and all are richly illustrated with production photographs, designs, sketches and stage directions. Individual plays and productions are described, as are specific developments such as Constructivism, and searches on individual artists and works can be made across the site from the home page. Video and audio clips are included. The website also contains a good list of links to Internet resources in English on Russian drama.
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Elektronnyi muzei otechestvennogo plakata
http://www.plakaty.ru/
Plakaty.ru is an extensive online museum of Soviet and post-Soviet posters, which can be browsed by poster author or by poster type (e.g. agitprop, film, military). Some authors have substantial biographical entries, others brief chronologies, some are not even accompanied by dates. Not all of the thousands of posters are dated either, but clicking on poster categories offers a selection of posters sorted by year, or by author name, with or without thumbnails. A 'notes' page (only available in Russian) links to related articles (e.g. on Soviet war propaganda; on the erotic image in poster art); 'exhibitions' shows photographs from past exhibitions and advertises future events; and details are also given of the 'comradeship of poster artists'. This attractive and easy to use site offers images which are of good enough quality to use in powerpoint presentations, and should be of particular use to teachers of Soviet culture and history.
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Entsiklopediia Sankt-Peterburga
http://www.encspb.ru/
Entsiklopediia Sankt-Peterburga is an excellent and easy to navigate online reference book (initially published in 2004 by the Likhachev Foundation) with over 7,000 entries on topics from architecture to sport, and thousands of brief biographies, all cross referenced. The site separately catalogues approximately 7,000 images and nearly 50 maps, although the latter are too small for teaching purposes. There is also a chronology from 1703-2003, with links to relevant entries such as 'the founding of St Petersburg' and 'the Road of Life'. Entries vary in scope and detail: on significant topics such as 'Blockade 1941-5' relatively full entries are accompanied by maps, photos and a brief bibliography. Other entries (e.g. individual hospitals or schools) simply link to larger entries in which they are mentioned. Of particular interest are the numerous entries for individual churches, parks, cemeteries and buildings with historical photos and chronological overviews. Other useful features include: a thematic bibliography; the 'addresses' section, which allows the reader to view all entries relating to a particular street; and a search function (best used in Russian). The site is available in English and Russian, and will be of use to teachers, researchers and students working on Petersburg-related topics.
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Fabergé : treasures of Imperial Russia
http://www.treasuresofimperialrussia.com/
This website about 16 of the Carl Fabergé Easter eggs in the collection of Russian businessman Viktor Veskelberg is a sample of a book that was originally published in 2004, and written by Geza von Habsburg. The website is published by the Link of Times Foundation, an organisation that aims to repatriate cultural and historical items taken out from Russia in the 20th century. As well as a preface, foreword and introduction, it provides information on the Fabergé jewelled eggs that were produced for the Russian Imperial family from 1885 "when Alexander III commissioned the first Imperial Easter Egg, The Hen Egg, as a gift for his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna". The site includes information on: the Hen Egg; the Coronation Egg (the most famous of the eggs); the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg; the Duchess of Marlborough Egg; and the last Imperial egg, the Order of St. George Egg. Although the link to purchase the book is no longer live, this website offers good quality images and information on each egg with footnotes.
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FGUK 'Kirillo-Belozerskii istoriko-arkhitekturnyi i khudozhestvennyi muzei-zapovednik'
http://www.kirmuseum.ru/
FGUK 'Kirillo-Belozerskii istoriko-arkhitekturnyi i khudozhestvennyi muzei-zapovednik' is the website of a Northern Russian museum associated with St Kirill Belozerskii (Cyril of the White Lake). The site offers a beautifully-illustrated overview of this significant medieval monastery complex, with sections on the museum (including descriptions of its collections, with selected digitised images of: icons; archaeological finds; engravings and illustrations; books and documents) and the monastery (entitled 'to the visitor'). The latter includes: a historical overview; a map; a section on monastery architecture; exhibition details, including a virtual exhibition of the fortifications. There is an extensive English language version, but the Russian site is more substantial. Images are good quality, if too small for teaching and research purposes. There are also sections on: news; museum publications; information (including contact details and directions). This site will be of most use to students, researchers and teachers of pre-Petrine Russian culture and history.
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Gosudarstvennyi istoriko-arkhitekturnyi i etnograficheskii musei-zapovednik Kizhi
http://kizhi.karelia.ru/main_menu.htm
Gosudarstvennyi istoriko-arkhitekturnyi i etnograficheskii musei-zapovednik Kizhi is the stunning website of a museum complex on the northern Russian island of Kizhi. Packed with images and information about Kizhi's architecture, culture, history and ecology, the site also hosts several extensive virtual tours: of the island; of a Karelian peasant's home; of nature on Kizhi; of the island's wooden churches and their extraordinary painted ceilings ('heavens'). The museum's collections (including: embroidery and textiles; early printed books; icons; old photographs and postcards; crosses and other religious items; tools; household items; distaffs) are described in detailed, illustrated online catalogues, and can be browsed via an alphabetical list of items and topics (with recommended reading). 'Traditional culture' provides detailed descriptions of Kizhi region: settlements; crafts; agriculture; the local folklore theatre. 'Architecture' offers a comprehensive guide to local wooden buildings, plus an excellent virtual iconostasis, and 'archaeology' contains extensive information on digs and discoveries. 'For specialists' includes: information on restoration work; training courses; academic publications, many available online. The beautiful photo and video gallery includes a clip about icon restoration. Visitor information, webcams, a forum and a virtual shop are also available. In short, there is a wealth of useful material for researchers and teachers of Russian culture and history. Some information is available in English.
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Iakov Chernikhov International Foundation
http://www.icif.ru/Engl/index.htm
Iakov Chernikhov International Foundation (ICIF) is a foundation that aims to explore the legacy of the Soviet architect and artist Iakov Chernikhov (1889-1951). To this end, the ICIF supports "experimental, educational and research works in the field of innovative architecture and town planning; the encouragement of the innovative architectural concepts and initiatives by young architects throughout the world". The website contains news of the ICIF activities and competetions. The website has a biographical profile of Iakov Chernikhov. There are extensive and comprehensive galleries of Chernikhov's architectural illustrations, typography and art, to be found by clicking the "cycles" menu item when viewing the biography page.
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Institute of modern Russian culture
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/IMRC/fset_intro.htm
This website belongs to the Institute of Modern Russian Culture, Los Angeles, California, which is concerned with the cultural history of Russia, especially the visual arts and literature, in the 19th-20th centuries. The primary aim of the institute is to propagate the esthetic values of Russian culture, with a special interest in painting, architecture, photography, and the applied arts. The Institute serves as the centre for systematization of archives and rare books on these subjects, especially editions illustrated by the artists of the fin de siecle, the avant-garde, and the Stalin era, as well as memoires, diaries, interviews, etc. by differents artists, such as Bakst, Malevich, Goncharova, and others. The site also contains a description of some of the Institute's projects. The Soviet photo project tells about the collection of 1500 vintage photos, which are currently being described and copied into a searchable image database. The IMRC sound project is devoted to the collection of rare sound recordings, including Russian acoustic 78 rpms, such as Lev Tolstoy and Lenin speaking. The IMRC dissident project is concerned with a large collection of dissident materials and catalogues, as well as archival materials that evidence the long campaign for personal rights in the Soviet Union. The site also includes the Institute's newsletter and a lot of other valualbe pieces of information on the subject.
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Leningrad school
http://www.leningradschool.com/
This website offers access to good quality digitised images of works by painters of the Leningrad School (1930s-1990s). The resource can be browsed by artist, category (landscape, portrait, genre scene, still life, marine etc.), geography and online exhibitions (images gathered together on specific topics). There is also a database of brief artists' biographies, with portraits and bibliographies for each artist. The site also gives information on the gallery's services, including a commercial framing service, and links to related resources. It is available in Russian and English. It is related to, and very similar to, the website April Group Fine Arts, but does include some different exhibitions. It will be of most use to art historians and historians of Russian culture seeking illustrations for teaching and research purposes.
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Lili Brochetain collection online
http://www.brochetain.ca/
This website is dedicated to the memory of Lili Brochetain. The Lili Brochetain Collection in Paris has long been known among specialists as one of the world's largest collections of Russian "non-conformist art" from the period between 1960's and 1980's. It contains over a thousand works - paintings, drawings, sculptures and autographs. The "non-conformist art", also called "the other art" and the underground art, became the art of political resistance during the Khrushchev and later Brezhnev era. Over 20 artists are represented in the Lili Brochetain Collection, among which are Ilya Kabakov, Oskar Rabin, Tatiana Nazarenko, Oleg Tselkov, and others. The permanent exhibition is subdivided into eight galleries, according to the eight planets: Pluto Planet; Neptune's Lounge; Uranus Room; The Saturn Room; Mars' Place; The Venus Room; Jupiter Hall; and Mercury's Suite. By clicking on one particular gallery users access that gallery, where they can see all the images, which can be enlarged by clicking on the name of the picture. The pages with enlarged versions also contain some information on the painters.
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Modern Jewry and the arts : a virtual exhibit, the Center for Judaic Studies Library, University of Pennsylvania Library special collections
http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/cajs/exhib2001/
The website 'Modern Jewry and the Art', hosted by the Special Collections section of the University of Pennsylvania library, is an online exhibition of Jewish art aiming to embrace a broad range of artistic development within the Diaspora and Israel, and to transcend a homogeneous definition of modern Jewishness. That said, the exhibition appears to reflect fundamentally an American Jewish perspective. In 2001, images related to Jewish art, music, theatre, film and dance were selected by the fellows of the Center for Judaic Studies library, who are also based at a number of other universities. Most examples derive from the twentieth century, with some from slightly earlier. The section on contemporary Jewish music in America offers five sound recordings in MP3 format. Historical explanations which accompany the pieces tend to dominate selected artistic works. The resulting combination would be of interest not only to the general public, but also to teachers and students. There is a bibliography for further reading on sources. The page is archived.
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Musei-zapovednik 'Abramtsevo'
http://abramtsevo.net/
Musei-zapovednik 'Abramtsevo' is the website of the Abramtsevo museum, which once hosted a colony of influential artists seeking to revive Russian traditional culture. The site offers a guided tour of the estate's buildings, including: the famous 'hut on chicken legs'; the beautiful church created by Vasnetsov and Polenov; the exhibition hall which displays twentieth century Russian art, and the arts and crafts department which exhibits traditional decorative and applied arts. There are also: illustrated biographies of the artists in the Abramtsevo circle; a history of Abramtsevo estate; contact details and information for visitors (including details of current exhibitions, some of which promote contemporary art). This easy-to-navigate resource has a full English language version, and will be of most interest to students and teachers of Russian nineteenth and early twentieth century art and culture.
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Pavlovsk: palace and park
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/pavlovsk/
This is the website for the lavish Palace of Pavlovsk, near St. Petersburg, Russia. The palace was constructed in the late eighteenth century as a residence for Tsar Paul I, son of Catherine II. Work on the palace was undertaken by several of the finest architects of the day, including Charles Cameron, Vincenzo Brenna, Giacomo Quarenghi, Andrei Voronikhin and Carlo Rossi. The landscaped gardens, designed by Pietro Gonzaga, are also notable. The website provides a short history of the palace and its inhabitants along with visitor details and images of the building, the artworks it houses, and the gardens. There are photographs of each of the major rooms in the palace, some of which may also be viewed as a QuickTime panorama. The site also gives details of the continued restoration work being undertaken.
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Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
http://www.museum.ru/gmii/defengl.htm
This site belongs to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, opened in Moscow, Russia, in 1912, as part of Moscow University. Although it was originally created from the university's museum of fine arts, it became an independent institution in 1921. It has one of the richest collections of foreign art from ancient to contemporary times. The museum's holdings include a vast collection of tinted plaster casts of famous ancient, medieval and renaissance sculptures, original works by foreign artists and sculptors, as well as objects of decorative art. The museum's collections can be subdivided into the following groups: art of ancient civilizations (antique art, ancient Egypt and the Orient); picture gallery (works from the 8th to the early 20th century); prints and drawings; sculpture; decorative & applied art; casts; and numismatics. With works by Gauguin, Renoir, Degas, and Cezanne, the collection is truly world class. The site also provides information about the museum's opening times, ticket prices, and location. It is of interest to all involved in the study of art as well as the general public.
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Russian mosques
http://www.russian-mosques.com/
Russian mosques is a well-designed, bilingual resource which catalogues over 200 mosques in the Russian Federation. Illustrated entries give information about the building, and to a lesser extent the community, with location indicated via Google maps. Contact details and URLs are provided for some mosques, and some entries include photos of both interior and exterior. Brief demographic and historical information about towns where mosques are located is also available. The project is supported by the Council of Muftis of Russia, but incorporates material from site users and open sources such as Wikipedia. Users may browse mosques in: Moscow; Kazan; Ufa; Astrakhan; Makhachkala; select via drop-down lists of region and city or click on a map. This site will be of most use to researchers of Islamic architecture and Islam in post-Soviet Russia.
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Russian Museum
http://www.rusmuseum.ru/
The website 'Russian Museum' is entirely dedicated to the treasures of the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), which boasts the world's largest collection of Russian fine art of all historical periods and development tendencies. The collection includes Russian icons, paintings, graphics, sculpture, numismatics, drawing and water-colours, applied and folk arts, and modern arts. The museum was opened in 1898 and was Russia's first ever state museum of fine art. Although it is a museum of world importance, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is visited primarily for its picture gallery. By going into each of the 10 sections of the museum's collection users can read about this particular part of the collection and view images associated with it. For example, the section "Painting" includes images of pictures by Aivazovsky, Bryulov, Levitsky and others. The site also covers some past and current exhibitions, as well as those held abroad, and two virtual exhibitions: Kazimir Malevich and Jesus Christ in Christian Art and Culture (14th to 20th centuries), for which a special plug-in is required. The site also provides visitor information.
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Russian painting
http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/ruspaint.html
This site - a joint effort of the students of Rollins College (Florida) taking a course in History of Russian Painting and Dr Alexander Boguslawski - is a unique source of information for students and lovers of Russian art. Unlike other similar websites, this site combines reproductions of paintings with the artists' biographies, as well as discussion of particular works, movements, schools, etc. It also provides bibliographical references and links to other sites. It includes asection on icons, which provides: a historical background; information on icon restoration and Byzantine icons; and focuses on famous icon painters, such as Andrei Rublev, Simon Ushakov and others). Russian painting of the 18th century features Antropov and his "Catherine II"; Borovikovskii and his "Mme Lopakhina"; and Firsov and his "A Yound Painter". In Russian painting of the 19th century the focus is upon Levitan and his "Above the Eternal Peace"; Kuindzhi and his "After the Rain"; and works by Vrubel, Venetsianov, Serov and others. The twentieth century is represented by Bakst, Benois, Chagall, Filonov, Kandinskii, Larionov, Popova, Rozanova and others. Movements such as cubism, constructivism, rayonism, and suprematism are also explored, as well as Russian Lubok The site's design is based on frames. For best results it should be viewed with a resolution of 800 X 600 and with the font size 10.
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Russian visual arts : art criticism in context, 1814-1909
http://hri.shef.ac.uk/rva/
This is the website of Russian Visual Arts (1800-1913), a research project funded by the AHRC (2000-2003). The project was established jointly by the Department of Russian at the University of Exeter and the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Sheffield. The graphical and textual content was provided by the British Library's Slavonic Collections. The project has developed an electronic archive which includes over 200 images as well as links to 77 documents in Russian, available to download in Rich Text Format, and 34 documents which provide English translations and are downloadable in XML. The website contains a list made up of the names of the artists discussed in the works of art criticism reviewed in the project, a list of critics with a bio-bibiographical summary of each of them, translations of Russian art criticism, with accompanying Russian versions and full critical apparatus. It also contains associated images arranged by artists, movement, theme/subject, etc., a timeline of the development of Russian art criticism from 1750 to 1900, where by choosing a decade one can see which works of art on public display were the focus of art criticism, what the cultural and political background was and which major art publications came out during that period of time. The texts include many examples from the genre of artistic-theoretical discourse, including critical articles, theoretical writings, journalistic reports, manifestos, recorded debates and other writings taken from art journals, newspapers, pamphlets and books. These can be searched by author or title (in English or Russian). Illustrations from these books and journals form the collection of images and can be accessed by artist, publication, movement (academic art, Art Nouveau, Impressionism, Realism, Symbolism), theme/subject, society/organisation or reproduction technique. The site also includes further information about the project. Images are additionally deposited with Visual Arts Data Service (VADS), and can also be accessed from their website.
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Russian women painters : 1893 exposition
http://members.cox.net/academia/cassatt14.html
Russian women painters : 1893 exposition is a subsection of a larger site created by US literature professor Kathleen Nichols, which lists artworks by women exhibited at the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago 1893. Very few details are given about the artists themselves (in some cases only the surname is known), but images of the works exhibited are provided where known, and where not, representative images are given. This site will be of interest to students and researchers in the field of gender studies, particularly those working on nineteenth century women artists.
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State Hermitage Museum : St. Petersburg, Russia
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html
This is a wonderful resource from the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg in collaboration with IBM. There is a wealth of detailed information on the history of the museum, its contribution to the cultural life of modern Russia and its experiences through Russia's dramatic history from the Eighteenth Century to the present day. Explore the collections of the museum through a virtual gallery of high resolution artwork images. Search to find artwork by artist, subject, genre, theme or date. Information is provided on publications about the Hermitage and its collections. There are also details of current and upcoming exhibitions, plus an archive of past exhibitions. The site is clear to navigate and simply laid out. A fascinating resource for those interested in general Russian history and the collections of the Hermitage.
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