Art books

[qwerty]

Сообщение от arlekino

It is essential reading two books published , edited and partly composed by the Italian scientist and writer Umberto Eco: "History of Beauty" and "History of Deformities ".

" History of Beauty " I was not interested, but the " History of ugliness" read , or more precisely - considered really, really extraordinary book - it covers all types of malformations of human life ( perhaps only lacking the activities of our government < - ~ 2 ~ ->) on the example of great illustrations , and texts by Umberto Eco bad. Very exciting to watch as time changes the understanding of ugliness and beauty. In general , I recommend.

[bykinist]

"Brig Mercury"
Catherine McDougall
 
"As among the people and among the paintings are original and a fake one another perpetual war."

Auction house MacDougall's is proud to present the debut novel of Catherine McDougall "Brig Mercury", which takes place in London, Monaco and Russia. The plot of the novel revolves around the scandal of the eponymous painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, depicting a heroic naval battle. Written in a careful, elegant "Brig Mercury" combines unpredictable intrigue and subtle psychology and is not limited to coverage of the events of the international art market, covering a wide range of issues - from broken lives and moral compromises to deeply personal issues of choice. The leitmotif of the novel is a triumph of the human spirit: like the famous brig "Mercury", it ran an unequal battle, the main character of the novel, in spite of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the winner comes out of a difficult situation, having defended his professional reputation, and possibly finding true love. The author keeps the reader in suspense until the unexpected, dynamic interchange. «Brig Mercury" will be interesting to anyone interested in the auction business, as well as the broader philosophical problems of the relationship between true and false. (!!)

The novel is published in Russian publishing house "Amphora" (St. Petersburg). It will be available in the auction house MacDougall's since June 7, 2013

Catherine McDougall is one of the most influential players in the Russian art market and founder of the auction house MacDougall's. She lives in Moscow and London.

"The first book of a young author Catherine McDougall" Brig "Mercury" begins its voyage in the literary ocean. The heroine of the novel by Alexander McNeill - a hereditary art historian and owner of the auction house in London, Moscow girl who grew up under the famous painting by Ivan Aivazovsky. Brig "Mercury" is depicted in a dramatic moment of the unequal battle with the Turkish fleet in 1829. The fate of the paintings are closely tied to the fate of the heroine - she finds herself embroiled in the investigation of the history of painting, it copies and fakes. Alexander sorely tested: young love, betrayal, murder - all the elements of the irrevocability of a detective in the novel combines professional expertise with the author. Catherine McDougall, an expert on Russian art and owner of the largest auction house, sometimes merges with her character, and it gives the narrative and persuasive charm, based on the brilliant knowledge of the subject. "

Ulitskaya (!) On the novel "Brig Mercury"


Ekterina Makdyugal 1: Joanna Vickery 0

[Кирилл Сызранский]

Catherine McDougall , an expert on Russian art and owner of the largest auction house , sometimes merges with her ​​character , and it gives the narrative and persuasive charm, based on the brilliant knowledge of the subject .

And about itself Catherine McDougall and its auction time has come to write a book in the genre of the picaresque novel. <! - ~ 7 ~ ->

[Хранитель укропа]

Сообщение от Vladimir

As is customary to write a Hollywood advertising - from the author of "Enemy of the people."
The book is about the sixties.
You can buy it here: http://www.nlobooks.ru/node/1819 #. ...N4.livejournal

Vladimir, thank you, perhaps it's interesting.

[Mike]

Hello ! Please share your thoughts about the old edition and N.Molevoy E.Belyutina in three books : " Pedagogical system Academy of Fine Arts XVIII century ", " Russian school of art of the first half of the XIX century " and " Russian school of art of the second half of XIX - early XX century." I see validity, but a little scary amount of academic quality and presentation. It is terrible to approach , as I have begun the habit necessarily finish completely. I would be extremely glad to any opinion. With a deep respect for the professionalism of the participants.

[bykinist]

Сообщение от bykinist

"Brig Mercury"
Catherine McDougall

Art detective "Brig " Mercury " , which was released this summer , is actively discussed in the Russian antiques world. The author, Catherine McDougall ( director of the auction house MacDougall `s - one of the world leaders in sales of Russian art ) answered questions from the magazine" Russian Art "

Inna Pulikova : In your book, antique Russian community is described in detail and, in my opinion, is quite tough. What would you , as a writer , more interesting: to talk about a professional environment , you know very well , or use it as a background for the construction of detective intrigue ? Or the author's intent was quite different ?
Catherine McDougall : I do not think that description in my novel antique world - tough. It is just fair . I tried to objectively talk about the world in which I live and work , who know first hand , because often read about him ridiculous fantasy. With regard to the author's intention , it was very simple - to write a novel about the struggle of originals with fakes , which - as in life, the true wins.
IP When and how did the idea to write "Brig " Mercury " ? What was the reason , " push " to the beginning of work on the book ? How many lasted work on the book ?
EM idea of ​​the book came immediately after the first auction, but sit down and write was only ten years later.
IP Why is your first published work was exactly the detective genre , which is considered "light" , "popular" ?
EM The word "light " in this context to compliment me , I like that it is easy , pleasurable to all turned at once - and good. Probably for me it was important at this stage to write and publish a book that is in a particular genre. All the rest of my designs embodied not, sin and mezhduzhanriem mezhdumir'e and detectives really love to read Agatha Christie, for example.
IP Please tell us about your favorite writers - that you are close to their work ? What are the books read by you , for you have made the strongest impression ?
EM I love Shalamova - for a hymn to the human spirit inflexible . All good writers have one thing in common - their books in the light always triumphs over darkness. But sometimes the strongest impression novel, which in general is not priemlesh - and not a good name. Because for me it is a good book - it is a question not only aesthetic but also ethical . For example , I have a complicated relationship with " Nabokov's Lolita ." I would like to answer.
IP Book launch held in Moscow, London, Kiev and Monaco. Why did you choose this city to represent the " Brig " Mercury " , the book, which was published in Russian ? Do you plan to publication of the book in English ?
EM The book presents in those capitals , where usually we bring our art exhibitions. In English "Brig" must come - when the hands
reach.
IP Will there be a sequel in " Brig " Mercury " ? Do you plan to continue his literary work , preparing to enter a new book, so that they will be ordained?
EM Now I translate from English into Russian novel about the life of my brownies in Russia in the mid- nineties. I wrote it ten years ago - and now wanted to shift in Russian . "Brownie" is called . He is very funny and I kept laughing when working on it - so that all of my home , listening to my pohohatyvaniya , at first thought that all the time I 'm talking to someone on the phone . A continuation of the " Brig " will , if so choose his protagonists .

[Магнолия]

Сообщение от Mike

a little intimidated by the amount of academic quality and presentation.
It is terrible to approach, as I have begun the habit necessarily finish completely.
I would be extremely glad to any opinion.

Start reading from the end <! - ~ 1 ~ ->

[Кирилл Сызранский]

Boris Uspensky , " Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck »
Ghent Altarpiece - one of the most famous works of Renaissance art . However, this is undoubtedly the most famous work of Jan van Eyck .
The book aims to answer the questions: how to read this work ? What are the elements of artistic structure relevant to its perception?
The key problem Ghent altar - the organization of space. One area corresponds to where the viewer is painting , it belongs to our world. He contrasted the space that belongs to another world , the beyond : it corresponds to the position of the inner observer , which is expected in the image.
The book was included in the list of hits last week in the shop , " phalanx " .
735 p .


Rene Menard "Myths in the art of the old and new »
For several decades, this book is rightly called the best work on mythology and art. Historical and artistic monograph "Myths in the art of old and new " was first published in Russian in 1900 in St. Petersburg.
Greek mythology provides the key to understanding not only of ancient art , but also to the understanding of art as a whole. Images of the ancient mythology , consigned to oblivion in the middle ages , have found a second life in the works of painters , sculptors and poets of the Renaissance. And later stories of ancient myths fasted imagination of writers , artists and composers. The influence of Greek mythology on world culture can hardly be overestimated .
Rene Menard defines mythology as a "poetic language " of the ancient peoples, and for its study suggests looking for the meaning of religious symbols in the light of art. This book provides an opportunity to " get back to the root cause of art" gives a precise knowledge of mythology and provides a proper understanding of the works of past masters .
508 p .

[Кирилл Сызранский]

Vasily Rakitin , Andrew Sarabyanov
« Encyclopedia of Russian avant-garde. Fine Art . Architecture . »
In two volumes.

In the near future the book will go to Russia's main library , as well as in bookstores , including " Moscow House of Books ", " phalanx " and "Biblio -Globus ".

In addition, the "Encyclopedia of Russian avant-garde " will be presented at the International Fair of Intellectual Literature non /fiction, which will be held in the Central House of Artists from November 27 to December 1.

[Кирилл Сызранский]

Notes of an American celebrity restructuring finally published in Russian .

Andrew Solomon . The Irony Tower.Soviet artists in times of publicity . M. , Ad Marginem, 2013

This remarkable book - the story of unofficial Russian art of the second half of the XX century , told by an eye-witness , Andrew Solomon, an American who first arrived in journalistic trip to a single auction at Sotheby's in the USSR in 1988. Solomon arrived and realized that he was destined to return again and again in this country and perhaps even felt that he had to spend more than one day side by side with his new friends - artists, musicians and other " leaders " of the Soviet artistic underground. The young American first appeared in the squat at Furman , and then got into the thick of the artistic life of the two capitals, art exhibitions and workshops on vacant lots , concerts banned groups " Central Russian Upland " and "Cinema" , a trip out of town Andrew's Monastery , the first exhibition of domestic stars unofficial art in the West, Kabakov circle , "New Artists" and even political events like this around the time the 1991 coup - all this is reflected in his fascinating and incredibly valuable memoir today . Besides the story of Andrew Solomon , the book includes comments and afterword by Konstantin Zvezdochetova which often corrects inaccuracies or mildly jeering at his friend overseas , as well as a number of rare photographs and reproductions of works of little-known 1980s.

Here is an excerpt of the book , dedicated to the famous Moscow auction Sotheby's, from which many are beginning to count the history of Russian contemporary art and where you started a fascinating journey through the world of Andrew Solomon Soviet underground art :

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So the evening in July 1988 , Thursday, day less auspicious than June 28, 1919 , when the Treaty of Versailles was signed , but it changed the lives of many. This day brought together people who are under no other circumstances would never have met . As in the most dramatic scenes Bergman : people doing the same as they always have , in a certain area where they all feel a little ill at ease , while they force each other to be different - forever.

It sounds melodramatic, but the situation can only be described as . That's how it was. At half past six the tour participants began to fill the hall, where the auction was to be held . It was a big conference hall of "International ." Overdressed visitors came to the reception to get a numbered card for bidding , and then occupied the place reserved for them in the forefront. They have already spent enough time together, so greeted each other a friendly nod . "Are you really going to buy this work here ? " - Asked one another . " At all costs" , - he replied , giggling nervously . Skinny lady with diamonds around his neck and a huge bag of crocodile skin tossed between two pictures of different authors. " I can not choose , I just can not - she moaned and turned to his neighbor : And what you like more? "

Apart from the tour participants , the auction was attended by foreigners living in Moscow and some Soviet dignitaries. All of them were also dressed up to the nines , that does not correspond to the level of the event. There were U.S. Ambassador Jack Matlock and his wife Rebecca and their son David . Came some important persons of the magazine "Time" , not to cover the event , but just interested in it . There were children of wealthy foreign businessmen working in Moscow . Hard to say who exactly were the Soviet present , but obviously people with a certain position : among Americans and Europeans, they feel completely free . Some of them were from the Union of artists of other Ministry of Culture , and the rest , no doubt, of some other ministries, worked on the preparation of the event .

Newspapers had some incredible amount , all with laptops , cameras , with television equipment , something all filmed and documented , documented , documented on all cylinders. And the majority of journalists specialized not on art, but on politics . All Moscow bureau sent representatives to celebrate this historic day . They all took photos and video, and must have wondered who all these people dressed up , came to the "International " in this July Thursday.

Artists auction participants attended too. Came not all : for example, Ira Nakhova said that night she went to bed early , thinking that you just need to trust in fate. Artists issued special passes , by which they were able to get to the hotel and in the auction room , and there they somehow diluted the rich and powerful . They were nervous and whispered to each other. But in the minds of buyers suddenly something clicked and they started asking artists to sign catalogs . For artists, the game began to celebrities.

The far side of the hall, where there was no access , separated from the rest of the room red velvet ropes , as in a museum , and was intended for guests. Invitations somehow passed from hand to hand : buy, sell, at exorbitant prices , sometimes bartered for artwork, house , maybe even someone's life - at least , so say some guests who came to the auction with the West. There were members of the Pushkin Museum , Friends of Soviet artists , everyone who was involved in the art world in Moscow. Came a few Leningrad artists came from a relative of someone in Tbilisi. For ropes was closely like the subway at rush hour . No one really could not see anything , all jostling , pushing forward and facing the oncoming stream of people who wanted to take a break from the July heat flows in cool air from the air conditioner . There were also some representatives of the West - those who managed to get in here , waving a foreign passport , and did not have any relation to the representatives of the auction, or the local authorities .

At seven o'clock started trading . Lord Gowrie and Julien Barran stood on either side of the pulpit, and Simon de Pury , sweaty , despite the air conditioning, took his place behind the pulpit . Gauri , who once caused a scandal in Britain shaped by refusing to take the post of Minister of Arts - he said that to live on £ 33,000 a year is simply impossible - was calm as a mountain lake. During the event he kept extremely politely and correctly , without any swagger was . About the same and kept Julien Barran . They looked like two kings , and Simon de Pury was similar to the chief administrator at the grand view.

The auction began with the work of 20 - 30s , with the old guard. In the first lot was Nadezhda Udaltsov , pencil drawing . Starting price 7-10 thousand pounds has risen to 12,000 . Her other works were also sold more than estimated. Pictures of Alexander Drevin bought at prices two to three times higher than the initial ones. Then came the turn of Rodchenko. The first work , estimated at 60-80 thousand pounds , went for 180,000 . Sold well and a few photos and posters , and then work has been exhibited under the title "Line", strictly speaking, is a line . It was estimated at 90-120 thousand pounds, and it was sold for 300 thousand . And yet it was only a preliminary auction , only the overture , sale of old works. These disturbances were ahead.

Finally, the exhibition eighteenth work Maria Ender, was sold , and the next item started auction of contemporary Soviet art. Artists were presented in alphabetical order , according to the Latin alphabet. First came Grisha Bruskin tiny few rough -looking man , who for many years was on the side of the artistic life . Bruskin was an outcast among official artists , but with the advent of Gorbachev, when it was safe, he joined the unofficial artists , and became as much an outcast among them. Grisha felt nice man and very masterovitym , but not enough stars in the sky , treated him well , but , in fact, was not taken seriously . Therefore, all were incredibly surprised when one of his works appeared on the cover of the catalog " Sotheby's" , and Western visitors began to arrive in droves in his workshop * .

Grisha Bruskin was a respected man and without any " Sotbic ." Personally, I have not talked to him , but he seems to be friends with Prigov , Rubinstein , etc. His work belongs to the Sots Art and appreciated in our environment. In the Union of artists, he is not very light, like all normal people . Once it for exhibition in Vilnius , there have even tried to ostracize . Perhaps he worked somewhere , that would be what to eat, but it was a common practice . As for the auction, he and the film "Assa" , can be considered the starting point of a process in which the "golden underground" has become quite quickly turn into our local (pardon the expression) mainstream (comment by Konstantin Zvezdochetova ) .

Bruskin beautiful work , and their relationship with the Soviet art catches the eye of the artist is not possible to take , say, a Dutchman . In his works, tangible political implications , as well as his Jewish origins . His images are intrusive as advertising, and the same frighteningly smooth, almost savage . Buyers work Bruskin loved all of them have been sold twice, three times and four times more expensive than the starting price. One of them , estimated at 17,000 , went for 220,000 pounds.

Naturally , the artists saw each other in new ways. Finally had a chance to see people from the West to manage their money . Careless , almost tired of the hand went up the white plates , offering twenty , forty , sixty thousand pounds. Differences in thousand pounds seemed simply did not exist . Vast , unimaginable sums in no time were given for the possession of a work of art . Soviet art. At this moment, the artists realized that they can become truly rich , earn the money, and what they dream about something they could not.

After came the Bruskin Ivan Chuikov , one of the most respected representatives of unofficial Soviet art. If someone wanted to pay 220,000 for work Grisha Bruskin ( Grisha Bruskin !) , It really must work Chuikova should be worth millions ! But "Fragments of a fence" could not reach the starting price in 8000 , " Knots and Crosses " - 11 thousand pounds. Works were sold , but at prices that are just barely exceeded the reserve . And so it was throughout the auction - somewhere unimaginably high prices somewhere disappointingly low , but even in the latter case , it was a lot of money . When the fight was played for light work Kopystyanskaya , artists began to exchange blankly . Light was a serious woman and a good artist , but nothing particularly original in her work was not. Price , meanwhile, rose higher and higher. How could this be ? Of their reservation behind velvet ropes artists could not keep up with all the details of the battle. Nor were they on the pompous official reception on the eve of the auction. Therefore, they did not hear one elegant lady from Switzerland said it is willing to pay for this work any money. And did not know that the very rock star has instructed his representative to buy this particular picture. Already after the auction offended many saying: " This work is gone for forty thousand . Really Light Kopystyanskaya better Chuikova or Kabakov ? "

With the hammer took almost everything. Not sold only bad , but neadkvatno highly praised by Ilya Glazunov - big lumps of the Union of Artists , an ardent anti-Semite and a folk hero of the most popular and most hated artist of the USSR . The very Glazunov, whose wife jumped out the window before the opening of his exhibition , perhaps wanting to witness this desperate act of intolerable nature of her husband , which, however , did not prevent the opening day . The very Glazunov , who gave a Faberge egg , and he drilled in his finest enamel hole to place the Japanese microdrivers . Despite unsold Glazunov , the success of the auction surpassed all expectations. He brought 285,000 pounds, while the most optimistic forecasts expected to gather between 796,000 to 1 million 68 thousand pounds. All rejoiced , Simon de Pury, hugged Sergei Popov friendly , the atmosphere was festive.

And I could not help after the auction overheard between a man and a woman comes out of the great hall of the hotel " International ." "I bought this one, - the woman said , pointing to some picture in the catalog : Or this one. I do not remember exactly . " " It does not matter - the man said - The main thing that you will be something to remember about tonight . After all, it was wonderful , right? "

In this - the whole tragedy , "Sotheby's " with its rampant advertising, but in this and his spirit . More than all were sold the cutest little things , or the most shocking . Some of the best works , really , was bought few experts , but most were bought as souvenirs. All this has violated the balance of forces on the Moscow art scene that still makes itself felt . Although the auction house can not be responsible for the ignorance of their customers , yet , if the preparation for the auction was not advertised so theatrically , some part of souvenir hunters likely would have remained at home. But then the question could not be of such incredible money. All these people who thronged the auction in the lobby, saying, "We are so glad we bought this work in memory of our trip " - how to ensure success, which may have even really second-rate work. And if the auction does not proved to be so spectacularly successful , the Ministry of Culture is hardly would give the nod to the follow-up activities that contributed to greater freedom for Soviet artists of all sorts and kinds. And would not change the relationship to the hated before the artistic community, which has now become a source of hard currency for the USSR.