Tag Archives: russian history

excess: wild steppes forward

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Dave

Russians have always discussed the state of their souls as earnestly as the state of the economy of the vagaries of Russian politics. Always a strange blend of grandiose schemes, despair and optimism, futility and petty bickerings. The luxury of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion | Tagged Ilya Repin, Josef von Sternberg, lansere russian artist, Madame de stael, Madame Pickwick, madame pickwick art blog, madame pickwick art supplies, Marlene Dietrich, russian history, the empress petrovna, vladimir putin election 2012 | Leave a comment

too much is not enough

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Dave

Fatalism as part of the Rusian DNA, an absurd romanticism stretched to the extreme, grounded in a byzantine hierarchy of social order that defined the nobility, fenced them off from the world at large, and which ultimately this insulation contributed … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion | Tagged I.E. Repin, Ilya Repin, Ivan The Terrible, konstantin favitsky, princess tarakanova, russian history | Leave a comment

too much is never enough

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Dave

Larger than life. Way larger than life. In Russia, it can be said there is no middle ground, only extremes. There is a “scarlet thread” of extravagance runnig through the Czarist past, the collectivized period and back to the present. … Continue reading →