Review by Choice Review
Terrific idea, great illustrations, and disappointing text--that's the word on Russian Art Nouveau. First, the good news. Parkstone Press is to be congratulated on its latest volume in its "Schools and Movements" series. This is a beautifully printed book, which affords an excellent introduction to 18 artists associated in one way or another with the World of Art Movement. It includes a succinct survey of each artist's career and surveys the different genres--painting, book illustration, set design, and so forth--in which the artist worked. The bad news is that this is the kind of book that Soviet publishers put out in the 1980s to introduce Soviet readers to previously unacceptable artists. Thus, Vsevolod Petrov's introduction is filled with (poorly translated) Soviet cliches, as in "Toward the close of the 1890s the Art Nouveau [sic] infiltrated Russian architecture, infatuating several gifted architects." Needless to say, Petrov does not acknowledge the artists' cosmopolitanism, their homosexual ambience, or the excellent Western scholarship on the topic, such as Lynn Garofola's Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (CH, Feb'90). When, oh when, will Western publishers learn to use Western scholars for these books? General; undergraduate. J. M. Curtis; University of Missouri--Columbia
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Westerners equate modern art with unconventionality and personal expression, and certainly that was the case in Russia during the era Petrov examines; but after the Bolshevik Revolution, Russian art was defined by its social function, and socialist realism, the subject of Bown's unprecedented book, became the only acceptable style. In the interest of chronology, it is best to consider Petrov's lively volume first. The late nineteenth century was a time of exuberant artistic innovation in Russia, and the renowned art critic and impresario Sergei Diaghilev was at the center of the romantic, sometimes surreal art nouveau movement, a flowering that yielded lush and painterly works as well as more graphic images. After an elaborate and richly illustrated introduction, Petrov presents detailed considerations of the lives and work of 18 diverse and fascinating artists, many unknown to Westerners and all worth studying, including Leon Bakst, Alexander Benois, Ivan Bilibin, Boris Kustodiev, Valentin Serov, and Zinaida Serebriakova. The serious realist paintings presented in Bown's book stand in striking contrast to the sensuality of the art nouveau creations. These are works steeped in the traditions of European painting in which content--the depiction of Soviet citizens as heroic yet everyday figures--is valued more than form. Westerners are accustomed to mocking such propagandist works, but Bown circumvents that reaction by emphasizing the fact that the socialist realism movement supported "realistic painting on a scale unmatched anywhere in the world," keeping thousands of artists all across the empire gainfully employed for decades. And then there are the paintings themselves, many of which are far more imaginative and finely executed than the circumstances of their creation seem to promise. Bown's inclusive history is tirelessly detailed, deftly interpretative, and truly eye-opening. --Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The World of Art formed in St. Petersburg in the early 1890s was a forum for artists impatient with academic formulas and the dominant Itinerant school. They sought a new aesthetic, incorporating traditional Russian forms and decorative elements from Western Art Nouveau. With Sergei Diaghilev a driving force behind The World of Art journal, the group's exhibitions gained prominence. Many artists from this diverse assemblage became extremely influential within Russia, but, excepting Leon Bakst, were hardly noticed then or since in the West. That is a mistake this book attempts to correct. In his introduction, curator and art historian Petrov establishes the historical context, then fills in useful details of the movement, its philosophy and its members. There follow 18 chapters comprising a short biography and plates on selected artists such as Alexander Benois, Konstantin Somov, Valentin Serov (formerly with the Itinerants), Yevgeny Lanceray and later Igor Grabar, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Boris Kustodiev, Zinaida Serebriakova and Ivan Bilibin. These biographies are sketchy, dry affairs, anti-climactic and stylistically at odds with the introduction, which itself suffers from awkward prose. While some problems may lie in the translation, the tendency for hyperbole does not. Pity that more care in the concept, translation and editing of this volume is not evident. These fascinating painters, whose collaboration survived until their final show in 1924, deserve more. For now, the uninitiated may at least enjoy the 330 plates (260 in color) for a tempting glimpse into this important period of Russian art. (Mar.) FYI: Also due out this month is The Art of Ballets Russes: The Serge Lifar Collection of Theater Designs, Costumes and Paintings at the Wadsworth Atheneum by Alexander Schouvaloff. 260 illustrations; 215 in color. (Yale, $65 352p ISBN 0-300-07484-0) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In 1899 a group of young artistsLeon Bakst, Alexander Benois, and Igor Grabar, among othersformed a new artistic movement and founded the journal World of Art. The new aesthetic concepts and creative principles had a deep effect on Russian painting but also architecture, poetry, ballet, sculpture, and criticism. These artists were influenced by the Art Nouveau movement in Western Europe and spread their new ideas through the journal. They gave a place of importance to draftsmen, illustrators, and engravers rather than painters. Line was the dominant visual element, not color, and book illustration and set design were ranked highlyas evidenced by the beautiful and innovative set designs made for the Ballet Russe (Sergei Diaghilev edited World of Art from 1899 to 1904). The first 130 pages of this unique history of the movement are devoted to an overview. The next section discusses 18 artists who participated in the movement. It is beautifully illustrated throughout and will prove to be a valuable addition to public and academic libraries.Martin Chasin, Adult Inst., Bridgeport, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
