Two portraits of the actress Strepetova
There are destinies that strike the imagination with unusualness and inner completeness — such is the life of Pelageya Antipevna Strepetova (1850–1903), difficult and bright, full of dramatic turns. At…

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Diego Rivera - the great Mexican painter
When the Great October Socialist Revolution took place in Russia, a revolutionary struggle was going on in Mexico for seven years. Armed peasants opposed the dictatorship of the rich and…

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Anton Refrigier - born in Moscow
Refrege was born in Moscow in the year of the first Russian revolution. This fact would seem irrelevant to the biography of an American artist: after all, his father took…

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Konstantin Meunier - an artist who glorified the proletariat
The life of the Belgian master Constantin Meunier is not eventful. But his creative biography is unusual. He began as a sculptor, visiting the class of the Academy of Fine…

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Giacomo Manzu - Coast of Truth
Creativity Mantsu is a surprisingly natural synthesis of truth, clarity of artistic ideas and originality of the visual image. His method is truly realistic, but this is realism, say, not…

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direct observations

Veliky Ustyug

It is unlikely that you will immediately find a small circle on the map, next to which are two words: “Great Ustyug”. We will show you – look at the very north of the Vologda region. Found? Today we will make a little trip to this city.

To begin with, his name reflects both geography and history. One of the oldest cities in northeastern Russia, Veliky Ustyug was founded where the South River flows into Sukhona. Continue reading

Syrian landscapes

Most of the landscape compositions by Syrian artists are devoted to old Damascus and the village of Maaloula, located in a picturesque mountain area near Damascus. She became a source of inspiration and a place of pilgrimage for Syrian landscape painters. The multi-tiered architecture of rural houses, clinging to the slopes of the mountains and picturesquely piled on top of each other, the romantic landscapes of the surroundings, the fertile valley spreading below, as if embodying the Syrian ideal dream of the beauty of the earth. Continue reading

Egyptian ostracon drawings

In the art of ancient Egypt there are monuments that make up a special group. These are works of graphics – drawings on the boards. The Greek word “ostracon” literally means a shard, a fragment of ceramics. However, in relation to the art of ancient Egypt, it has a more capacious meaning. This word is commonly understood as drawings made not only on fragments of ceramics, but mostly on chipped stone (usually limestone), less commonly wood, that is, on material that was always at hand with masters engaged in decorating the tombs of the Theban necropolis — painting walls , manufacturing of statues and items of funeral inventory. Continue reading

Honore Fragonard - "Solar Brush Provence"
Attraction to the poetry of life, its emotional richness distinguishes Fragonard among the brilliant artists of France of the XVIII century. The destiny of the master initially developed happily. Even…

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Eugene Delacroix - Goethe's Faust lithographs
In the 1820s, the artist Eugene Delacroix was in the prime of his creative power. He is 30 years old, he is a recognized master, who created the paintings that…

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Venetian landscape painters of the 18th century
By the beginning of the 18th century, the once mighty Venice had lost its significance as the political center of the Mediterranean, becoming a peculiar center of pilgrimage. Rich travelers…

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