1.
Russian language
–
Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
Russian language
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Russian language street sign in
Russia.
Russian language
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Russian minimarket in
Limassol, Cyprus; translation: "Teremok market. Russian goods. Phone number: 96 74 19 63"
Russian language
–
This page from an "ABC" book printed in Moscow in 1694 shows the letter
П.
Russian language
–
The
Ostromir Gospels of 1056 is the second oldest
East Slavic book known, one of many medieval
illuminated manuscripts preserved in the
Russian National Library.
2.
Kiev Governorate
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Kiev Governorate was an administrative division of the Russian Empire and Ukraine in 1796 until the Soviet administrative reform of the 1920s. It was considered to be a Little Russian governorate due to majority of speaking in Little Russian dialect. The Kiev Governorate on the bank of Dnieper was officially established by Emperor Paul Is edict of November 30,1796. However it was not until 1800 when there was appointed the first governor, three existing Left-bank Ukraine viceroyalties were merged into one Little Russia Governorate centered on Chernigov, while the Kiev Governorate was now comprised on Right-bank Ukraine. The edict took effect on August 29,1797, bringing the number of uyezds to twelve. On January 22,1832, the Kiev Governorate, along with the Volhynia, at the time, Vasily Levashov was appointed the Military Governor of Kiev as well as the General Governor of Podolia and Volhynia. In 1845, the population of the Governorate was 1,704,661, by the 1897 Russian Census, there were 3,559,229 people in the guberniya making it the most populous one in the whole Russian Empire. There were 459,253 people living in cities, including about 248,000 in Kiev, by faith,2,983,736 census respondents were Orthodox Christians,433,728 were Jews and 106,733 were of the Roman Catholic Church. Kiev Governorate remained a constituent unit of the larger Governorate General with Kiev being the capital of both well into the 20th century, in 1915, the General Governorate was disbanded while the guberniya continued to exist. After the last Imperial governor, Alexey Ignatyev until March 6,1917, in the course of the Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929 the Kiev Guberniya was transformed into six okruhas in 1923, and, since 1932, Kiev Oblast at the territory
Kiev Governorate
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Kiev Governorate in 1812
Kiev Governorate
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Ukrainian okruhas in 1927
Kiev Governorate
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Kiev Governorate as of 1896.
Kiev Governorate
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Kiev Governorate as of c. 1900
3.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
Russian Empire
–
Peter the Great officially renamed the Tsardom of Russia the Russian Empire in 1721, and himself its first emperor. He instituted the
sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power.
Russian Empire
–
Flag
Russian Empire
–
Empress
Catherine the Great, who reigned from 1762 to 1796, continued the empire's expansion and modernization. Considering herself an
enlightened absolutist, she played a key role in the
Russian Enlightenment.
Russian Empire
–
Catherine II Sestroretsk Rouble (1771) is made of solid copper measuring 77 millimetres (3 3 ⁄ 100 in) (diameter), 26 millimetres (1 1 ⁄ 50 in) (thickness), and weighs 1.022 kg (2.25 lb). It is the largest copper coin ever issued.
4.
Ukraine
–
Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
Ukraine
–
Gold
Scythian pectoral, or neckpiece, from a royal
kurgan in
Ordzhonikidze, dated to the 4th century BC
Ukraine
–
Flag
Ukraine
–
Principalities of
Kievan Rus', 1054-1132
Ukraine
–
The baptism of the Grand Prince Vladimir led to the adoption of Christianity in
Kievan Rus'.
5.
Leningrad
–
Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
Leningrad
–
Top left to bottom right:
Peter and Paul Fortress on
Zayachy Island,
Smolny Cathedral,
Moyka river with the
General Staff Building,
Trinity Cathedral,
Bronze Horseman on
Senate Square, and the
Winter Palace.
Leningrad
–
The
Bronze Horseman, monument to Peter the Great
Leningrad
–
Palace Square backed by the General Staff arch and building, as the main square of the Russian Empire it was the setting of many events of historic significance
Leningrad
–
Map of Saint Petersburg, 1903
6.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
Soviet Union
–
Vladimir Lenin addressing a crowd with Trotsky, 1920
Soviet Union
–
Flag
Soviet Union
–
Stalin and
Nikolai Yezhov, head of the
NKVD. After Yezhov was executed, he was
edited out of the image.
Soviet Union
7.
Black Square (painting)
–
The Black Square, Black Square or Malevichs Black Square is an iconic painting by Kazimir Malevich. The first version was done in 1915, Malevich made four variants of which the last is thought to have been painted during the late 1920s or early 1930s. The Black Square was first shown in The Last Futurist Exhibition 0.10 in 1915, the work is frequently invoked by critics, historians, curators, and artists as the “zero point of painting, referring to the paintings historical significance and paraphrasing Malevich. Malevich painted his first Black Square in 1915 and he made four variants of which the last is thought to have been painted during the late 1920s or early 1930s, despite the authors 1913 inscription on the reverse. The painting is known as Black Square, The Black Square or as Malevichs Black Square. It was first shown in The Last Futurist Exhibition 0.10 in 1915, forensic detail reveals of how Black Square was painted over a more complex and colorful composition. A plurality of art historians, curators, and critics refer to Black Square as one of the works of modern art. Malevich declared the square a work of Suprematism, a movement which he proclaimed but which is associated almost exclusively with the work Malevich, Suprematism may be understood as a transitional phase in the evolution of Russian art, bridging the evolutionary gap between futurism and constructivism. Malevich had made remarks about his painting. “It is from zero, in zero, that the movement of being begins. ”I transformed myself in the zero of form and emerged from nothing to creation. The experience of pure non-objectivity in the emptiness of a liberated nothing. Peter Schjeldahl wrote, The brushwork is juicy and brusque, filling in the shapes, but the forms are weightless, more like thoughts than like images. You don’t look at the picture so much as launch yourself into its trackless empyrean, beyond its obvious design flair, the work looks easy because it is. Malevich is monumental not for what he put into space but for what he took out, bodily experience. His appeal to Americans isn’t surprising, apart from a peculiarly Russian mystical tradition, which he exploited—evoking the compact spell of the icon, as a conduit of the divine—his work amounts to a cosmic “Song of the Open Road. ”It conveys sheer, surging, untrammelled possibility. This quality seemed in synch with the Revolution of 1917 and it wasn’t—which Malevich was painfully made aware of, first by his rivals in the Russian avant-garde and then, conclusively, by the regime of Joseph Stalin. Negligence and contempt on the part of the Soviet government in whose keeping the original Black Square remained for decades has resulted in the painting degrading considerably. Peter Schjeldahl writes, The painting looks terrible, crackled, scuffed, in fact, it passed most of that time deep in the Soviet archives, classed among the lowliest of the states treasures
Black Square (painting)
–
Black Square, 1915, oil on linen, 79.5 x 79.5 cm,
Tretyakov Gallery,
Moscow
Black Square (painting)
–
Photograph of Malevich
8.
White On White
–
Suprematist Composition, White on White is an abstract oil-on-canvas painting by Kazimir Malevich. It is one of the more well-known examples of the Russian Suprematism movement, the work measures 79.5 by 79.5 centimetres. Although the artwork is stripped of most detail, brush strokes are evident in this painting, Malevich intended the painting to evoke a feeling of floating, with the colour white symbolising infinity, and the slight tilt of the square suggests movement. A critic from the rival Constructivist movement quipped that it was the only good canvas in an exhibition by Malevichs UNOVIS group, something could be done on it. Malevich took the work to Berlin in 1927, where it was displayed at the Große Berliner Austellung, Malevich did not ask for the work to be returned, and died in 1935 without leaving instructions on the inheritance of his estate. Black Square Suprematist Composition, White on White, Alexandra Sokolova
White On White
–
White on White
9.
Suprematism
–
Suprematism is an art movement, focused on basic geometric forms, such as circles, squares, lines, and rectangles, painted in a limited range of colors. The term suprematism refers to an art based upon the supremacy of pure artistic feeling rather than on visual depiction of objects. In Suprematism, Malevich clearly stated the concept of Suprematism. He created a suprematist grammar based on geometric forms, in particular, the square. In the 0.10 Exhibition in 1915, Malevich exhibited his early experiments in suprematist painting, the centerpiece of his show was the Black Square, placed in what is called the red/beautiful corner in Russian Orthodox tradition, the place of the main icon in a house. Black Square was painted in 1915 and was presented as a breakthrough in his career, Malevich also painted White on White which was also heralded as a milestone. White on White marked a shift from polychrome to monochrome Suprematism, Malevichs Suprematism is fundamentally opposed to the postrevolutionary positions of Constructivism and materialism. Constructivism, with its cult of the object, is concerned with utilitarian strategies of adapting art to the principles of functional organization, under Constructivism, the traditional easel painter is transformed into the artist-as-engineer in charge of organizing life in all of its aspects. Suprematism, in sharp contrast to Constructivism, embodies a profoundly anti-materialist, Suprematism does not embrace a humanist philosophy which places man at the center of the universe. Malevich also credited the birth of suprematism to Victory Over the Sun, Kruchenykhs Futurist opera production for which he designed the sets, the aim of the artists involved was to break with the usual theater of the past and to use a clear, pure, logical Russian language. Malevich put this to practice by creating costumes from simple materials, flashing headlights illuminated the figures in such a way that alternating hands, legs or heads disappeared into the darkness. The stage curtain was a black square, one of the drawings for the backcloth shows a black square divided diagonally into a black and a white triangle. Because of the simplicity of basic forms they were able to signify a new beginning. These give some indications towards an understanding of the Suprematic compositions produced between 1915 and 1918, Malevich conceived of the journal as the contextual foundation in which he could base his art, and originally planned to call the journal Nul. In a letter to a colleague, he explained, We are planning to put out a journal and have begun to discuss the how, since in it we intend to reduce everything to zero, we have decided to call it Nul. Afterward we ourselves will go beyond zero, Malevich conceived of the journal as a space for experimentation that would test his theory of nonobjective art. However, despite a year spent planning and writing articles for the journal, the most important artist who took the art form and ideas developed by Malevich and popularized them abroad was the painter El Lissitzky. Lissitzky worked intensively with Suprematism particularly in the years 1919 to 1923 and he was deeply impressed by Malevichs Suprematist works as he saw it as the theoretical and visual equivalent of the social upheavals taking place in Russia at the time
Suprematism
–
Kazimir Malevich,
Black Square, 1915, oil on linen, 79.5 x 79.5 cm,
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Suprematism
–
Kazimir Malevich,
Black Circle, 1915, oil on canvas, 106.4 × 106.4 cm,
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Suprematism
–
Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition- White on White, 1918,
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Suprematism
–
Kazimir Malevich, Suprematism, 1916-17,
Krasnodar Museum of Art
10.
Polish people
–
The Poles are a nation and West Slavic ethnic group native to Poland who share a common ancestry, culture, history and are native speakers of the Polish language. The population of Poles in Poland is estimated at 37,394,000 out of a population of 38,538,000. Polands population inhabits several historic regions, including Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovia, Silesia, Pomerania, Kuyavia, Warmia, Masuria, a wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Europe, the Americas and in Australasia. Today the largest urban concentration of Poles is the Katowice urban agglomeration of 2.7 million inhabitants, Poland was also for centuries a refuge for many Jews from all over Europe, a large number emigrated in the twentieth century to Israel. Several prominent Israeli statesmen were born in Poland, including Israels founder David Ben-Gurion, former President of Israel Shimon Peres, the Slavic people have been in the territory of modern Poland for over 1500 years. In the 9th and 10th centuries the tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula, the last tribal undertaking resulted in the 10th century in a lasting political structure and state, Poland, one of the West Slavic nations. After 1945 the so-called autochthonous or aboriginal school of Polish prehistory received official backing in Poland, Polish people are the sixth largest national group in the European Union. Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggest a number of around 60 million people worldwide. There are almost 38 million Poles in Poland alone, there are also Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including Germany, and indigenous minorities in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are some smaller indigenous minorities in nearby countries such as Moldova, the term Polonia is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States, Brazil, France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles have lived in France since the 18th century, in the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France, mostly during world wars, among them Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation or later Soviet rule. In the United States, a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Ohio, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, the highest concentration of Polish Americans in a single New England municipality is in New Britain, Connecticut. The majority of Polish Canadians have arrived in Canada since World War II, the number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 and 1970, and again after the end of Communism in Poland in 1989. In Brazil the majority of Polish immigrants settled in Paraná State, smaller, but significant numbers settled in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo and São Paulo. The city of Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world and Polish music, dishes and it is estimated that over half a million Polish people have come to work in the United Kingdom from Poland. Since 2011, Poles have been able to work throughout the EU and not just in the United Kingdom, Ireland. The Polish community in Norway has increased substantially and has grown to a number of 120,000
Polish people
–
Stańczyk at a Ball at Queen Bona's Court, by
Matejko, 1862
Polish people
–
Poland
Polish people
–
Marie Skłodowska Curie
Polish people
–
Nicolaus Copernicus
11.
Geometric abstraction
–
Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective compositions. Although the genre was popularized by artists in the early twentieth century. Geometric abstraction is present among many cultures throughout history both as decorative motifs and as art pieces themselves, wassily Kandinsky, one of the forerunners of pure non-objective painting, was among the first modern artists to explore this geometric approach in his abstract work. Other examples of pioneer abstractionists such as Kasimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian have also embraced this approach towards abstract painting,10, 1939–1942, characterized by primary colors, white ground and black grid lines clearly defined his radical but classical approach to the rectangle. Just as there are both two-dimensional and three-dimensional geometries, the sculpture of the 20th century was of course no less affected than painting by geometricizing tendencies
Geometric abstraction
–
Kazimir Malevich, Black Square, 1915, Oil on Canvas,
State Russian Museum, St.Petersburg
Geometric abstraction
–
Theo van Doesburg,
Neo-Plasticism: 1917, Composition VII (the three graces)
Geometric abstraction
–
Mino Argento, New York, 1973
12.
Avant-garde
–
The avant-garde are people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox, with respect to art, culture, and society. It may be characterized by nontraditional, aesthetic innovation and initial unacceptability, the avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm. The avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, the avant-garde also promotes radical social reforms. Several writers have attempted, with limited success, to map the parameters of avant-garde activity, the Italian essayist Renato Poggioli provides one of the best-known analyses of vanguardism as a cultural phenomenon in his 1962 book Teoria dellarte davanguardia. Other authors have attempted both to clarify and to extend Poggiolis study, bürgers essay also greatly influenced the work of contemporary American art-historians such as the German Benjamin H. D. Buchloh. Buchloh, in the collection of essays Neo-avantgarde and Culture Industry critically argues for an approach to these positions. Subsequent criticism theorized the limitations of these approaches, noting their circumscribed areas of analysis, including Eurocentric, chauvinist, and genre-specific definitions. The concept of avant-garde refers primarily to artists, writers, composers and thinkers whose work is opposed to cultural values. For Greenberg, these forms were therefore kitsch, phony, faked or mechanical culture, for instance, during the 1930s the advertising industry was quick to take visual mannerisms from surrealism, but this does not mean that 1930s advertising photographs are truly surreal. In this way the autonomous artistic merit so dear to the vanguardist was abandoned and sales became the measure. It has become common to describe successful rock musicians and celebrated film-makers as avant-garde, nevertheless, an incisive critique of vanguardism as against the views of mainstream society was offered by the New York critic Harold Rosenberg in the late 1960s. Since then it has been flanked by what he called avant-garde ghosts to the one side, and this has seen culture become, in his words, a profession one of whose aspects is the pretense of overthrowing it. Avant-garde in music can refer to any form of working within traditional structures while seeking to breach boundaries in some manner. The term is used loosely to describe the work of any musicians who radically depart from tradition altogether, although most avant-garde composers have been men, this is not exclusively the case. Women avant-gardists include Pauline Oliveros, Diamanda Galás, Meredith Monk, there are movements in theatre history that are characterized by their contributions to the avant-garde traditions in both the United States and Europe. Among these are Fluxus, Happenings, and Neo-Dada, Avant-garde – Wikipedia book Barron, Stephanie, and Maurice Tuchman. The Avant-garde in Russia, 1910–1930, New Perspectives, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art ISBN 0-87587-095-3, Cambridge, MA, ISBN 0-671-20422-X Berg, Hubert van den, and Walter Fähnders
Avant-garde
–
The Love of Zero, a 1927 film by
Robert Florey
Avant-garde
–
Marcel Duchamp,
Fountain, 1917. Photograph by
Alfred Stieglitz
13.
Poles in Russia
–
There are currently 73,000 Polish nationals living in the Russian Federation. This includes autochthonous Poles as well as those forcibly deported during and after World War II, many Poles were exiled to Siberia, starting with the 18th-century opponents of the Russian Empires increasing influence in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the change in Russian penal law in 1847, exile and this led to increasing number of Poles being sent to Siberia for katorga, they were known as Sybiraks. Some of them remained there, forming a Polish minority in Sibera, there were about 20,000 Poles living in Siberia around the 1860s. An unsuccessful uprising of Polish political exiles in Siberia broke out in 1866, in the late 19th century there was also a limited number of Polish voluntary settlers, attracted by the economic development of the region. Polish migrants and exiles, many of whom were forbidden to move away from the region even after finishing serving their sentence, hundreds of Poles took part in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Millions of Poles lived within the Russian Empire as the Russian Revolution of 1917 started followed by the Russian Civil War, while some Poles associated with the communist movement, the majority of the Polish population saw cooperation with Bolshevik forces as betrayal and treachery of Polish national interests. Marian Lutosławski and his brother Józef, the father of the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski, were murdered in Moscow in 1918 as counter-revolutionaries. Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz lived through the Russian Revolution in St. Petersburg, however, according to their ideology they did not identify as Poles or with Poland, and members of the communist party viewed themselves as Soviet citizens without any national sentiments. The Soviet Union also organized Polish units in the Red Army, there were 73,000 Polish nationals living in Russia in 2002. This includes autochthonous Poles as well as those forcibly deported during and after World War II, the number of Polish speaking people in Russia was 47,125 in 2010
Poles in Russia
–
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary, site of Polish-language services
Poles in Russia
–
Polish students in Russian exile
Poles in Russia
–
Painter
Kazimir Malevich was a prominent Polish-Russian artist.
Poles in Russia
–
Polish church in Vershina, Siberia
14.
Partitions of Poland
–
The First Partition of Poland was decided on August 5,1772. Two decades later, Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth again, Austria did not participate in the Second Partition. The Third Partition of Poland took place on October 24,1795, with this partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist. In Polish, there are two words for the two meanings. In Polish historiography, the term Fourth Partition of Poland has also been used, the term Fourth Partition in a temporal sense can also mean the diaspora communities that played important political role in re-establishing the Polish sovereign state after 1918. A single member of parliaments belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency, even after the act had been approved and it became increasingly difficult to undertake action. The liberum veto also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways and this applies particularly to the last Commonwealth King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who for some time had been a lover of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. Their alliance later became known in Poland as the Alliance of the Three Black Eagles, the Commonwealth could never be liquidated unless its long-time ally, Austria, allowed it, so Catherine had to use diplomacy to win Austria to her side. Frederick II retaliated by ordering enough Polish currency counterfeited to severely affect the Polish economy and this new constitution undid the reforms made in 1764 under Stanisław II. The liberum veto and all the old abuses of the last one, the irregular and poorly commanded Polish forces had little chance in the face of the regular Russian army and suffered a major defeat. In 1769 Austria annexed a small territory of Spisz and in 1770 – Nowy Sącz and these territories had been a bone of contention between Poland and Hungary, which was a part of the Austrian crown lands. In February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna, early in August, Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously invaded the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on September 22,1772, to Austria fell Zator and Auschwitz, part of Lesser Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomir and the whole of Galicia, less the city of Kraków. Catherine of Russia was also very satisfied, by this diplomatic document Russia came into possession of that section of Livonia that had remained in Commonwealth control, and of Belarus embracing the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl. By this partition, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory and half of its population, by seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of the Commonwealths total foreign trade. Through levying enormous customs duties, Prussia accelerated the collapse of the Commonwealth, after having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Stanisław and the Sejm approve their action. By 1790 the First Polish Republic had been weakened to such a degree that it was forced into an unnatural and terminal alliance with its enemy, the Polish–Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed. The conditions of the Pact contributed to the succeeding and final two partitions of Poland–Lithuania, the May Constitution of 1791 enfranchised the bourgeoisie, established the separation of the three branches of government, and eliminated the abuses of the Repnin Sejm
Partitions of Poland
–
Allegory of the
1st partition of
Poland, showing
Catherine II of Russia (left),
Joseph II of Austria and
Frederick the Great of Prussia (right) quarrelling over their territorial seizures
Partitions of Poland
–
The
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772
Partitions of Poland
–
Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Allegory of Dead Poland, St. Nicholas Cathedral,
Kalisz
Partitions of Poland
–
Russian general
Krechetnikov presents the manifest of Catherine the Great to the people of
Podolia
15.
Roman Catholicism in Ukraine
–
The Catholic Church in Ukraine is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The present Archbishop is Mieczysław Mokrzycki, in addition to the Latin Rite Catholics in Ukraine, there are three other Catholic Churches with significant followings in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Ruthenian Catholic Church, and the Armenian Catholic Church, the majority of Ukrainian Catholics belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In 2001, Ukraine was visited by Pope John Paul II, obviously the Roman Catholic and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Churches warmly greeted a visit from their spiritual father. Non-Catholic religious communities expressed hope that the visit would encourage a spiritual and cultural renewal in a troubled by economic. Catholic charity Caritas Spes functions in 12 regions of the country, has 40 centers engaging 500 employees, about 12,000 Ukrainian children, mainly victims of Chernobyl, orphans, and children from poor families, had their health improved in this way in 2002-2007. See, List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Ukraine Cathedral of Sts, peter and Paul, in Lutsk Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Lviv Cathedral of St. Martin of Tours, in Mukacheve Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Odessa. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lviv Superior Institute of Religious Sciences of St
Roman Catholicism in Ukraine
–
St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kiev.
16.
Belarus
–
Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres is forested and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belarus declared independence as the Belarusian Peoples Republic, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922 and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921, during WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years, in 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR. The parliament of the declared the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990. Alexander Lukashenko has served as the president since 1994. Belarus has been labeled Europes last dictatorship by some Western journalists, Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. Though not directly espousing communism like the five remaining communist countries of China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea, in 2000 Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, with some hints of forming a Union State. Over 70% of Belaruss population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas, more than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages, Belarusian and Russian, the Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Belarus is the only European country to retain capital punishment in both law and practice, the name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus, i. e. White Rus. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus, an alternate explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. A third theory suggests that the old Rus lands that were not conquered by the Tatars had been referred to as white, other sources claim that, before 1267, the land not conquered by the Mongols was considered White Rus. The name Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, in some languages, including German and Dutch, the country is generally called White Russia to this day. The Latin term Alba Russia was used again by Pope Pius VI in 1783 to recognize the Society of Jesus there, exclaiming Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem, approbo, approbo. The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey. During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used White Rus to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Belarus
–
Stamp with the
Cross of St. Euphrosyne from 1992
Belarus
–
Flag
Belarus
–
Principalities of Kievan Rus'
Belarus
–
Khatyn Memorial. The Nazis murdered civilians in 5,295 different localities in
occupied Soviet Belarus.
17.
January Uprising
–
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire. It began on 22 January 1863 and lasted until the last insurgents were captured in 1864, the uprising began as a spontaneous protest by young Poles against conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. It was soon joined by high-ranking Polish-Lithuanian officers and various politicians, the insurrectionists, severely outnumbered and lacking serious outside support, were forced to resort to guerrilla warfare tactics. Public executions and deportations to Siberia led many Poles to abandon armed struggle and turn instead to the idea of work, economic. After the Russian Empire lost the Crimean war and was weakened economically and politically, in Vilna alone 116 demonstrations were held in 1861. In August 1861, protests in Vilna ended in clashes with the Imperial Russian Army, in spite of Russian police and Cossack interference, a symbolic meeting of hymn-singing Poles and Lithuanians took place on the bridge across the Niemen River. Another mass gathering took place in Horodło, where the Union of Horodło had been signed in 1413, the crowds sang Boże, broń Polskę in Lithuanian and Belarusian. In the autumn of 1861 Russians had introduced a state of emergency in Vilna Governorate, Kovno Governorate, after a series of patriotic riots, the Russian Namestnik of Tsar Alexander II, General Karl Lambert, introduced martial law in Poland on 14 October 1861. Public gatherings were banned and some leaders were declared outlaws. The future leaders of the uprising gathered secretly in St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Vilna, Paris, after this series of meetings two major factions emerged. The Reds represented united peasants, workers, and some clergy, while The Whites represented liberal minded landlords, in 1862 two initiative groups were formed for the two components of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To deal with these units the Russian government had at its disposal an army of 90,000 men under General Ramsay in Poland. It looked as if the rebellion would be crushed quickly, the die was cast, however, the provisional government applied itself to this great task with fervor. It issued a manifesto in which it pronounced all sons of Poland are free and equal citizens without distinction of creed, condition and rank. The revolutionary government did its very best to supply with provisions the unarmed and scattered guerrillas who, during the month of February, met the Russians in eighty bloody encounters. Meanwhile, it issued an appeal to the nations of western Europe, pope Pius IX ordered a special prayer for the success of the Catholic Polish in their defence against the Orthodox Russians, and was very active in arousing sympathy for the Polish rebels. In Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, northern Ukraine and western Russia the uprising started on February 1,1863, a coalition government of the Reds and the Whites was formed. It was led by Zygmunt Sierakowski, Antanas Mackevičius and Konstanty Kalinowski and they fully supported their counterparts in Poland and adhered to the same policy
January Uprising
–
"
Polonia (Poland), 1863", by
Jan Matejko, 1864, oil on canvas, 156 × 232 cm,
National Museum,
Kraków. Pictured is the aftermath of the failed January 1863 Uprising. Captives await transportation to
Siberia. Russian officers and soldiers supervise a blacksmith placing
shackles on a woman (
Polonia). The blonde girl next to her represents
Lithuania.
January Uprising
–
Russian army in Warsaw during martial law 1861
January Uprising
–
"The Battle" from the cycle of paintings "Polonia" dedicated to January Uprising of 1863 -
Artur Grottger.
January Uprising
–
Battles of January Uprising in Congress
Poland 1863-1864
18.
Polish language
–
Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
Polish language
–
The oldest printed text in Polish – Statuta synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensis printed in 1475 in
Wrocław by Kasper Elyan.
Polish language
–
Polish
Polish language
–
The
Jakub Wujek Bible in Polish, 1599 print
19.
Ukrainian language
–
Ukrainian /juːˈkreɪniən/ is an East Slavic language. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic script, historical linguists trace the origin of the Ukrainian language to the Old East Slavic of the early medieval state of Kievan Rus. After the fall of the Kievan Rus as well as the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, the Modern Ukrainian language has been in common use since the late 17th century, associated with the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate. From 1804 until the Russian Revolution, the Ukrainian language was banned from schools in the Russian Empire and it has always maintained a sufficient base in Western Ukraine, where the language was never banned, in its folklore songs, itinerant musicians, and prominent authors. The Ukrainian language retains a degree of intelligibility with Belarusian and Russian. The first theory of the origin of Ukrainian language was suggested in Imperial Russia in the middle of the 18th century by Mikhail Lomonosov and this theory posits the existence of a common language spoken by all East Slavic people in the time of the Rus. Another point of view developed during the 19th and 20th centuries by linguists of Imperial Russia, like Lomonosov, they assumed the existence of a common language spoken by East Slavs in the past. This general point of view is the most accepted amongst academics worldwide, the supporters of this theory disagree, however, about the time when the different languages were formed. Soviet scholars set the divergence between Ukrainian and Russian only at time periods. During the time of the incorporation of Ruthenia into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and this point of view is, however, at variance with some historical data. In fact, several East Slavic tribes, such as Polans, Drevlyans, Severians, Dulebes, White Croats, Tiverians, notably, some Ukrainian features were recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic as far back as the language can be documented. In contrast, Ahatanhel Krymsky and Alexei Shakhmatov assumed the existence of the spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times. According to their point of view, the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century, Ukrainian linguist Stepan Smal-Stotsky went even further, denying the existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. Similar points of view were shared by Yevhen Tymchenko, Vsevolod Hantsov, Olena Kurylo, Ivan Ohienko, according to this theory, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages during the 6th through 9th centuries. The Ukrainian language was formed by convergence of tribal dialects, mostly due to a migration of the population within the territory of todays Ukraine in later historical periods. This point of view was supported by George Shevelovs phonological studies. During the 13th century, when German settlers were invited to Ukraine by the princes of Galicia-Vollhynia and their influence would continue under Poland not only through German colonists but also through the Yiddish-speaking Jews. Often such words involve trade or handicrafts, examples of words of German or Yiddish origin spoken in Ukraine include dakh, rura, rynok, kushnir, and majster
Ukrainian language
–
Miniature of
St Luke from the
Peresopnytsia Gospels (1561).
Ukrainian language
–
Ukrainian-speaking world
Ukrainian language
–
The 1921 Soviet recruitment poster. It uses traditional Ukrainian imagery with Ukrainian-language text: "Son! Enroll in the school of
Red commanders, and the defense of
Soviet Ukraine will be ensured."
Ukrainian language
–
Anti-russification protest. The banner reads "For Ukrainian Children – a Ukrainian school!".
20.
Tretyakov Gallery
–
The State Tretyakov Gallery is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. In 1892, Tretyakov presented his famous collection of approximately 2,000 works to the Russian nation. The façade of the building was designed by the painter Viktor Vasnetsov in a peculiar Russian fairy-tale style. It was built in 1902–04 to the south from the Moscow Kremlin, during the 20th century, the gallery expanded to several neighboring buildings, including the 17th-century church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi. In 1977 the Gallery kept a significant part of the George Costakis collection, Pavel Tretyakov started collecting art in the middle of 1850. The founding year of the Tretyakov Gallery is considered to be 1856, schilder and Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers by V. G. Kudyakov, although earlier, in 1854-1855, he had bought 11 graphic sheets and 9 pictures of old Dutch masters, in 1867 the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov was opened. The Gallery’s collection consisted of 1,276 paintings,471 sculptures and 10 drawings of Russian artists, in August 1892 Tretyakov presented his art gallery to the city of Moscow as a gift. In the collection at time, there were 1,287 paintings and 518 graphic works of the Russian school,75 paintings and 8 drawings of European schools,15 sculptures. The official opening of the called the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel. The gallery was located in a mansion that the Tretykov family had purchased in 1851. As the Tretyakov collection of art grew, the part of the mansion filled with art and it became necessary to make additions to the mansion in order to store. Additions were made in 1873,1882,1885,1892 and 1902-1904, construction of the façade was managed by the architect A. M. In early 1913, the Moscow City Duma elected Igor Grabar as a trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery, on June 3,1918, the Tretyakov Gallery was declared owned by Russian Federated Soviet Republic and was named the State Tretyakov Gallery. Igor Grabar was again appointed director of the museum, with Grabar’s active participation in the same year, the State Museum Fund was created, which up until 1927 remained one of the most important sources of replenishment of the gallerys collection. In 1926 architect and academician A. V, shchusev became the director of the gallery. In the following year the gallery acquired the house on Maly Tolmachevsky Lane. After restructuring in 1928, it housed the administration, academic departments, library, manuscripts department
Tretyakov Gallery
–
State Tretyakov Gallery
Tretyakov Gallery
–
New Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val.
Tretyakov Gallery
–
Ustyug Annunciation (c. 1120-1130)
Tretyakov Gallery
–
Theotokos of Vladimir (c. 1130)
21.
Moscow
–
Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
Moscow
–
Left to right, top to bottom:
Moscow State University,
Spasskaya Clocktower,
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour;
Bolshoi Theatre,
Moscow International Business Center;
Red Square
Moscow
–
Tatar raid upon Moscow
Moscow
–
Map of Moscow, 1784
Moscow
–
Red Square, painting by
Fedor Alekseev, 1801
22.
Kursk
–
Kursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a point in the Soviet–German struggle during World War II. Archaeology indicates that the site of Kursk was settled in the 5th or 4th century BCE, the settlement was fortified and included Slavs at least as early as the 8th century CE. The first written record of Kursk is dated 1032 and it was mentioned as one of Severian towns by Prince Igor in The Tale of Igors Campaign, Saddle, brother, your swift steeds. The seat of a principality, Kursk was raided by the Polovtsians in the 12th and 13th centuries. The city was no later than 1283. It was ruled by Grand Duchy of Lithuania between 1360 and 1508, Kursk joined the centralized Russian state in 1508, becoming its southern border province. It was an important center of the trade with Ukraine and hosted an important fair. However, a century later the city re-emerged in a new place, in 1596 a new fortress was built, in 1616 it was garrisoned by over 1,300 soldiers. At the beginning of the 17th century Kursk was repeatedly attacked by Polish-Lithuania, the Crimean Tatars, and the Nogai horde, residents of Oryol and other southern Russian cities were resettled in Kursk. The city developed due to its advantageous position on the shortest route from Moscow to the Crimea. It was raided frequently by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Crimean Khanate until the late 17th century and was ruled by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1611 and 1618 and it was successively part of the Kiev Governorate, Belgorod Governorate, and Kursk Viceroyalty. Town status was granted to Kursk in 1779 and it became the administrative center of Kursk Governorate in 1797. After a fire in 1781 devastated Kursk, a new plan for the city was developed in which a market center would be at the heart of the city, in 1768 the Voskirsensko Ilinskaya Church was built. In 1778 both the Sergiev Cathedral Kazan Cathedral Baroque and Trinity Sergius Cathedral were completed, the city opened its first school for the nobility in 1783. A mens gymnasium was opened in 1808 and a seminary in 1817, a womens gymnasium was opened in 1870. At the beginning of the 20th century Kursk played a dominant role in the industry and in other industries as well, so, in the 1900s. Working conditions in the factories of Kursk were harsh and often resulted in strikes, Kursk workers participated in the general political strike during the 1905 Russian Revolution
Kursk
–
View of Kursk
Kursk
–
Stalin-era buildings flanking Kursk's Red Square
Kursk
–
Pre-1917 view of Kursk
Kursk
–
Religious Procession in Kursk Province, painting by
Ilya Repin (1880–1883)
23.
Soyuz Molodyozhi
–
Soyuz Molodyozhi was an artistic group and an art magazine of Russian avant-garde organized in 1910. There were more than 30 members of the group and most of other Russian avant-garde participated in their exhibitions, the Chairman of the society was a patron of the arts Levky Zheverzheyev. The Manifesto of the group was written by Olga Rozanova, in 1913 the group Soyuz Molodyozhi merged with group Giley that included Vladimir Mayakovsky, Velimir Khlebnikov and Elena Guro. Besides organizing artistic exhibition, the group also organized theatrical performances, the most famous of which was the Victory over the Sun. The classical period of the group was 1910–1914 years ended with the World War I, in 1917 the group resumed its work organizing the great First Free Exhibit of Artists of All Trends at the Hermitage. In 1921 the group became the Union of the Newest Trends chaired by Vladimir Tatlin, the Union of Youth, an artists society of the Russian avant-garde
Soyuz Molodyozhi
–
David Burlyuk, Portrait of
Vasily Kamensky, 1917
24.
St. Petersburg
–
Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
St. Petersburg
–
Top left to bottom right:
Peter and Paul Fortress on
Zayachy Island,
Smolny Cathedral,
Moyka river with the
General Staff Building,
Trinity Cathedral,
Bronze Horseman on
Senate Square, and the
Winter Palace.
St. Petersburg
–
The
Bronze Horseman, monument to Peter the Great
St. Petersburg
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Palace Square backed by the General Staff arch and building, as the main square of the Russian Empire it was the setting of many events of historic significance
St. Petersburg
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Map of Saint Petersburg, 1903
25.
Vladimir Tatlin
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Vladimir Yevgraphovich Tatlin was a Soviet painter and architect. With Kazimir Malevich he was one of the two most important figures in the Soviet avant-garde art movement of the 1920s, and he became an important artist in the Constructivist movement. He is most famous for his design for The Monument to the Third International, more known as Tatlins Tower. Tatlin was born in Kharkiv, the son of a railway engineer and he worked as a merchant sea cadet and spent some time abroad. He began his art career as a painter in Moscow. He also sang in Ukrainian and was a professional musician-bandurist, Tatlin became familiar with the work of Pablo Picasso during a trip to Paris in 1913. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed the huge Monument to the Third International, planned from 1919, the monument was to be a tall tower in iron, glass and steel which would have dwarfed the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Inside the iron-and-steel structure of twin spirals, the design envisaged three building blocks, covered with windows, which would rotate at different speeds. For financial and practical reasons, however, the tower was never built, Tatlin conceived these sculptures in order to question the traditional ideas of art, though he did not regard himself as a Constructivist and objected to many of the movements ideas. Later prominent constructivists included Varvara Stepanova, Alexander Rodchenko, Manuel Rendón Seminario, Joaquín Torres García, László Moholy-Nagy, Antoine Pevsner and this led Malevich to develop his ideas further in the city of Vitebsk, where he found a school called UNOVIS. Tatlin also dedicated himself to the study of clothes, objects, at the end of his life he started to research bird flight, in order to pursue one of the great dreams of humanity, to fly. In the year of 1930 he taught in Kiev where one of his students was Joseph Karakis, Tatlin was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Media related to Vladimir Tatlin at Wikimedia Commons Tatlin Playing The Bandura, special Project of the Library of Ukrainian Art. Exhibition of Russian-Soviet artist Vladimir Tatlin in Basel — Tatlin’s “new art for a new world”
Vladimir Tatlin
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Vladimir Tatlin
26.
Aleksandra Ekster
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She was born Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Grigorovich in Białystok, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire to a wealthy Belarusian family. Her father, Aleksandr Grigorovich, was a wealthy Belarusian businessman, young Aleksandra received an excellent private education, studying languages, music, art, and taking private drawing lessons. Soon her parents moved to Kyiv, and Asya, as called by her friends, attended Kiev gymnasium St. Olga and Kiev Art School, Aleksandra graduated in painting from Kiev Art School in 1906. In 1908, Aleksandra Grigorovich married a successful Kiev lawyer, Nikolai Evgenyevich Ekster, the Eksters belonged to cultural and intellectual elite of Kiev. She spent several months with her husband in Paris, and there she attended Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Montparnasse, from 1908 to 1924 she intermittently lived in Kiev, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Paris, Rome and Moscow. In 1908 she participated in an exhibition together with members of the group Zveno organized by David Burliuk, Wladimir Burliuk, in Paris, Aleksandra Ekster was a personal friend of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who introduced her to Gertrude Stein. She exhibited six works at the Salon de la Section dOr, Galerie La Boétie, Paris, October 1912, with Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Marcel Duchamp and others. In that same year she participated with the “Russians” Archipenko, Koulbine, in 1915 she joined the group of avant-garde artists Supremus. Her friend introduced her to the poet Apollinaire, who took her to Picassos workshop, according to Moscow Chamber Theatre actress Alice Coonen, In Parisian household there was a conspicuous peculiar combination of European culture with Ukrainian life. On the walls between Picasso and Braque paintings there was Ukrainian embroidery, on the floor was a Ukrainian carpet, at the table they served clay pots, colorful majolica plates of dumplings. Under the avant-guard umbrella, Ekster has been noted to be a suprematist and constructivist painter as well as an influencer of the Art Deco movement. While not confined within a movement, Exter was one of the most experimental women of the avant-garde. Ekster absorbed from many sources and cultures in order to develop her own original style, Ekster later founded a teaching and production workshop in Kiev. Vadym Meller, Anatol Petrytsky, Kliment Redko, Tchelitchew, Shifrin, Nikritin worked there, also during this period she was one of the leading stage designers of Alexander Tairovs Chamber Theatre. In 1919 together with other avant-garde artists Kliment Redko and Nina Genke-Meller she decorated the streets and squares of Kiev and she worked with Vadym Meller as a costume designer in a ballet studio of the dancer Bronislava Nijinska. In 1921 she became a director of the elementary course Color at the Higher Artistic-Technical Workshop in Moscow and her work was displayed alongside that of other Constructivist artists at the 5x5=25 exhibition held in Moscow in 1921. In line with her eclectic avant-guard-like style, Ekster’s early paintings strongly influenced her design as well as her book illustrations. All of Ekster’s works, no matter the medium, stick to her distinct style and her works are vibrant, playful, dramatic, and theatrical in composition, subject matter, and color
Aleksandra Ekster
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Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster
Aleksandra Ekster
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Theatre curtain designed by Ekster.
Aleksandra Ekster
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Costumes designed by Ekster.
Aleksandra Ekster
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Costume design for Romeo and Juliette. 1921.
M.T. Abraham Foundation.
27.
Natalia Goncharova
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Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova was a Russian avant-garde artist, painter, costume designer, writer, illustrator, and set designer. Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova was born on June 21,1881, in Nagaevo and her father, Sergei, was an architect and graduate of the prestigious Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Goncharova moved to Moscow at the age of 10 in 1892, in 1901 Goncharova began her own studies at the Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture as a sculptor, under Pavel Trubetskoi, who was associated with the World of Art movement. By 1903, she began exhibiting in major Russian salons and she was awarded a silver medal for sculpture in 1903-04. It was at the Moscow Institute that Goncharova met fellow-student Mikhail Larionov, Goncharova drew inspirations for primitivism from Russian icons and folk art, otherwise known as luboks. The Donkeys Tail was conceived as a break from European art influence. Goncharova and her counter-part, Larionav, were harassed for their artwork. However, the influence of Russian Futurism is much in evidence in Goncharovas later paintings, initially preoccupied with icon painting and the primitivism of ethnic Russian folk-art, Goncharova became famous in Russia for her Futurist work such as The Cyclist and her later Rayonist works. Goncharova and Larionav painted hieroglyphics and flowers on their faces and walked the streets as a part of a primitivist art movement, Goncharova herself sometimes appears topless in public with symbols on her chest. As leaders of the Moscow Futurists, they organized provocative lecture evenings in the vein as their Italian counterparts. Goncharova was also involved with graphic design—writing and illustrating several avant-garde books and she started to exhibit at the Salon dAutomne since 1906. Goncharova was a member of the Der Blaue Reiter avant-garde group from its founding in 1911, in 1915, she began to design ballet costumes and sets in Geneva. In 1915 she started work on a series of designs—Six Winged Seraph, Angel, St. Andrew, St. Mark, Nativity, and others—for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev to be titled Liturgy. Also involved in the project, for which Igor Stravinsky was invited to compose the score, were Larionov and Léonide Massine, Goncharova moved to Paris in 1921 where she designed a number of stage sets of Diaghilevs Ballets Russes. She also exhibited at the Salon dAutomne in 1921, and participated regularly at the Salon des Tuileries, Goncharova and Larionav collaborated on four charity events in Moscow. These events were The Grand Bal des Aristes, The Bal Banal, The Bal Olympique and they both designed much of the publicity materials for the event. Between 1922 and 1926 Goncharova created fashion designs for Marie Cuttolis shop, Maison Myrbor on the Rue Vincent and her richly embroidered and appliquéd dress designs were strongly influenced by Russian folk art, Byzantine mosaic and her work for the Ballets Russes. In 1938 Goncharova became a French citizen, on June 2,1955, four years after Larionov suffered a stroke, the two artists got married in Paris to safeguard their rights of inheritance
Natalia Goncharova
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Natalia in 1910
Natalia Goncharova
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Self-portrait (1907)
Natalia Goncharova
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Women with rakes (1907)
Natalia Goncharova
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Khorovod (1910)
28.
Mikhail Larionov
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Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov was an avant-garde Russian painter. Larionov was born at Tiraspol, in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire, in 1898 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under Isaac Levitan and Valentin Serov. He was suspended three times for his radical outlook, in 1900 he met Natalia Goncharova and formed a lifelong relationship with her. From 1902 his style was Impressionism, after a visit to Paris in 1906 he moved into Post-Impressionism and then a Neo-primitive style which derived partly from Russian sign painting. In 1908 he staged the Golden Fleece exhibition in Moscow, which included paintings by international artists such as Matisse, Derain, Braque, Gauguin. Other group shows promoted by him included Tatlin, Chagall and Malevich, Larionov was a founding member of two important Russian artistic groups Jack of Diamonds and the more radical Donkeys Tail. He gave names to both groups and his first solo show was for one day in Moscow in 1911. Larionov was influenced by the Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani, in 1913 he created Rayonism, which was the first creation of near-abstract art in Russia. He had a show at the Omega Workshops. In 1915 he left Russia and worked with the ballet owner Sergei Diaghilev in Paris on the productions of the Ballets Russes and he spent the rest of his life in France and obtained the French citizenship. He died, aged 82, in the Paris suburb of Fontenay-aux-Roses, in 2001, the Central Bank of Transnistria minted a silver coin honoring this native of todays Transnistria, as part of a series of memorable coins called The Outstanding People of Pridnestrovie. The highest price paid for a Larionov painting at auction is 2,200,000 British pounds and he is in the highest category 1A – a world famous artist in United Artists Rating. Mikhail Larionov at the McNay Art Museum
Mikhail Larionov
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Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov
Mikhail Larionov
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Acacias in Spring (1904)
Mikhail Larionov
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Self-Portrait (1910)
Mikhail Larionov
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Red
Rayonism (1913)
29.
Lubok
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A lubok is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories and popular tales. Lubki prints were used as decoration in houses and inns, early examples from the late 17th and early 18th centuries were woodcuts, then engravings or etchings were typical, and from the mid-19th century lithography. They sometimes appeared in series, which might be regarded as predecessors of the comic strip. Cheap and simple books, similar to chapbooks, which consisted of pictures, are called lubok literature or. Both pictures and literature are commonly referred to simply as lubki, the Russian word lubok derives from lub - a special type of board that pictures were printed on. Russian lubki became a genre of during the last half of the seventeenth century. Russian lubok was primarily influenced by the woodcuts and engravings done in Germany, Italy and its popularity in Russia was a result of how inexpensive and fairly simple it was to duplicate a print using this new technique. Luboks were typically sold at various marketplaces to the lower and middle classes and this type of art was very popular with these two social classes because the lubok provided them with an inexpensive opportunity to display artwork in their houses. The Koren Picture-Bible, 1692-1696 established the most prominent style, an Old Russian rendering of international iconography and subjects, by mid-18th century, however, the woodcuts were mostly replaced with engraving or etching techniques, which enabled the prints to be more detailed and complex. After printing on paper, the picture would be hand-colored with diluted tempera paints, while the prints themselves were typically very simplistic and unadorned, the final product, with the tempera paint added, was surprisingly bright with vivid colors and lines. The dramatic coloring of the early woodcut prints was to some extent lost with the transfer to more detailed engravings, in addition to the images, these folk prints would also include a short story or lesson that correlated to the picture being presented. Russian scholar Alexander Boguslavsky claims that the style is a combination of Russian icon and manuscript painting traditions with the ideas. Typically, the luboks artist would include minimal text that was supplementary to the illustration that would cover the majority of the engraving. Folklorist Dmitri Rovinsky is known for his work with categorizing lubok. Jewish examples exist as well, many luboks can be classified into multiple categories. Russian lubok The satirical version played an important role in the luboks from Russian wartime and it is used to present Napoleon in a satirical manner while portraying the Russian peasants as the heroes of the war. This also inspired other Russians to help fight the war by attempting to, the luboks presented a manner for the Russians to mock the French enemy, while at the same time display the ‘Russianness” of Russia. “These war luboks satirized Napoleon and depicted French culture as degenerate”, the lubok was a means of reinforcing the idea of defeating the French invaders and displaying the horrible destruction Napoleon and his army caused Russia. All the different representation of the Russian heroes helped define and spread the belief in Russian identity, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 began on February 8,1904, at Port Arthur with a surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy
Lubok
Lubok
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A modern rural shed with lubok decoration
Lubok
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"A
Joker and His Wife". This 18th-century lubok is an adaptation of a German print.
Lubok
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"The Valiant Knight
Yeruslan Rescuing Princess
Anastasia ", an 18th-century lubok.
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