The Art and Architecture of Russia: Third Edition

From Preface to First Edition: "The history of a people's art, embracing a thousand years in time and a vast continental space, is not easily or adequately encompassed in a single volume. This account is limited to the arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture, as they have been created in the territories of the European Russia by the Russian people. ... In preparing the text and in selecting the illustrations I have not sought to emphasize either the likeness or unlikeness of Russian art to similar or contemporary expressions in Western Europe. I have tried to explain the characteristic elements as they have appeared in time, and to indicate how influences from outside Russia may have helped to shape such forms. I contend, with Catherine the Great that 'Russia is a European State', and I have tried to explain Russian art in the terms used for the study of European art. I have assumed the reader interested in studying Russian art has some knowledge of Russian political and social history and of the principal masters and movements in European art, but that he does not read the Russian language. If he commands it, the annotations of the text will send him to my sources should he wish to amplify or to correct my argument. This book is intended as a history of the formal structure of a national art, rather than as an exercise in criticism." ****** Table of Contents: * Map PART 1: KIEVAN RUSSIA 1 - The Past of Kiev 2 - The Architecture of Kiev: 990-1240 3 - The Architecture of Novgorod and Pskov: 990-1500 4 - The Architecture of Vladimir-Suzdal: 1100-1240 5 - Mosaics and Frescoes in Keiv 6 - The First Russian Sculpture 7 - Frescoes in Vladimir and Novgorod PART 2: ICON-painting 8 - Icon Painting: Criticism, Iconography, and Technique 9 - The Earliest Icons: 990-1250 10 - Provincial Schools of the 13th and 14th Centuries 11 - 15th Century Painting: Moscow 12 - 15th Century Painting: Novgorod 13 - Painting in Moscow in the Later 15th and 16th Centuries PART 3: THE ART OF MUSCOVY 14 - Wooden Church Architecture 15 - Architecture in Moscow: 1400-1600 16 - 17th Century Architecture: the 'Moscow Baroque' 17 - Secular Architecture 18 - The Beginning of Modern Painting: Moscow, 1550-1700 PART 4: ST. PETERSBERG 19 - Peter's Baroque: 1703-41 20 - Elizabeth's Rococo: 1741-62 21 - The Classicism of Catherine II: 1762-96 22 - The Alexandrian Empire: 1796-1850 23 - The Medieval Revival: 18th Century Romantic Architecture PART 5: MODERN RUSSIAN ART 24 - 18th Century Painting and Sculpture 25 - Romanticism 26 - Ideological Realism 27 - The Slavic Revival and 'Mir Iskusstva'

English books about Russian art history are usually just covering separate areas. This book gives a nice overview covering early architecture, icon painting up to modern times. There are other books out there that are more comprehensive, but the once I could find were all written in Russian. And although I can read Russian, for ease of reading I was happy to at least find one book written in English to complete my Russian library and prepare for my exams. The book covered most I needed to know and I could find little places were the information was not in sync with the information I got from Russian books and my lectures. It would, like other reviewers already pointed out, had been nice if at least some pictures were printed in colour, but I didn't find this a very big problem since pictures of the art presented in this book are easily found on the internet. More important to me is that the text, although dry at times, is well written, correct, informative and covering a lot of ground.