Travel Sketching: a Step-by-Step Guide

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Still Life With Fruit, Vegetables in the Multilayer Watercolor Technique

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Painting White Lilacs in the Multi-Layer Watercolor Technique: Special Aspects

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“…Undeniably FInest Choice of Frame” ( on the Question of PIcture Framing by I. E. Repin)

Numerous paintings by I. E. Repin in the collections of the Russian Museum, Tretyakov Gallery, Ateneum are distinguished by interesting, richly decorated, at times unique frames. The vast majority of these decorative art pieces have not been studied. Not only the creator of the sketch and the framemaker are left undisclosed, but also those who stood behind the choice of the frame – the artist himself or, rather, the buyer, customer. The contemporary ideas regarding Repin’s frames have largely been influenced by a highly critical commentary of Y. D. Minchenkov, which he recorded in his memoirs dedicated to artists – members of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. Yet, the frames of Repin, which we have successfully identified and attributed, make us doubt the objectivity of Minchenkov's words. The question of Repin's contribution to the art of picture framing has not yet been considered in the works of specialists. Nonetheless, the original decor of the frames for such paintings as “Sadko” give grounds to assume that they were created according to the artist's drawings. Remarkably, a number of the artworks considered in the article have been introduced into scholarly literature for the first time.

The Tale of the Father

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"The Great Repin's Disciples" Exhibition. September 23d – December 5th 2021

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From Jerusalem to Diveyevo. The History of Pilgrimage in Holy Relics

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Tiffany Technique Workshop for Beginners: Making a Stained- Glass Brooch

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Attributing the frame to the painting by K. Somov "The nude young man (B. M. Snezhkovskiy)"

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Сolor and Space in the Traditional Сulture of the Оirats of Мongolia and the Kalmyks of Russia

The traditional culture of homo mobilis has been the subject matter of research both in Russia and abroad. It is the nomadic way of life, largely of the past, that has come into the focus of scholars. This applies, in particular, to Kalmyks, the heirs of the Oirats, who came in the 17th century from Western Mongolia to the steppes of the Northern Caspian region. Nomadic herders explored and developed a vast area resorting to the traditional form of farming. Thousands of years in the constant movement of nomadic life and close linkages with the natural environment affected not only their way of living, but also their cosmovisions, i. e. perceptions of the world. From the point of view of nomads, the “middle world” (the world of people) exists in close contact with heaven and earth. Heaven is the founding father, the creator of all things, the source of everything that happens on earth. This image of the world is associated with a dialectical idea of the mutually exclusive and complementary phenomena of arga and bilig. The philosophical teaching of the Mongols, arga-bilig, extends to the traditional symbolism of color, which expresses ideas about interrelation between the Universe and a Man. The artistic embodiment of religious and philosophical ideas, developed in detail within the worldview of the Oirats of Mongolia, has been further elaborated in the cross-border culture of the Kalmyks of Russia. They preserved and transformed the traditional symbolism of color and space. Comparative analysis of artistic traditions accompanied by the usage of methodologies of history, ethnocultural studies, art history and philosophy enables one to identify the common and different between the cultures of the Oirats of Mongolia and the Kalmyks of Russia.