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Moscow & St. Petersburg 1900-1920: Art, Life, & Culture of the Russian Silver Age by John E. Bowlt
daryase's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful book on (mostly) visual arts in the Russian Silver Age.
One can look at it even solely for the visual material, without the narrative.
As for the narrative, I have mixed feelings about its structure. On the one hand, this decision to abstain from the conventional division of material into movements or styles helps to see something more important and connecting for all the different phenomena of the age. On the other hand, it might also be misleading, since as a result of approach through certain 'themes', the same phenomena are mentioned in different chapters. Not a good way to try to understand the basic chronologies. I can imagine being more confused about all this, had I not just taken a course which helped me organize what I know about the Silver Age. (Actually, some of the portions of the book I read during the semester, and now I just finished off the unassigned ones).
Moreover, I have some issues with the attribution of the agency for the cultural developments, but let's not dwell on this.
On a brighter side, I like how Bowlt tackles not only "high art" but applied arts as well, the processed of trickling down of certain aesthetic ideas into consumption goods etc., and somewhat on the part of the dissemination and consumption of the art, not only on the part of its creation.
One can look at it even solely for the visual material, without the narrative.
As for the narrative, I have mixed feelings about its structure. On the one hand, this decision to abstain from the conventional division of material into movements or styles helps to see something more important and connecting for all the different phenomena of the age. On the other hand, it might also be misleading, since as a result of approach through certain 'themes', the same phenomena are mentioned in different chapters. Not a good way to try to understand the basic chronologies. I can imagine being more confused about all this, had I not just taken a course which helped me organize what I know about the Silver Age. (Actually, some of the portions of the book I read during the semester, and now I just finished off the unassigned ones).
Moreover, I have some issues with the attribution of the agency for the cultural developments, but let's not dwell on this.
On a brighter side, I like how Bowlt tackles not only "high art" but applied arts as well, the processed of trickling down of certain aesthetic ideas into consumption goods etc., and somewhat on the part of the dissemination and consumption of the art, not only on the part of its creation.
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