Monday 30 April 2012

TALK: "I am the prisoner of friendship", Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 3 May

Time: Thursday 3 May 2012, 5:15pm
Venue: Conference Room (Ground Floor), The Princess Dashkova Russian  
Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh
Talk by Dr Michelle Lamarche Marrese (University of Münster):

I AM THE PRISONER OF FRIENDSHIP... (Ekaterina Dashkova)

The talk explores the role of female friendship in the life of  
Princess Dashkova within the wider European and American context of  
the significance of affective ties among women in the late eighteenth  
and early nineteenth centuries. It seeks to explain the relative  
absence of --romantic-- friendship among Russian noblewomen, in  
contrast to their European contemporaries, and why Dashkova deviated  
from the pattern of her Russian counterparts. It also examines the  
limits of female patronage networks during the era of female rule,  
which historians have depicted as an era of women?s predominance at  
court, and whether Dashkova proved the exception to this rule.

Michelle Lamarche Marrese is the author of A Woman s Kingdom:  
Noblewomen and the Control of Property in Russia, 1700-1861 and  
numerous articles on gender and Russian noble culture. She has taught  
at the University of Delaware, the University of Toronto, Northwestern  
University, and the University of Münster (Germany), and is the  
recipient of numerous fellowships, including grants from the National  
Endowment for the Humanities and the Fulbright Foundation. She is  
currently working on a biography of Princess E.R. Dashkova and a  
social and political history of noblewomen at the Russian court,  
titled Queen of Spades: Princess Dashkova and the Politics of Gender  
in the Era of Female Rule.


Globe Theatre: ''Measure for Measure' in Russian, 2012 Intl Shakespeare Festival

Measure for Measure
Globe Theatre

Appearing as part of the Globe Theatre's Globe to Globe season and the 2012 International Shakespeare Festival, the Vakhtangov Theatre presents a Russian language production of Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure’.

The Duke departs from his kingdom suddenly and mysteriously. In his place his deputy Angelo begins a vigorous campaign against the city’s morals. Claudio, arrested and sentenced to death for making his lover pregnant, hopes his virtuous sister Isabella can persuade Angelo to save him. But when Angelo demands a higher price than Isabella is prepared to pay, it becomes evident that not only love but justice is at risk. 


The Vakhtangov, on the Arbat, is at the heart of Moscow both geographically and theatrically. From humble beginnings in 1913, this company, which began in basements and front rooms, grew to inhabit one of Moscow’s most beautiful theatres. Always following the twin influences of Meyerhold and Stanislavsky, of spectacle and psychological truth, it has created many of Russia’s most respected productions. This is their first visit to the UK. 


For more information and to book tickets please visit the Globe’s website.
http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/

CONCERT: St Petersburg Blagovest Ensemble

Tue 8 May 2012 – 7.30pm
Performance
St Petersburg Blagovest Ensemble
Language: In Russian


The St Petersburg Blagovest Ensemble is bringing part of a rich Russian musical tradition to Pushkin House this May.


Their programme contrasts sublime, intensely spiritual Russian Orthodox church music with the zest for life and humour of Russian folk song.


The Ensemble contributes to a renewal of a tradition of Russian unaccompanied singing going back a thousand years, which with its distinctive melodic patterns holds a unique place in the musical culture of the world.


The singers are trained in the St Petersburg Conservatoire and their five voices fill any auditorium. On previous UK tours they have enchanted audiences with echoing harmonies that appealed to a range of ages and musical tastes. This year they are bringing their music to many places in the UK that have not experienced it before.


Tickets: £12, conc. £10
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/st-petersburg-blagovest-ensemble

Friday 27 April 2012

JOB: Museum Program Asst, Museum of Russian Art, MN

The Museum of Russian Art (TMORA) in Minneapolis, the only museum of its kind in North America, is seeking a Program Assistant to support senior level staff with administrative and curatorial duties. This is a full-time, entry-level position.


POSITION DESCRIPTION
The Program Assistant will also support the Director of the Museum with day to day communications, including phone calls, emails, and correspondence with the Museum’s Board of Trustees. Other administrative duties include making travel arrangements for staff or visiting professionals, managing outgoing mail, ordering supplies, and other tasks as assigned. Will assist accounting department in reconciling expenses with budgets.


The Program Assistant will also support the Curator of the Museum with the management of the permanent collection, and in the development and implementation of the Museum’s exhibitions. Exhibition tasks include cataloguing, maintaining files, keeping track of loan requests and agreements, creating and updating object lists, as well as assisting with the preparation and proofreading of printed and online publications, catalogs, visitor guides, gallery introductions, wall texts, etc.


This is an excellent entry-level opportunity to gain experience in many aspects of museum operations.


QUALIFICATIONS
    Bachelor's degree. Preferably in art history, cultural studies, museum studies, art education, or related humanities discipline.
    Experience in editing/proofreading for publication.
    Excellent communication, writing, research, and organizational skills.
    Knowledge of Apple’s iWork suite of office software.
    Knowledge of Russian culture, history, and language a plus.



Start date
June 4, 2012
Application deadline
April 27, 2012
Education requirements
4-year degree


Please submit a cover letter and resume by Friday, April 27, 2012 to Misha Dashevsky at mdashevsky@tmora.org. No phone calls, please.

View the full listing here.
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/WN9WPGHsZc2D/

Translators' Evening of Russian prose & poetry, Pushkin House

Tue 1 May 2012 – 7.30pm
Talk
Sixth Translators' Evening: Antony Wood and Donald Rayfield 
PROGRAMME OF PUSKIN CLUB
Language: In English


The Pushkin Club is continuing with its series of events: “Translators’ Evenings”, where translators of Russian poetry and prose read and discuss their work. Translators, academics, students and anybody interested in Russian literature are invited to discuss the relation between the original and the translation, compare (if available) different translations of the same original and see how the art of translation helps literature to cross over boundaries between languages and cultures.


Translations and originals are available before the evening, below. If you wish to follow the discussion please print them out and bring them with you.


An extract from Gogol’s Dead Souls and a Mandelstam poem translated by Donald Rayfield.


Donald Rayfield is emeritus professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary, University of London. His books include The Dream of Lhasa (a biography of Nikolay Przhevalsky), Anton Chekhov — A Life (its Russian version has been a best-seller for some five years), Stalin and his Hangmen (which has been translated into nine other languages), and A History of Georgian Literature. His Edge of Empire: A History of Georgia will be published by Reaktion Books in September. He has translated Gogol’s Dead Souls (with Marc Chagall’s engravings), a book praised by William Boyd, as well as Georgian and Russian poetry


ALEXANDER PUSHKIN
The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Champions translated by Antony Wood


Antony Wood is the publisher of Angel Books, devoted entirely to translations of classic foreign fiction and poetry, and himself a translator. His translations of Pushkin’s Little Tragedies (Mozart and Salieri etc) and selected narrative poems have been published in the UK and USA, and his translation of the first (1825) version of Boris Godunov has been published and staged in the USA. Paul Scofield, Simon Callow, Ralph Fiennes, Alec McCowen, Prunella Scales and Michael Pennington are among those who have given live and broadcast readings of his Pushkin translations.


Tickets: 7, conc. 5 (students and OAPs), free for Friends of Pushkin House
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/sixth-translators-evening-antony-wood-and-donald-rayfield

Thursday 26 April 2012

PLAY: Uncle Vanya at Chichester 2012 Festival

Minerva Theatre, Chichester
30 Mar - 5 May 2012


For years Vanya and his niece Sonya have worked tirelessly to keep the family’s dilapidated, remote estate from ruin. The return of Vanya’s brother-in-law Professor Serebryakov and his captivating second wife Yelena, and frequent visits from the charismatic Doctor Astrov, knock their lives off course as old loyalties and new loves conflict.


When the Professor announces his plan to sell the estate, Vanya and Sonya are faced with an uncertain future and Vanya is provoked into a shocking act of violence.


Funny and heartbreaking in turn as it moves seamlessly between humour and melancholy, Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece lays bare his characters’ passions, hopes and desires with
exceptional warmth and poignancy.


Anton Chekhov’s plays include The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters and The Seagull.
Michael Frayn has translated most of Chekhov’s plays. His own plays include Noises Off and Copenhagen, his novels Spies and Headlong.


Roger Allam played Falstaff at Shakespeare’s Globe, winning the 2011 Olivier Award for Best Actor. In the same year he also won the Evening Standard Comedy Award for the film Tamara Drewe. He was last at Chichester in Festival 2006’s Pravda.


Dervla Kirwan’s theatre credits include Exiles and Aristocrats (National Theatre) and Betrayal. Film credits include Ondine and television credits include The Silence and this year’s The Fuse starring alongside Christopher Eccleston.


Timothy West was last at Chichester in A Number. His numerous theatre credits include The Collection, Quartet, King Lear and, most recently, A Number at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Television and film includes Exile, Bleak House, Iris and Endgame.


Jeremy Herrin directed South Downs for Festival 2011. He is Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre where his credits include Haunted Child, The Heretic and That Face; other credits include Absent Friends at the Harold Pinter Theatre and Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe.

CFP: Inclusion & Exclusion in Russian Language & Culture, Edinburgh 5th Oct

Following the first Negotiating Ideologies conference in 2010, we are pleased to announce a second one-day conference for postgraduates in the field of Russian Studies, to be held at the Princess Dashkova Centre, University of Edinburgh, on the 5th of October, 2012.

This interdisciplinary conference will examine ideological production in Russian language and culture through the multiple tools of inclusion and exclusion. By bringing together scholars from diverse backgrounds within the broad field of Russian studies, we hope to take advantage of different disciplinary perspectives on practices of inclusion and exclusion. Papers are invited from researchers in areas such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, culture, history, and translation.

The conference will address aspects such as:

  •     The working of discourses to construct in and out groups
  •     Discourses of racism and other forms of discrimination
  •     Language policy in Russia
  •     The place of the Russian language outside Russia
  •     Cultural means of creating inclusion and exclusion
  •     Inclusion and exclusion in translation
  •     Inclusion and exclusion in a historical perspective
  •     Memory studies: 'remembering' or 'forgetting' aspects of the past
Proposals for 20-minute papers are invited from current postgraduates by the closing date of 1st May 2012. Please submit short abstracts (up to 300 words) and details of institutional affiliation to the organisers at russianstudiesconference@gmail.com.

We will be able to provide some assistance with travel expenses for speakers
coming from outside Scotland.



Wednesday 25 April 2012

COMING SOON: Russian Art & Culture to launch new website

Russian Art and Culture is preparing to relaunch as we transition from an arts blog to a professional website. We have been amazed by the response to our blog with over 18,000 hits in more than 15 countries around the world since we first posted. We are already the 22nd most popular arts blog in the world according to Blogrank with our high number of RSS subscribers.


The new site will go live in late May to coincide with Russian Art Week when major Russian sales will take place at auction houses across London.  


Our first major interview will be with Prince Nikita Lobanov who is a well-known collector of Russian art. Over the years he has acquired many costumes and designs for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. He has written several major books on Russian painting and the stage and is a fellow of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a Regent of the Institute of Modern Russian Culture. He will sharing with us his insights on collecting designs for the Ballets Russes.


We are currently reviewing submissions for posting in June and July. Please send us any information on any upcoming exhibitions, conferences, lectures and other news and events relating to Russian art and culture. If you have an article or recent research to share with our readers then please get in touch.


If you would like to contribute to the new site then please contact the Editor at theodora@theodoraclarke.com. 


Guidelines on contributing at: 
http://www.russianartandculture.blogspot.co.uk/p/contribute.html



EXH: Henry Moore at the Kremlin Museums, Moscow

Moore at the Kremlin
First modern artist to be shown at the Kremlin Museums
Moscow, Russia
21st February 2012 - 9th May 2012


The Henry Moore Foundation is delighted to be taking a specially selected exhibition to the Kremlin Museums, Moscow,  in February 2012. Many important works including Moore's Bird Basket have never been shown in Russia before.


The exhibition is organised by The Henry Moore Foundation and The Kremlin Museums in collaboration with the British Council.



Moore works on show at the Kremlin

photo: Anita Feldman


The Kremlin's Assumption Belltower and Patriarch's Palace will  be host  to a selection of sculptures, drawings and tapestries from the Foundation collection,  supplemented by key loans from both public and private collections. It will be a rare chance to see three of Moore's stunning large-scale tapestries outside Perry Green, his former home.


The exhibition  will span Moore's career, from early carvings in stone, wood and marble, through drawings and tapestries to later iconic sculptures of the 1980s.


There will be a catalogue including  newly commissioned texts from Dawn Ades, Chris Stephens, Jeremy Lewison, and Anita Feldman as well as an interview with Mary Moore, the artist's daughter, who talks about her Russian mother's relationship with her father, and her influence on his life and work


The Kremlin continues to be the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. Located on the banks of the river Moskva, adjacent to Moscow's famous Red Square and overlooking St. Basil's Cathedral, the site is also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.


The British Council and The Kremlin Museums are running a series of events and activities venues related to the Moore exhibition, including a full series of lectures, and education activities for schoolchildren. A competition for older children and students,  based on Roche Court's innovative programme 'ARTiculate'  will invite participants to speak in public on their favourite works. The competition will be judged by the Director of the Kremlin Museums, Dr Elena Gagarina.
http://www.henry-moore.org/pg/exhibitions/moore-at-the-kremlin

Tuesday 24 April 2012

PhD studentship in Slavonic linguistics, Uni of Sheffield

The Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University ofSheffield invites applications for a PhD studentship in Slavonic
linguistics.  The studentship is sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust.  

ABOUT THE STUDENTSHIP.  ‘Dived’ or ‘dove’, ‘proven’ or ‘proved’?
Competition and variation between forms for the same grammatical ‘slot’
occurs in all languages, and the Slavonic group, with its rich morphology,
is an excellent source of data.  The purpose of our project in
‘Acceptability and forced-choice judgments in the study of linguistic
variation’ is to look at how we collect and analyse examples of variation in
Slavonic languages, and what different methods of analysis tell us about the
features in question.  

Candidates will have a proposal that involves the collection of experimental
data (i.e. questionnaires, tests) that can be analysed quantitatively.
Proposals might be purely morphosyntactic in focus, or could include a
sociolinguistic element (geographic/social distribution of forms or
constructions).  An interest in tying this research to data gathered from
corpora is also welcome, as is a focus on how our methods of collection and
analysis may affect the results.  

The successful candidate will receive a three-year studentship at the
research council rate of £13,590 per annum, plus travel and conference
funding. Tuition fees for UK and other European Economic Area residents
(inc. Switzerland) will be paid in full.  (For other applicants, only a
portion of the tuition fees can be met.)

ABOUT THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE:  You should have, or be expecting to obtain
by this summer, a BA and MA, with at least one of them focusing on
linguistics, and have degree-level facility in the Slavonic language you
wish to work on.  The first degree should be a good upper second or
equivalent.  Some familiarity with corpora and statistics will be an
advantage.  

ABOUT THE APPLICATION:  Informal contact prior to application regarding your
proposed topic is welcomed and may increase your chances of a successful
proposal.  Please direct your enquiries to Professor Neil Bermel,
n.bermel@sheffield.ac.uk .  

To apply, candidates should submit an application for admission to PhD study
on the University’s standard online form:

http://www.shef.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/apply/applying 

The application should include a clearly formulated research proposal of
500-1000 words, plus bibliography.  It should propose a preliminary
hypothesis or research question and lay out the way in which you plan to
test or answer it.  Please indicate clearly in the application that the
proposed source of funding is the Leverhulme Trust studentship.  

Applications should reach us no later than 1 May.  We may conduct some
interviews by phone before reaching a decision in mid- to late May.  

ABOUT THE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT:  The Department of Russian and Slavonic
Studies has two linguists on staff, Professor Neil Bermel and Dr Dagmar
Divjak, both of whom work on questions of competition, variation, and the
relation between corpus and survey data. We play an active role in the
School’s linguistics cluster and the Faculty Centre for Linguistic Research.
For more information, see the following links:

http://www.shef.ac.uk/russian/research/
http://www.shef.ac.uk/somlal/research 
http://www.shef.ac.uk/linguistics 

Saturday 21 April 2012

FORUM: Americanizm in Soviet Architecture at Courtauld Institute, May 1

1 May 2012, 14:00-17:00
Location: Research Forum, The Courtauld Institute of Art

Discussion panel with Professor Jean-Louis Cohen (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University) on the subject of ‘Americanizm in Soviet Architecture’. 
Organised by Dr Maria Mileeva

Joseph Brodsky Prize for Russian poetry translation £1500

The Joseph Brodsky/ Stephen Spender Prize for the translaton of Russian poetry into English

The Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender Prize for the translation of Russian poetry into English is now open for entries...
http://www.stephen-spender.org/2012_brodsky_prize/spacer.gif

Download the  poster here:
http://www.stephen-spender.org/2012_brodsky_prize/Brodsky_poster_2012.pdf>

Judged by Sasha Dugdale, Catriona Kelly and Glyn Maxwell, this new prize celebrates the long friendship between Joseph Brodsky and Stephen Spender, as well as the rich tradition of Russian poetry. The prizes are: £1,500 (first), £1,000 (second) and £500 (third). The deadline is 31 August 2012 and the competition is open to entrants wordwide. 

CFP: Russian Language & Culture, Princess Dashkova Centre, Edinburgh


Negotiating Ideologies II: Inclusion and Exclusion in Russian Language and
Culture
Second Call for Papers


Following the first Negotiating Ideologies conference in 2010, we are
pleased to announce a second one-day conference for postgraduates in the
field of Russian Studies, to be held at the Princess Dashkova Centre,
University of Edinburgh, on the 5th of October, 2012. 


This interdisciplinary conference will examine ideological production in
Russian language and culture through the multiple tools of inclusion and
exclusion. By bringing together scholars from diverse backgrounds within the
broad field of Russian studies, we hope to take advantage of different
disciplinary perspectives on practices of inclusion and exclusion. Panels
are invited from researchers in areas such as sociolinguistics, discourse
analysis, culture, history, and translation. 


The conference will address aspects such as: 
- The working of discourses to construct in and out groups. 
- Discourses of racism and other forms of discrimination.
- Language policy in Russia.
- The place of the Russian language outside Russia.
- Cultural means of creating inclusion and exclusion.
- Inclusion and exclusion in translation.
- Inclusion and exclusion in a historical perspective.
- Memory studies: "remembering" or "forgetting" aspects of the past. 


Proposals for 20-minute papers are invited from current postgraduates by the
closing date of 1 May 2012. Please submit short abstracts (up to 300 words)
and details of institutional affiliation to the organisers at
russianstudiesconference@gmail.com
Some assistance with speakers' travel expenses may be available- this is
dependent on funding.


Organising committee:
Ekaterina Popova
Elena Moore
Samantha Sherry

Friday 20 April 2012

Call for entries: Marc Raeff Book Prize in 18th C Russian Studies


Marc Raeff Book Prize
The Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies Association, an affiliate organization of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), is now accepting submissions for the second annual Marc Raeff Book Prize; and we encourage your press to submit relevant entries to the members of the prize committee (listed below).


The Raeff Book Prize is awarded annually for a publication that is of exceptional merit and lasting significance for understanding Imperial Russia, particularly during the long eighteenth-century.  The recipient of the award will be recognized with a cash prize, which will be presented in November 2012, during the ASEEES annual convention.  The award is sponsored by the ECRSA and named in honor of Marc Raeff (1923-2008), historian, teacher, and dix-huitièmiste par excellence. 
Eligibility:


The publication must be a monograph, translation, or reference work about any aspect of the long eighteenth century, on any of the territories of the former imperial Russian state.  Textbooks, festschrifts, and edited collections of essays are not eligible unless they constitute significant and innovative contributions to the field.
The submitted work must bear a copyright date of either one or two years preceding the award year (e.g. for the 2012 competition the published copyright date should be 2011 or 2012).
It can be published in any language read by members of the ECRSA Prize Selection Committee (including Russian) and in any format (analog or digital).
The geographic area of study is broadly defined as the territories of the former imperial Russian state and the Soviet Union. The publication must deal in whole or in part with the long eighteenth century, here defined as the period from the last quarter of the seventeenth-century to the first quarter of the nineteenth-century.
Books that have received other prizes are eligible.
Scholarly merit, originality, and felicity of style will be the main criteria for selection. Submissions from scholars who are less than five (5) years from receiving their doctoral degree are particularly encouraged.
Nominating Instructions:  


Authors or publishers should send one copy of eligible publication to each ECRSA Prize Selection Committee member (see addresses below) AND to the ASEEES main office.
Submissions should be clearly marked “Marc Raeff Book Prize.”
Nominations must be received no later than 30 June 2012. 
Award winners will be personally notified of the award prior to 1 October 2012.
http://www.ecrsa.org/index.html

Thursday 19 April 2012

Oil Painting Expert Network, National Gallery, London, April 25, 2012


We are delighted to invite you to join us at the Oil Painting Expert 
Network (OPEN) conference to be held on Wednesday 25th April at The 
National Gallery, London.


The purpose of this one-day conference is to discuss the creation of the 
Oil Painting Expert Network (OPEN). The aim of OPEN is to provide oil 
painting collections around the United Kingdom, which have participated in 
the PCF project, with access to a managed network of pro bono expertise 
drawn from both the public and private sectors. Please see the attached 
two-sider for more information.


Thanks to Arts Council England and support from The National Gallery, entry 
to the conference is free. Attendance will be limited to 100 people and 
will be offered on a 'first come-first served' basis.


If you would like to attend please reply to this email or respond to 
open@thepcf.org.uk


Attendees will receive a full agenda for the day by the end of March. The 
day will start at around 10.30am and end by 5.00pm.
If you would like to attend on behalf of an art collection, and travel 
expenses represent a challenge, please contact Alice or Rachel about this. 
Contact Information:
Alice Warley on 020 7395 0344 or alice.warley@thepcf.org.uk
Rachel Collings on 020 7395 0333 or rachel.collings@thepcf.org.uk
www.gla.ac.uk/historyofart
www.gla.ac.uk/schools/cca/


Wednesday 18 April 2012

Chagall Through the Decades: A Selling Exhibition Tel Aviv, 16-26 April


Chagall Through the Decades 
Catalogue Available Online




Browse the online catalogue for the April selling exhibition, Chagall Through the Decades, available on Sothebys.com.


http://www.sothebys.com/en/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/chagall-through-the-decades-a-selling-exhibition#/r=/en/ecat.fhtml.N08912.html+r.m=/en/ecat.grid.N08912.html/0/15/lotnum/asc/?cmp=N08912_0412_2_CATexample2_Event_hero1/


Dates: 16 - 26 April, 2012
Hours: 10 AM - 5 PM 


Enquiries:
Sigal Mordechai, +972 3 560 1666 
11 Yehuda Halevi Street 
Tel Aviv 65135 Israel 
sigal.mordechai@sothebys.com

SLOVO: Russian Literature Festival, London, Apr 16-20



As the establishment of the Russian Bookshop in London shows, Russian literature is increasingly international, both in audience and content. Russian writers remain the most eloquent interpreters of a country riven by contrasts and paradoxes. Academia Rossica invites you to come and hear the best Russian writers discuss their work, and its place in the world, at the SLOVO Russian Literature Festival. 

Participating writers: Boris Akunin, Zakhar Prilepin, Olga Slavnikova, Alexander Kabakov, Alex Dubas
All events with English translation

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
16 - 20 April 2012, London


SPY / ШПИОН
UK film premiere presented by Boris Akunin
Monday, 16 April, 8.30 pm, 
Apollo Cinema Piccadilly, London
Boris Akunin will present the new screen adaptation of his own book The Spy Thriller. Featuring an all-star cast, which includes Fyodor Bondarchuk, Vladimir Yepifantsev and Danila Kozlovsky, Spy is the latest and most ambitious Akunin work to be adapted for the big screen, with Akunin himself writing the script. Set in Moscow in the run up to the outbreak of war in 1941, the film chronicles the intrigues between the elusive spies of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.


CONFRONTING CONTRADICTION
A series of talks with Russian Writers 
All events will take place at 7.00pm in the Simpson Room at Waterstones Piccadilly
203-206 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LE
Tickets £3 - Available from the Russian Bookshop at Waterstones, on 020 7851 2419 or by emailing events@piccadilly.waterstones.co.uk
Book signing available at all events!


ALEX DUBAS
The Rules of Aquastop. An independent look at Russia: From the inside and outside
Monday 16 April, 7.00pm
Does independent journalism exist in Russia? What unites Russian and British humour? Why does Moscow continue to fascinate so many from abroad? Alex Dubas, acclaimed journalist, TV and radio presenter and now writer, talks about his new book and much more.


BORIS AKUNIN
The Power of Mysteries and the Mysteries of Power
Tuesday 17 April, 7.00pm
Boris Akunin is the creator of a literary phenomenon—super-detective Erast Fandorin—whose adventures have won Akunin an army of readers both in Russia and abroad. Akunin’s importance, however, extends beyond numbers: a true man of letters, he brings a keen intelligence to all his projects, including, in recent times his outspoken intervention in politics.  Join him to discuss his work and wide-ranging interests, and get your books signed.


ZAKHAR PRILEPIN & JAMES JONES
Young in Russia
Wednesday 18 April, 7.00pm
Zakhar Prilepin is one of Russia’s most exciting young writers, as famous for his outspoken opposition politics as his stellar, prize-winning literary career. His novel Sankya depicts the involvement of an impressionable provincial youth in a revolutionary political movement. He will be joined in a discussion on the role of politics in the lives of younger Russians by James Jones, director of Vlad’s Army, a Channel 4 documentary about pro-Kremlin youth movement, Nashi.


ALEXANDER KABAKOV & RACHEL POLONSKY
Cultures of Dissent, Cultures of Control
Friday 20 April, 7.00pm 
Alexander Kabakov, much-garlanded Russian author and journalist, whose early works explored the lives of the intelligentsia under oppression, will discuss the role of politics in culture, and culture in politics with Cambridge don Rachel Polonsky, author Molotov’s Magic Lantern a study of the reading habits of the notorious Politburo member. 
 http://academia-rossica.org/index.php?id=1420




GLAS: Young Women’s Writing from Russia


Arpril 20 April 2012 – 7.00pm
Presentation
Language: In Russian
Young Women’s Writing from Russia: A presentation by top Russian publisher GLAS


Russian women increasingly occupy leading roles in society. They take a sober view of the present-day world. With typical female emotion and attention to detail they speak openly about previously forbidden subjects – including specifically female problems – and leave no taboos unturned.


Female vision is always sharp, unexpected and paradoxical. Particularly fascinating is women’s frank self portraits and their merciless portrayals of the opposite gender. They often impersonate men and obviously don’t think much of them.


Interestingly, half of the authors in Russia today are women and their books are invariably in great demand.


Speakers:
Olga Slavnikova (see above) is an internationally renowned author of definitive novels, winner of the Russian Booker Prize and director of the Debut Prize
Tickets: Admission Free
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/young-womens-writing-from-russia-glas

SALE: Sotheby's to offer Aivazovsky masterpiece, 24 April, London


Sotheby’s Orientalist Sale will take place in London on Tuesday, 24 April 2012. Showcasing paintings, drawings and sculpture depicting Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa, the auction will be led by masterpieces by the Russian artist Ivan Aivazovsky and the Turkish painter and polymath Osman Hamdy Bey. Comprising 33 lots, the sale is estimated to bring in excess of £6 million.
LOT 6
IVAN KONSTANTINOVICH AIVAZOVSKY
RUSSIAN
1817-1900
VIEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE BOSPHORUS
signed in Cyrillic and dated 1856 lower right
oil on canvas
124.5 by 195.5cm., 49 by 77in.
ESTIMATE 1,200,000-1,800,000 GBP


Claude Piening, Head of Sotheby’s Orientalist Paintings Department, said: “Sotheby’s stand-alone Orientalist Sale will present some thirty works of the highest quality. We are committed to this important sector in the nineteenth-century market which has enjoyed robust growth over the last ten years, not least because of new interest from North Africa and the Middle East. We have therefore decided to create a ‘Masterpiece’ Orientalist Sale to coincide with a three-day series of related sales at Sotheby’s with the theme of Turkish and Islamic Week: Classical to Contemporary.  We are particularly fortunate to be offering two highly important and extremely rare works by Aivazovsky and Hamdy Bey, which represent a unique opportunity for private and institutional collectors alike. Great works by Hamdy Bey are exceptionally rare, with the added fascination that they provide a Turk’s – rather than an outsider’s – interpretation of life in the region.”

Among the highlights in the sale are:
  • View of Constantinople and the Bosphorus by Ivan Aivazovsky, estimated at £1,200,000-1,800,000
  • The Scholar by Osman Hamdy Bey, executed in 1878, estimated at £3,000,000-5,000,000
  • Le Hajj by Alfred Dehodencq, estimated at £100,000-150,000
  • John Frederick Lewis’ watercolour, Halt in the Desert, estimated at £80,000-120,000
  • Two paintings depicting Egypt by Edward LearPhilae (estimated at £30,000-40,000) and Sheik Abadeh on The Nile (estimated at £30,000-40,000)
  • One of the most iconic images in nineteenth-century Orientalist art, Le Simoun, by Eugène Fromentin, estimated at £200,000-300,000
  • Rebecca by Boris Anisfeld, one of a series of Biblical subjects, estimated at £200,000-300,000
  • Mauresque noire by Charles Cordier, an important rediscovered bust, estimated at £50,000-80,000

Ориентальные  торги Sotheby’s пройдут в Лондоне во вторник24 апреля 2012. Аукцион живописи, рисунков и скульптуры, изображающих Турцию, Ближний Восток и Северную Африку возглавят  шедевры русского великого живописца Ивана Айвазовского и турецкого художника и эрудита Османа Хамди Бея. На торгах будет представлено 33 лота, которые должны принести более £6 млн.

Клод Пенинг, глава Отдела ориентальной живописи Sotheby’s, сказала: «На специальных торгах восточного искусства Sothebys будет представлено около тридцати произведений высочайшего качестваМы уделяем большое внимание этому сектору рынка XIX века, который последние десять лет радует нас своим динамичным ростом, не в последнюю очередь - из-за возросшего интереса со стороны покупателей из Северной Африки и с Ближнего Востока. Поэтому мы решили параллельно с серией тематически взаимосвязанных трехдневных торгов Sothebys “Неделя искусства Турции и исламского мира: традиция и современность”  запустить еще и торги шедевров  ориентального искусства. Тем более что нам выпала редкая удача:  предложить как частным собирателям, так и институциям две великолепные и очень редкие работы -  Айвазовского и Хамди Бея. Помимо того, что большие работы Хамди Бея крайне редки, их притягательность возрастает и потому, что это взгляд турка на свою страну, а не чужестранца».

CONF: French Language in Russia, Uni of Bristol, 12-14 Sept 2012


The French Language in Russia
The second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth
On the occasion of the bicentenary of the war of 1812
An international interdisciplinary conference
University of Bristol, Wednesday 12-Friday 14 September 2012


The bicentenary of Russia’s war against Napoleon provides an opportunity to explore various aspects of the history of the French language in Russia.
The war drew the attention of Russian society to the use of French in Russia. Disapproval of francophonie had already been expressed in the second half of the eighteenth century but at the beginning of the nineteenth century the practice became a target for certain groups of Russian intellectuals, and the growth of a national self-consciousness in Russia was thus revealed. Russian writers had stressed the importance of learning and mastering the native language well before 1812, to be sure, but it was the war against Napoleon that made it possible for the attitudes of different social strata and groups towards the francophonie of Russian high society to be clarified.


The conference aims to examine various cultural practices and ideological positions that were associated with the use of French in Russia both before and after the Napoleonic Wars. The chronological extent of the period to be studied is very broad, from the reign of Elizabeth to the age of Nicholas I, so that it should be possible to trace the appearance of francophonie in Russia, its flowering and the beginning of its decline.


The conference will address questions such as the following: the way French was learnt, cultural practices associated with its use (correspondence, keeping a diary, reading and composition of works of literature, translation, literary circles and salons, and so forth), the social groups which used it, and reservations about and hostility towards its use among the nobility. However, this list of questions is not exhaustive. Other matters may also be addressed, such as the linguistic situation in Russia during the period in question, the use of other foreign languages there and similar phenomena in other European countries.
The conference is being organised within the framework of a three-year project in the University of Bristol on the history of the French language in Russia from the eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. The project is led by Professor Derek Offord and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This is the first European project which aims to study the history of francophonie in one of the countries that was most affected by it. A number of international events will be organised as part of the project and it is envisaged that their proceedings will be published.


The conference will take place in Clifton Hill House, one of the University’s most attractive halls of residence. It will begin at lunchtime on 12 September and end around 4.00 on 14th.


Conference organisers
School of Modern Languages, University of Bristol; Derek Offord, project leader; Vladislav Rjéoutski and Sarah Turner, post-doctoral research assistants.
http://www.basees.org.uk/CFP-french-in-russia.shtml

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Classic FM Live: Tchaikovsky & Russian composers at Royal Albert Hall, 19 Apr


Classic FM Live returns to London's Royal Albert Hall on Thursday 19 April with a stunning programme of Classic FM favourites as we prepare to celebrate 20 years on air this year.




Sponsored by Nissan, Classic FM Live promises to be an evening of the greatest classical music of all time and stunning performances from internationally renowned musicians, hosted by Classic FM's John Suchet. Buy your tickets now.


The first class line-up features The Orchestra of Opera North alongside a host of star soloists including the up and coming young Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov who powered his way to win the London International Piano Competition in 2009. We're thrilled that he'll be joining us on the Classic FM Live stage for a performance of Tchaikovsky's much-loved Piano Concerto No.1.




The evening's programme also includes one of the world's leading clarinettists Michael Collins, performing the Finale from Weber's Clarinet Concerto No.2, talented Trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth and the acclaimed classical singer Laura Wright. 


The complete programme looks like this:
First half
Copland - Fanfare for the Common Man
Weber - Finale from Clarinet Concerto No.2 Clarinet: Michael Collins
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No.1 . Piano: Behzod Abduraimov


Second half
Shostakovich - Festive Overture
Piazzolla - Libertango Trumpet: Tine Thing Helseth
Delibes - Les Filles de Cadiz Trumpet: Tine Thing Helseth
Laura Wright - The White Cliffs Of Dover and I Vow To Thee My Country
Khachaturian - Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture


To buy tickets for Classic FM Live on Thursday 19th April, click here or call the Royal Albert Hall on 0845 401 5034

http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/classic-fm-live/default.aspx

AAH Careers Day, Uni of Leeds, 20 April, 2012


Association of Art Historians Careers Day
University of Leeds
Friday 20 April 2012


This event is primarily aimed at helping art historians with postgraduate
qualifications to develop a successful career in the increasingly
competitive field of art history. It will feature talks and workshops from
professionals in cultural and academic institutions, and will give
delegates the chance to ask these experts for careers advice.


Panels on:
  * Careers in Galleries/Museums and ‘Freelancing’
  * Careers in Academia and Research-led Curating
  * Roundtable Discussion: Building a Career in Art History


Workshops on:
  * How to write a persuasive CV
  * How to keep up to date with research and job opportunities


Speakers:
  * Layla Bloom, Curator, Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of
Leeds
  * Sophie Camu, Art Consultant, Camu Art Ltd
  * Camilla Nichol, Head of Collections at Leeds Museums and Galleries
  * Prof. David Jackson, Professor of Russian and Scandinavian Art
Histories, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, Leeds
University
  * Dr. Helen Graham, University Research Fellow in Tangible and Intangible
Heritage, University of Leeds
  * Sue Holdsworth, Senior Careers Consultant, Careers Centre, University
of Leeds
  * Rose Roberto, Faculty Librarian, University of Leeds


Lunch and refreshments provided
Booking for this event is now open
Students £15/£20 (AAH members/non-members)
Full-price £20/£25 (AAH members/non-members)


Book online at http://www.aah.org.uk/events/careers-in-art-history
Booking deadline: 6 April 2012


Association of Art Historians
70 Cowcross Street
London EC1M 6EJ
t. 020 7490 3211
e. admin@aah.org.uk
www.aah.org.uk

Monday 16 April 2012

EXH: Gridnevs Family, Osborne Studio Gallery, London opens Apr 17


The Gridnevs Family Exhibition
17 April - 4 May, The Osborne Studio Gallery
Valery Gridnev, his wife Katya and their son Fedor, prodigiously gifted Russian artists, showcase their first family show in London, featuring portraits, ethereal dancers, nude studies and docklands scenes.
Valeriy and his wife Katya came to England in 1999 with their schoolboy son, 13 year old Fedor. Valeriy had already achieved an international reputation, including the privilege of a special studio in St Petersburg, and a coveted award, the Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts. Katya and Valeriy were welcomed by a noble patron, Lord Carnarvon (7th Earl) who invited them to Highclere (aka Downton) as artists-in-residence from 1999 until 2002. In 1984, Valeriy was accepted at the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Painting, in St Petersburg, a temple of academic tradition, named after Russia’s master of realism, Ilya Repin (1844 to 1930) who painted Volga boatmen, Tolstoy, Ivan the Terrible, the occasional Grand Duke. Valeriy quickly established himself as an artist of outstanding ability, who was offered a teaching post at the Academy of Arts, which he rejected to concentrate on private commissions. Collectors from the US, France, Finland, Germany, Belgium, and the UK came calling. 

He now lives in the UK with Katya and Fedor, considered to be the finest Russian portrait painter working in London. Sitters include the Earl of Carnarvon, Jean, Countess of Carnarvon, Lord Porchester, assorted grandees, and British champion jockey Lester Piggott, who hardly ever lost a race. Medals and prizes include awards from the Royal Societies of Oil Painters and Portrait Painters. In 1993, after her marriage to Valeriy and the birth of Fedor, Katya (who had always loved drawing and painting since childhood) was accepted by the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, rare for an artist with no formal training. She won first prize for portraits at the end of her first year at the Academy. Since 1999, she has exhibited in the US, Germany, Moscow, St Petersburg and London. Her pastel studies of dancers, many from the Mariinsky ballet, where she has access backstage, are especially accomplished, and sought after.

Fedor, born 1986, has been sweeping up glittering prizes since he came to England as a schoolboy. He arrived at 13, studied at one of Oxford’s finest schools, qualified as an architect at the AA, where he won three awards. He has decided to abandon architecture for art, often painting the Docklands of St Petersburg which he invests with a translucent romantic quality.

The Osborne Studio Gallery
www.osg.uk.com
2 Motcomb Street, London SW1X 8JU
Open: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-5pm, Sun 12pm-5pm

SOVIET FILM: Kalatozov's 'The Cranes are Flying', 18 Apr, London

Wed 18 April 2012 – 7.15pm
Lecture-Screening
The Cranes are Flying 
Introduction by Vitaly Yerenkov 
In association with Kino Kino! Film Club
Language: In Russian with English subtitles


USSR, 1957, dir. Mikhail Kalatozov, b/w, 95 mins, cast: Tatyana Samoilova, Alexei Batalov
A Palme d’Or winner at Cannes, an eye-opener for Westerners wary of ramrod Soviet-cinema propaganda, one of the first major works made during the post-Stalinist “thaw” of the late 1950s: Mikhail Kalatozov’s tale of love during wartime has earned its landmark status several times over. But to think of this exquisite tragedy as a Communist-art curio would be doing yourself a great disservice. The Cranes Are Flying is anything but a museum piece; rather, it’s the kind of timeless, devastating melodrama that can leave the most jaded of audience members moist-eyed.


The story sounds like pure WWII hokum: Boris (Batalov) and his beloved “squirrel,” Veronika (Samojlova, making the most of her Falconetti-worthy close-ups), are hopelessly smitten with each other. Then she discovers he’s just volunteered to fight on the Eastern Front, and fate, along with Boris’s slimy cousin (Shvorin), conspires against any happily-ever-after ending for the couple. Kalatozov’s masterstroke, however, was to hijack Russia’s kino-fist style and use it to craft an emotionally expressionistic love story; the melding of virtuoso bombast to such swooning, punch-drunk material becomes a seamless marriage of form and content. You can see the director and cinematographer Sergei Urusevsky trying out the wide-angle tracking shots they’d later employ for the pro-Castro travelogue I Am Cuba (1964), but Cranes is where their dizzy, delirious filmmaking feels truly revolutionary.


Tickets: £7, conc. £5
http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/the-cranes-are-flying-en-101027