The Art Newspaper Russia launched in Moscow

The Russian-language sister paper to The Art Newspaper launched on Monday 26 March with an event hosted at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. Guests included collectors, critics and museum directors, including the Pushkin’s director Irina Antonova, who celebrated her 90th birthday. The launch was also celebrated at the Italian embassy in Moscow.

The publisher of The Art Newspaper Russia, Inna Bazhenova, is a mathematician, engineer and art collector, and with her husband has founded and runs an engineering firm. She also has five children. The editor-in-chief is Milena Orlova, who has been a journalist with one of Russia’s leading dailies, Kommersant, and was then editor-in-chief of the magazine Artchronika. 


The paper, which will also have an online presence, is being produced in Moscow under licence from Umberto Allemandi Publishing Ltd, the publishers of The Art Newspaper. It joins the network of newspapers founded by Umberto Allemandi in Turin in 1983: Il Giornale dell’Arte (Turin, founded 1983), Il Giornale dell’Architettura (Turin, founded 2002), The Art Newspaper (London and New York, founded 1990), Ta Nea Tes Technes (Athens, founded 1992), and Le Journal des Arts (Paris, founded 1994). The Art Newspaper Russia will take 50% of its news from the existing network and will generate the other half with its own journalists. This news will, in turn, become available to the network. 


The Art Newspaper Russia is for Russia, Ukraine, the central Asian republics and the Russian communities abroad. 


“For me, it is important that Russia has a publication that reports on art objectively, so that readers feel involved in its global context,” says Inna Bazhenova. “Many of our collectors are turning towards Western art and both our museum professionals and art enthusiasts feel the need for a wider range of information. I hope that The Art Newspaper Russia will also help the Western reader understand what is happening in Russia.”


“I am very pleased that we are about to have our first truly international publication covering the art market, museums, the conservation of our cultural heritage and contemporary art,” says Milena Orlova. “We have lacked a publication with analysis and news for professionals in these various fields. I am convinced that, besides being of interest to a broad readership, The Art Newspaper Russia will help integrate Russian art into the international art scene.”



Original article published online 22 March 2012 by The Art Newspaper. 
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/The-Art-Newspaper-Russia-launches-in-Moscow/26095

NEWS: Putin's new vision for Russian museums

The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, President Elect Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Culture, along with a group of experts to develop a new vision for the museum sector of the country. He was speaking at a meeting with representatives of the museum community.

One of the prime objectives described by the Mr. Putin is the more active use of public-private partnerships. In his opinion, it is necessary to think of a way to maintain the interest of business in working for the preservation of national culture and a common historical memory.

According to Mr. Putin, the first steps have already been made, in particular, to the tax code which as of January allows expenditure for charitable purposes to be tax deductible.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_04_06/70795267/

(RIAN)

NEWS: Portraying Russia’s history: National Portrait Gallery

Russia has started a grandiose project of presenting the country’s history through a large gallery of painted portraits of several epochs.

The idea of this exhibition appeared a rather long time ago, but, at first, many people argued whether this should be a web project or a ‘live’ exhibition of original portraits. Finally, it was decided to present the project in both forms.

Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov said that the project "History of Russia in the people" to create a portrait of the Museum will have a crucial role for Russia in general.

The web portal called “National Portrait Gallery” is constantly expanded with new portraits.

The parallel ‘live’ exhibition in the Moscow Historic Museum, which will last until mid July, is growing probably not that fast, but growing as well.

Both exhibitions are drawing people’s lively interest – especially the web portal, where every picture is accompanied with a detailed annotation.

The Director of the famous Moscow Tretyakov Gallery Irina Lebedeva says:

“Our main task is to revive people’s interest in Russia’s history. Young people are often not very interested in history, by they spend much time in the internet – and we’ve decided that it is probably the best way to stir their interest in history through a project on the web.”

The idea of the web portal put an end to the concern of some museum workers that portraits from their museums may be taken to the exhibition in the Historic Museum for ever. Of course, there is no need to move a picture from one museum to another to put its reproduction on the Web.

True, some pictures will still be taken from several museums to the ‘live’ exhibition, but only for some time.

Discussing the prospects of development of the Museum in the office of Chairman of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov.

Director of the Historic Museum Alexey Levykin says:

“The main portrait gallery of such a great country like Russia cannot consist of copies or of second-rate pictures. It should have only masterpieces and only originals. Otherwise, our people just wouldn’t understand it. We have already received many positive comments about our exhibition – but this is because we present only originals and only masterpieces.”

Both exhibitions, the ‘live’ one and the one on the web, are supervised by a special commission, which is sponsored by the state. It is for money provided by the state that many of the exhibits have been acquired – for example, a large collection of portraits which was bought from Russian emigrants who live in Germany.

By the way, the very idea of such an exhibition was first put forward by an offspring of Russian noblemen who now lives in Germany, Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky.

The exhibition’s organizers are expecting collectors and art patrons to make their contributions. After all, the famous Moscow Tretyakov Gallery started from a collection of pictures which belonged to merchant Pavel Tretyakov.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_04_06/70910100/

http://www.portret.ru/

BBC: Putin, Russia and the West

Vladimir Putin, after eight years as president of Russia and four more as prime minister, is stubbornly holding onto power. He has announced his intention to return as president and declared his party the winner in parliamentary elections that are widely seen as fraudulent. In Moscow 100,000 protesters have taken to the streets in the largest demonstrations since Putin took office.


Putin began his career as a KGB spy but when he became president, he made himself a valued ally of the West. How did he do it? And what made Washington and London turn against him?


This four-part series is made by Norma Percy and the team at Brook Lapping with a track record for getting behind closed doors with multi-award-winning series like The Death of Yugoslavia, The Second Russian Revolution, and Iran and the West. For the first time Putin's top colleagues - and the Western statesmen who eventually clashed with him - tell the inside story of one of the world's most powerful men.


In this episode, George W Bush meets Putin in June 2001 and declares he looked him in the eye and 'got a sense of his soul'. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice recall their discomfort. But Rice, the only Bush adviser in the private talks, reveals that, three months before 9/11, Putin gave Bush a prophetic warning about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban. After 9/11, Putin describes how he convinced his shocked colleagues that Russia should align with the West. Sergei Ivanov, Russian's defence minister, tells how the Taliban secretly offered to join forces with Russia against America.


Broadcast on BBC Two, 9:00PM Thu, 19 Jan 2012
Available on BBC iplayer until
9:59PM Thu, 16 Feb 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01b3hkm/Putin_Russia_and_the_West_Taking_Control/