Art Kaleidoscope

Portrait, c. 1889. National Library of Norway. Mysterious Edvard Munch(1863-1944)

Mysterious Edvard Munch
Handsome men often have peculiar traits of femininity, and some weakness. Indeed, Edvard Munch was handsome. He could not boast of good health. And yet didn’t give the impression of a weak man. He was surprisingly energetic, beautiful head. Seeing him, passersby turned around even when his name was not yet known. Anyone who saw Mysterious Edvard Munch, would never forget him. His blond, wavy hair, a high forehead, and bulging gray-blue eyes. The nose and mouth had good shape, even the thin lower lip did not spoil his fineness. Strong chin seemed even stronger, as Munch always carried his head high.
He was thin, a little above average height, slender but not flexible. He never played sports. As soon as he had money he visited a good tailor. Yet he never gave the impression of a well-dressed man.
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A Shirt. Oil on canvas, 2013. Red painting by Mikhail Kaban-Petrov

Red painting by Mikhail Kaban-Petrov acts as a symbolic message to the world, alarming and anxious.
Russian artist Mikhail Kaban-Petrov was born in 1969, in a small Siberian town of Reshety of Novosibirsk region. Mikhail graduated from Art school in Novoaltaisk, and then – Moscow Academy of Fine Arts. He is a Member of the Professional Artists Union of Russia. Mikhail Kaban-Petrov is a participant of numerous domestic and international exhibitions. His works are in the collections around the world.
According to the artist, he feels complete happiness in the fullest sense, only when he is in his studio. “I am more concerned about “I – tomorrow”, than “I am today”, or I am yesterday” – states the artist.
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Wet Snow. Acrylic on canvas. Painting by Russian artist Elena Schumacher. 2015

Russian artist Elena Schumacher
Born in 1969 in the city of Novomoskovsk, Tula region, Elena graduated from Smolensk Pedagogical Institute, the graphic arts department in 1993. She began to paint professionally only 15 years later, and according to art critics, it was the victory of art over the grayness of everyday life.
Noteworthy, in just five years of her artistic career, Elena managed to hold 13 solo exhibitions and several group exhibitions. Among them were exhibitions in such Russian cities as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Tula, and Novomoskovsk. Also, in France and Belarus. Her works are in private collections in Russia and abroad, as well as in the collection of the Tula Regional Art Museum.
In 2011, the artist was a finalist of the international competition of contemporary fine art ART-PREVIEW, and received a special prize from the German magazine “Ostwind”.
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Gold-dome Moscow. Vladimir Zhdanov Winter landscape

Vladimir Zhdanov Winter landscape
Born in the Siberian city of Omsk in 1959, Vladimir Zhdanov currently lives and works in the town of Pushkin (Saint-Petersburg). The artist is particularly captivated by the life of Russian peasants of the 19th century. Zhdanov works in oils, watercolors and pastels.
From 1980 to 1983 Zhdanov studied at Omsk State University, the graphic arts department, then entered the Krasnoyarsk Institute of Arts, from which he graduated in 1986. Prior to 1999, Zhdanov lived and worked in Siberia (Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tobolsk and Tara). For several years he worked in the Siberian taiga village. Drawing landscapes from nature, has developed technology of oil and watercolors painting at low temperatures – to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
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Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I, Elizabeth. 1605–1610. Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature

Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature art

Son of a citizen of Exeter, Hilliard founded the school of English miniature art, not only among courtiers ostentatiously vying with one another for the “Queen’s picture in little” at “forty, fifty or a hundred ducats apiece”, but among all who desired mementoes of their family or friends. Miniature painting went on at high level in England until the era of Cosway (Richard Cosway (1742 – 1821) – eminent English miniature painter, who portrayed all the beauty and fashion of his day) at the end of George III’s reign, and indeed it was only killed by photography. (G.M. Trevelyan. Illustrated English Social History).
The work of Hilliard was mainly confined to small scale portraiture. None the less he was a complete artist. In the Elizabethan, as in succeeding periods, portraiture was the only branch of art in Britain in which a painter could find a sure subsistence. The demand for miniatures, or liming, was a specialized section of this demand for portraiture. It had grown up in England in the 16th century and drew a part of its strength from the development of interest in jewellery and articles of personal adornment, chains, lockets, fans, engraved stones and so forth.
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Doll ‘Russian Beauty’ author’s work, a single copy. Hand embroidery, Vintage. Hyper realistic dolls by Alyona Abramova

Hyper realistic dolls by Alyona Abramova
Alyona Abramova (nee Shachkova) graduated from Kholuy art school named after NN Kharlamov in 2004. Before that, there was an attempt to get an education at the Russian Academy of tourism in Moscow. But the artist who has always lived in the soul of Alyona – led her in another direction. The fate threw her into Kholui – famous in Russia center of lacquer miniature.

According to the artist herself, she fell in love with this little piece of Russia, who is still in awe of its silence and nature. Indeed, Nature and silence – the best teacher for the artist. No chromatics and composition do not go with it in comparison! And nothing teaches better than a close observation of the world.
Noteworthy, Alyona always drew, and her artistic education is more likely to “tick” in the personal file. The artist – is not a job but a way of life. As her teacher of composition said, “God has given us our profession in a good mood and with his eyes closed.”
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Waves. Laser cut layered illustrations by Martin Tomsky

Laser cut layered illustrations by Martin Tomsky
London based artist Martin Tomsky has been recently included in the list of 10 Best Illustrators of 2015. He manually creates his multi-layered pieces with laser-cut plywood, the individual elements stained to create depth within his compositions. Martin grew up in a large family of seven children, where he was the youngest.
The boy spent his childhood drawing and exploring books. Martin graduated from Camberwell College of Arts. Working between art and crafts, he builds a bridge between classic storytelling, traditional sculpture, and illustration. His art, in fact, is a link between books and illustrations.
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