Art Kaleidoscope

Monumental Arcimboldo sculptures by Philip Haas. Fiber-glass sculptures, inspired by Renaissance paintings of Giuseppe Arcimboldo ‘The Four Seasons’

Arcimboldo sculptures by Philip Haas
The legacy of the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a representative of mannerism, the great Italian master who died at the end of the XVI century, is still alive. Perhaps, you remember a series of wonderful paintings of Arcimboldo, in which he depicted the seasons – wonderful characters made of seasonal vegetables, fruits and berries. Meanwhile, a contemporary American film director and artist Philip Haas has created the impressive installation “The Four Seasons”. The four huge sculptures, and in particular, Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, like monumental three-meter and three-dimensional paintings of Arcimboldo. According to sources, they appeared before the audience at London’s Museum of Fine Arts – Dulwich Picture Gallery in the summer of 2012, before embarking on a three-year tour of American museums and botanical gardens.
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Mini copy of the paintings of Van Gogh on the boxes of matches. Miniaturist artist Salavat Fidai

Miniaturist artist Salavat Fidai
When 42-year-old Salavat Fidai left the large trading company he became … a freelance artist. According to him, he was just tired from the office. So, he moved with his family to the village, where he organized a workshop and began to create. As a child Salavat was fond of woodcarving, thanks to his parents, professional artists and teachers. In particular, his mom taught fine arts for children, and his father was the director of a correctional school. Of course, they instilled in Salavat a love for art. Although he wanted to enter the art Institute but failed, and studied to become a lawyer. Once, jokingly, he painted a portrait of Van Gogh on a matchbox. And for instance, art captivated him again. First, he began painting miniatures on pumpkin seeds, then sunflower seeds, and on a grain of rice. By the way, it takes Salavat from 6 to 12 hours of hard work to carve a miniature sculpture on the tip of a pencil. Today, works by Salavat Fidai are known to art collectors worldwide.
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Russian Beauty in a folk costume. Painting by Andrey Shishkin

Russian artist Andrey Shishkin was born in Moscow in 1960. Here he lives and works in his own studio to this day. Andrey Shishkin works in the genre of a realistic academic painting and creates psychological portraits, that amaze by their magnificence. Portrait painting is one of the most difficult genres, because the emphasis is shifting our perception of the important part – face, which is a reflection of person’s essence. Artist Andrei Shishkin has an opportunity to look through the prism of artistry, to discover something new, beauty, depth and character that amazes and fascinates. He makes us think about the transience of time, of the wonderful moments, and the depth of the human soul. Engaged in painting 15 years, Andrey Shishkin has no special art education, and didn’t take part in art exhibitions. But he took part in the decoration of churches. The artist works on order and sells his paintings online.
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Symbols of Lute Player by Caravaggio (29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610)

Symbols of Lute Player by Caravaggio
Caravaggio painted The Lute Player for Cardinal del Monte, an important patron during the earlier part of the painter’s career. The play of light and shade, with the use of a shaft of light to illumine the painting from the left, is characteristic of his mature work. (Hermitage, St. Petersburg)

First, commissioned by Cardinal Francesco del Monte painting “The Lute Player” (around 1595) was later bought another Del Monte – an art dealer and art lover Vincenzo Giustiniani. However, by the XIX century the family of Giustiniani became so poor that the collection kept for centuries went under the hammer in 1808. Even before the start of trading Russian emperor Alexander I personally asked the director of the Louvre Baron Dominique Vivant Denon to buy “Lute-Player” for the Hermitage of St. Petersburg. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the most original and influential Italian painter of the 17th century. Noteworthy, his early works were usually small pictures of non-dramatic subjects, with half-length figures, a preponderance of still-life details (which Caravaggio painted superbly), and a frankly homo-erotic character.
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Troika. Russian Matryoshka art

First of all, Russian Matryoshka art is a tribute to the Russian culture. Indeed, handpainted doll with a Russian soul is the great cultural heritage of the country. However, Wooden Matryoshka dolls are famous not only because they can be put into each other like boxes for gifts. Each Matryoshka doll has a unique face and even character. According to one legend, these dolls appeared two thousand years ago, and are mentioned in the ancient Indian epic. And, then, to paint the dolls manually started during the time of the Trojan War. According to another legend, if you put a wish note into it, it will come true.
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Still life. Luigi Benedicenti delicious realism

Italian artist Luigi Benedicenti has created hyper realistic paintings of delicious food – from cakes and berries to fruits and ice-cream. Luigi was born in 1948 and since the late 60s completely devoted his life to the movement of “realism.” For his work, he chose the theme of food. Looking at the colorful still life works of the artist, hard to believe that they are actually drawn, not photographed. Luigi Benedicenti graduated from Turin art school. The viewers were delighted with his first shown works, and his first exhibitions were a great success.
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Costumed characters in the interiors of different eras, unique painting by Russian artist Olga Suvorova

Russian artist Olga Suvorova was born in 1966 in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). Olga Suvorova has created her own style of painting – lifestyle portraits of costumed characters in the interiors of different epochs. Her work is a nostalgia for the St. Petersburg “World of Art” movement with its retrospective and love of the 18th century. Olga is the daughter of the Honored Artist of the RSFSR Igor Suvorov. She graduated from the Academy of Arts of Ilya Repin in 1988. Olga Suvorova is the constant participant of art exhibitions in Russia and abroad. Her works are in private collections in England, America, Germany, China and other countries.
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