Art Kaleidoscope

Spas Emmanuil (Christ Emmanuel). 1668. The State Tretyakov Gallery. Work by Russian icon painter Simon Ushakov (1626-1686)

Russian icon painter Simon Ushakov
In the history of Old Russian fine arts this name stands alongside with the names of Andrei Rublev and Dionysius. According to GD Filimonov, the author of the first monographic essay on Simon Ushakov (1873), Ushakov was the first to look at icon painting as art. Ushakov was both an educator and, apparently, an able organizer, who for more than thirty years headed the artistic activity of all Russian state. Simon Ushakov demonstrated a new attitude to art and to the artist. It was a broader and freer nature of the world perception, conditioned by the general process of the development of Russian culture. Noteworthy, the biographical information about Simon Ushakov can be compiled from the well-known detailed information in the archives of the Armory Chamber. Thus, according the signatures on some icons, the autographs show that the real name of the artist was Pimen, and Simon is only a nickname. Besides, the inscription of one icon makes it possible to establish that Ushakov was born in 1626, and it is known that he died in 1686.
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Self-portrait. Russian painter Leonid Osipovich Pasternak (3 April 1862 – May 31, 1945)

Russian painter Leonid Osipovich Pasternak
Rubinstein and Scriabin, Tolstoy and Gorky, Mechnikov and Einstein posed for him. He was famous for being a brilliant portraitist and master illustrator. His paintings are in the world’s largest museums and in galleries of hundreds of collectors. However, for many decades the name of Leonid Pasternak was forgotten. Perhaps the genius of his father overshadowed his brilliant son – the poet Boris Pasternak.

Born in April 1862 in Odessa, Leonid Pasternak was the youngest child in a large Jewish family, one of the oldest and most respected Jewish families, which comes from King David. Apparently, from an excess of feelings, his parents named him just two names – Abram and Isaac. However, the relatives called him exclusively Leonid. On this occasion, the artist even had to write explanations in official institutions. By the way, the name originally sounded not Pasternak, but Posternak.
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Portrait of a gray cat. Beads, glass beads, buttons, river pearl. Sarah Jane Connors bead painting art

Sarah Jane Connors bead painting art
Beautiful British artist Sarah Connor works in the field of applied art for no more than 3 years, but what she creates with her own hands raises delight and admiration of the audience. Connor creates incredibly realistic pictures, using instead of paints beads, glass, buttons and other small things. Meanwhile, the main direction of her activity and the main inspiration are portraits of animals. In particular, in her gallery portraits of a cat, a dog, a leopard, a deer and a panda. And of course, the young and talented artist has many creative ideas. According to Connor, found “treasures” – pieces of broken ceramics, glass fragments and beads inspired her from childhood. So, combining love of treasure and creativity, she enjoys shopping in charity stores of second-hand things where beads and buttons are sold. In addition, even walks along the beach of Brighton also give rich material for her creativity.

And if to talk about her technique of creating paintings, Connor glues beads and buttons on wooden panels. In general, the creation of one picture takes months of painstaking work.
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Portrait of a brunette girl on a yellow background. Brooch on the motives of the painting by the artist Sergei Smirnov. Hand Embroidery. Mulina cotton, mulina metallized, Japanese beads, natural leather. Ekaterina Barinova artful embroidered brooches

Ekaterina Barinova artful embroidered brooches
Belgorod based artist of applied art Ekaterina Barinova creates decorations in the technique of embroidery with beads. According to the master, she uses only high-quality materials in her work. In particular, genuine leather, beads made in the Czech Republic and Japan, rhinestones made of glass and crystal, Swarovski crystals and pearls, beads made of crystal, glass, ceramics and natural stones. As a true artist, Katerina likes to experiment and come up with something new, while not forgetting to constantly replenish her supplies of materials. Meanwhile, all the works created by the hands of a young Russian master are author’s and unique.
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Galaxy. Material – rauchtcitrin, rock crystal. Master-virtuoso Alexander Levental stone cutting art

Master-virtuoso Alexander Levental stone cutting art

St. Petersburg based jeweler stone cutter Alexander Solomonovich Levental (1959) is the founder of the Creative Union of Rock-cutters of Russia and Knight of the Order of A.K. Denisov-Uralsky (2010).
Born in Leningrad in 1959 in the family of a geologist engineer, he obviously got a love for a stone from his father and grandfather, a Petrograd jeweler.
Leventhal studied at the Restoration and Construction School, specializing in stone carving. After graduation in 1977, he continued private studies in the workshop of Eduard Versudsky and his wife Alevtina Voronova. Then he worked as a foreman of stone carvers at the Monumental sculpture factory. However, wherever and whatever he would not work (a sailor, a fireman, a polisher, a caretaker, a watchman), he constantly engaged in jewelry and stone carving.
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Aviator. Stone Carving Art by Altai master Yury Shumov

Stone Carving Art by Altai master Yury Shumov

Born in 1983 in the town of Berezovka, in 1998 Yury Shumov entered the Lyceum in Biysk, where he studied for four years, to become “Artist-Master of Decorative and Applied Art”. At the end of the lyceum in 2002 he entered the Biysk Pedagogical University the artistic and graphic department. In addition, the same year he got a job as an art teacher at the Major Secondary School in Charyshsky District. But the prospect of teaching and long studying at the university did not inspire him. The paper and routine work interfered with self-realization and development of his own creative potential.
So, in 2003 he moved to Kolyvan, to the stone-cutting plant, and worked there as a polisher of stone products. Six months later, he was engaged in bulk carving on the stone. And all this time he, along with his brothers, built a workshop in Berezovka, bought tools, manufactured machines, collected stones, and precious materials for work. By the autumn of 2008 the workshop was ready. The first success came in 2010, when they won the 1st place in Charyshsky and Solonshensky district among the participants of the exhibition in the nomination “Handicraft production”.
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Light in the house. First meeting with a miracle. 2015. Work by Russian self-taught photographer Elena Shumilova

Art by Russian self-taught photographer Elena Shumilova is a beautiful world filled with sun, divine light and gold color. Her photos are very vital, great, and a little nostalgic. They are about friendship and loneliness, love and the charm of nature.
An architect by education, Elena is a self-taught photographer. According to the photographer herself, after the birth of her second child, she began spending a lot of time away from Moscow, in a village in the Tver region. And then she had an irresistible desire to shoot and do it professionally. Her beautiful works are real paintings, with a unique coloring, game of light and color. She managed to convey emotional mood, and the most simple, but such important, moments of life.
Meanwhile, Elena spends half a year with her family in Moscow, and half a year in the Andreapol district of the Tver region on Lake Brosno, where she is engaged in farming. She has two sons – five-year-old Yaroslav and two-year-old Ivan. Therefore, the main “heroes” of most photos are Elena’s sons, as well as the “inhabitants” of her farm.
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