Artists: Valentin Serov

What attracts me to Serov's paintings? His characters seem to be extremely authentic. The kind I could meet right around the corner, but in contemporary clothes. When I look at the painted portraits, I often find people in them completely unreal. I can't imagine them in motion, I can't imagine how they would speak and what their facial expressions are. They are paper-like, blurred, lifeless. Serov was able to show in his paintings something more than a figure, an outfit and a face without expression frozen in time. His subjects seem to be still living in a parallel dimension and I would like to know them all. 

Co przyciąga mnie w obrazach Serova? Jego postaci wydają się niezwykle autentyczne. Takie, jakie mogłabym spotkać zaraz za rogiem, ale we wspólczesnych ubraniach. W podziwianiu portretów często przeszkadza mi, że przedstawione na nich osoby wydają się zupełnie nierealne, nierzeczywiste. Nie umiem wyobrazić sobie ich w ruchu, nie umiem wyobrazić sobie, w jaki sposób by mówiły i jaką miały mimikę. Są papierowe, niewyraziste, bez życia. Serov potrafił na obrazach pokazać coś więcej niż zatrzymaną w czasie figurę, strój i twarz bez wyrazu. Jego postaci zdają się wciąż żyć w równoległym wymiarze i chciałabym je wszystkie poznać. 

Portrait of Nadezhda Derviz with Her Child (1888-1889)

Portrait of Izabella Grunberg (1910)

Portrait of Yekaterina Chokolova (1887)

Portrait of Sofia Mikhailovna Botkina (1899)

Portrait of L.N. Andreev (1907)

Portrait of Children of S. Botkin (1900)

Portrait of Mika Morozov (1901)

Portrait of Princess Zinaida Yusupova (1902)

Portrait of Maria Nikolayevna Yermolova (1905)

Portrait of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1893)

Portrait of the Artist Ilya Repin (1892)

Portrait of the Singer Angelo Mazini (1890)

Portrait of Maria Lvova (1895)

Portrait of the pianist Wanda Landowska (1907)

Portrait of K.A. Obninskaya with bunny (1904)

Portrait of Olga Serova

Style inspiration: Vanessa Bell

Despite my profound love and respect to Virginia Woolf, in the previous years I have been more and more fascinated by her sister Vanessa Bell. Charleston has been my dream house for now and forever and Vanessa's unconventional life choices and artistic spirit brought to every field of life makes me deeply fascinated. Fascinated and insatiable for her story.

I am during my second attempt to read Virginia's "Letters" and I decided to accompany my lecture with BBC series about Bloomsbury Group (Life in Squares) which plot concentrates mostly on Vanessa's life. I think that Phoebe Fox plays Vanessa marvelously and makes me even more charmed by the persona.

That's true that Vanessa from the movies and tv shows looks much more "glamorously artistic" and "bohemian" that real Vanessa did in the photographs we know. That's the magic of the interpretation and adapting the style to our present tastes so we can soak deeper into the storyline and atmosphere of a production. We can discuss if it's a positive or negative aspect, but for sure it is the sign of our times. Would we watch "Tudors" or "Downton abbey" if actors were more similar to real people? If costumes and interiors weren't so breathtaking? I doubt. So maybe instead of feeling guilty of admiring contemporary beautified styling, we can dream for a moment that it is possible to bring Bloomsbury's spirit into our lives now?

Vanessa Bell

Vanessa Bell 

Vanessa Bell

Phoebe Fox as Vanessa

Phoebe Fox as Vanessa

 

Chloe

Chloe

designs inspired by Vanessa's paintings

fabrics designed by Vanessa

Great article that may help adapt Bloomsbury's style to our wardrobe:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/style/five-fashion-tips-from-the-bloomsbury-group/

Artists: Arnold Genthe

Born in 1869 in Berlin, Arnold Genthe was a great photographer. His works, especially portraits, are mysterious, emotional and almost "alive". He was an early adopter of the autochrome color photography process, which resulted in oniric images of unique beauty. 

Genthe was a huge cats lover and his favourite ginger cat Buzzer often appeared in the photos.