Grokhochet bal, siiaet bal...Svetskie uveseleniia v Peterburge XVIII - nachala XX veka (The ball resounds, the ball dazzles: society diversions in St. Petersburg from the 18th to the early 20th c.)
St. Petersburg: Muzei istorii Sankt-Peterburga, 2014. sewn pb. The ball was above all a spectacle, and the paraphernalia that was de rigueur - dresses, fans, glove cases, masks, costumes - make up a rich vein of visual culture. The works published in this catalogue of an exhibition at the museum of the history of St Petersburg show off the styles of different ages. Most abundant are articles from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when an artistic style that affected all the arts in the late imperial period was in vogue: known as "Neo-Russian" the style arose from a new appreciation of medieval and Muscovite aesthetics that shaped architecture, applied arts, and, as demonstrated here, recreation: costume balls from the 1880s to the 1910s saw an accurate revival of boyar and court costume of the 1600s. Professional photographers made a sub-genre of photographing the beau monde attending balls in historical dress, and many examples of their work are included here. A rich chapter publishes posters announcing balls in which flamboyant graphic art promises an exciting evening. 237 p., 29 cm., approx. 300 color and b/w illus., Rus. Item #1166
ISBN: 9785432700254
Price: $82.00