The Poignant Gulag Art by Stalin’s Doomed Meteorologist – Atlas Obscura

Wangenheim wrote his final letter on September 19, 1937. ALL IMAGES: © OLIVIER ROLIN/ COUNTERPOINT PRESS.

Imprisoned for “false weather forecasts,” Alexey Wangenheim sent sketches to the family he’d never see again.

via The Poignant Gulag Art by Stalin’s Doomed Meteorologist – Atlas Obscura

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Russian Fairy Tale – The Humpbacked Pony

Life in Russia

The Humpbacked Pony

Once upon a time there was a peasant family that owned one wheat field. One morning they found that during the night, someone had been trampling around in the field and ruining the wheat. The two elder brothers stood guard during the next two nights, but because of storms and cold winds they left the field, and in the morning it was trampled down even more. On the third night the youngest brother Ivan, whom everyone thought was the fool in the family, managed to catch the wonderful mare that had been destroying the field.

The mare begged him to let her go and in exchange gave Ivan two golden-maned steeds of unheard-of beauty and a small humpbacked pony who would be Ivan’s best friend. When the time came, Ivan and his brothers went to the fair to sell the two fine older horses. On the way…

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Preview: Dancing in Greek

One from the archives.

First Night Design

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” said John Lennon, though he wasn’t the first.  This certainly happens when I’m in Photoshop.  I started with creams and greens and a romantic couple walking on the beach.  An experimental change of blending modes with the textures, one of which is a freebie from French Kiss, produced this vivid mahogany-like backdrop and I was sold!

I added a photograph of the Russian ballerina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (1885–1978) from The Library of Congress and turned her into a silhouette.  The result reminds me of the lustrous designs on Ancient Greek  pottery, hence the title, Dancing in Greek.

Take care and keep laughing!

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First Night Design | On This Day | Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (1872-1929)

[Wikimedia]

Sergei Diaghilev was born on this day in 1872. The iconic Russian ballet impresario, dancer, choreographer, songwriter and critic, founded the incomparable Ballets Russes company. He was responsible for the ballet premieres of Stravinsky’s  The Firebird, Petrouchka and Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), not to mention Rimsky-Korsakov’s Schéhérazade, Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) and Prokoviev’s Chout.

[Diaghilev is] ‘a giant, undoubtedly the only one whose dimensions increase the more he recedes into the distance’. Sergei Prokoviev

[Wikimedia]

‘Of all the wonders that the world had to offer, only art promised immortality.’

Programme of Ballets Russes – 1913 Shéhérazade – Michel Fokine and Vera Fokina [Wikimedia]

‘I could make a choreographer out of this inkwell if I wanted to.’

Related sites

• History of Ballet Russes
• Sergei Diaghilev: first lord of the dance
• IMDb
• Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes (V&A)

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Dancing in Greek on the cover of Vogue!

Yes, I’ve had PhotoFunia again! This might just be my favourite thus far as I happen to think that Dancing in Greek looks rather splendid on Vogue’s cover.

You may remember that I added a photograph of the Russian ballerina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (1885–1978) from The Library of Congress and turned her into a silhouette overlaying a background of my textures.

And then I couldn’t resist putting myself on the cover. This photo was taken about five years ago.

Take care and keep laughing!

Preview: Dancing in Greek

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” said John Lennon, though he wasn’t the first.  This certainly happens when I’m in Photoshop.  I started with creams and greens and a romantic couple walking on the beach.  An experimental change of blending modes with the textures, one of which is a freebie from French Kiss, produced this vivid mahogany-like backdrop and I was sold!

I added a photograph of the Russian ballerina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (1885–1978) from The Library of Congress and turned her into a silhouette.  The result reminds me of the lustrous designs on Ancient Greek  pottery, hence the title, Dancing in Greek.

Take care and keep laughing!