The Art and Architecture of Russia: Third Edition (The Yale University Press Pelican Histor) (Paperback)

by George Heard Hamilton (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This revised and up-dated history confines itself to Russia west of the Urals, the Russia whose artistic beginnings lay in the response of a newly settled people to the impact of Christianity and the Byzantine Empire. In the first centuries the arts flourished and developed in the independent states and principalities, but gradually native schools in centres like Novgorod and Kiev gave way to centralization based on Moscow. From the emergence of Russia under Peter the Great until the late 19th century, specifically Russian qualities gave way to Western European inspiration and advice. However, as the 19th century developed, there was a reaction from foreign domination and this led to the rediscovery of native traditions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 482 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 3 edition (November 25, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300053274
• ISBN-13: 978-0300053272
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #601,744 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Art and Architecture in Russia, September 4, 2000

By	Diana Reed (Mount Dora, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm very disappointed in this book. Except for the cover, there is not a single colored picture. The text is difficult both because it is too technical and because the type is too small. For a $30 soft cover book, I expected stunning pictures of Russia's fascinating architecture and art, accompanied by interesting text. Each museum in Russia has a beautiful, full color book at a much lower cost than this one. If you get to Russia, make sure you buy everything you want there, because there seems to be nothing comparable available in this country.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars scholarly books aren't always "pretty", October 11, 2000

By	Michael C Tinkler (Geneva, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This book is a volume in a scholarly series designed to present the largest number of pictures and plans at a reasonable price (I know, $30 is hardly cheap, but look at some prices for scholarly books). It is not meant to be much fun. Sorry!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early Russian Art and Architecture w/Black & White Photos, March 25, 2009

By	BYF "Backyard Flix" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art and Architecture of Russia (The Pelican History of Art) (Paperback)

From Preface to First Edition:

"The history of a people's art, embracing a thousand years in time and a vast continental space, is not easily or adequately encompassed in a single volume.

This account is limited to the arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture, as they have been created in the territories of the European Russia by the Russian people. ...

In preparing the text and in selecting the illustrations I have not sought to emphasize either the likeness or unlikeness of Russian art to similar or contemporary expressions in Western Europe. I have tried to explain the characteristic elements as they have appeared in time, and to indicate how influences from outside Russia may have helped to shape such forms. I contend, with Catherine the Great that 'Russia is a European State', and I have tried to explain Russian art in the terms used for the study of European art.

I have assumed the reader interested in studying Russian art has some knowledge of Russian political and social history and of the principal masters and movements in European art, but that he does not read the Russian language. If he commands it, the annotations of the text will send him to my sources should he wish to amplify or to correct my argument.

This book is intended as a history of the formal structure of a national art, rather than as an exercise in criticism."


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Table of Contents:

* Map

PART 1: KIEVAN RUSSIA

1 - The Past of Kiev
2 - The Architecture of Kiev: 990-1240
3 - The Architecture of Novgorod and Pskov: 990-1500
4 - The Architecture of Vladimir-Suzdal: 1100-1240
5 - Mosaics and Frescoes in Keiv
6 - The First Russian Sculpture
7 - Frescoes in Vladimir and Novgorod

PART 2: ICON-painting

8 - Icon Painting: Criticism, Iconography, and Technique
9 - The Earliest Icons: 990-1250
10 - Provincial Schools of the 13th and 14th Centuries
11 - 15th Century Painting: Moscow
12 - 15th Century Painting: Novgorod
13 - Painting in Moscow in the Later 15th and 16th Centuries

PART 3: THE ART OF MUSCOVY

14 - Wooden Church Architecture
15 - Architecture in Moscow: 1400-1600
16 - 17th Century Architecture: the 'Moscow Baroque'
17 - Secular Architecture
18 - The Beginning of Modern Painting: Moscow, 1550-1700

PART 4: ST. PETERSBERG

19 - Peter's Baroque: 1703-41
20 - Elizabeth's Rococo: 1741-62
21 - The Classicism of Catherine II: 1762-96
22 - The Alexandrian Empire: 1796-1850
23 - The Medieval Revival: 18th Century Romantic Architecture

PART 5: MODERN RUSSIAN ART

24 - 18th Century Painting and Sculpture
25 - Romanticism
26 - Ideological Realism
27 - The Slavic Revival and 'Mir Iskusstva'