Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, covering over 17 million square kilometres, and encompassing more than one-eighth of Earth’s inhabited land area.
Background:
The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by communists and the formation of the USSR.
The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1924-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at the cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize communism. However, his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics.
Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and a market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the communist period. Russia shifted toward a centralized authoritarian state under President Vladimir PUTIN (2000-2008, 2012-present) in which the regime seeks to legitimize its rule through managed elections, populist appeals, and a foreign policy focused on enhancing the country’s geopolitical influence. The most recent example of this is Russia’s role in the Libyan Civil War, where it played all sides to get a seat at the negotiating table. Libyan and U.S. officials accuse Russia of deploying fighters through a private security contractor, the Wagner Group, to key battleground areas in Libya in the past months.
PHEW
Marc Chagall was born Moishe/Marc Shagal in Liozne, near Vitebsk, in modern day Belarus, in 1887. He was a Russian-French-Jewish artist of international repute who, arguably, was one of the most influential modernist artists of the 20th Century, both as an early modernist, and as an important part of the Jewish artistic tradition. He distinguished himself in many arenas: as a painter, book illustrator, ceramicist, stained-glass painter, stage set designer and tapestry maker. Widely admired by both his contemporaries, and by later artists, he forged his creative path in spite of the many difficulties and injustices he faced in his long lifetime.
Wassily (Vasily) Wassilyevich Kandinsky was born in 1866 in Moscow to well educated, upper-class parents of mixed ethnic origins. His father was born close to Mongolia, while his mother was a Muscovite, and his grandmother was from the German-speaking Baltic. The bulk of Kandinsky’s childhood was spent in Odessa, a thriving, cosmopolitan city populated by Western Europeans, Mediterraneans, and a variety of other ethnic groups. At an early age, Kandinsky exhibited an extraordinary sensitivity toward the stimuli of sounds, words, and colors. His father encouraged his unique and precocious gift for the arts and enrolled him in private drawing classes, as well as piano and cello lessons. Despite early exposure to the arts, Kandinsky did not turn to painting until he reached the age of 30.
I love both of these artist works but Chagall is a favorite of mine. I visit his work at the Art Institute of Chicago often.
The last of my reads for #FOODANDLIT RUSSIA.
It’s been wonderful to be reading all things Russian again. Typically every January I devote to Russian Literature, something about the snow and cold puts me in the mood to read Tolstoy and the like. As it has been all year, this challenge has been so much fun and I’m wearing out my library card getting books, what a joy. Cookbooks, Art books, Poetry, a ton of Ballet, Romanov and books on Russia have been read this month.
The Mariinsky Ballet (Russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world’s leading ballet companies.
Anna Pavlovna Pavlova, born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova, was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev.
Ballets Russes, ballet company founded in Paris in 1909 by the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev. The original company included the choreographer Michel Fokine and the dancers Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky; the choreographer George Balanchine joined in 1925.
All of this has fascinated me for decades. I’ve read and watched numerous things about it. These are my latest two reads, perfect for #FoodandLit Russia.
Bolshoi Confidential: Secrets of the Russian Ballet from the Rule of the Tsars to Today and
I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina. Enhanced with paintings from Impressionist Edgar Degas, Anna Pavlova’s story of becoming a ballerina and her passion toward the dance are expressed in this brilliantly illustrated picture book.
Both excellent reading.
I watched Silver Skates and loved it!
on NETFLIX The Silver Skates
Russian period piece which was beautiful to watch ascetically and the story was like a modern fairytale. I highly recommend it.
That’s a wrap for Russia I am sure I missed some things but this gives a great picture of what I read and watched! I did make some Russian recipes as they are in our rotation anyway. I did not try any new recipes this month. I did however copy a ton to use in the future out of the library books I borrowed. I am missing the Russian Tea Time in Chicago which has the best tea in the world and the most wonderful Russian food. I cannot wait to go again!
On to Morocco!
