The All-Russian and Soviet Art Thread

[espritDEcouture]

Originally Posted by sethii

Vogue Paris
October 2006

"Poupees Russes" (Russian Dolls)

ph.Mario Testino
Models: Anna-Maria Urajevskaya,Natasha Poly,Sasha Pivovaroa,Tanya
Dziahileva,Vlada Roslyakova, Snejana Onopka


modopixaat.blogspot.com

I know there was another ed in Vogue Italia also titled "Les Poupees Russes" which was very beautiful... the photos almost looked like paintings and reminiscent of "The Endless Steppe." I'll see if I can find them.

[sister vladapeg]

Originally Posted by espritDEcouture

Most of the metros are very beautifully decorated, as you can see. They are wonderful examples of the ways Russians take much pride in the arts.
And, the metro is very fast too. Obviously, very much in contrast to the El here in Chicago....

Da, and in both Moscow and St. Petersburg all the stations look great and they are clean, and I mean CLEAN, all, and I mean ALL the time. And very efficient always. Sure beats the USA.

[sister vladapeg]

Originally Posted by espritDEcouture

Beautiful photos sister_vladapeg! It makes me pine for St. Petersburg!!

Paceba, babe. Got lots more. And they'll be a'comin.

[MyNameIs]

St. Petersburg is one of the cities I plan on visiting VERY SOON, lol. That place looks like a dream.

And I love/hate how the metro is so freaking amazing there. Why can't it be that way here in the US?

[yourbestfriend]

Originally Posted by MyNameIs

St. Petersburg is one of the cities I plan on visiting VERY SOON, lol. That place looks like a dream.

And I love/hate how the metro is so freaking amazing there. Why can't it be that way here in the US?

St. Petersburg is one of my places on my list to visit too! Russian architecture is very interesting to me, it just has a distinct flair to it, especially from the communist era.

Thanks for starting the thread RG.

[Royal-Galliano]

The Seven Sisters is the name given to Moscow Skyscrapers, or "Vysotki" in Russian, by the British immigrants who came to live in Russia in 1980s and 90s. Reluctant to adapt the original names they preferred to give the famous tourist sites the English names which often are quite charming and now are in common use among British expatriates living in Russia. Seven Sisters were built during Stalin's last years (1947-1953) in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles. Stalinist neoclassical architecture mixes the Russian neoclassical style with the style of American skyscrapers of the 1930s. A main element of Stalinist neoclassicism is its use of socialist realism art. Although there are many similar buildings in other (former) Socialist countries, the only comparable skyscraper was built to Soviet designs in Warsaw, Poland (The Palace of Culture and Science).

Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова
1) M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University
http://www.msu.ru/en/

vottak @ flickr

Since 1953, most of the faculties have been situated on Sparrow Hills, in the southwest of Moscow. The Main building was designed by architect Lev Vladimirovich Rudnev. In the post-war era, Stalin ordered seven huge tiered neoclassic towers built around the city. The MSU Main building is by far the largest of these. It was also the tallest building in the world outside of New York City at the time of its construction, and it remained the tallest building in Europe until 1988. The central tower, which consumed over 40,000 metric tons of steel, is 240m tall, 36-stories high, and flanked by four huge wings of student and faculty accommodations. It is said to contain a total of 33 kilometers of corridors and 5,000 rooms. Facilities available inside the building include a concert hall, a theatre, a museum, various administration services, a library, a swimming pool, a police station, a post office, a laundry, a hairdresser's salon, several canteens, bank offices and ATMs, shops, cafeterias, a bomb shelter, etc. ... The star on the top of the tower is large enough to include a small room and a viewing platform; it weighs 12 tons. The building's facades are ornamented with giant clocks, barometers, and thermometers, statues, carved wheat sheaves, and Soviet crests (recently renovated). It stands before a terrace featuring statues of male and female students gazing optimistically and confidently into the future.

2) Hotel Ukraina
http://www.ukraina-hotel.ru/en/

STEX Gallery @ flickr

Ukraina by Arkady Mordvinov and Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky (leading Soviet expert on steel-framed highrise construction) is the second tallest of the "sisters" (198 meters, 34 levels), and is still Europe's tallest hotel. Total capacity is 1627 beds.
Construction on the low river bank had to dig well below the water level. This was solved by an ingenious water retention system, using a perimeter of needle pumps driven deep into ground.

3) Hotel Leningradskaya (now Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya)
official site

The relatively small (136 meters, 26 floors, of which 19 are usable) building by Leonid Polyakov on Komsomolskaya Square is decorated with pseudo-Russian ornaments mimicking Alexey Shchusev's Kazansky Rail Terminal. The hotel, completed in 1954, was designed to be the finest luxury hotel in Moscow. Upon entering the hotel, the gold accents and hand-carved wooden ceiling impress visitors. The lobby boasts beautiful black granite pillars, bronze statues, glittering chandeliers, and furniture in the Russian empire style. The staircase features one of the longest lighting fixtures in the world -- it was once in the Guinness Book of World Records. The halls and corridors of the hotel's upper floors are paneled in dark cherry wood and the rooms have views of Moscow.

Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации
4) Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation

AlexRK @ flickr

This 172 meter, 27 story building was built between 1948 and 1953 and overseen by V. G. Gelfreikh and M. A. Minkus. The Ministry is covered by a light external stone wall with projecting pilasters and pylons and, according to architectural critic Maria Kiernan, was inspired by a neo-gothic New York city hospital. Its interior is splendidly decorated with stones and metals. According to the 1982 biography of Minkus, draft plans were first drawn up in 1946 and ranged from 9 to 40 stories. In 1947 two designs were proposed: one utilized layered setbacks while the other called for a more streamlined construction which culminated into a blunt rectangular top. The second proposal was accepted but as the Ministry's completion neared, a metal spire dyed to match the building's exterior (and presumably ordered by Stalin) was hastily added to tower's roof, assimilating its silhouette with those of the other Sisters.

Котельническая Набережная
5) Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

Istvan @ flickr

This skyscraper was laid down in September, 1947 and completed in 1952, designed by Dmitry Chechylin (then Chief Architect of Moscow) and Andrei Rostkovsky. Main tower has 32 levels (including mechanical floors) and is 176 meters tall.
The building also incorporates a 9-storey apartment block facing Moskva River, designed by the same architects in 1938 and completed in 1940. Originally build in stern early stalinist style, with wet stucco wall finishes, it was re-finished in terra cotta panels in line with the main tower and acquired ornate pseudo-Gothic crowns over its 12-storey raised corners and center tower. By the end of World War II, the side wing was converted to multi-family kommunalka (a shared apartment in CIS countries. Two or more families share a bathroom and kitchen. The term has only historical relation to the notion of "commune")housing, in a contrast to the planned elite status of the main tower.
Main tower, of conventional steel frame structural type, has a hexagonal cross-section with three side wings (18-storey, including two mechanical floors). While it is not exceptionally tall or massive, the "upward surge" of five stepped-up layers, from a flat 9-storey side wing to the spire, produce a visual image of a far superior structure. The structure hides behind itself a so-called "Shvivaya Gorka", a hill with historical architecture and a maze of steeply inclined streets. Chechulin was initially criticized for complete disregard of this area, but his bureaucratic influence brushed off any criticisms.

The other sisters are:
Zaryadye Administrative Building (never built)
Kudrinskaya Square Building (160 meters high, 22 floors)
Red Gates Administrative Building (Ministry of Heavy Industry, 133 meters high, 24 floors)

source: wikipedia

[ponytrot]

what a FANTASTIC thread!!

off to search for the decadence of old russia- there was so much beauty in Petrograd when i visited.

[flipcalendar]

Quote:
The Seven Sisters is the name given to Moscow Skyscrapers, or "Vysotki" in Russian, by the British immigrants who came to live in Russia in 1980s and 90s. Reluctant to adapt the original names they preferred to give the famous tourist sites the English names which often are quite charming and now are in common use among British expatriates living in Russia. Seven Sisters were built during Stalin's last years (1947-1953) in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles. Stalinist neoclassical architecture mixes the Russian neoclassical style with the style of American skyscrapers of the 1930s. A main element of Stalinist neoclassicism is its use of socialist realism art. Although there are many similar buildings in other (former) Socialist countries, the only comparable skyscraper was built to Soviet designs in Warsaw, Poland (The Palace of Culture and Science).

These buildings look incredible! They already look monumental in photos, let alone real life. Thank you Royal-Galliano!

[MyNameIs]

Incredible buildings. I especially love the Moscow University and the Enbankment building.

[gius]

i can't believe all the metro stations are like that so luxurious
they're the passageways that get you from train to train, don't they?
otherwise i don't get what they are for...

[BerlinRocks]

Originally Posted by Royal-Galliano

i adore shostakovich,
thanks for posting flyingace

some soviet brutalist architecture


Polytechnic University (Minsk, Belarus, 1981)



Wedding Palace (Tbilisi, Georgia, 1985)


“Roads Ministry” (Tbilisi, Georgia, 1975)


“Soviet Palace” (Kalinigrad, Russia, 1975)


“Druzhba Holiday Center Hall” (Yalta, Ukraine, 1984)

source: pingmag.jp

I really like those buildings...!!!
Brutalism is mostly inspired by Le Corbusier.... I didn't really know the russian versions....
And in the Vogue Paris May 2008, you can see La Cité Radieuse.... the one with Ann Catherine....

scanned by berlinrocks

kind of off-topic... sorry!

[unipine]

wow, the metro stations are from a dream..

[gius]

Originally Posted by BerlinRocks

I really like those buildings...!!!
Brutalism is mostly inspired by Le Corbusier.... I didn't really know the russian versions....
And in the Vogue Paris May 2008, you can see La Cité Radieuse.... the one with Ann Catherine....

scanned by berlinrocks

kind of off-topic... sorry!

What is brutalism ??

[espritDEcouture]

Originally Posted by ponytrot

what a FANTASTIC thread!!

off to search for the decadence of old russia- there was so much beauty in Petrograd when i visited.

Petrograd? Um, ok.

[espritDEcouture]

Originally Posted by gius

What is brutalism ??

Brutalism is a type of architectural style that rose from the modernist architectural movement. I forgot the original French name but it is translates to "raw concrete." And Brutalist buildings are formed with repetitive angular shapes, which reveal the textures of the forms used to mold the materials, which usually consists of concrete.

That's modified from one of my art history books.