The Foundations of Russian Culture and Art

PARIS — Politicians who sometimes wonder about the deeper motivations of Russian diplomacy should pay a long visit to the most remarkable show of art from Russia ever staged anywhere.On view at the Louvre, “Holy Russia” offers much more than a fascinating display of works of art from far-flung institutions inside and outside Russia.
The exhibition book, edited by Jannic Durand of the Louvre and Tamara Igumnova of the Moscow Historic State Museum, effectively puts together the material evidence illustrating the conflicting components that went into the making of Russian culture from its inception. The Kingdom of Rus, as it was originally known, came about as a synthesis of human groups and cultural characteristics that seemed as fit to go together as fire and water. It was founded in the ninth century by marauding Scandinavians pouring from present-day Sweden into lands largely populated by Finns mixing with Slavs who were slowly arriving from territories west of present-day Russia.
The earliest surviving Russian chronicle, “An Account of Ancient Times,” tells of the alliance forged by the Slavs and the Finns against the “Variagi,” as Russians call the ancient invaders. Their feats extended as far as France where the “Varègues” or “Varenges” left their name to the town of Varengeville in Normandy — a detail ignored in the exhibition book. A chieftain called Rurik became the ruler of the new kingdom. Thus came into existence the Rurikid dynasty, the first in Russia that owes its name to the land of the Rus, known alike to the Latin chroniclers of medieval Europe and to Iranian geographers using Arabic, the international language of the Muslim East
How deep the Scandinavian imprint was can be gauged from the weapons and jewels recovered from tombs on territories stretching from the north of modern Russia to the south of present-day Ukraine. The 10th-century fibulae excavated from a funerary chamber in the northern town of Pskov and another discovered in Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine, are no different from costume jewels of this type found in Scandinavia.
The rise of Christianity was the unifying factor that laid the foundation of Russian culture. As early as 959 a Princess Olga sent an embassy to the Germanic emperor Otto requesting the dispatch of a bishop, partly in the hope of raising the status of the kingdom of the Rus. To no avail. It was only in 987 that her grandson Vladimir, keen to obtain the hand of the Byzantine emperor’s sister, Princess Anne, agreed in exchange to adhere to Christianity. Byzantium, shaken by uprisings in its non-Greek possessions, desperately needed to recruit Variagi mercenaries. The deal was concluded. As good as his word, Vladimir ordered in 988 the conversion of the entire population of Kiev, which became the historical birthplace of Russian culture.
Acceptance of the new religion was not immediate. In the struggle for the throne of Kiev that followed Vladimir’s death, his younger sons Boris and Gleb, who had converted to Christianity, were slain by their brother Sviatopolk. Their memory as saintly martyrs was henceforth perpetuated in icons, the Russian word borrowed from Byzantine Greek for holy “images.”
A 14th-century icon from the monastery of Zverin in Novgorod shows the two brothers wearing an attire that reveals a third component in the complex mix of Russian art — the Middle Eastern element. While their swords reproduce the Western model, the pearl-studded leather strips hanging from their belts and their armlets are royal costume fittings worn by the emperors of Sasanian Iran and their early Islamic successors.
The multiple strands, North European, Byzantine and Middle Eastern, kept recurring through much of Russian history, occasionally interweaving in astonishing fashion.
A magnificent limestone capital from the Church of Nativity erected between 1192 and 1196 in the town of Vladimir has the shape of a Romanesque capital, but its formal ornament is carved in a style reminiscent of the repertoire of Islamic Iran with its distant Hellenistic legacy. A pillar from the same church associates five-lobed palmettes common in 10th- and 11th-century Iran with knotted motifs reminiscent of Viking ornament.
The fascination with Northern Europe, more particularly Germanic lands, was lasting. An armilla, or shoulder application, depicting the resurrection of Jesus in champlevé enamels on gilt copper, made in the late 12th century somewhere between the Rhine and the Meuse, was listed in the Cathedral of the Dormition treasury in Vladimir by the 17th century. The head of a man from the town of Old Riazan would not surprise in Romanesque sculpture from Burgundy.
By then a profoundly original figural art was blossoming, most of it known mainly from fragments. The head of a man painted in the late 12th century on the walls of the now vanished first cathedral in Smolensk is remarkable for its expressiveness.
An apex was reached in the first third of the 13th century. The twin influences of Ottonian Germany and Byzantine Greece blend in its ultimate masterpiece, the golden doors of the Cathedral of the Nativity in the town of Suzdal. The scenes painted in gold on the dark metallic ground are Byzantine in inspiration without really resembling Greek medieval art, while the lion masks are based on German prototypes. These too have a distinctive expressiveness.
Somehow, the mid-13th-century Mongol invasion followed by devastation and 200 years of occupation did not stop artistic creation.
Russian manuscript painting, unknown outside its homeland, produced stunning masterpieces. On a vellum leaf from “Simon’s Psalter” illuminated in Novgorod, Jesus stands in a stylized landscape, giving the viewer the searching look of a man intentionally alive.
Drastically opposite trends thrived simultaneously. The icon of Saints George, Climachus and Blaise, painted in Novgorod around the same time, is stylized in a rigid manner based on early Byzantine tradition. The elongated Climachus, about three times the size of George and Blaise, stands against an erstwhile emerald green and intense red ground, revealing a taste for contrasted colors that would be revived in avant-garde painting of the 20th century.
Western influence continued to creep in. Admirable frescoes have been revealed by fragments excavated in Pskov, where the Church of the Nativity and other ecclesiastical constructions demolished by Peter the Great stood until the 18th century. Two female figures in long veils, presumed to be saints, owe as much to awareness of Gothic art from 14th-century Germany in the handling of their smiling faces, as they do to the Byzantine Renaissance for the folds of their drapes.
The attraction to West European art persisted well into the 15th century. The silver-gilt and gilt copper panaghiarion signed in 1435 by Master Ivan Arip offers spectacular evidence of the admiration felt for German goldsmiths. The poly-lobed base and the raised stand with elaborate fleur-de-lis are in the best tradition of flamboyant Gothic monstrances. Curiously, the four lions and the kneeling angels supporting the paten and cover used in the Orthodox ritual send back echoes to much earlier German art.
The multiplicity of strands from East and West never dried up in Russia. When a steel helmet with gold overlay was commissioned for Ivan the Terrible who ruled from 1533 to 1547, the work was entrusted to a Muslim armorer, apparently called in from the lands of the Mongol-Turkic Golden Horde in southern Ukraine, if not from further south. This is shown by the characteristic Turkish shape of the helmet as well as the Iranian-derived arabesques associated with a large border of stylized Arabic script.
To the Russians themselves, the twin attraction to East and West never felt contradictory. Sergei Shchukin, one of the greatest collectors of French Impressionism, also had an outstanding collection of Iranian manuscript painting. In ballet, that supreme Russian achievement in Western-type performing arts, the Eastern touch is evident — as shown by Leon Bakst’s designs.
Nothing has changed. Early art and its ancient roots tell you why.

The art of being naked: Photos of Tampa Nude Nite 2010

Tampa Nude Nite 2010 kicked off its three-night show Thursday at the old Tampa Armature Works building in Tampa Heights. A delicious mix of art lovers, voyeurs and curious onlookers enjoyed a night of entertainment including live burlesque, body painting and dozens of  works of art  displayed by nearly 100 artists. The atmosphere in the beautiful red brick “Trolley Barn” was electric. Strolling semi-nude and body-painted models added to a sense of artful exhibitionism. “Live” art — statuesque nudes in picture frames — dots the entire event, which also features sculpture, paintings, photography and great music. The classy but provocative exhibits, which include a poignant gallery of photographs of, and for the benefit of, breast cancer survivors, are on display in the evenings from 6-Midnight through Saturday.  Tickets are available at the door. $20 cash only. 21 and over, ID required. Valet available for $3.
The Heights Warehouse aka The Trolley Barn on the Hillsborough River, 1910 Ola Ave.  Tampa, FL 33602.
More photos after the break

Featured Columnist The Top 10 Wrestling Entrance Songs of All Time

So I wanted to do a fun article and I got to thinking about entrances. More specifically, the entrance music.
The Freebirds started it and since then the music a wrestler comes out to, in many ways has become his or her trademark.
The fans recognize it and many times just hearing the first few notes of a popular wrestler's entrance music can make a crowd rise to its feet.
Without any more waiting, here's my list of the 10 best entrance songs of all time. Enjoy!

10. Bret Hart ("Hart Attack" by Jim Johnston)

Bret has one of those iconic entrance themes because you immediately know who's coming down to the ring.
From the opening guitar crescendo into the main riff that will get stuck in your head for days.
Jimmy Hart who was behind the original version of this song laid the ground work for Jim Johnston to update and perfect it.

9. The Ultimate Warrior ("Unstable" by Jim Johnston)

When I was growing up, before we got WCW on cable I was a big WWF fan. I couldn't care less about Hulk Hogan, I was an Ultimate Warrior fan.
His song got you so pumped up because not only did it have a pretty good groove, it was accented by the man just going bananas on his way to the ring.
You knew someone was about to be destroyed when it hit the speakers.

8. The Legion of Doom ("What A Rush" by Jim Johnston)

This is very similar to the man who is in the second spot on this list. It isn't so much the song that is great but the opening few seconds.
The signature "What a rush!" said by Hawk in that rough voice lets you know that LOD is on their way to absolutely tear a hole through whoever was unfortunate enough to be in the ring against them.
This technique for entrance music has been used a lot from Vader to Mr. Kennedy to The Miz.

7. The Undertaker ("The Grim Reaper" by Jim Johnston)

This is one that was hard to pick because Taker switches his music every few years or so. So let's just say any of his music when he's the Deadman version of the Undertaker. Limp Bizkit does not deserve a spot on this list.
Taker's music is one of the best recognized songs in all of wrestling. The lights go out, the blue smoke washes in, and that bell sounds. It's one of the few songs that can send chills down your spine.

6. Shawn Michaels ("Sexy Boy" by Jimmy Hart)

Shawn has used this for quite some time now. He still does when he's not affiliated with D-Generation X.
It's one of those songs that was written for a heel but still works when Michaels is a babyface because we all know he's that cocky showstealer.
It's also the only song on this list to be sung by the wrestler himself.

5. Ric Flair ("Dawn" taken from "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss)

I may be mistaken but I believe this is the only song to be on this list that wasn't written for the wrestler.
It's an incredibly self-indulgent song to use as your theme, being a grand epic opus but it fits "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair.
Flair is larger than life and so is his music. While he no longer comes out to this music, it will always be the song for which he is identified with

4. The nWo ("Rockhouse" by Jimmy Hart & J. Helm)

This is the classic NWO song, not the Wolfpac version or any other remix. It was the music you heard the most between 1996 and 1998.
The hottest angle and group in wrestling also had one of the songs that stood out the most.
From the blues inspired guitar riff to the distorted voice speaking through out. There's a reason why Jimmy Hart has been on this list a few times already

3. Jushin Thunder Liger ("Ikari No Jyushin Lyger" by Yumi Hiroki)

Probably the least heard song on this list but it's one of the most iconic in the world of wrestling.
If you're a Japanese wrestling fan then you've no doubt tried to sing along to this infectious song.
It's a very up-tempo J-Pop song but oddly fits Liger even when he's a heel. You know it's Liger coming down to the ring when the high-pitched female vocals kick in. The fans love it, and so do I.

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin ("Hell Frozen Over" by Jim Johnston)

Some may say that the version of this song recorded by popular band Disturbed is better but this is the original. When the glass breaks, the crowd jumps up into a frenzy.
It's very similar to Bret Hart's as it has a driving guitar riff and that opening moment where you just know who's coming down to the ring.
It doesn't matter what year it is, WWE fans hear that glass break and it's an instant standing ovation.

1. Hulk Hogan ("Real American" by Rick Deringer)

Did you think it would be anyone else? This is the song in the 1980's when it came to wrestling. Hogan is perhaps the most famous wrestler of all time and this has to be the most famous song.
It became an anthem for the fans and can bring a crowd to its feet instantaneously. Hogan used quite a few other songs in his career but I would say that this is the one most closely related to him.

LG GD510 Cookie Pep Lands in India

The Samsung Corby range gets a compititor

It might have sold over 1 million units across the globe since its launch, but LG thought it was only now, 6 months after the international launch that they should bring the GD510 to India.

The phone will be known as the "Cookie Pep" in India - thanks to the brand value that the Cookie has in India. LG has described the GD510 as the most compact 3-inch full touchscreen handset and we agree with that. The phone, like its competitors, comes with scores of applications and social networking features - and is aimed at youngsters.

The phone offers comprehensive multimedia support and comes with 42 MB of internal memory - expandable up to 8GB using microSD cards. There's a decent 3-megapixel camera that is also capable of capturing videos as well. The phone has a solo back lit button on the face that works as the menu, end or cancel key, depending on the phone's mode. The LG Cookie Pep is fashioned from brushed aluminum adding to its sleek look.

LG has roped in Bollywood stars John Abraham, Genelia D'Souza and Abhay Deol as brand ambassadors for the Cookie Pep. LG Cookie Pep is priced at Rs. 7,799 and is on sale right now across the country. At this price, this should turn out to be a good competitor to the entire Samsung Corby range - which seems to be its main rival.