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Inside the Picture: Installation Art in Three Acts - by Jane A. Sharp
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Conversations with Andrei Monastyrski - by Sabine Hänsgen
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Thinking Pictures | Introduction - by Jane A. Sharp
15 November 2016 | By
31 October 2016 | By
Tatlin and his objects - by James McLean
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Housing, interior design and the Soviet woman during the Khrushchev era - by Jemimah Hudson
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Dressing the Soviet Woman Part 3: "Are Russians Women?" Vogue on Soviet Vanity - by Waleria Dorogova
18 May 2016 | By
Dressing the Soviet Woman Part 1 - by Waleria Dorogova
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Eisenstein's Circle: Interview With Artist Alisa Oleva
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Mescherin and his Elektronik Orchestra - by James McLean
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SSEES Centenary Film Festival Opening Night - A review by Georgina Saunders
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Nijinsky's Jeux by Olivia Bašić
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Learning the theremin by Ortino
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Impressions of Post- Soviet Warsaw by Harriet Halsey
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Facing the Monument: Facing the Future
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16 February 2015 | By Ivan Sollertinsky
Some Thoughts on the Ballets Russes Abroad
16 December 2014 | By Isabel Stockholm
Last Orders for the Grand Duchy
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25 September 2014 | By
Walter Spies, Moscow 1895 – Indonesia 1942
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07 August 2014 | By Eugenia Ellanskaya
From Canvas to Fabric: Liubov Popova and Sonia Delaunay
29 July 2014 | By Alex Chiriac
My Communist Childhood: Growing up in Soviet Romania
21 July 2014 | By Alex Chiriac
Monumental Misconceptions: The Artist as Liberator of Forgotten Art
12 May 2014 | By Rachel Hajek
28 April 2014 | By Rachel Hajek
An Orgy Becomes a Brawl: Chagall's Illustrations for Gogol's Dead Souls
14 April 2014 | By Josephine Roulet
KINO/FILM | Stone Lithography Demonstration at the London Print Studio
08 April 2014 | By Alex Chiriac
24 March 2014 | By Renée-Claude Landry
Book review | A Mysterious Accord: 65 Maximiliana, or the Illegal Practice of Astronomy
19 March 2014 | By Rosie Rockel
Leading Ladies: Laura Knight and the Ballets Russes
10 March 2014 | By Bazarov
Exhibition Review | Cash flow: The Russian Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale
03 March 2014 | By Rosie Rockel
24 February 2014 | By Ellie Pavey
Guest Blog | Pulsating Crystals
17 February 2014 | By Robert Chandler Chandler
Theatre Review | Portrait as Presence in Fortune’s Fool (1848) by Ivan Turgenev
10 February 2014 | By Bazarov
03 February 2014 | By Paul Rennie
Amazons in Australia – Unravelling Space and Place Down-Under
27 January 2014 | By Bazarov
Exhibition Review | Siberia and the East, fire and ice. A synthesis of the indigenous and the exotic
11 December 2013 | By Nina Lobanov-Rostovsky
Shostakovich: A Russian Composer?
05 December 2013 | By Bazarov
Marianne von Werefkin: Western Art – Russian Soul
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Chagall Self-portraits at the Musée Chagall, Nice/St Paul-de-Vence
28 September 2013 | By Bazarov
31 July 2013 | By Richard Barling
Exhibition review | Lissitsky — Kabakov: Utopia and Reality
25 April 2013 | By Richard Barling
Exhibition review | Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The Happiest Man
18 April 2013 | By Richard Barling
03 February 2014 | By Paul Rennie

We had an interesting discussion at GRAD's exhibition Kino/Film: Soviet Posters of the Silent Screenin London last week.
At one point, we were thinking and talking about whether the Stenbergs' distinctive big faces were appropriate. There was some suspicion of the “Mary Pickford style” lipstick and so on. I think the word bourgeois was actually used…

I’ve posted before about how the image of the human face changes in relation to technology and meaning. Mostly, I’ve been interested in issues of physiognomy that are attached to madness and disorder, but the ideas can just as easily be applied to the theme of desire in film and fashion. In general, the first portraits were profiles and flat faces that emphasised the symmetry of facial features. Three-quarter portraiture and directional lighting combined, from the 18th century onwards, to provide a more dramatic modelling of the face. This was used by social elites to make themselves appear more beautiful and dramatic.

Models, actresses and princesses all make use of these effects; Kate Moss, Kate Cambridge and Rebecca Hall, for example.

Actually, this kind of image was widely used in the Soviet period and by a number of designers – not least Alexandr Rodchenko. The look of the silent film was certainly a bit intense and melodramatic, but it was authentic; it is not made any more beautiful than it is. The close-cropping of the image has the effect of scaling it up to something that looks cinematic, even on the page or as a poster. The lighting effects are quite even, there’s light from above, below and from the side. This gives the eyes a very dramatic modelling that is distinct from the classic “big eyes” of a fashion shoot.
In the image above, the point of view is from slightly above; neither looking down, nor up. So, it’s a frank look, straight in the eye. The photograph is of Lilya Brik, muse of the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Paul Rennie is Head of Context in Graphic Design at Central St Martins, London. This blog post was originally published on his blog, Off The Wall.