Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition
An Empire's Legacy
Margaret Kelly Trombly
Thames & Hudson Publishing
You dabble in arts but decorative art of the Russian kind is not on your radar?
That should change and an appropriate introduction is this encompassing tome, which revolves around an exposition at the Walters Art Museum and the 100th commemoration of the Russian Revolution.
Covering a period of eight hundred years until the early twentieth century, i.e. 1917, this beautifully designed book, which was compiled by the guest curator of the Walters Art Museum Margaret Kelly Trombly, zeros in on the intricacy and details of the exquisite decorative art Russia has become renowned for.
Running the gamut from pendants and jewellery via caskets, goblets, all kinds of useful and not so useful devices via fine China to the most amazing bejeweled opulent vessels, i.e. Fabergé eggs, with a focus on the complexity of the tiny surprises they harbour.
What was created in the five decades preceding 1917 to honour the grandeur of the Russian dynasty proved to be timeless and is still unrivalled to this day and makes most current fine artists look like grobmotoriker.
The range of materials used and the unique and often innovative ways they were put together to create something much bigger than the sum of the individual components would suggest is one-of-a-kind, with the composition and assembling having required the expertise and skills of a range of different craftsmen.
A hundred years own, they do not lack any of their allure – au contraire: It proves to be difficult to find something depicted that is not still relevant and up to par with any contemporary art.
