"War and Peace viewed by Russian artists" exhibition

So!Art presents you a fascinating exhibition “War and Peace viewed by Russian artists” dedicated to the Leo Tolstoy’s famous novel. It’s organized by the Leo Tolstoy State Museum in Moscow. The exhibition was already exposed in Paris, Reims and Saint-Dizier. Now it opens its doors in another French city of Le Mans. Then, it will continue its voyage through France and will be shown here till 2015.

The exhibition consists of several panels on the themes of "Leo Tolstoy and his family", "Leo Tolstoy and his protagonists," "War and Peace" and the illustrations made for the novel, from the first ones made by Bachylov up to those of Nikolaev, which are the best known. More than that, a program includes all the illustrations ofthe novel made in Russia, the story of the Tolstoy family, his conception of the novel, the protagonists and their real portraits. And, of course, the exhibition touches on the history of the Russian campaign and the French campaign.

The exhibition contains a great number of manuscripts in French because of the particular love of the author for this language.

In general, the exhibition covers the plot of the novel, the author’s biography and the events of the 1810s.

If you did not read the Tolstoy's novel, it is an opportunity to become familiar with it and to discover your interest to read it.

The exhibition is accompanied by the show of films of Tolstoy and the film extracts linked to the battle of Borodino, music concerts and animation for children. After Le Mans, the exhibition will be shown in Strasbourg, Nice, Cambrai and other French cities.

Some interesting facts about the Russian language

This post is about the “great and mighty” Russian language, as it was characterized by Leo Tolstoy. We will try to present you some peculiarities of this language.  So, what could we find interesting about it?

1. Russian has about 500,000 words, but only 2,000-2,500 of them are used frequently. 100 most frequently used words make 20% of all written and oral speech. A high school graduate's vocabulary usually has from 1,500 to 4,000 words. Those who have graduated from a higher educational institution normally have a richer vocabulary consisting of approximately 8,000 words.

2. It's compulsory for all astronauts in the international space station to learn Russian, so we can call it an international language of space.

3. The word "неделя" which now means "a week" actually stems from the phrase "to do nothing" and used to mean "a day of rest".

4. The only adjective in Russian with one syllable is "злой" (="angry").

5. In Russian, the terms "индеец" (native American) and "индиец" (a person who lives in India) are different words, whereas in most Western European languages they are homonyms.

6. There is an old rule according to which native Russian words can't start with the letter "a". Almost all words that start with this letter are borrowed from other languages, with the following exceptions: "азбука" (alphabet), "аз" (old way of saying "I") and "авось" (maybe, perhaps). 

7. Similar to the words starting with "a", words starting with "ф" are also borrowed. When Pushkin wrote his poem "Сказка о царе Салтане" (The Tale of Tsar Saltan) he took great pride in the fact that there was only one word there starting with "ф" and that word was "флот" (fleet).

8. The following fact would be especially interesting for translators. In 1969, a novel "La Disparition" was written by Georges Perec. One of the peculiarities about this novel is that it doesn't have the letter "e" which is the most frequent letter in French. The same principle was used to translate the book into English, German and Italian. There was no "e" in those translations. As for the Russian version, the novel was translated in 2005 by Valeriy Kislov and it doesn't have the letter "o" as this is the most frequent letter in Russian. 

9. The Russian language has only 74 words that begin with the letter "Й". However, most of us remember only such words like "йод" ("iodine"), "йог" ("yogi") and the city of "Йошкар-Ола" ("Ioshkar Ola").

10. The only words in the Russian language with the three letters "e" at a run are "длинношеее" ("a long-necked") (and other on -шеее, for example, криво-, коротко-) and "змееед" (who eats serpents).

11. The longest verbs are "переосвидетельствоваться" ("be reexamined") and "интернационализироваться" ("be internationalized"). They consist of 24 letters.

Learn Russian with So!Art. We know many interesting facts about the Russian language and are always ready to share them with you! See you! 

Занимательные факты о русском языке

Предлагаем Вашему вниманию несколько интересных фактов о «великом и могучем» русском языке.

Большинство слов с буквой «Ф» в русском языке – заимствованные. Пушкин гордился тем, что в «Сказке о царе Салтане» было всего лишь одно слово с буквой «ф» – флот.

В русском языке есть всего 74 слова, начинающихся с буквы «Й». Но большинство из нас помнит лишь «йод, йог» и город «Йошкар-Ола».

Единственные слова в русском языке с тремя буквами «е» подряд – это длинношеее (и прочие на -шеее, например, криво-, коротко-) и«змееед». 

В русском языке есть слово с уникальной для языка приставкой ко- – закоулок.

Единственное слово русского языка, которое не имеет корня – вынуть.

Единственное односложное прилагательное в русском языке – это злой.

До XIV века на Руси все неприличные слова назывались «нелепыми глаголами».

В Книге рекордов Гиннесса 1993 года самым длинным словом русского языка названо «рентгеноэлектрокардиографического», в издании 2003 года «превысокомногорассмотрительствующий».

Самые длинные глаголы – «переосвидетельствоваться», «субстанционализироваться» и «интернационализироваться» (все – 24 буквы).

Самые длинные существительные – «человеконенавистничество» и «высокопревосходительство» (по 24 буквы).
Самые длинные одушевлённые существительные – «одиннадцатиклассница» и «делопроизводительница» (по 21 букве, словоформы -ами – по 23 буквы);

Иногда у глагола нет какой-либо формы, и это обусловлено законами благозвучия. Например: «победить». Он победит, ты победишь, я... победю? побежу? побежду? Филологи предлагают использовать заменяющие конструкции «я одержу победу» или «стану победителем». Поскольку форма первого лица единственного числа отсутствует, глагол является недостаточным.

Желаем Вам успехов в изучении русского языка! Команда So!Art всегда рада помочь Вам в Ваших начинаниях!

Life-Size T-Rex in Paris

A giant chrome brushed aluminium skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus (T-Rex)  dinosaur, made by French sculptor and painter Philippe Pasqua, stands at the pier of riverboat company Bateaux-Mouches on June 12, 2013 in Paris, with the Eiffel tower in the background.

A four-meter-tall Tyrannosaurus Rex is built of 350 chrome-molded bones and was created to promote contemporary art along the river. A replica of dinosaur remains discovered in China, Pasqua’s reconstruction is perfected right down to its long tail and teeth, making this sculpture a showcase of his artistic ingenuity as well as of its shock value. 

This public installation follows florentijn hofman's giant inflatable rubber duck, which floated across harbors around the world.

"The Golden Cockerel" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (9-12 July 2013)

In 2013 Les Ballets Russes, who just had a great success with their 2012 production, presents "The Golden Cockerel", an opera-ballet by the well-known Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

The opera is performed in Paris, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by the troupe of The Natalya Sats Musical Theater, Moscow. Choreographer is Gali Abaidulov. With the participation of star dancers - Ilse Liepa and Pavel Okunev.

The composer based opera "The Golden Cockerel" from A. Pushkin's fairy tale "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel". The purely human character of Pushkin‘s story, "The Golden Cockerel" – a tragi-comedy showing the fatal results of human passion and weakness – allows us to place the plot in any surroundings and in any period. The general satire is one which for a time was under the ban of the Imperial Russian censor. "The Golden Cockerel" or "Le Coq d'Or" was Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's last and considered his best opera. 

In Paris, the performance for the first time presented in 1914 had a great success. 

"The exuberance of colors, the vividness of the sound palette, the harmonic balance of all elements of this masterpiece is remarkable". Written in accordance with the Russian classical opera and being one of the best pieces of art of Rimsky-Korsakov, this opera is at the same time the product of an innovative brand that belongs already to the new age. The music of "The Golden Cockerel" has surprised the contemporaries. In his last opera Rimsky-Korsakov has opened new horizons in music, looking far ahead, in the XX century.

We invite amateurs of Russian ballet and Russian opera at "The Golden Cockerel" from the 9 to the 12 of July 2013.
To buy tickets, follow this link.

Roy Lichtenstein at the Pompidou Centre (from July 3 to November 4, 2013)

After Chicago, Washington and London, Roy Lichtenstein is in center of a major retrospective in Paris, at the Pompidou Centre.

American artist Roy Lichtenstein is chiefly known for his Pop Art works made in the 60s, his instantly recognisable comic book prints blown up to a massive scale. “Look Mickey”, “Whaam” and “Drowning Girl” are some of his best-known pieces. 

However, at the same time as he was producing these works, Lichtenstein was also pushing the boundaries in other directions, as a postmodern artist. 

Through references to art history and to specific artists and styles, (Picasso, Mondrian, Cézanne, cubism, abstract expressionism and so on) he explored many different approaches to art.
With his typically dry sense of humour, he manages to keep a certain distance between himself and his subject, allowing us to see the funny side but never criticizing.

For him, the art world tended to take itself far too seriously, and indeed this is one of the underlying messages in his witty, self-deprecating work. With great technical brilliance he worked in a variety of artistic mediums; sculpture and prints as well as painting. 

Late in his career, he tackled a new era in art history: Chinese landscapes. These he explored with his personal brand of pop humour, resulting in surprisingly atmospheric works such as Landscape in Fog, 1996. Here, the foreground and background are rendered in dots, while the fog in the mid ground is an expressive painterly swirl, in stark contrast to the detachment suggested by the dot matrix. 

Lichtenstein's clever visual language is surprising and engaging throughout this exhibition at the Pompidou Centre. Discover another side to a familiar artist, at one of the top exhibitions in Paris in 2013. From July 3 to November 4, 2013.

Exhibition of photographs of Robert Doisneau in Paris (from the 1st of July to the 31st of August 2013)

Robert Doisneau is celebrated by the Forum des Halles through a free exhibition from the 1st of July to the 31st of August. After an acclaimed exhibition at the Hôtel de Ville, the most Parisian photographer is hosted at Les Halles, which he described as the heart of Paris.

The Forum des Halles pays a tribute to Robert Doisneau with an admission free exhibition opened the 1st of July to the 31st of August in all the district of Les Halles: on this occasion, nearly a hundred photographs will be displayed in large format to transport us back in time, to discovery of Paris in the 1930s.

From the principal market of the Baltard Pavilions to the "Blackout" during the destruction of the inner city, Robert Doisneau liked to build the image of Paris photographing the Halles, this remarkable Parisian popular district!

Do not hesitate to slow your pace to discover a part of our past, memories of yesteryear engraved forever on the films of Robert Doisneau, but also the new face that the Forum des Halles has today!

From the the 1st of July to the 31st of August 2013 at Place Carrée, rue du Cinéma, Place de la Rotonde et at three levels of Place Basse of Forum des Halles, Paris.

Выставка фотографий Робера Дуано в Париже (1 июля - 31 августа 2013)

Сегодня, 1 июля, в Париже открывается выставка, посвященная творчеству самого парижского фотографа Робера Дуано.

Выставка продлится до 31 августа 2013. Все желающие смогут бесплатно увидеть знаменитые фотографии Дуано, представленные в виде больших панно вокруг и внутри торгового центра Форум де Аль (Forum des Halles). Это место выбрано не случайно: сам фотограф называл район Ле Аль "сердцем Парижа".

Форум де Аль отдает дань уважения Роберу Дуано: выставка представит Вашему вниманию почти сто фотографий Парижа 1930х годов.
Робер Дуано любил снимать Париж и в особенности район Ле Аль, этот поистине типичный парижский городской квартал!

Фотографии на выставке объединены тематически: каждая улица раскрывает перед посетителями часть истории, неповторимый взгляд художника на это место.

Не торопитесь пройти мимо, остановитесь на несколько минут, чтобы бросить взгляд в прошлое, увидеть Париж начала прошлого века, сохранившийся на плёнке Робера Дуано, а также новый образ, который Форум де Аль приобрел в наши дни!

Выставка открыта с 1 июля по 31 августа 2013 на Place Carrée, rue du Cinéma, Place de la Rotonde и на трех уровнях торгового центра Форум де Аль в Париже. Ждем Вас!