Have you ever wondered what your portrait should look like? We now have a very high interest in popular culture in historical plots in such a "meme" form. At first everyone was carried away by the "Suffering Middle Ages", now - "Disgusting Art"

Sofia Bagdasarova is an art critic, journalist and popular blogger. This year, her art blog won the award for the best Longread LiveJournal. Today Sophia is ranked sixth in the ranking of LiveJournal users. In an interview with Kulturomania, she shares her thoughts on the phenomenon of the popularity of her blog, on how to write about art in an interesting way, and on cultural journalism in Russia today.

Indeed, my blog received the NeForum Award-2017, where one of the nominations was "Best Longread LiveJournal". It was in it that my "Blog of a naughty art historian" (shakko-kitsune.lj.ru) took first place. To be honest, I myself am surprised at how popular it has become: the number of its views is about 40-50 thousand per day (this is about the fifth or sixth place in the general LJ top). Probably the secret of success is that, first of all, I am, of course, not a “blogger”, but a professional journalist with an art history education. I have been writing about art for various publications for more than ten years. And my blog existed all this time in parallel with the main work, but it began to gain noticeable popularity in 2017. Previously, I used it more as an auxiliary platform: I posted notes and my old articles, I kept a professional archive on this platform, so to speak. When preparing materials, one often comes across fun facts and pictures that I also added to my blog. After a while, these interesting little things and details began to attract more and more attention. Readers liked the personal attitude to art, emotionality. The fact is that when a journalist writes articles for a certain publication, he is restrained by the format, style, internal censorship - whether it is a story about the opening of an exhibition or about an artist. And in a personal blog there is space for expression, for individual and, of course, for humor.

- That is, the secret is in the presentation of the material?

Not only. I write about those topics in art that are rarely covered in serious publications. However, in the West they have long been in the scientific field (for example, you can recall the "History of Ugliness" by Umberto Eco), we are still poor with this. And people are interested in everything unusual! Thus, I came up with the Hateful Art Criticism column (named after Tarantino's The Hateful Eight). In it, I began to publish all sorts of shocking things, terrifying works of art - and not modern, but exclusively classics. The first major flow of readers, it seems to me, was attracted by these stories, and then they began to read other, more “calm” entries.

- It turns out that people are attracted, first of all, by something forbidden?

I would call these topics rather "marginal". They have always existed, take the same ancient myths. But basically, when studying the history of art, people are guided by the usual, traditional program. And that is why most viewers believe that the classics are boring and dull. But if you show art from a different, more sensual and human side, people become interested. It's not just about " dark side", which is present in every person. Just an unexpected point of view, a look at the pictures with humor is a way to eliminate fatigue from the annoying “you need to be enlightened!”. Thus, by changing the format, I show the same art, but I do it in a non-boring way, with the help of a popular language. This is what shifts the perspective from the familiar to the exciting. For the same reason, my artistic puzzles: I encrypt the names of paintings or the names of artists, and readers are happy to guess them. Such materials are gaining three hundred to five hundred comments. This way they get to know works that they have never heard of. The game is fun and rewarding.

- What blog topics were the most popular? And how did they appear?

When I realized that I had a fairly large permanent audience that was not averse to learning about more serious things, I came up with the “Questions about Art” section. Readers who are not art professionals send questions for her, and the simpler and more unexpected they are, the more interesting it is to answer them. The very posing of the question makes it possible to answer in an unusual way. This is how the post-answer “Why is Shilov a bad artist, and Bryullov a good one, are they similar?” Today it is my most popular text, about 400 thousand views. Compared to You Tube records, of course, it’s a trifle, but for materials about painting, this is very cool. Or, “Tell me, what is 'contemporary art'? Just in a nutshell, please” and “Why is Repin cheaper than Malevich and Kandinsky?”. This, in theory, is impossible to answer seriously, but in the end some fundamental principles are revealed. In addition, I put in the answers own feelings- thank God, the blog format is designed for this. And since I am an emotional person, this personal attitude of readers is also touching.

- And if the topic is serious? Is there a lowering of the bar here, because art history is a serious science?

This risk is always present. Therefore, I deliberately do not touch on things whose simplification could humiliate me or offend someone else. For example, I usually don't write about Christian art, since the decrease in style in the story about him can sometimes sound vulgar and even sacrilegious. But almost every masterpiece can be told in such a way that it will be remembered. My position is this: the world today is so immersed in the most miscellaneous information on all sorts of topics, that the opportunity to talk specifically about art, and not about secular life or politics, you have to catch. And appreciate.

- Where do you get those Interesting Facts? After all, they do not lead to the "set" of academic education.

Basically, I use English-language books and articles, make extracts of memorable details, the names of artists, about which I need to dig deeper. And I use these working notes when I need to write a new post. It's a good habit not to throw gold into the dumps, but to put everything in a piggy bank so that you can use it later.

- IN Lately popular science blogs and art portals have become very popular...

Yes it's true. Perhaps this is a continuation of the same processes, the visible symptom of which was the already famous “Queue for Serov”. But although they say that this is due to the crisis and impoverishment, I would not associate this phenomenon with these factors. In my opinion, the fact is that there are so many options for entertainment, simpler needs have already been satisfied, so “elite” ways of spending time have become available and, most importantly, interesting more of people. Today you can afford to download any movie or book. This means that you can afford a certain increase in self-education, something that will improve you. After all, thanks to the tradition laid down by education, we are used to the fact that teaching and culture are good. And when museums became more comfortable and open, the audience responded, especially in large cities.

- Are your readers really changing due to the information received in the blog?

I would like to think so, especially since I regularly receive thanks for this in the comments. And I have almost managed to convince the main body of readers that the avant-garde is good! The next goal is to explain contemporary art, but I'm afraid to take it. In a sense, my recordings, thanks to regularity, have become online course on art. But it's hard when it comes to the beginning of the twentieth century. If in the West children with early years explain that expressionism and abstractionism are just as important creative directions, like the previous ones, our education is still "realistocentric". It's not just a legacy curriculum, but these are features national character: we are rather closed and conservative, it is more pleasant and calmer for us to deal with understandable things. Therefore, I was already tired of answering standard remarks like “My child will draw better than Malevich". But art cannot be bad, you just need to learn more and better about it.

What developments in cultural journalism in Russia could be called encouraging? If we pay attention to the comments of media readers, we see that performances and contemporary risks cause much more reader activity than vernissages.

It is true that people react more actively to newspaper articles about contemporary artists than about exhibitions of old masters. But this, as a rule, is just outrage, and not "reviews of a work of art." People are offended by these actions, artistic acts that affect the surrounding everyday life, which is why they talk about scandalous, outrageous actionism the most (well, that's how it was conceived). At the same time, if interest in news about culture (judging by the budgets allocated to editorial offices) is declining, then attention to the entertainment format, on the contrary, is growing. Getting information in the form of a game, video, infographic is intriguing modern reader. We see the same process in museums that offer entertainment, interactive programs, multimedia - and the number of visitors is increasing. Journalists have to write more and more exciting - what in other topics is called "adding yellowness." Format scientific article has become almost completely uninteresting to a wide audience, and if we do not want to lock ourselves in an ivory tower in order to look down from there, then we need to look for new formats. And although serious scientists condemn the popularizers of science, there is some kind of hoarding in this. After all, knowledge is a treasure, and when you share it, you yourself do not get poorer, but, on the contrary, you get richer.

Ekaterina Kim Photo: Dmitry Rozhkov / Wikipedia

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It is also important for us that Sofya is the most experienced editor and administrator of the Russian Wikipedia, as well as an active participant in Wikimedia Commons ( Shakko). It becomes obvious that Wikinews simply could not pass by such an event, and today we offer our readers exclusive interview with Sofia Bagdasarova. Dmitry Rozhkov talked to the best Runet blogger.

Dmitry Rozhkov: First of all, let me congratulate you on your victory. What are your impressions of her?

Sofia Bagdasarova: Of course, pleasant. It's great that it was the art blog that won, that it is popular. Behind Last year my audience has grown a lot (up to approx. 50-40 thousand views per day). A ridiculous figure compared to YouTube, but for long texts, not only in blogs, but also in normal media, this is an excellent indicator.

DR: Tell us who you are by education, by profession, and how, in fact, you came up with the idea of ​​your blog.

Sat: I graduated from the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, and have been professionally engaged in journalism in the field of culture for more than ten years. All these years, I have used two tools to structure information - Wikipedia and my blog. Moreover, Wikipedia is also not as a reader, but as a place where you can take notes. Many people don't realize this, but Wikipedia is a great place to keep notes of books and articles you've read. On the blog, I threw off funny facts and pictures, and also duplicated my journalistic articles - and for good reason, many of those magazines for which I once wrote have already disappeared. So a large part of the texts that attract readers today were not written for a blog, but for a salary.

DR: We will definitely return to your participation in Wikipedia. And how did this popular topic of your blog come about - the hashtag "disgusting art criticism"? This is your area special interests, or just such an attempt to "catch the hype"?

Sat: This section of the blog appeared a year and a half ago, when I was in a bad mood. It's just that there is a lot of disgusting in art: castration, cutting off heads, skinning ... And the educational standard usually includes only the beautiful - Rafael and Shishkin. But I have known this for a long time. If you dig deeper, the wild opens up: not just erotica, but also zooerotica, all kinds of torture, infanticide, bearded women. The fact is that art, there is no escape, reflects all aspects of life - including the inner demons that devour many. I came across it under the arm, and I wrote it out - because it is unusual; noticing that people are attracted to it, she turned it into one of the permanent headings.

DR: But surely the rest of your headings appeared in the same way. Why did the “disgusting art criticism” “shoot out”?

Sat: Because people like to join the high, but not to be bored. However classical paintings habitually perceived precisely as dreary and incomprehensible. And when someone appears who explains that it is not boring, but just as “fried” as regular news, this gives indulgence to enjoy the spicy, but at the same time joining the high. As a result, my readers learn culture through all sorts of "horrors".

DR: What other sections of yours are popular?

Sat: The next successful column was “questions about art”. They ask me the most idiotic question, and I begin to answer it. And telling some theoretical things, I taxi out on the meaning of life, the Universe and all that.

DR: Why is this artist "bad".

Sat: Yes, this text is especially popular: “Why is Shilov a bad artist, but Bryullov is a good one? They are very similar!” It's a brilliant wording, right? I really love such absurd questions, because they allow you to compare the most dissimilar, and cool generalizations are born from this. Or here's another: "Tell me about contemporary art in a nutshell" - an impossible task, after all! When they ask: "write about the Pre-Raphaelites", it's boring. I write in such a way that it would be interesting for me, about what I myself often just learned and am surprised at this. For example, about the fingers of Napoleon's corpse in broken boots (in works of art, of course).

DR: The objects of your criticism, the same Shilov, for example, somehow reacted to publications, tried to contact you?

Sat: Shilov is a celestial, he is higher than this. But recently a new monument to Alexander III appeared, the relief of which is decorated with " important events reign." Among them, as I listed in my blog, was a portrait of Dostoevsky, who died before the accession of Alexander III, the facades of museums founded or built under other tsars, the ship of the Russo-Japanese War, the silhouette of the Soviet monument to Tchaikovsky, and much more mysterious from the point of view of logic choice. This, of course, is not as blatant as a monument to Kalashnikov with a silhouette of a German machine gun, but it was amazing in quantity. My text sold out, something based on it was even made by the media. A few days later, the sculptor gave an interview in which he attacked the illiterate Internet community, which does not know that Dostoevsky was friends with the future emperor (which is why he is depicted), and that he read the biography of the emperor, and chose all this from it .

DR: Yes, I remember these explanations, they boiled down to the fact that everything that was before the reign of Alexander III was established under him, and everything after that was born under him.
Everything is clear with the reaction of the celestials, now tell us about the reviews of ordinary readers.

Sat: The return is great, and it's great. Many write: “I have never commented on anything, but for your sake I will write.” My readers are people who, according to them, do not open any other top blog at all. Recently at the exhibition I met one of them, and he began to introduce me to friends with the words: “I start my morning with this woman.” And with approximately the wording that I “need like coffee,” many write, it is very warm.

DR: And there are dissatisfied, aggressive comments?

Sat: Yes, I take a bath. This is my personal space, you can not offend me in it.

Sat: At first, I allowed almost everything. A person swears, well, it happens. And then my old friends started complaining, “Sorry, but I’m uncomfortable. You've become popular, the atmosphere has changed." And I thought, who is dearer to me: people with whom I have been communicating normally for more than a year, or some kind of trolls? And I began to ban all these characters who go from one popular blog to another and try to provoke everyone. And it turned out that there are a limited number of them, new ones appear now rarely. The atmosphere in the comments has become pleasant.

DR: I heard that your project is going offline, and you are already writing a real book.

DR: But did you reduce your presence directly in the Russian-language Wikipedia?

Sat: Yes. I continue to use it as an auxiliary apparatus for saving extracts from books. If I need to write an article about a person, I first write a biographical article about him on Wikipedia, where the bare facts are. Then, based on it, I compose normal text, artistic, with epithets, adjectives and my personal relationships.

DR: And you no longer participate in high-profile projects?

SG: For three or four years I have not been hunting for any "stars". The rules are becoming more and more complex, approaching the rules of the VAK. It is better to write a real dissertation. The amount of nitpicking about footnote design is insane.

DR: How many Wikipedians do you know in real life?

Sat: With sufficient quantity. And it's very nice to meet people with whom you communicated a lot online and with whom you wrote lyrics together. During the collective writing of articles, you understand a lot about a person: how he thinks, whether he is smart or stupid, what his temperament is, whether he is capable of negotiations. This is such communication, which in standard in social networks practically unthinkable. On the Internet, people mostly have fun or engage in boastful self-representation, and when filling Wikipedia, people work as volunteers, showing their nature more truthfully.

DR: Sonya, Thanks a lot you for such a meaningful conversation, new successes and victories to you in the coming year!

Sources

Unknown artist. Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov in his youth. 1777.

George Doe. Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov.1829. State Hermitage

The great commander Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov is painted in full length in Dow's portrait from the Military Gallery. There are few such large canvases in the hall - Emperor Alexander I, his brother Constantine, the Austrian emperor and the Prussian king were awarded such an honor, and only Barclay de Tolly and the British Lord Wellington were among the commanders.

Unknown artist. Ekaterina Ilyinichna Golenishcheva-Kutuzova. 1777. State Historical Museum.

Kutuzov's wife's name was Ekaterina Ilyinichna, nee Bibikova. In paired portraits commissioned in 1777 in honor of the wedding, Kutuzov is hardly recognizable - he is young, he has both eyes. The bride is powdered and rouged in the fashion of the 18th century. IN family life the spouses adhered to the mores of the same frivolous century: Kutuzov drove women of dubious behavior in the convoy, his wife had fun in the capital. This did not prevent them from tenderly loving each other and their five daughters.

George Doe (workshop). Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration. 1st half of the 19th century. State Hermitage.

Jean Guerin. Wounding of Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration in the Battle of Borodino. 1816.

The famous military leader Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration was seriously wounded on the Borodino field: the cannonball crushed his leg. He was taken out of the battle in his arms, but the doctors did not help - after 17 days he died. When, in 1819, the English painter George Doe undertook a huge order - the creation of the Military Gallery, the appearance of the dead heroes, including Bagration, he had to recreate from the works of other masters. IN this case engravings and pencil portraits were useful to him.

Jean-Baptiste Isabey. Ekaterina Pavlovna Bagration. 1810s Army Museum, Paris.

In family life, Bagration was unhappy. Emperor Pavel, wishing him only the best, in 1800 married him to the beautiful, heiress of the Potemkin millions, Ekaterina Pavlovna Skavronskaya. The frivolous blonde left her husband and left for Europe, where she walked in translucent muslin, indecently fitting her figure, spent huge sums and shone in the light. Among her lovers was the Austrian Chancellor Metternich, to whom she gave birth to a daughter. The death of her husband did not affect her lifestyle.

George Doe. Nikolai Nikolaevich Raevsky. 1st half of the 19th century. State Hermitage.

Nikolay Samokish-Sudkovsky. The feat of Raevsky's soldiers near Saltanovka. 1912.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Raevsky, who raised a regiment on the offensive near the village of Saltanovka (according to legend, his two sons, 17 and 11 years old, went into battle next to him), survived the battle. Dow most likely painted it from nature. Generally, in military gallery- more than 300 portraits, and although English artist"signed" them all, but the main array with the image of ordinary generals was created by his Russian assistants - Alexander Polyakov and Wilhelm Golike. However, Dow still portrayed the most important generals himself.

Vladimir Borovikovsky. Sofia Alekseevna Raevskaya. 1813. State Museum A.S. Pushkin.

Raevsky had a big loving family(Pushkin long recalled traveling with them in the Crimea). He was married to Sofya Alekseevna Konstantinova, the granddaughter of Lomonosov, together with his adored wife, they experienced many misfortunes, including disgrace and an investigation into the Decembrist uprising. Then Raevsky himself and both of his sons were under suspicion, but later their name was cleared. His daughter Maria Volkonskaya followed her husband into exile. Surprisingly, all the Raevsky children inherited a huge great-grandfather Lomonosov's forehead - however, the girls preferred to hide it behind curls.

George Doe (workshop). Alexander Alekseevich Tuchkov. 1st half of the 19th century. State Hermitage.

Alexander Alekseevich Tuchkov is one of those who inspired Tsvetkova to write poems, which later turned into Nastenka's beautiful romance in the film "Say a Word About the Poor Hussar."

He died in the Battle of Borodino, and his body was never found. Dow, creating his posthumous portrait, copied a very successful image by Alexander Warneck. The picture shows how handsome Tuchkov was.

Nikolay Matveev. The widow of General Tuchkov on the Borodino field. State Tretyakov Gallery.

Unknown artist. Margarita Tuchkova. 1st half of the 19th century. GMZ "Borodino field"

His wife Margarita Mikhailovna, nee Naryshkina, adored her husband. When the news of her husband's death was delivered to her, she went to the battlefield - the approximate place of death was known. Margarita searched for Tuchkov for a long time among the mountains of dead bodies, but the search turned out to be fruitless. For a long time after these terrible searches, she was not herself, her relatives feared for her mind. Later, she erected a church on the indicated place, then a convent, of which she became the first abbess, having taken tonsure after new tragedy - sudden death teenage son.

George Doe. Portrait of Denis Davydov. 1822-1828. State Hermitage.

For Denis Davydov, the most famous of the Russian hussars, Borodino was not just a battlefield in front of Moscow. Since 1768, the village of Borodino belonged to his family: first to his grandfather, then to his father. This is where the poet grew up.

Vasily Vereshchagin. Don't shut up! Let me come. 1887-1895. State Historical Museum.

On the eve of the battle, he lay in the bushes and watched how the buildings of his native estate were dismantled for bivouacs and bonfires. In the portrait of Dow, the brave warrior is depicted in a hussar uniform - although he performed the feats that glorified him in peasant clothes, leading a partisan detachment.

Pavel Yakovlev. Portrait of Sophia Davydova. 1820s Museum-reserve "Estate" Muranovo "named after I. F.I. Tyutchev.

Sofia Bagdasarova, historian, art critic.

The Internet is replete with blogs of various formats on the most different topics: beauty, fashion, games, movies, books, entertainment... But even today, when there are so many interesting niches around, one should not forget about art. In LiveJournal you will find many informative blogs about art, especially since we have already selected some great projects for you.

1. Tatyana Andryushchenko

Tatiana's popular blog looks at culture as a whole. The author shares not so much his own preferences as he invites his readers to get acquainted with various artistic directions and make your own choice: what you like and what you don't. Tatyana herself writes about her blog as follows: “Here you can find surre, art, salon, fashion and retro, and ... erotica.” In some places provocative, looking into the hidden corners of modern mass culture, but this makes it even more interesting to study. Recommended!

2. Sofia Bagdasarova

The sonorous nickname Shakko Kitsune (in Japanese folklore - a red werewolf fox) belongs to the art historian Sofia Bagdasarova. Her main areas of professional interest are painting and history. Russian culture. Sophia devoted and continues to devote many articles published on the Portal to them cultural heritage and traditions of Russia "Culture.RF", links to which can be found in the top blog post. And more recently, Sophia also published an electronic illustrated book "Mysteries about Russian queens, empresses, regents and grand duchesses of Moscow."

If there are readers among you who think that art is boring, then we advise you to look at Sophia's posts by tag

In her blog, Anna opens up the diverse world of painting and introduces the outstanding works of the masters. Special attention she devotes a large layer of our history - fine arts Soviet period. Turning to sketches so familiar and understandable to many everyday life of that time, Anna was able to systematically comprehend and document it. May Day, flights into space, pioneers, workers and discoverers - everything is filled in the pictures of the collections warm light and breathes faith in the future.

4. Valentina Feofilaktova

The blog of the Teacher - art critic and teacher with 40 years of experience touches wide circle topics: from the Middle Ages of the 12th century, Romanesque art, the art of Byzantium, Italy, the Renaissance to architecture, sculpture, mosaics, the history of ornament and styles in art.

The Valentina principle can be formulated as "less subjectivism, more general principles and patterns." Therefore, here you will not find great comments, but you will see a lot of beauty through her eyes. Noticed, photos from the author's travels work better than any art history lesson!

In Nadezhda's blog, everyone who is not indifferent to art will certainly find something of their own for themselves, whether it be simple selections for the mood or thematic posts. We have evaluated and recommend more than 350 artists. We bet that you have not heard the names of many before, which means that the most inquisitive people will have more than one hour of immersion in wonderful world visual arts.

Prepared by LiveJournal Russia especially for Hello, blogger.