Savva Yamshchikov

POINTS OF VIEW

Savva Yamshchikov
Tribute to the Album

#3 2013 (40)

The immediate impression of any viewer seeing the album "The Icon Collection in the Tretyakov Gallery" is to feel the impulse to exclaim "splendid!" Published to mark the 150th anniversary of the treasurehouse of Russian art by the ScanRus publishing house and financed by the member of the Board of Trustees of the Tretyakov Gallery Vitaly Machitski this unique publication brings to mind the lines of Pushkin: "The muses at work eschew ado, The beautiful must be majestic." Modern publishing devoted to the popularization of the history of international art is amazingly diverse, and the book market has a wide variety of publications to offer. Regrettably, it should be noted that the quality of art books and albums published today very rarely matches their quantity. Re-issues of popular Western album series, translated into Russian, make our bookstores look like their London or Paris counterparts. This is good because now every person who is more or less interested in the history of architecture, painting and sculpture can find as much information as he or she needs about the subject concerned and can acquire the books for any private library. However, coming across a real gem, the one that makes the buyer of a new publication feel the joy of discovery and appreciate the book's lasting value - alas, this does not happen often.