Just as Nazi Germany appropriated works of art - paintings, sculptures and antiques - from all over Europe in 1939 and 1940, so the Soviet army set up "trophy brigades" to transport the same works of art, and many more, to Moscow and Leningrad in 1945. This book by two Russian art historians sets out to reveal how they did this and what happened to these works of art. With the end of the Soviet Union, many of these stolen works are now likely to go on display in Russia or be returned to their rightful owners in Europe. This book will be of interest to those who want to know what there is and where it is.

Stolen treasure: The hunt for the world's lost masterpieces

Akinsha, Konstantin

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

The history of a building site in Moscow where Russian rulers since Alexander I have planned, constructed, and destroyed monuments of colossal proportions This book surveys two centuries of Russian history through a succession of ambitious architectural projects designed for a single construction site in central Moscow. Czars, Bolshevik rulers, and contemporary Russian leaders alike have dreamed of glorious monuments to themselves and their ideologies on this site. The history of their efforts reflects the story of the nation itself and its repeated attempts to construct or reconstruct its identity and to repudiate or resuscitate emblems of the past.
In the nineteenth century Czar Alexander I began to construct the largest cathedral (and the largest building) in the world at the time. His successor, Nicholas I, changed both the site and the project. Completed by Alexander III, the cathedral was demolished by Stalin in the 1930s to make way for the tallest building in the world, the Palace of Soviets, but that project was ended by the war. During the Khrushchev years the excavation pit was transformed into an outdoor heated swimming pool—the world’s largest, of course—and under Yeltsin’s direction the pool was replaced with a reconstruction of the destroyed cathedral. The book explores each project intended for this ideologically-charged site and documents with 60 illustrations the grand projects that were built as well as those that were only dreamed.

The Holy Place: Architecture, Ideology, and History in Russia

History

Kozlov, Grigorij

Hochfield, Sylvia

Asia

Yale University Press

This groundbreaking study of avant-garde art produced in Ukraine between 1900 and the 1930s accompanies a major international exhibition opening at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid before traveling to other venues in Europe. 
In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900–1930s presents the groundbreaking art produced in Ukraine in the early 20th century. The book accompanies an exhibition that traces Ukrainian artistic developments between 1900 and the 1930s in three key cultural centers― Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Odesa―against a complicated socio-political backdrop of collapsing empires, World War I, the Revolution of 1917, and the creation of Soviet Ukraine. 
Showcasing avant-garde art and the Ukrainian artists who made it, while acknowledging the complex geopolitical structures and identities within which it functioned, In the Eye of the Storm features works in various media, from traditional oil paintings and drawings to collages, graphic and theater designs, and cinema. Exploring the distinctive voice of Ukrainian artists in the early 20th century, this is a relevant and important publication that reveals Ukraine’s significant contribution to modern art. 180 photographs

In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Thames&Hudson

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Books by Akinsha, Konstantin