• This mosaic, previously unknown to us, is in danger of being destroyed. There’s an article out today on Vlast.kz about the situation. Any help at all is appreciated!
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    This mosaic, previously unknown to us, is in danger of being destroyed. There’s an article out today on Vlast.kz about the situation. Any help at all is appreciated!
  • Fragments of broken pottery in a mosaic on an apartment building on Satpaev / Seifullin
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    Fragments of broken pottery in a mosaic on an apartment building on Satpaev / Seifullin
  • A new find for me - a mosaic mausoleum. Bus stops in Almaty were famously decorated with mosaics of broken pottery from the Kapshagai Ceramic Factory, but these two mausoleums made in 1995 in the village of Qolsai are proof that this technique was put to other uses as well.
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    A new find for me - a mosaic mausoleum. Bus stops in Almaty were famously decorated with mosaics of broken pottery from the Kapshagai Ceramic Factory, but these two mausoleums made in 1995 in the village of Qolsai are proof that this technique was put to other uses as well.
  • Wow! Did you know a work by one of the 20th century’s greatest artists, Fernand Léger, is hanging in an Almaty restaurant? Léger was a French pioneer in monumental art, one of the first to create modernist tapestries, stained glass, and bas-reliefs, who had a major impact on Soviet monumentalists. His glazed ceramic bas-relief “Women with a Parrot” was bought at Christies by the Kazakh businessman and collector Nurlan Smagulov and is currently displayed for the public at Crudo streakhouse at the Mega 2 Restaurant Gallery.
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    Wow! Did you know a work by one of the 20th century’s greatest artists, Fernand Léger, is hanging in an Almaty restaurant? Léger was a French pioneer in monumental art, one of the first to create modernist tapestries, stained glass, and bas-reliefs, who had a major impact on Soviet monumentalists. His glazed ceramic bas-relief “Women with a Parrot” was bought at Christies by the Kazakh businessman and collector Nurlan Smagulov and is currently displayed for the public at Crudo streakhouse at the Mega 2 Restaurant Gallery.
  • A rotary telephone in embossed metal (chekanka), Alatau village near Almaty
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    A rotary telephone in embossed metal (chekanka), Alatau village near Almaty
  • Look closely! If you inspect one of Almaty mosaics, you can find a stamped tile from the 19th century! The “Enlik-Kebek” mosaic on the Hotel Almaty, by Nikolai Tsivchinskiy and Moldakhmet Kenbaev, was assembled from so-called “Tsarist” smalti tiles from St. Petersburg. Look at the boot of the hero Kebek and you’ll find the letter “З (Z). At first I didn't know what to make of it, and then I went to St. Petersburg. In an exhibit at the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, I found an identical tile that revealed the original text: “ИСЗ БОНАФЕДЕ (ISZ Bonafede). The first three letters, ISZ, stand for Императорский Стеклянный Завод (Imperatorskiy Steklyanniy Zavod), or the Imperial Glass Factory. Bonafede refers to the Italian craftsman Leopoldo Bonafede, who was invited from Rome in 1846 by Tsar Nicholas I to revive the Russian mosaic industry. Bonafede's recipes for smalti glass tiles would be used until 1924, when production was discontinued. Next time you're at the Hotel Almaty, look closely for this piece of Russian Imperial history! You can also find tiles stamped with Бонафеде (Bonafede), which is amazing - the name of an Italian mosaic master on a Russian tile in Kazakhstan :)
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    Look closely! If you inspect one of Almaty mosaics, you can find a stamped tile from the 19th century! The “Enlik-Kebek” mosaic on the Hotel Almaty, by Nikolai Tsivchinskiy and Moldakhmet Kenbaev, was assembled from so-called “Tsarist” smalti tiles from St. Petersburg. Look at the boot of the hero Kebek and you’ll find the letter “З (Z). At first I didn't know what to make of it, and then I went to St. Petersburg. In an exhibit at the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, I found an identical tile that revealed the original text: “ИСЗ БОНАФЕДЕ (ISZ Bonafede). The first three letters, ISZ, stand for Императорский Стеклянный Завод (Imperatorskiy Steklyanniy Zavod), or the Imperial Glass Factory. Bonafede refers to the Italian craftsman Leopoldo Bonafede, who was invited from Rome in 1846 by Tsar Nicholas I to revive the Russian mosaic industry. Bonafede's recipes for smalti glass tiles would be used until 1924, when production was discontinued. Next time you're at the Hotel Almaty, look closely for this piece of Russian Imperial history! You can also find tiles stamped with Бонафеде (Bonafede), which is amazing - the name of an Italian mosaic master on a Russian tile in Kazakhstan :)
  • Some modern monumental art in Astana (ahem, Nur-Sultan): a pointilist portrait of the Qazaq writer and politician Saken Seifullin
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    Some modern monumental art in Astana (ahem, Nur-Sultan): a pointilist portrait of the Qazaq writer and politician Saken Seifullin
  • We chose not to include tapestries (gobelens) in our project because so few have survived in situ. This one I saw yesterday at the Central State Museum. Where have you seen Soviet-era tapestries?
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    We chose not to include tapestries (gobelens) in our project because so few have survived in situ. This one I saw yesterday at the Central State Museum. Where have you seen Soviet-era tapestries?
  • In Kazakhstan, many mosaicist found work after the collapse of the Soviet Union by decorating mosques. Here is some calligraphy from Almaty’s Central Mosque.
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    In Kazakhstan, many mosaicist found work after the collapse of the Soviet Union by decorating mosques. Here is some calligraphy from Almaty’s Central Mosque.