Arkady Ippolitov. Only Venice

Arkady Ippolitov. Only Venice. Images of Italy XXI May 17th, 2016

I accidentally saw Ippolitov’s book in the St. Petersburg book house as soon as she left. It was somehow steeply priced, it was thick, and by that time I had already accumulated probably about ten kilos of books bought on that trip. In general, I stepped on the throat of my own song and did not buy it. Which now, after reading it, I regret. This is by far the best thing I have read about Venice.

Moreover, Ippolitov himself, as a person, makes a rather repulsive impression. Later, when I looked a little at his biography, it became clear why. Yes, yes, this is the same “intelligentsia”:



In the photo: Leonid Desyatnikov, Boris Messerer, Bella Akhmadullina, Arkady Ippolitov, Polina Osetinskaya, Dunya Smirnova, Alexander Timofeevsky, Irina Lyubarskaya, Sergey Dubrovsky, Vladimir Naparin, Irena Pastukhova, Andrey Samaduga. 1991

But at first I didn’t know anything about this, and therefore I was surprised to read about the author’s meeting with Venice:

“It was my first time in Italy and my first time abroad, and I ended up there at the invitation of my friends Danilo Parisio and Marika Morelli, whom I met in St. Petersburg, where Danilo, as a designer and architect, designed an exhibition of contemporary Italian art. They invited me along Dunya Smirnova, who I was married to at the time, out of personal sympathy, and also as a sign of respect for my exceptional - so it seemed to them - knowledge of Italian art."

“Now, when I remember this, my first physical contact with Venice, I feel a strange duality: this, of course, is me sitting on the stern of the boat, staring at Venice as if it were a new gate, and I roar like sheep's tears, large and silent, but I’m still the same, as if from the outside, I see a healthy thirty-year-old bull sitting on the stern of the boat and roaring like a ram.»

« I roared at the stern of the boat like never before in my life.. “Revel” is the wrong word, since it implies a certain sound, but I did it silently. Not because I was embarrassed by those around me, although that’s why too, but because the tears, not being an expression of some kind of emotional experience, were simply a consequence of the condensation of the fog that had accumulated in my skull, that is, like sheep tears, a manifestation of pure physiology - and they flowed profusely and involuntarily. »

“Dunya, for example, did not cry, but only looked at me with sympathetic surprise, fully empathizing with my tears and taking them into account without any condemnation, but not trying to separate them, so to speak, which would be funny and false“Suppose she sat down next to me, took me by the hand and also began to silently flow with tears, like someone smeared with onions - that would be a picture!”

“But by the way: what can a decent person talk about with the greatest pleasure?
Answer: about myself.
Well, I’ll talk about myself.

F.M.Dostoevsky. Notes from the Underground"

1. What is the book about?
A little quirky, but a wonderful guide to Venice. Quite logically constructed. Places are described in such a way that I recognize them from the text, read them, and pictures appear before my eyes. Moreover, Ippolitov talks about many of the things that interested me, but it was not clear where to look for information, and not just like that, but in the context of history, literature, music and painting. A complete picture emerges, which is perhaps how the city is recognized.

Venice 2016. House with a camel, looking at which I said that it would be great to know the history of it and the camel.Sigma SD1 Sigma SA AF 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM

Although, of course, there are pitfalls in the text, and bookmarks, and substitution of meanings, the whole intellectual set of dislike for “this country.” There are just no alternatives to books like these, and that’s sad.

Arkady Viktorovich Ippolitov - born in 1958 in Leningrad. In 1989 he graduated from the Faculty of History of Leningrad State University (Department of Art History). From the same year he worked at the State Hermitage as a curator of Italian engravings. Curator of exhibitions at the Hermitage: “Masterpieces of Western European engraving of the 15th-18th centuries.” (1998), “The Child Jesus” (2000), “Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition. The art of photography and engraving of mannerism" (2004-2005), etc. Published in publications: "Kommersant", "Russian Telegraph", "Pinakothek", "Seance", etc. Teaches art history at the European University (St. Petersburg) and in SPbSUKiTe.

Author of the books: “Baroque of the end of the century. Rubens Circle - Greenway Circle" (1992), "The Golden Ass" (1995), "Venice" (2001), "Yesterday. Today. Never" (2008) and "Especially Lombardy. Images of Italy-21" (2012). Member of the expert council of the St. Petersburg Institute PRO ARTE. Expert, head of the “Fine Arts” section, author of a number of articles in the publication “The Newest History of Russian Cinema. 1986-2000". Member of the editorial board of the publishing house "Seance". ()

4. Disadvantages
At first, until I got used to it, and the author was very annoying, all the fields were crossed out with notes, but later, he somehow came to terms with it, or learned to filter and stopped crossing out fields. Therefore, shortcomings with examples will only be from the very beginning of the book.

1. As I already wrote, it is verbose in places and especially where the author talks about himself. At times it becomes colorful, vulgar and empty. Here, for example, is a fragment about the Embankment of the Incurable:

“There is no trace of the Embankment of the Incurables, it is not mentioned in any guidebook, but Brodsky calls his essay “Fondamenta degli Incurabili”, “The Incurables” are important to him, and the text of his “Zattere”, “Rafts”, cannot possibly be indicated, what nonsense. Of course, Brodsky’s essay is the Fondamenta degli Incurabili, that is, a cosa in sè, born only from the subjective properties of Joseph himself, so it may not be in the guides, but if you rummage through archives and antique shops, then on very old Venetian maps, gathering dust there, faded, like frescoes washed away by the winds and rains from the facades of old palaces, you can find the inscription Fondamenta degli Incurabili.

The Embankment of the Incurables appears like a ghost: no one has been using maps for a long time, they are useless as art, but the maps prove that the Fondamenta degli Incurabili exists, it is on some border between reality and the imaginary, like everything in Venice. But it exists, for sure, this is exactly the place where I slipped, and it is located just near the Ponte dei Incurabili and opposite the Ospedale dei Incurabili. Now I can confirm this, since the stones of the embankment crashed into me in all their Updyesque crystalline fullness and the Incurables surrounded me on all sides. I received such a distinct injury, of course, on the Fondamenta delle Zattere, but I fell into the metaphysical nature of the Fondamenta degli Incurabili, that is, on the Brodsky Embankment of the Incurables, and it was there that I stretched out, and not in the middle of some Embankment of Rafts, clearly marked on business cards reality cards used by “chronic tourists”. In Venice, objectivity is not easy”

Venice 2016. iPhone

And here is the memorial plaque:

Venice 2016. iPhone

2. The slyness of double standards. There are wonderful elves and for them it’s normal:

“Campo Santo Stefano, for example, you studied thoroughly, down to the smallest details, you already had lunch there and sat in its many cafes more than once»

“Now type “carpaccio” on the Internet, and this will pop up:

- beef carpaccio
— salmon carpaccio
— beet carpaccio
— chicken carpaccio

and only somewhere in the last place will “Carpaccio Vittore” flash, because our era of consumerism - “consumerism” is a very successful translation of the term affluenza, which is a mix of affluence, “abundance,” and influenza, “flu,” invented by de Graaf, Vann and Naylor and put in the title of their acclaimed 2001 book Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic, in Russian sounding like “Consumption. A disease that threatens the world” has turned everything into a mess. The dish “carpaccio” has become much more famous than the artist who gave his name to the dish - oh yes, that’s all true, and, dear “tasteful” reader, I’m turned off by stupid admiration for Venice just like you, but my three-kopeck Carpaccio jumps out of an era completely devoid of consumerism.”

“impact on the mind and imagination of a person through associations rooted in the subconscious, and I personally don’t like this word too much, since from my youth I remember the defense of one dissertation, in which the reviewer said about the dissertation author that “suggestivity” stuck to the tip of his pen”

“Suggestion (Latin suggestio - suggestion) is a psychological influence on a person’s consciousness, in which an uncritical perception of his beliefs and attitudes occurs. It represents specially formed verbal (but sometimes emotional) constructions, often also called suggestion.”

“At the end of the 15th century, after the adoption of the Edict of Granada in 1492, which ordered the forced expulsion under pain of death of all Jews from Spain, signed by King Ferdinand of Aragon, and inspired by the queen, Isabella of Castile, who received the nickname Catholic and former real fascists, that is, after the historical beginning of the European Holocaust, a mass of Spanish Jews, educated, capable and rich, poured into Venice.”

“A specialist is like gumboil, its completeness is one-sided»

5. Verdict
And yet, I repeat once again: a wonderful book about Venice. The best I've ever read. Lars von Trier talked about this: “Dying-as-mythologically done.”

Arkady Ippolitov (2006) Arkady Viktorovich Ippolitov (born March 26, 1958, Leningrad) Russian art critic. Graduated from the Faculty of History of Leningrad University, Department of Art History. Since 1989 he has been working at the State Hermitage... Wikipedia

- ... Wikipedia

Ippolitov is a Russian surname. Famous carriers Ippolitov, Arkady Viktorovich (b. 1958) Russian art critic. Ippolitov, Vasily Afanasyevich (1892 1957) Russian and Soviet speed skater, coach; brother... ... Wikipedia

Arkady Ippolitov (2006) Arkady Viktorovich Ippolitov (born March 26, 1958, Leningrad) Russian art critic. Graduated from the Faculty of History of Leningrad University, Department of Art History. Since 1989 he has been working at the State Hermitage... Wikipedia

Arkady Ippolitov (2006) Arkady Viktorovich Ippolitov (born March 26, 1958, Leningrad) Russian art critic. Graduated from the Faculty of History of Leningrad University, Department of Art History. Since 1989 he has been working at the State Hermitage... Wikipedia

Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Monastyrsky. Andrey Monastyrsky ... Wikipedia

Yuri Viktorovich Chainikov (1950) is a Russian translator of poetry. Biography Graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University (1972). He worked and still works at the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences (INION), on radio. Literary works... ... Wikipedia

This page is an informational list. See also the main article: Novodevichy Cemetery Contents ... Wikipedia

The Stalin Prize for outstanding inventions and fundamental improvements in production methods is a form of encouragement for citizens of the USSR for significant services in the technical development of Soviet industry, the development of new technologies, modernization... ... Wikipedia

Books

• Only Venice. Images of Italy XXI, Arkady Viktorovich, Ippolitov, A unique book about an incredible city. The Venetian past has not disappeared, the eternal beauty is as fresh as “high water”, from the Rialto Bridge you can hear the voices of courtesans and the cries of Nicolotti fighting with... Category:

ARKADY IPPOLITOV

© "Russian Telegraph" September 19, 1998 For the last two centuries, Europe has been unfair and cruel to Italy. After the Napoleonic Wars, enlightened northerners began to view the Apennine Peninsula as a continental park of recreation and culture. In their pride and their prejudices the Europeans progressed very quickly. If at the beginning of the last century Stendhal genuinely admired the disposition and character of living Italians, then Thomas Mann already perceived the local population as intrusive representatives of the local fauna, annoyingly spoiling the surrounding cultural and historical landscape.

Alexander Blok and other Russian travelers of the beginning of the century saw only dust and exhaust fumes in modern Italy, leaving all their admiration to history.

For the perception of the last century, obsolete Italy was definitely better than modern Italy. The same Stendhal, sincerely admiring the beauty of the Milanese ladies, not without arrogance pointed out the poverty of their toilets, which were passed down by inheritance.

The boredom of dusty provincial life, broken only by the appearance of foreigners, became the lot of a great nation. There was no talk of any Italian style; it was limited to the national costume and dancing the tarantella, that is, for decent people it was only suitable during the carnival. High Italian society depended on French fashion; those golden days when Venetian and Florentine women were role models throughout Europe and Elizabeth of England ordered toilets from Italy have sunk into the past.

With all the indifference bordering on hostility towards Italian modernity, which is evident in the reviews of European travelers, Italy still remained the embodiment of beauty for all of Europe. The combination of southern nature and the great monuments of the past turned this very real country into a kind of phantom - it seems to exist, since its reality is given to us in our sensations, but on the other hand, it seems to not exist, since all Italian experiences turn out to be closely intertwined with what has already been felt in the past. And it turned out to be impossible to understand what actually causes admiration - the real ruins of Ancient Rome or the knowledge gleaned from literature and history about its greatness and splendor. Feel the past, i.e. that which does not exist is an unusually subjective activity, and Italy turned out to be a haven for various kinds of idealists - an attractive but absurd people. Realists did not favor Italy; A brilliant example of this kind of critical attitude towards it is Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy’s description of Karenina and Vronsky’s trip to Italy. Tolstoy's sober criticism is completely different from the enthusiastic loving outpourings of Gogol, a lover of everything ideal and fantastic.

The past weighed heavily on the shoulders of the Italians. At the beginning of the century, when everyone or almost everyone was in one way or another seized by the mania of the advanced in all its manifestations and in all areas, both in politics and in art, this dependence generally began to be perceived as something terribly compromising. What kind of fashion could we talk about in a country where everything is crushed by ruins? It seemed that Italy was doomed to be provincial. The noisy antics of the Futurists only emphasized the Italian denseness: frenzy is always characteristic of the outback, since only there can it attract attention.

One of the manifestations of the provincial complex was the style of Italian fascism, when the Duce decided to marry the terry nationalism characteristic of the recently united Italian kingdom with futuristic utopias.

Mussolini's quarters in Rome turned out to be, in general, nothing, especially considering the fact that they did not burden the Palatine or the Capitol, but were erected at some distance from the Great City, so that now they have turned into a kind of Disneyland for intellectuals. There's definitely a sense of style to them - naked skiers under the southern sun and simplistic arcade games reminiscent of the Colosseum, gladiator fights and martyred Christians are capable of impressing, and, political crimes aside, somewhat entertaining a tired palate. However, they are perceived this way only today, after several ultra-elegant modern architects sang the praises of totalitarian architecture. In the thirties they were treated differently, and Rome at that time could not be called a fashionable city.

A dramatic change occurred in the 60s of our century. Having gone through a period of pride in its beautiful poverty, backwardness and second-class status during the times of neorealism, Italy suddenly became the most fashionable country in Europe. After “The Earth Trembles,” Visconti made “The Misty Stars of Ursa Major,” Pasolini, after “Mama Roma,” created “Theorem,” and Fellini’s “The Road” leads to “La Dolce Vita.” You can, of course, talk about the consequences of the economic boom, the prosperity of the aluminum industry and the development of plastics production, which led to Italy becoming the country of the most elegant phones in the world, but this must be done quite carefully. Scandinavia also began to flourish as a result of the boom of the 60s, but Finnish design, for all its obvious advantages, became a model only for owners of summer houses around St. Petersburg, who consider sneakers and tracksuits in cheerful colors to be the height of sophistication. Italy and Italian culture contained something that could again conquer the whole world and again, as in the 16th century, make all fashionistas and fashionistas worship this beautiful country.

Among the countless definitions of style, the most correct is still the one given by Buffon in his speech when elected to the French Academy: “Style is a person.”

It means that style is one way or another formed set of manifestations of a certain individuality. The more conscious this manifestation is and the more vivid the individuality, the more justifiably the style can claim the title of style. Any period of time turns out to be formed into something that can be called the “spirit of the time” thanks to the totality of various individual actions and actions, united by something common, so that any decade - even if it is declaratively styleless or multi-style - has its own style. The same can be said about every nation.

Definitions such as “bad” or “good” clearly do not work in relation to style. After all, the style of sneakers and tracksuits can be very good, but the style of Dolce and Gabbana may well be bad, just as the style of Armani and Valentino has become bad, now only suitable for bandits. Moreover, the style of training suits can easily become stylish, it’s just a matter of arrangement.

Here the Italians have no equal, since their great country has accumulated so many styles and individualities that an Italian does not even need taste in choice, he can afford to simply follow one or several numerous lines outlined by his native culture, be it ancient classicism , gentle Quattrocento, lush Byzantium, colorful East, neorealistic poverty or religious kitsch. Moreover, when turning to a particular topic, the Italian, using the experience of creating styles accumulated over centuries, is not at all afraid of being secondary and remains free from the strict laws of good taste, since only by breaking them can one create a style. For any artistically gifted Italian, there are two reference points: the Renaissance - the first European style, declaratively secondary and created on the basis of the processing of the great past and which conquered all of Europe - and Caravaggio, the first artist who boldly overturned the established system of tastes, which was generally considered good, and also conquered all of Europe.

In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, when a naive faith in the progress of humanity and everything connected with it, such as art, reigned, this brilliant ability of the Italian spirit was unclaimed. The Italian style was not noticed, since he was disgusted by the demand for total novelty and preferred dolce far niente to French fussiness and English eccentricity. But today, having lost faith in social and artistic utopias, any European who wants to be or be known as elegant, even if he was born in America or Japan, and his parents are blacks, Indians or Chinese, is ready to go to the stake with the words: “There is no other style, except Italian! and die for the affirmation of this obvious truth. The superiority of the Italian style is as immutable as the fact that Italy is washed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and it is generally unnecessary to talk about this. For the English style is only a style of life, that is, good quality and convenience.

French style is only about taste and the ability to choose and combine, and in no case is it about creativity. German style (may God forgive the blasphemous reference to a nation that often claimed world domination and very rarely style) is a way of thinking in which you forget what your interlocutor is wearing. Spanish style is a way of behavior, and it is limited to the black suit and white collar of the Spanish grandees and Carmen's mantilla. The American style is an image of government that cares about the health and welfare of the nation, and the Russian style is a permanent admiration for English life, French taste, German thinking, Spanish behavior, American rule and the great Italian style, that is, the beautiful creations of Rastrelli, Quarenghi, Rossi, Armani, Versace, Missoni, Dolce and Gabbana.

Earthly paradise in the center of Mercedes production Exhibition of Paul Gauguin in Stuttgart Arkady IPPOLITOV © Russian Telegraph, August 1, 1998 One of the most important themes of the culture of the twentieth century is flight from civilization, the search for pristine purity and innocent happiness. At various periods, the desire to renounce all the blessings and all the misfortunes of modernity gripped various artists and forced them to rush to remote parts of the globe. The true peak of this cultural impulse was the hippie movement, which brought the rejection of civilization to such perfection that in essence it became a rejection of literacy. By the end of the century, such radicalism had somewhat compromised itself, and now they have almost stopped running away from civilization. Moreover, there is nowhere to run - wherever intellectuals and artists sought solitude, resorts were built, and risky romantic trips turned into expensive, respectable cruises.

There are especially many Germans at fashionable resorts, located in places where previously the best representatives of humanity dreamed of enjoying solitude. Since ancient times, this nation has been eager to go where “the laurel blooms and the oranges ripen,” and longing for the south, the sun and the clear simplicity of southern plasticism has become one of the signs of the German spirit, as characteristic as its gloominess. Goethe gave this desire a cultural form that turned out to be so expressive that even in the modern bustle of airports during vacation time one can discern echoes of the song Mignon. The exhibition, which recently took place in Stuttgart, could not be more natural for Germany. Its theme - "Gauguin in Tahiti" - in June-July is perceived as an advertisement for Lufthansa flights to the Pacific islands.

Paul Gauguin is the undisputed father of escapism trends in the twentieth century. He not only theoretically longed for an earthly paradise, which many had done before him, but also in reality carried out a similar idea. His pilgrimage to Tahiti did not remain a vague wish, but became a reality. His departure occurred to the thunderous applause of the literary elite of Symbolism, but no one followed his example. Confirming their innate attraction to the southern lands, the Germans imitated Gauguin to a greater extent than the French. Almost no great artist of the French avant-garde of the beginning of the century went further than the French colonies in Algeria and Morocco, while the German expressionists, inspired by the Tahitian works of Gauguin, made trips to the Pacific islands.

At the exhibition in Stuttgart, Gauguin's flight to Tahiti is perceived not as a manifestation of individual will, but as a cultural pattern in the development of European artistic thought. The exhibition of Gauguin's paintings is preceded by works by northern artists, from Lucas Cranach to Edvard Munch.

Gauguin's trip to Tahiti is thus placed in a specific context, traced back to the 16th century, and becomes something much more than the act of a single genius. Accordingly, the paintings themselves are perceived in a new way, previously interpreted as experiments in overcoming culture and a search for anti-classical ways of developing European art, but at this exhibition they look like an intoxicating dream about a new classic.

In Stuttgart, Gauguin is surrounded by paintings by northern masters. Whether this is an accidental manifestation of the nationalism of the German curators or a deliberate gesture is almost irrelevant. Gauguin, paradoxical as it may seem at first glance, is essentially alien to French culture. His constant desire to break out of its framework and the complete impossibility for him to stay in Paris is not just a natural consequence of his disastrous financial situation. The conflict between Gauguin and the society around him is not only and not so much social as psychophysical. With his character and demeanor, it would be more suitable for him to live in Scandinavia and communicate with Hamsun and Munch than with Parisian bohemia.

For French culture, the desire to travel to distant lands seems as natural as for German culture. When talking about Gauguin’s craving for the tropics, people almost always remember Delacroix, Fromentin and his romantic love for the East. Subsequently, Baudelaire's admiration for the “black Venus” and the flight of Arthur Rimbaud made such sentiments obligatory for the decadent Parisian. However, Delacroix’s orientalism, and Baudelaire’s poems, and the call to “Run, run!” Stéphane Mallarmé's works were not manifestations of escapism, but rather the craving of the inhabitants of the world capital for exotic luxury, the consumer's love for a variety of impressions. At its core, all French Orientalism of the 19th century is hothouse, and it is obvious that the phantoms of the Drunken Ship grow out of opium and absinthe consumed on a sofa or at a table in a Parisian cafe. French culture always recognizes itself as the ultimate truth and, even criticizing itself, cannot help but admire itself - other cultures for it are just exotic, an expensive spice that decorates the national cuisine. This is felt even in the attitude of the French towards Italy, perhaps the most respected national culture for them, which they perceive simply as part of their own with some ethnic variations. The self-sufficiency of French culture, so ideally expressed in Huysmans’s novel (where it turns out that in order to feel Dickens’s England or Dutch specificity, you don’t need to leave Paris), distinguishes it from English, German or Russian, which always feel their inferiority. Efforts to compensate for this inferiority, taking the most varied forms, have often led to the highest achievements. Examples of this are Byron, Goethe, Gogol. The French always remained observers, like Chateaubriand, Stendhal, and the Marquis de Custine.

Gauguin constantly tried to overcome the self-sufficiency of French culture. His conflict with impressionism is primarily explained by this.

The Impressionists found a true paradise in the momentary French reality and tirelessly sang it, wanting to take possession of it and dispose of it. In the end, they succeeded, and only Degas' skepticism poisoned the impressionistic triumph - it was not without reason that Gauguin maintained a good relationship with Degas for the longest time. Gauguin kept repeating that everything around him was rubbish, rubbish and once again rubbish. According to numerous testimonies of his contemporaries, he was arrogant, self-satisfied and arrogant, but he could not have been otherwise. Gauguin, who was born in Peru and always remained a foreigner in the French environment, so as not to go crazy like Van Gogh, had no choice but to insist on his own self-sufficiency in order to contrast it with the self-sufficiency of the French. He did this with truly French tenacity.

Hundreds of books have been written about Gauguin's life in Tahiti, and his every step on the island has been studied with the greatest possible care. Gauguin himself described his stay in Polynesia not only with his paintings, but also in his novels. In "Noa-Noa" he created an image of the most tender earth from the scents of tropical flowers, women's hair and ancient legends. Life on this earth is as simple as communicating with the stars. Laws are not needed on it, just like everyday work; its inhabitants are innocent, since they do not know the word “vice”, and in this they are akin to flowers, fruits and birds. Only there is unity with nature possible, for only there is it generous and kind, and existence on this island is possible without any struggle.

Reading Gauguin's book "Noa-Noa", you understand that his description of Tahiti is nothing more than a story about the discovery of the Golden Age at the end of the 19th century. Subsequently, researchers proved that no idyll existed in Tahiti, that Tehura could not tell Gauguin legends about Tahitian spirits, and that Gauguin ate not fruits, but stewed meat from a colonial shop. Gauguin's Tahiti is completely fictional, nothing like this has ever happened in reality, and all the stories about Tahitian mythology are just a compilation based on Murenhut's book about the religion of the Polynesians.

At the exhibition, Gauguin's Tahiti is juxtaposed with Cranach's depiction of the Garden of Eden.

It is unlikely that anyone will now seriously argue that Cranach depicted the Garden of Eden incorrectly - that would be quite risky. Gauguin's paradise is as real as humanity's eternal dream of the Golden Age. Since the time of Hesiod, it seemed that this blessed time of complete happiness had been lost, and in depicting it, artists always implied the past. Gauguin is the only one who found the Golden Age in modern times and embodied it in visible images. Their convention is not a decorative device, but a myth-creating force, and Gauguin is great because he gave humanity faith in the possibility of finding what was lost. For a long time, people believed that the Fall forever deprived them of the opportunity to be happy. Gauguin's conventional Tahiti proved that happiness is possible for the sons of Adam, and his painting turned cultural dreams into reality. Gauguin succeeded in what poets and artists had dreamed of since antiquity - to experience heavenly freedom within the confines of earthly existence. It can be found in Gauguin’s paintings, which created the image of Tahiti, and it no longer matters what actually happened.

Art: a new visuality was born, but still in the cradle

author Ippolitov Arkady Viktorovich

Arkady Ippolitov The exhibition of the year opened in Paris Articles in Kommersant, Session Number 186 from 01-10-94 The most relevant artist in Europe was born 400 years ago. Today, in the Grand Palais, the exhibition hall of the Louvre, opens dedicated to the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Nikola

From the book Masters and Masterpieces. Volume 3 author Dolgopolov Igor Viktorovich

Arkady Ippolitov. Articles in the Russian Telegraph An exhibition in London refutes the popular idea of ​​the “little Dutch” Great, but not average Arkady IPPOLITOV © Russian Telegraph June 27, 1998 When you mention Dutch painting of the 17th century, what immediately comes to mind is

From the book The Secret Russian Calendar. Main dates author Bykov Dmitry Lvovich

From the book of the Master of Historical Painting author Lyakhova Kristina Alexandrovna

From the author's book

ARKADY IPPOLITOV © Russian Telegraph September 19, 1998 For the last two centuries, Europe has been unfair and cruel to Italy. After the Napoleonic Wars, enlightened northerners began to view the Apennine Peninsula as a continental park of recreation and culture. IN

From the author's book

ARKADY IPPOLITOV "Russian Telegraph". December 29, 1997 Old art died... Fine art died... Abstraction died... Painting died... Cubism died, futurism died, Dada died, pop art, op art, kineticism, lettrism... Our century was very generous in death. AND,

From the author's book

ARKADY IPPOLITOV "Russian Telegraph". October 10, 1997 Last Friday, the entire progressive community of St. Petersburg was excited by the announcement of the opening of the Academic Halls of the Russian Museum. This event belongs to the realm of boring museum officialdom,

From the author's book

ARKADY IPPOLITOV "Russian Telegraph". October 6, 1997 "The era of Rudolf II, when Prague was the center of the Holy Roman Empire, was unique for the Czech Republic. Prague at that time was the cultural and spiritual capital of Central Europe. It is now that we are trying to get involved

From the author's book

Arkady Aleksandrovich Plastov (1893–1972) Returning to his native village after three years of studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Plastov worked along with his fellow countrymen, helping them in everything. There was very little time left for painting, but the peasants

A hundred years later, Arkady Ippolitov decided to follow in the footsteps of Pavel Muratov, who wrote “Images of Italy” - the most famous Italian travelogue written in Russian. It is no coincidence that the new series of books bears the subtitle “Images of Italy-XXI”. His first book, “Especially Lombardy,” was published a couple of years ago. Now - “Only Venice”. The city is given without a description of the islands of the lagoon, and even the Lido and Giudecca are ignored. Therefore - only Venice, a special place for the author, who once already wrote a guide to the Most Serene One for Afisha, as the Venetian Republic was called in past centuries - La Serenissima. Need I say that Ippolitov knows this city as well as he knows the history of Italian painting, which he has been studying all his life? Of course, the author's exceptional knowledge places Only Venice among the first-rate books written about Italy by enlightened foreigners such as John Ruskin, whose The Stones of Venice became a classic, or Peter Ackroyd, whose Venice. Beautiful City" was released quite recently.

Arkady Ippolitov //Photo: Alexander Lepyoshkin

What is the difference between your first Italian book and your second?

— The main fundamental difference between the first book and the second is that one is about Lombardy, the other is about Venice. The rest is not fundamental, but significant - there were many cities in Lombardy, but there was only one Venice. Venice has more saturation per square meter than Lombardy, it is as rich as the whole province, but more unified. That’s why the book turned out, I think, to be more subjective and more complex. There was a journey in Lombardy - here the path is very clearly defined, from St. Job to St. Helena. As you understand, this is the path of Christianity, well, something like John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, also boring. The book was written almost in the same way as Lombardy - all my life and nine months. I have lived in Venice in all seasons and in all areas, but my favorite time in Venice is the end of March-April and October - beginning of November, which, I think, is felt in the book. I also like all the districts, although most often I lived in Dorsoduro - it just so happened. I also write about this.

For life in Venice, you choose Dorsoduro, but open the book with an in-depth tour of Cannaregio. Why did you decide to start your Venetian travels from this area?

“I choose not so much Cannaregio as San Giobbe, Saint Job.” My Venice has long begun from this place, and this is explained by all sorts of generalizations: Job is the beginning and the end of everything, for “ perish the day on which I was born and the night in which it was said: man was conceived", and in my beginning is my end- and the very unpretentious circumstance that San Giobbe is close to the station. I lived in Dorsoduro not because I specially mark it with anything, but somehow it turned out that way. Dorsoduro has a reputation as a district of true connoisseurs of Venice, it is quiet and central, there is no crowd of San Marco, it is sung by de Vigny and others like him, including Brodsky with his Embankment of the Incurables. This has even begun to irritate me, so now I consciously run Dorsoduro, despite all its bewitching charm.

It seemed to me that you were entering Venice from the north, since Cannaregio most closely resembles St. Petersburg. How important are willful associations to the perception of a city? In Cannaregio’s description you recall Gogol’s story “The Nose”...

— There are no more different cities than Venice and St. Petersburg, and nothing in the city of Venice reminds me of the city of St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg there are some things reminiscent of Venice. But both Venice and St. Petersburg are part of the world cultural space, and that’s where they intersect and intertwine. The reason for an association is that it, coming from the Latin associare - to connect, arises involuntarily. The whole story about the Nose revolves around the noseless Rioba, the most important reality of Cannaregio and Venice, and “The Nose”, despite the fact that Rioba is the spitting image of Major Kovalev, is directly related to the realities of Venice.

At one time, you wrote one of the first Venetian guidebooks of the “modern era”. How has this book helped you in your current work? Or did it interfere with something that had already been written and spoken? Can you recommend any books about Venice available to the modern reader?

“I’ve safely thrown the guidebook out of my head.” In addition, “Afisha” dribbled into my brains, interfered and did not pay the additional money due under the contract - I will be happy to publish this information. Nothing stopped me, everything starts from a clean sheet, from a file created on the computer - no palimpsest for you, no “I’m writing on your draft.” I didn’t use guidebooks, but the devil would break my leg with anything - from rare collections of gallant stories to the Bible and back. Including, of course, various publications about Venice. When asked what to recommend, read “Death in Venice”, you can’t go wrong, and it’s easy to get. I must say, on one of my last visits to Venice, I picked it up along with Ackroyd’s book - very instructive - and found a lot of new things.

Ackroyd's book is a collection of "general" ideas about Venice and Venetian stereotypes, which could be written without leaving home. How important is it to convey in a book a sense of personal presence - the city, yourself in the city, the city in itself?

“I don’t consider Ackroyd’s book to be a collection of general ideas. I think that even if you write a book that is a catalog-list of buildings, then in this case you get a personal presence - you cannot get rid of personal presence, but you can set the task of minimizing it. In this case, I was not faced with such a task; I went my separate ways.

What is the fate of Muratov’s book in the West?

— Muratov has never been translated, and he is known only to Russian scholars.

Did Ruskin influence you?

- Not at all. I respect and appreciate Ruskin very much, but I don’t like him. I don't like his Victorianism and tasteful self-confidence.

What meaning do you put into the name? Why is Lombardy “especially” and Venice “only”?

— “Especially Lombardy” was an idea for me from a publishing house, so ask them what the point is. And “Only Venice” is mine, because it is necessary to continue the tone set by the publisher and because there is only Venice in the book. There is not even Murano or Giudecca...

Is it possible to imagine Venice without its paintings? Napoleon plundered the city and took most of the paintings and sculptures to France. What would Venice be like if the trophies had not been returned?

— I imagined Venice without paintings: sad... But, probably, you didn’t want to force me to do such a difficult task for the imagination, but wanted to ask something simpler: isn’t picturesqueness the defining Venetian consistency. Yes, it is like no other city in the world - that’s why Pasternak, describing his arrival in the city, writes that as soon as he stepped out of the station, the water in the canal at night reminded him of Venetian painting. So, if Napoleon had canceled his campaign in Russia in order to occupy all his soldiers with the task of clearing Venice of paintings and depriving it of paintings, picturesqueness would still remain in the city.

It seems to me that your idea is very important that you should go to Venice not for the past, but for the future. How does it open from there?

— The future of the world from Venice appears the same as the present appears in Baratynsky’s poems:

But I no longer serve the whims of fate:
Happy holiday, similar to happiness,
From now on I look from the frontier to the field
And I humbly bow to passers-by.

That is, non-aggressive and somewhat anemic, but certainly attractive to me. Whether it will be like this or not, alas, does not depend on Venice.

In the book you quote many poems, opera librettos, church hymns and film plots. What types of art are the most Venetian-intensive?

— Not a single type of art is sufficient for Venice, and, alas, due to the laboriousness, I abandoned the list, which many reproach me for. The name list of my book would be her third.

Which Venetian museum do you find most interesting?

- Academy Museum - Gallerie dell'Accademia, of course. You can’t go anywhere without it, a masterpiece on a masterpiece.

The Horus Association unites 16 churches, the most interesting in artistic terms. Should you follow their recommendations?

— Horus is not a recommendation, but a very useful thing that helps you save money. All Venetian churches are interesting, I refer you to my notorious guidebook, in which they are all listed and marked with stars in order of importance; this is not the place to do this in an interview. Not all of them are included in this book, and before the others, for example, before Chiesa di San Giovanni Grisostomo with the amazing Sebastiano del Piombo, I feel the deepest guilt.

Sebastiano del Piombo. St. John Chrysostom between Saints Catherine, Mary Magdalene, Lucia and Saints John the Evangelist, John the Baptist and Theodore. 1509-1511. Church of San Giovanni Crisostomo

The paintings in the churches are placed inconveniently, and the ceilings are high. What to do? Carry binoculars with you?

— It’s true that painting in churches is even less convenient to look at than in museums, but it has its place. With binoculars or something - the problem is your vision, glasses are enough for me.

Sources claim that three days is “enough” for a tourist visit. How much time does a “normal” tourist need to visit Venice?

— The question “about time for Venice” is incorrect. Who has how much? There will never be enough, but Venice may well become boring. If the source tells you that three is “enough”, etc. days - spit into this source, it is better not to drink from it.

Are you tired of Venice? Or do you find this city the best in the world?

“I’ve never gotten tired of Venice, but I’ve never lived in it for more than two weeks—and I wouldn’t want to.” Every time, by the end of the second week, I feel so tired that I’m glad to leave. If you're fed up with Venice, then leave. Probably, if I had to live in it for a long time, I would be sick of it. Venice can get boring, but not boring. Some people - I know them - are sick of Venice, but they live in it. Well, they leave from time to time. The best city is above the blue sky, but there is no city on earth that should be called the best, and there cannot be.

see also

From Grozny to Tatlin. Fragment of a new book by Arkady Ippolitov

About the adventures of the ether and how pleasant it is to admire mastery and find oddities in it, also about the fact that you need to live long

What contemporary art promises to become in the next ten years

The Eternal City through the eyes of Nikolai Gogol, Pavel Muratov and Viktor Sonkin. Today Muratov

About how a Polish poet of the twentieth century meets the Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca and becomes imbued with the greatest love for him

All materials from Kultprosvet Long lasting

A few views of Notre Dame Cathedral

In colors and destinies, as well as in chimeras, gargantuas and pantagruels

Tikhon Pashkov, April 17, 2019

From the photo album "Fake Happiness"

About the inevitable twists of fate and the happiness of being a savage

Natalia Lvova April 16, 2019

Ten paintings of bearded men and women

About familiar strangers

Lyudmila Bredikhina March 27, 2019

Marlen Khutsiev. Landscape with a hero

From the book "The Living and the Dead"

Evgeny Margolit March 19, 2019

Nikolai Nosov, writer without a chatterbox. 110 years

Lidiya Maslova November 23, 2018

Ten paintings with dogs

Bruegel's hunters, Fabricius's sentry, Hogarth's pug, chains from Pereslavl-Zalessky

Arkady Viktorovich Ippolitov
Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value). Arkady in 2006
Birth name:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Nicknames:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Full name	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Date of Birth:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Place of Birth:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Date of death:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
A place of death:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Citizenship (nationality):	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Occupation:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Years of creativity:	With Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value). By Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Direction:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Genre:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Language of works:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Debut:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Awards:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Awards:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Signature:	Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).
[[Lua error in Module:Wikidata/Interproject on line 17: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value). |Works]] in Wikisource
Lua error in Module:Wikidata on line 170: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).

Lua error in Module:CategoryForProfession on line 52: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).

Arkady Viktorovich Ippolitov(born March 26, Leningrad) - Russian art critic, curator, writer.

Graduated from the Faculty of History of Leningrad University, Department of Art History. Since 1978 he has been working at the State Hermitage Museum. Senior researcher at the Department of Western European Fine Arts of the State Hermitage, curator of Italian engravings. Member of the Board of the Pro Arte Institute (St. Petersburg). Author of more than 400 scientific and critical publications. Teacher of art history at the European University (St. Petersburg).

Curatorial activities

In 2002, A.V. Ippolitov became the coordinator of the Hermitage-Guggenheim project.

Curator of numerous exhibition projects in Russia and abroad.

Selected projects (Hermitage):

• "Irwin Penn. Photos from the Art Institute of Chicago." 1998. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 1998
• "Infant Jesus in Western European Engraving". 2000
• "Parmigianino in the ages and arts." 2004. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 2004
• "Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. “An Incident in the Museum” and other installations.” 2004. Catalog: St. Petersburg, New York, 2004
• "Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition: Mannerist Photographs and Engravings." 2004-2005. New York, St. Petersburg, Bilbao, Moscow. Catalog: New York, 2004.
• "Hogarth, Hockney and Stravinsky. "The Rake's Progress." 2006. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 2006
• "Timur's space". 2008. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 2008
• "Venice and Venetian life in 18th century engravings." 2008. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 2008
• "Boris Smelov. Retrospective". 2009. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 2009
• “Palaces, ruins and dungeons. Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Italian architectural fantasies of the 18th century." 2011. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 2011

Selected projects in other museums:

• “Baroque at the end of the century. Rubens circle - Greenaway circle ". 1993. Museum of the St. Petersburg State Academy of Arts and Industry named after A. L. Stieglitz. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 2003
• "Streets are faces, years are houses." 2003. State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, with the participation of the State Center for Photography of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
• "Ballet Royal" Arithmetic of the ideal." 2006. Museum of Theater and Musical Art, St. Petersburg.
• "Modigliani at the Fountain House". 2008. Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House. Catalog: St. Petersburg, 2008.
• “Pro Domo mea” (“The demon got me into rummaging through the styling..”). 2009. Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House, with the participation of the State Russian Museum, the Museum of Theater and Musical Art, the Alexandrinsky Theater Museum, the Museum of the Puppet Theater. E. Demmeni. Booklet: St. Petersburg, 2009
• Russia Palladiana. Palladio in Russia. From Baroque to Modernism. Correr Museum, Venice. 2014.

Selected projects (contemporary art):

Literary creativity

Winner of the Grand Prix of the literary competition dedicated to the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. The short story “The City in a Porcelain Snuffbox” was published in the collection “My Petersburg”. M.: Vagrius, 2003.

He published stories and essays, in particular, in the magazines “Thing”, “Russian Life”, “Snob”. Author of a popular guide to Venice ().

• Yesterday. Today. Never. St. Petersburg: Amphora ()
• Especially Lombardy. Images of Italy XXI. M.: KoLibri, Azbuka-Atticus, 2012
• Prisons" and power. The myth of Giovanni Batista Piranesi. St. Petersburg : “Arch”, 2013
• Only Venice. Images of Italy XXI.- M.: KoLibri, Azbuka-Atticus, 2014

Family

In 1982-88. was married to Italian writer Carla Muschio from 1989-1996. on Duna Smirnova.

Awards

Andrei Bely Prize, 2012 - for the book “Especially Lombardy. Images of Italy XXI"

Write a review of the article "Ippolitov, Arkady Viktorovich"

Notes

Links

• in the "Magazine Hall"
• http://russlife.ru/authors/ippolitov/

View this template Poetry Prose Humanities research Boris Groys (1978) Evgeny Shiffers (1979) Yuri Novikov (1980) Efim Barban (1981) Boris Ivanov (1983) Vladimir Erl (1986) Vladimir Malyavin (1988) Mikhail Epstein (1991) Andrey Krusanov (1997) Konstantin Mamaev (1998) Lev Rubinstein (1999) Igor Smirnov (2000) Valery Podoroga (2001) Vardan Hayrapetyan And Lena Szilard (2002) (2013) * refused the bonus

Lua error in Module:External_links on line 245: attempt to index field "wikibase" (a nil value).

An excerpt characterizing Ippolitov, Arkady Viktorovich

– Tell me, Your Holiness, do you know the truth about Jesus and Magdalene?
– Do you mean that they lived in Meteora? – I nodded. - Surely! That was the first thing I asked them!
“How is this possible?!..” I asked, stunned. – Did you also know that they were not Jews? – Caraffa nodded again. – But you don’t talk about this anywhere?.. Nobody knows about it! But what about the TRUTH, Your Holiness?!..
“Don’t make me laugh, Isidora!” Karaffa laughed sincerely. – You are a real child! Who needs your “truth”?.. A crowd that has never looked for it?!.. No, my dear, Truth is needed only by a handful of thinkers, and the crowd should simply “believe”, well, but in what - this no longer matters meanings. The main thing is that people obey. And what is presented to them is already secondary. TRUTH is dangerous, Isidora. Where the Truth is revealed, doubts appear, well, and where doubts arise, war begins... I am waging MY war, Isidora, and so far it gives me true pleasure! The world has always been based on lies, you see... The main thing is that this lie should be interesting enough so that it can lead “narrow-minded” minds... And believe me, Isidora, if at the same time you begin to prove to the crowd the real Truth that refutes them "faith" in who knows what, you will be torn apart by this same crowd...
– Is it really possible for such an intelligent person as Your Holiness to arrange such self-betrayal?.. You burn innocent people, hiding behind the name of this same slandered, and equally innocent God? How can you lie so shamelessly, Your Holiness?!..
“Oh, don’t worry, dear Isidora!” Karaffa smiled. – My conscience is completely calm! I did not erect this God, and I will not overthrow him. But I will be the one who will cleanse the Earth of heresy and fornication! And believe me, Isidora, on the day when I “leave” there will be no one left to burn on this sinful Earth!
I felt bad... My heart jumped out, unable to listen to such nonsense! Therefore, quickly getting ready, I tried to avoid the topic he liked.
- Well, what about the fact that you are the head of the most holy Christian church? Don't you think that it would be your duty to reveal to people the truth about Jesus Christ?..
– It is precisely because I am his “deputy on Earth” that I will continue to remain silent, Isidora! That's why...
I looked at him, eyes wide open, and could not believe that I was really hearing all this... Again - Caraffa was extremely dangerous in his madness, and it was unlikely that there was a medicine somewhere that could help him .
- Enough empty talk! – suddenly, rubbing his hands contentedly, the “holy father” exclaimed. – Come with me, my dear, I think this time I will still be able to stun you!..
If only he knew how well he always succeeded in this!.. My heart ached, foreboding evil. But there was no choice - I had to go...

Smiling contentedly, Caraffa literally “dragged” me by the hand along the long corridor until we finally stopped at a heavy door decorated with patterned gold. He turned the handle and... Oh, gods!!!.. I found myself in my favorite Venetian room, in our native family palazzo...
Looking around in shock, unable to come to my senses from the “surprise” that had so unexpectedly struck, I calmed my jumping-out heart, unable to breathe! wonderful years, then not yet ruined by the anger of a cruel man... who, for some reason, recreated here (!) today my dear, but long-lost, happy world... In this miraculously “resurrected” room, every personal dear to me was present thing, every little thing I love!.. Unable to take my eyes off all this sweet and so familiar surroundings, I was afraid to move, so as not to accidentally frighten away the wondrous vision...
– Do you like my surprise, Madonna? – Satisfied with the effect produced, asked Karaffa.
The most incredible thing was that this strange man completely sincerely did not understand what deep mental pain he caused me with his “surprise”!.. Seeing HERE (!!!) what was once the real “hearth” of my family happiness and peace, I wanted only one thing - to rush at this terrible “holy” Pope and strangle him in a mortal embrace until his terrifying black soul flies away from him forever... But instead of realizing what I wanted so much, I just tried to pull myself together , so that Caraffa would not hear how my voice was trembling, and said as calmly as possible:
- Excuse me, Your Holiness, can I stay here alone for a while?
- Well, of course, Isidora! These are now your chambers! I hope you like them.
Did he really not understand what he was doing?!.. Or, on the contrary, he knew perfectly well?.. And it was just that his restless atrocity “had fun”, which still could not find peace, inventing some new tortures for me? !.. Suddenly I was struck by a burning thought - what, in this case, happened to everything else?.. What happened to our wonderful home, which we all loved so much? What happened to the servants and servants, to all the people who lived there?!
“Can I ask Your Holiness what happened to our ancestral palace in Venice?” I whispered in a voice that had shrunk from excitement. – What happened to those who lived there?.. You didn’t throw people out into the street, I hope? They don’t have another home, Holiness!..
Karaffa winced with displeasure.
- For mercy, Isidora! Should you take care of them now?.. Your house, as you, of course, understand, has now become the property of our most holy church. And everything that was connected with him is no longer your concern!
– My house, like everything that is inside it, Your Holiness, after the death of my beloved husband, Girolamo, belongs to my daughter Anna while she is alive! – I exclaimed indignantly. – Or does the “holy” church no longer consider her a resident in this world?!
Everything was seething inside me, although I perfectly understood that by getting angry, I was only complicating my already hopeless situation. But Caraffa’s unceremoniousness and impudence, I am sure, could not leave any normal person calm! Even when it was just about desecrated memories dear to his heart...