PDF A History of Russian Architecture by William Craft Brumfield in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A thorough examination of the architectural history of RussiaBy David ArbogastRussian history can be frustratingly complex and its architectural expressions equally so. Mr. Brumfield has performed an immense service for those of us who are willing to make an attempt at understanding. Taking a chronological approach he covers both the architectural expression and its historical impetuses in an understandable manner. My only objection to the book is the exclusive use of black-and-white photographs of buildings noted for their rich and intense polychromy.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. a great art/architecture history book of Russian architecture for English-speakersBy bluebird3a great art/architecture history book of Russian architecture for English-speakers; like everyone else; I wish there were more color photos; but the black and white shots at least give you a glimpse of a lot of magnificent buildings; thanks1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Informative; But Very FlawedBy S. KoropeckyjSometimes; when times change; your book should change; especially if you publish another edition. A History of Russian Architecture was published for the first time in 1994; and the edition that I read was published in 2004. However; by 1994; the book was already out of date. A number of cities mentioned in the book still had their Soviet names (for example; Zagorsk; now Sergiyev Posad). The final chapter was clearly written in the late 1980s; and no one thought to update it to the 1990s; or at least delete the final few pages. The 2004 version seems to merely add another chapter about wooden architecture; which is more of an excuse to write about the church pictured on the cover. Additionally; the pictures are all from the 1980s or whatever; which is a real shame because many of those buildings look much nicer today than they did during the Soviet era (for example; the palace at Tsaritsyno has been completely rebuilt).In general; the book is very impressionistic; and many of the descriptions are just lengthy descriptions of the interiors that actually don't provide a very good image in your mind of the building. There is no very good categorizing of architectural elements and relating them to particular eras. There also seems to be a little too much emphasis on the history of the times to put the building themselves into context; but then skims over the actual descriptions of buildings. In general; the descriptions of buildings are very uneven. Some architects and or buildings have pages or paragraphs devoted to them; while equally important buildings have a sentence or less.The book is also notable for its omissions. The khrushchovka; probably the most common structure in all of the USSR; has about a sentence devoted to it. Indeed; the second half of the 20th century has only a few pages (at least the period after the construction of the Seven Sisters). The book also focuses almost exclusively on landmark examples; but completely ignores more common buildings such as the home of the average Russian in the 19th century (sure; the addendum mentions some of these more humble houses; but not nearly as much one should have; I assume). Indeed; I would be hard-pressed to be able to identify the era of a Russian building from what I get from this book. In addition; the book is not great at making distinctions... or rather most of the book is not. The chapters on early Eastern Slavic architecture distinguish the Chernihiv style (of course; he used the Russian spelling); Vladimir style; and the Kyiv style rather well; however; the distinctions between the early and later Neo-Classical styles are not very well drawn out and described impressionistically (for example; the author just says that the architects lost the sense of proportion and unity that the earlier architects had). More diagrams and comparisons would have been helpful.In general; the pictures were nice; but; as pointed out before; many are outdated. Also; the black and white pictures hardly do many of the structures justice. Indeed; more pictures and diagrams would probably have saved the author the need to write the often-unhelpful descriptions of buildings. Further; many of the buildings; especially those with very short descriptions; are very hard to find. For example; there is a drawing of a building from Dnipro (f/k/a Dnipropetrovsk); designed by a certain Ginzburg; I tried to find if this building; but no luck. The one sentence description didn't help. Indeed; sometimes; a sentence stating that the building had been demolished would have been nice.The book is informative; but there are many flaws that make me wish that there was a better; more completist and taxonomical book out there about Russian architecture.