About this Book

Almost since its inception the Russian art journal "Mir iskusstva" ("The World of art") has been recognized as the symbolic opening fo a new period in Russian art. The journal was published in St. Petersburg from the end of 1898 through 1904. It was the work of a small group of friends, some of them artists and some dilettantes of the arts. Among the artists who took an active part in the publication of "Mir iskusstva" were Alexandre Benois, Konstantin Somov, Evgenii Lansere, Leon Bakst, Mstislav Dobuzhinskii, and Igor Grabar. Other personalities, equally important in the founding and production of "Mir iskusstva", were Sergei Diaghilev, Dmitrii Filosofov, Alfred Nourok, and Walter Nouvel--each of whom had a special interest in some area of art, music, literature, or the theater.--Introduction.