"At the turn of the 20th century, against the background of the pomp and circumstance of the Imperial court and the rumblings of social unrest and political upheaval, Moscow and St. Petersburg experienced a sudden, brilliant flowering of the visual, literary, and performing arts. Known in Russia as the Silver Age, this cultural renaissance is captured in all of its dazzling originality in this sumptuously illustrated volume." "Much of this new efflorescence was indebted to the Symbolist movement, which fell on fertile soil in the boundless expanse of Mother Russia. The Russian Symbolists lived and created on the edge, which often earned them the sobriquet of Decadent or Degenerate. Yet, as impresario Sergei Diaghilev declared, theirs was not a moral or artistic decline, but a voyage of inner discovery and a refurbishing of a national culture." "Advancing in roughly chronological sequence, Moscow & St. Petersburg 1900-1920 develops themes and propositions that relate closely - but not exclusively - to key social and political developments in Russian history, which were both refracted and affected by painting, poetry, music, and dance. With some 650 illustrations, the book carries a rich repertoire of artistic images and vintage documentary photographs, many of which have not been previously published."--Jacket.

Originally published in hardcover by The Vendome Press in 2008.

Introduction --Ch. 1. A double-headed eagle : Russia, land of paradox -- Ch. 2. Azure heights, sapphire depths : philosophical concepts of the Russian silver age -- Ch. 3. The shock of the new : technology, science, engineering -- Ch. 4. The style moderne : Russian refractions of Art nouveau -- Ch. 5. The world of art : Sergei Diaghilev and his circle -- Ch. 6. Flowers, flowers to cover the tomb! : blooms of decadence -- Ch. 7. Body art : ballet, theater, cabaret, nudism -- Ch. 8. Aesthetes and barbarians : Apollo and the suicide of art -- Ch. 9. The year 1913 : crossroads of past and future -- Ch. 10. Apocalypse now : war, revolution, and cultural centrifuge -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Chronology -- Glossary -- Further reading -- Index.