CREATING THE COUNTRYSIDE - THE RURAL IDYLL PAST AND PRESENT

Résumé : This catalogue accompanies an exhibition which presents artefacts from burial mounds of the Saka people of East Kazakhstan, who, over 2, 500 years ago, lived lives rich in complexity. The Saka people occupied a landscape of seemingly endless steppe to the west, bounded by mountains to the east and south. Known to be fierce warriors, they were also skilled craftspeople, producing intricate gold and other metalwork. Their artistic expression indicates a deep respect for the animals around them - both real and imagined. They dominated their landscapes with huge burial mounds of sophisticated construction, burying their horses with elite members of their society. Recent excavations and analyses, led by archaeologists from Kazakhstan, have demonstrated that by looking through a scientific and social lens at what the Saka left behind we can paint a picture of a complex society. We can start to understand how it affected the way people lived, how they travelled, the things they made and what they believed in. Including contributions from experts at Nazarbayev University, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, and the University of Cambridge, this publication details the results of new archaeological research from East Kazakhstan. It is richly illustrated with photographs of intricate gold artefacts in the Saka-Scythian animal style, landscape and aerial photography of the burial mounds, and details of the excavations and analyses. Grounded in decades of careful study, papers by the two leading Kazakhstani archaeologists of the East Kazakhstan region, Professors Zainolla Samashev and Abdesh Toleubayev, demonstrate current archaeological thinking in Kazakhstan today. These papers are complemented by material from a team of international scholars, which contribute the results of new scientific analyses on the artefacts, and wider Eurasian perspectives on the Saka people and their practice of horse burial.

Accompanying an exhibition at Philip Mould & Company, this lavish catalogue tells the story of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant's enduring attachment to their home at Charleston Farmhouse, and showcases the work the artists produced between the two world wars. This stunning collection of artwork is beautifully presented alongside illuminating, illustrated essays, an interview and complete catalogue. Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant's enduring attachment to their home at Charleston Farmhouse, its idyllic surroundings, and constant fl ow of visitors can be witnessed through their art. Beginning with radical modern works infl uenced by European trends - from painted furniture to depictions of food preparation in the kitchen, from the barns to the pond, the people to the household cat - this catalogue tells a story of over thirty years of astonishing artistic productivity. Charleston was not just the Bloomsbury Group's country retreat but a venue for their progressive social self-expression. It was also a family home. Focusing on Vanessa and Duncan's most productive years of creativity, between and including two world wars, this catalogue will explore how Charleston fed their artistic impulses and ideas to produce a glorious canon of art.