{"id":21,"date":"2022-03-21T20:46:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T20:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eleonora.nyc\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:35:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:35:19","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eleonora.nyc\/fr\/about","title":{"rendered":"About Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love thought-provoking and uplifting art. It sparks my imagination, makes me think, and inspires me in a profound way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved beautiful images since childhood and secretly dreamed to study at the famed \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts<\/a> when I was still a middle-school student in Provence, France. I remember sharing these aspirations with my art teacher, Madame Toqu\u00e9 (literally \u201dMrs. Crazy\u201d) during a teacher-parent meeting and she told my mom that I still had time to decide, like a lot of time! Then I had Mr. Chevallier, an eccentric art teacher and a skinny man with a thick mustache reminding you of the looks of a mix of Vercingetorix <\/a>and Renaud<\/a>. These two middle school art teachers were often laughed at by students and gave the impression they were not well respected, because \u201dwho cares about art education, right?<\/em>\u201d even in a country like France. They were both original characters and memorable people. With time I realized that most artists living in small towns face pointing fingers no matter what, and they tend to catch people's attention in some way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During art class I was engaged, I did my assignments with a lot of dedication, passion, and focus, I learned the names of the architects by heart, as Mr. Chevallier challenged us to do so. I would answer all the names right when he quizzed me in front of everyone. I had a certain sense of pride because I was not his favorite but always had original ideas and executed assignments in a unique way. Mrs. Tocqu\u00e9 and Mr. Chevallier had no favorites really. I still remember Leo Ming Pei for the Louvre pyramid, because it was a difficult \u201dforeign name<\/em>\u201d to remember for a 12-13-year-old. I actually still remember a lot since then, because you tend to remember when you are truly interested in a subject matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later on, I pursued education focusing on literature and languages and finishing high school with honors. My teachers or educators asked if I had plans for enrollment for a Grande \u00c9cole or some kind of elitist school. I did consider it, of course, but the academic study was starting to bore me and my results were not stellar but were ok for someone doing the bare minimum in an already challenging program. Maybe if I applied the same passion I had for the arts to academic study I would have excelled and my life would have looked differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But of course, I have to do things my way even if it means I am distancing myself from the \u201dcomfort of the crowd<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During these years, art has become an essential part of my non-school life. Reading, writing, and drawing became like second nature. Essentially it was my new way to self-express and make sense of the world. Everything inspired me, my life, my travels, and my interactions with others<\/a>. During my senior year, I created a portfolio with extensive work which included black and white photography and a lot of ink drawings in notebooks and large sheets or rolls. I read two or three books at the same time and was seeing two to three movies in the cinema per weekend when I would go home to Avignon as I was in boarding school during the week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also had a written correspondence with artist Roger Maire <\/a>who survived a nazi labor camp in Ukraine: Rawa Ruska<\/a>. It was my art teacher in high school who connected me with him. He said that his work and mine had some resemblance and that I should connect. We wrote to each other for a couple of years, and I announced to him in a letter that I planned on preparing for the entrance exams for the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts. In that same letter, I told him that I was slowly switching my interest from painting to black and white photography. During that time I had access to a black and white photo lab. He replied something that shook me deeply, basically quoting an artist I can't remember and how a photographer is a failed painter.<\/strong><\/em> This letter really crushed me, because I was really excited by my new growing interest in photography and felt that he was right somehow, even though I was in denial. I kept this idea of a \u201dsupreme painter<\/em>\u201d in the back of my mind, it stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that time frame, as I mentioned, I saw many films, and one in particular: \u201dAtanarjuat: The Fast Runner<\/a>\u201d, inspired my ink drawing for the entrance exam assignment for the \u00c9cole Sup\u00e9rieure d'Art d'Avignon<\/a>, which I passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After two years I changed schools and moved to Rouen, Normandy, and attended L'Ecole Sup\u00e9rieure d'Art et Design Le Havre-Rouen (ESADHaR<\/a>). This is where I started to complain to my teachers (I know, so French right?<\/em>). During the hanging of works of art I have produced for that semester, I felt uninspired and empty. I didn't feel I had the guidance I needed. I felt lost and disconnected from my contemporary art education and I felt completely disconnected from my teachers who were in majority contemporary visual artists. At that time, something revolted me deep inside and it was hard to articulate it constructively. Living in a country with such a rich history, such an amazing artistic legacy, but there, in our academies, in these historical buildings<\/a> where I had my workshop, lived a shadow of the past, empty shells striving for not sure what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going to museums like Le Louvre made me realize there was like a gap, a feeling that we were not honoring the artistic legacy of the old masters. After all people from around the world crossed entire continents to come to see these masterpieces in person. We did appreciate them of course but a bit like you would out of a sense of obligation. Like walking on the school's \u201dback alley<\/em>\u201d which happened to be named \u201dRue G\u00e9ricault<\/a><\/em>\u201d, knowing why it's named after him since he was born in Rouen, but remembering that it was still a dark alley, a sad street we have to cross to get to the Bar Tabac on the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after graduating, I kept my passion for traditional and classical arts to myself, again, a bit like a secret dream. Recently, I felt compelled to share some of this work, stories, and artists I like or even love. My strength is my ability to research, categorize and access libraries, archives, and information in several languages. I will try to keep my posts short though, I can't promise they will always be well-written and deep but hopefully, they will inspire you, and spark your imagination while you learn something interesting and worth thinking about.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said inspired me to start this journey:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dArt inflames even a frozen, darkened soul to a high spiritual experience. Through art we are sometimes visited \u2014 dimly, briefly \u2014 by revelations such as cannot be produced by rational thinking.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My understanding and appreciation for the arts have developed. Now, I believe art should go beyond everyday life and provide upright guidance. After all, art is a universal language that can move people deeply especially when its starting point is to honor something deeper, even divine. I don't see it as \u201descapism<\/em>\u201d for the artist, as I used to. I don't believe artists should be worshipped or idolized, and even less so for their work to be mere investment commodities. I see artworks as vessels of messages and it is their messages we should look at a bit like the fool and the man pointing the finger at the moon. (The moon: the art, the man pointing: the artist<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About visual aspects of art:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La forme<\/em> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
(format)<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

My new understanding is that round and smooth shapes create a harmonious connection with the divine\u2014which can also be translated into the following characteristics: gentleness, smoothness, and harmony. That is also why appreciation and recognition of authentic skills and classical training is a must.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le fond<\/em> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
(substance)<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

It seems to me that as of today, themes in art such as divinity or gods, spirituality, and faith are perceived as something a bit \u201dpass\u00e9\u201d if not taboo. If people's morality rises again, so will the quality of the art produced by the artists of that time period. We live in a complicated world, but I don't see why it wouldn't make a comeback. Humanity needs inspiration, and in my humble opinion, humanity needs to reconnect with the divine more than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sacred and Profane Love, Titian, 1514<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Below are some of the cultural traits and guiding principles I'll try to keep in mind when I choose to highlight a piece of art or an artist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Devotion and a sense of responsibility towards others based on our human ties, a sense of justice, righteousness, and responsibility. In Chinese, there is actually a word describing this meaning and the word is \u201dYi\u201d.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Loyalty, to a cause or a higher authority, even a ruler such as a King or an Emperor. This dedication is complete and unwavering. Again, in Chinese, there is a word to describe it and it's \u201dZhong\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Thank you for reading this far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you wish to reach out, feel free to drop a message:<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I love thought-provoking and uplifting art. It sparks my imagination, makes me think, and inspires me in a profound way. I loved beautiful images since childhood and secretly dreamed to study at the famed \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts when I was still a middle-school student in Provence, France. I remember sharing these aspirations with my art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":327,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"iawp_total_views":44,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout Eleonora | Art, Language & Cultural Storytelling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Born in Russia, raised in France, based in New York. 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