• Postcards of Elisabeth Boehm
• Christmastide - "the Most Poetic Time"

The art of E. Boehm, according to her researcher N. A. Mozokhina, were deeply influenced by the Biedermeier style that flourished in European painting, sculpture, interior design and architecture during the years 1815–1848. It is characterized by a sentimental and pious view of the world. Biedermeier artists depicted historical fiction and country life, emphasized a comfortable homely existence and private activities.

It is worth paying attention to some of the assertions of a notable art critic E. A. Borisova. She has observed that the Biedermeier style had an enormous, not fully investigated impact on the further development of many artistic movements of the 19th -20th centuries. ¹ Secondly, and this is particularly important for the history of illustrated postcards that 'the first elements of "mass culture" <…>, including, "art mass culture" <…> originated from the Biedermeier period as one of the most important characters of this style' ².

There is no doubt that Boehm is a successor of Russian culture of 1820 – 1850. It is no accident that her works of the early 20th century so organically match the Christmas stories - memories of Ivan Panaev (1812-1862), written half a century before. Boehm spent her childhood in the estate of his father, located on the banks of the river in the beautiful wilderness of the Yaroslavl Province ³. She lived in a wooden house that looks like many rustic manor houses in which, according to Panaev, 'ancient Russian traditions and rituals of the Christmas have to be kept up <…>. Stone three-story St. Petersburg houses don't fit for this' ⁴.

«Since my childhood, New Year's and Christmas Holidays were particularly attractive for me. With what impatience I waited for these holidays! What an inexplicable feeling, to which something poetic added, awakened in my soul when the Christmas days were coming!.. <…> Here is Christmas Eve, and ... The whole house does not eat till the stars, except for me, because in the morning, my grandmother and the nanny fed me with sugar loaves, so that my children stomach may not become emaciated, waiting for a late lunch. I do not want to eat; but I am looking forward for this mysterious star more impatiently than all the hungry, I am siting in the twilight at the window and staring curiously, without blinking, into the sky, because I want to capture exactly the moment when it lights up…' ⁷

The Past and Present. (Christmas time twenty-five years ago, and now)

 

«Christmas time have for me <…> 'special, indescribable charm mixed with something mysterious, fantastic. Only once in my life, these holidays have passed almost unnoticed to me as ordinary days, and it was because I was abroad. <…> On Christmas Eve, I felt a wistful longing for Russian surroundings and Russian nature. What wouldn't I have given then to see the gray cloudy sky on which stars twinkle through the mist, the ground covered with snow, snowflakes in the air, frozen ornaments on a window, a fluffy frosted tree; to hear the crunch of snow under sledge-runners, to suddenly find yourself in a simple, good-natured old Russian family'  ⁸.

Christmastide. (Story for children)

 

'The holidays came. The whole house was in some special mood. My mather, the nanny, permanent houseguests, housekeepers, housemaids - all told fortunes: they pouring melted wax and tin into water, burnt the paper on trays and looked at the shadows on the wall. They spoke of what they saw into the future, and all listened with intense curiosity, and believe in their interpretations from their hearts. <…>Sometimes my mama and houseguests stared into a mirror - the most frightful divination which they practised, not without excitement.<…> In addition to the divination by observing melting wax or burning paper, by mirror gazing and so on, there were other popular means of revealing the future' ⁹.

The Past and Present. (Christmas time twenty-five years ago, and now)

 

«The days of rejoicing after Christmas, indeed, the most poetic time in Russia, and Pushkin, who appreciated the poetry of life around him, could not help devoting some strophes to the Christmastide. Every Russian remember these verses from Eugene Onegin:

The Yule-tide days begin. What a blessing!
Light-minded youth starts games of guessing,
Before it nothing to regret,
But life's long roadway, stretched ahead,
Lies bright and boundless, calling, burning;
Old age too, guesses through its specs,
By its very coffin-lid reflects,
Though all is lost beyond returning,
Yet nonetheless, still hope to them
Whispers its childish babble again.

'Perhaps, in the interior of the country, the Yuletide still preserve the "poetry of the old days", glorified by Pushkin; but Petersburg has lost it long ago. <…> Now even St. Petersburg maids <…> laugh at <…> old traditions! In St. Petersburg, all are obsessed with Christmas trees. Everywhere in St. Petersburg, starting from a poor room of a clerk to a magnificent salon, Christmas trees shine, sparkle, glow and shimmer in the Christmas evenings' ¹⁰.

The Past and Present. (Christmas time twenty-five years ago, and now)

 

'In the middle of the hall, at the round table, there was a fir, almost touching the ceiling and decorated with sweets, many-colored lanterns and toys, with which the whole table was beautifully covered… All the adults and seniors gasped with delight at the sight of such a magnificent Christmas tree… <…> Children in pairs ceremoniously entered the room. <…> The crowd of grown-ups parted to let them pass. For a minute, the little ones stood motionless, surprised by the overall picture, by brilliance of candles, lanterns and toys… and suddenly cried out, not being able to check their enthusiasm, and rushed to toys' ¹¹.

Christmastide. (Story for children)

 

'Once a year, I always feel an overwhelming desire to look younger, but look younger internally, rather than outwardly. <…> Everything is clear for me, I feel inspired as if these daily and debilitating human trifles and squabbles of life, making a person irritable, gloomy, jaundiced, never touched me <…>. I become extremely naive and trusting, every petty detail of life is interesting to me and makes me happy like in the years of my childhood, which suddenly revived clearly and vividly in my memory <…> It's an incredible desire to return to my childhood, for some reason, I always feel when the Christmas holidays are coming' ¹².

Christmastide. (Story for children)