On the House

Could it be, recessionary times have us longing for the past? If there is a theme to the best of this season’s interiors/life style gift books, it might well be looking at the old with new eyes, rediscovering its pleasures, reinterpreting its spirit for today.

In some cases, as in Russian Houses (Stewart Tabori & Chang: $65), it’s a matter of uncovering a past mostly hidden from view. The husband and wife team of photographer Kari Haavisto and stylist Elizabeth Gaynor spent months negotiating entry into heretofore private Russian houses, from simple peasant izbas to imperial palaces to the homes of the best- known Russian writers and artists. They then spent months taking pictures of them, often secretly, during periods of political turmoil.

It was well worth the struggle. “Russian Houses” is a fascinating, exquisitely photographed foray into the complex history of Russian residential architecture. Essayist Darra Goldstein may argue that there is a shared Russian aesthetic visible here, a marriage of form and function. Yet the book is most striking in its juxtapositions: the izba ‘s gingerbready, plain-wood exterior and the palace’s ostentatious gilded interior; Lenin’s starkly furnished, almost painfully austere bedroom and Marxist revolutionary Maxim Gorky’s decadent, melting Art Nouveau staircase. The real pleasure in all this, of course, is the thought that in these days of perestroika, we might actually be able to pay a personal visit sometime.

Venice, on the other hand, has been eagerly sought by tourists ever since its Renaissance rise to magnificence. Its pleasures are well known--or are they? In Venice: The Art of Living (Stewart Tabori & Chang: $40), French literary critic Frederic Vitoux passes over the tourist traps in search of the Venetian’s Venice. The charming text, poetic meanderings of a true flaneur , joins with Jerome Darblay’s evocative photographs in exploring the Venetians’ love affair with their opalescent lagoon, the elegant and opulent domiciles behind those imposing facades, and the city’s artistic traditions. Also included is an information notebook and map. Even if you think you know Venice, “Venice” may make you think again.

In Old Houses (Stewart Tabori & Chang: $50), photographers Steve Gross and Susan Daley comb America to document the aesthetic of decay--”the lost house . . . the neglected, the sentimental, the things too frayed and worn to still use but too loved to throw away.” This bittersweet concept holds promise, and Henry Wiencek’s profiles of old homes and their families are poignant. But the photography, while technically superb and often drop-dead lovely, tends too much to vignette, leaving you curiously unsatisfied. It’s as though you viewed the Mona Lisa in 2x2-inch cubes.

Looking at all that stately ruin makes you want to send those homeowners a copy of Trompe L’Oeil at Home (Rizzoli: $45), Karen S. Chambers’ inspirational guide to employing historic artistic devices such as trompe l’oeil painting, faux finishes and illusionism in your own home. Everything old is indeed new again.