Dolls Gallery
Dolls Gallery / Galereia kukol : karty igral’nye / published by Varvara Skripkina, 2003.
This 36 card pack (no Jokers) was published in 2003 by the Dolls Gallery founded by St. Petersburg artist Varvara Skripkina. The court cards (all named) portray dolls or puppets from the Gallery, while the Ace of each suit portrays a Vladimir Putin doll in different clothing according to the season: winter (Clubs): Putin going skiing • spring (Spades): Putin the farmer with a shovel • summer (Hearts): Putin going fishing • autumn (Diamonds): Putin going to collect mushrooms.
Varvara Skripkina’s Gallery of Dolls is described as follows: “One of the biggest doll galleries in Europe. Over 300 works by 60 masters are exhibited here. Dolls that are exposed in the gallery represent the times when everyone perceived dolls as luxury items. Every exhibit is unique with its history and unusual name. Some of the dolls can be purchased. For the gallery’s anniversary theme exhibitions and celebrations are held.” Visit: “Doll Gallery” of Varvara Skripkina►
Above: Dolls Gallery / Galereia kukol : karty igral’nye, playing cards published by Varvara Skripkina, 2003. 36 cards.
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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