The most famous types of artistic painting by Russian masters, preserved until the 21st century

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It would seem that artistic painting has no place left in the pragmatic 21st century, and now it can only be admired in museums. However, so far in Of Russia you can find thriving workshops that have preserved the ancient traditions of various artistic painting and continue to amaze modern inhabitants with their skill.

Zhostovo

Origins Zhostovo painting date back to the early 19th century. At that time, in several neighboring villages of the former Troitskaya volost (now the Mytishchi district of the Moscow region), craft workshops arose that were engaged in the manufacture of painted decorative items from papier-mâché coated with varnish. Artists painted boxes, cigarette cases, sugar bowls and metal trays. Gradually, the number of trays produced increased, thereby displacing other products. The main motives for painting are flower bouquets. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the advent of Soviet power, the villages were united into the Metallopodnos artel, and the masters had a hard time when they were imposed on new plots for drawing dictated by the then trends of realism. However, the artists managed to preserve their originality, and the Zhostovo trays passed from the category of household items to decorative panels, which are appreciated not only in Russia, but also abroad.

Khokhloma

Khokhloma originated in the 17th century in the vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod. The name of the fishery came from the village of Khokhloma, where finished products were brought from nearby villages. The founders of this wood painting are called the Old Believers who fled from the new church order. It was they who owned the secrets of "golden" painting on dishes. By the way, the basis of painting is not golden, but silver tin powder. A special composition is applied on top of it, then subjected to heat treatment, and only then they begin to paint. The main motives of Khokhloma are rowan clusters, berries, leaves and flowers.

Gzhel

Gzhel is called the hallmark of Russia in the field of applied crafts. It is believed that Gzhel dates back to the 14th century. Some argue that the name comes from the river Gzhelka (Gzholka), on which there was a village where the craftsmen lived. Others believe that "gzhel" is a paraphrased word "zhgel", that is, the firing of ceramics. 60 km from Moscow there is a "Gzhel bush", which consists of 27 villages, where they are engaged in firing and painting ceramics. They were painted with cobalt blue in two ways: overglaze and underglaze. First, the drawing was applied to wet clay, and then again to the glaze. The craft of Gzhel pottery flourished, since the rich used table silver, and the common people used rough pottery of various sizes. Over time, Gzhel became available to all segments of the population, but it did not lose its beauty and relevance.

Fedoskino

The village of Fedoskino (Moscow region) is famous for painting with varnishes. In the 18th century, near the village, there was a Lukutinskaya factory for the production of lacquered visors for hats. Then she changed direction, and 80 civilian workers began to paint products from papier-mâché and wood with varnish. The amazing glow and brilliance of boxes and other miniatures was achieved by means of "through writing". This was the name of the technique when a thin layer of gold leaf and mother-of-pearl was applied to the surface before directly drawing. The most popular subjects for drawing are associated with the life of the common people.

Mezen painting

Like many other folk crafts, the Mezen painting got its name from the area in which it developed - in this case from the name of the Mezen river, located in the Arkhangelsk region. The technique in which the craftsmen work goes back to the ancient Slavic tribes. The main ornaments are rhombuses, crosses, solar discs, repeating in a certain sequence. Mezen wood painting is dominated by only two colors - black (soot) and reddish (ocher). Basically, ornaments are applied to household items: boxes, spinning wheels, ladles. After painting the utensils, linseed oil is applied to it, which protects the drawing from erasure and gives it an additional shine. Many modern artists continue to engage in ancient crafts, while introducing something of their own. So an artist from Izhevsk painted in traditional art techniques … skulls.