The city of Gzhel is the center of one of the most famous art crafts in Russia. It is located in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region. "Gzhel bush" is spread over a vast territory and consists of 27 villages whose inhabitants are engaged in the manufacture and painting of white faience and porcelain. The history of the Gzhel art industry dates back to the 14th century AD, when the Kudinovskoye clay deposit was discovered in the Moscow Region. In the upper layers there was a “fire” - a simple red material, below were layers of yellow “furs” - medium quality clay, and finally, in the very depths there was a most delicate “soap” - thin white clay, an indispensable material for the production of high-quality earthenware and porcelain.
Pharmaceutical needs
There was white clay for making dishes and other kitchen utensils, until the imperial pharmacist’s decree appeared, which obliged to deliver all the extracted Gzhel clay to Moscow for the needs of the pharmacy’s order. However, after some time several more deposits were discovered underground, and white material was enough for all the needs of the Russian capital and its environs. In addition to pharmacy vessels and tea sets, craftsmen engaged in the manufacture of art products. Thus appeared the Gzhel folk craft, known today all over the world.
World fame
Gzhel painting patterns are a drawing made with bright blue cobalt paint on a white background, traditionally hand-drawn simple geometric and floral ornaments. Images on products can also have a plot character, for example, a woman with buckets or a harmonist surrounded by dancing fellow villagers. Gzhel painting patterns are, as a rule, floral motifs repeated many times on the convex or concave surface of the product.
A sign of the artist’s high skill is the use of halftones when the center of the picture is filled with pale blue strokes, and closer to the periphery the image becomes brighter and brighter. Gzhel flowers are a special form of interpretation; they necessarily repeat the contours of a real plant. In the image you can see the petals, pistils, stamens, stems and even antennae with which the flower clings to its neighbors.
Technologies
Gzhel painting patterns are subject to a specific drawing system. They can be alternated or arranged randomly, but in any case, the image is maintained within the framework of the plot. At factories for the production of dishes and artware made of faience and porcelain, the patterns of Gzhel painting are systematized. There is a library that contains numerous drawings used by technologists in production. The theme of the images is the most diverse: from simple pictures from village life to fairy tales with several characters.
Modern patterns of Gzhel painting are complex and diverse. Although, it would seem, monochrome drawings themselves are monotonous, and this means that beautiful combinations of colors can not be expected. However, the professionalism of artists who own the art of multi-layer overlay of paints with the finest shades does wonders. Products of Gzhel masters are not only beautiful, but also unique, because handmade work involves only one unique instance.
Varieties
To apply patterns of Gzhel painting is a delicate and responsible art. The main task of the master is the uniform distribution of color and shades so that the picture is balanced and harmonious. Each product is a conditional center of the composition, from which the plot components or elements of a floral ornament evenly diverge . In some cases, blue cobalt colors are complemented by decorative lines of gold color.
Usually this color is applied to the so-called bone china. This is a special kind of white ceramic with a subtle creamy shade that resembles the color of baked milk. Bone china is slightly translucent, and artists use this property when painting. The drawing is positioned so that there is free space from paint. Then clear, light areas of the surface of the product begin to interact with the color pattern.
Elements of Gzhel painting
The pattern on white and blue products is always stylized. It can be a grotesque image of wonderful fairy tale characters or a winter landscape in the countryside. And not because it is impossible to draw any real picture on earthenware or porcelain, but because this type of folk craft obeys its laws of style, according to which products are distinguished. Russian crafts, for all their diversity, are fairly strictly classified. To confuse one type of folk art with another is almost impossible.
Famous Gzhel masters are constantly improving their work, their individual products are classics of the genre. These works of art are in museums and private collections, they are priceless. Gzhel painting, tableware or other art products, is always interesting and unique. The range of products produced daily by factories and small workshops is unlimited.
Master class "Gzhel painting"
Training in art painting is carried out regularly in circles open everywhere. However, it is impossible to master the art of Gzhel drawing without acquaintance with the history of this ancient folk craft.
At the initial stage, students try to reproduce simple images in the Gzhel style on paper. For this, a normal Whatman or dense drawing sheets are suitable. First, paint should be watercolor. If the Gzhel drawing on paper has turned out, you can switch to the original basis - a ceramic blank. At this stage, watercolors will no longer fit; a real cobalt blue is required.
Services
In the 18-19 centuries, Gzhel dishes were especially in demand. A lot of products went abroad. The Europeans bought earthenware and porcelain of Russian production with Gzhel painting in large quantities. This continued until the Russian imperial court became the main customer for all factories producing white and blue services.
The tsar and his entourage were especially in demand with the famous Guryevsky service for 150 people for large feasts and feasts. Then followed “Monomakh” and “Tsar-father” for 12 people each. Services consisted of 84 items, starting with a huge tureen and ending with saucers for jam. Popular were small Tete-a-tet sets for two and the Egoist, designed for one lover of beautiful tableware.
Decline
In the 20s of the last century, there was a decline in Gzhel production. The potters themselves were the first to sound the alarm, who began to warn that if things were not fixed, then pots and bowls would soon have to be bought abroad. Fortunately, they were heard, the factories began to work with renewed vigor, and in 1933 the state took over large enterprises on their own balance and thus faience, porcelain and other products of the Gzhel bush again flowed into the Russian market, and then abroad .
Famous masters
Gzhel can be different, it is impossible to take eyes away from one product, and the other does not cause interest. Why is this happening? The main criterion that determines the quality of Gzhel ceramics is a detailed study of the drawing. The more detailed the image is drawn, the more valuable the painting. Gzhel experts are well acquainted with the work of all the outstanding masters of our time. Collectors buy only their works, museums and exhibition complexes also try to get exclusive art products.
Among the most famous masters are Denisov, Dunashov, Okulov, Azarov, Rozanov and Tsaregorodtseva. Highly artistic works of N.I. Bessarabova stored in the Russian Museum of St. Petersburg and in the Historical Museum in Moscow. Countless masterpieces are scattered throughout the world, all of them are in private collections and galleries.
It has become a good tradition to open shops selling Gzhel art products at factories producing these works of art. Demand for white and blue beauty is still high, and there is no tendency to decrease it. Gzhel will flourish as long as there are deposits of white clay underground, and its reserves today seem inexhaustible.