Art painting as a type of decorative and applied art continues the traditions of folk art. This is not just a certain visual series, its essence is much larger, because it seems to soar beyond time, uniting the work of dozens of generations of masters. It is organically connected with the Motherland - at the place of its origin in the community of peasants (pastoralists, farmers, hunters).
Art historians look at art painting
Art painting is applied to products made of easily extracted traditional natural "democratic" materials: natural fabrics, wood, clay, leather, stone, bone.
Until the XVII century, its sprouts existed within individual subsistence farms. Skills were transmitted by masters along the tribal line, from generation to generation. Specific artistic techniques were honed to optimally present products. The most expressive and substantial ways of applying the ornament were chosen. Murals in architecture decorated the ceiling, walls, arches, beams and poles, and in everyday life - dishes, objects of labor.
In the period from the XVII to the XVIII century, art painting in Russia was already transformed into a craft that creates goods for the market. It is not individual masters who begin to deal with it, but individual localities and villages. In the 19th century, the artel organization of mural art took place. For example, masters of the Fedoskino miniature thus self-organized after the ruin of private owners in 1903 and preserved their art. In 1876, the systematization of various types of painting began by Professor Isaev A.A. in the two-volume monograph "Crafts of the Moscow province."
In the 20-30s of Soviet power, the emphasis was on the creation of cooperative fishing cooperatives where historical centers of folk art developing historical types of murals have developed. For example, Khokhloma painting in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
The development strategy of murals, as well as other types of decorative and applied art, was comprehended and outlined by the scientist and teacher Vasily Sergeyevich Voronov in the monograph "On Peasant Art".
Currently, art painting enterprises are actively developing types of painting in order to meet demand both in the Russian market and abroad. Painted products, while maintaining their everyday functions, are increasingly acquiring features of aesthetic and artistic value. For their production, modern machines and special equipment are used - for roughing and preparatory work. The main creative work, like several centuries ago, is done manually by masters and artists.
Painting as art
It is impossible not to note that the national painting changes the image of the product itself. It becomes more expressive at the level of color gamut, rhythm of lines and proportionality. Industrial “soulless” goods become the efforts of artists warm and alive. The latter is achieved by applying ornaments and elements of fine art (graphics and painting). Various types of murals create a special positive emotional background, consonant with the locality of the existence of fishing.
Speaking formally, artistic painting is done by brush application of paints on a specific surface. An important point should be noted: in contrast to painting, modeling a holistic space, the painting is always fragmentary.
Designers often talk about the phenomenon of Russian painting: it universally harmonizes with almost any style: minimalism, modern, country. Techniques created by ancient masters have been honed by many generations of masters in certain places, creating a special style expressiveness. Fortunately, various types of painting have been preserved and developed in Russia of the 21st century: Gzhel, Khokhloma, Boretskaya, Gorodetskaya, Mezenskaya, Onega, Permogorsk, Pizhema, Polkhov-Paidanskaya, Pluzhuzhskaya, Rakulskaya. Consider the features of these distinctive styles.
The emergence of Khokhloma
The ability to paint a tree in golden color without using, in fact, gold was transferred to the Khokhloma masters from schismatic icon painters who discovered this know-how back in the 12th century in the secret wilderness of the forests of the Volga region. By the way, they were also familiar with the crafts that provided the painting: turning and the art of ancient ornamentation. Perhaps they were also familiar with ancient types of murals,
The large trading village of the Nizhny Novgorod region of the Volga region - Khokhloma, - like a magnet, attracted skilled craftsmen.
In modern terms, this regional fair for a group of villages along the banks of the Uzola River worked not only for the domestic market of Russia. Prosperous merchants bought large consignments on it and brought them for export. Thus, the Khokhloma market was “under the gun” of both internal and external markets, which means that quality competition prevailed over price competition. A real incentive was created: the skill of a skilled person brought him tangible wealth.
According to the research of experts, from the 12th to the 17th centuries, the Khokhloma style evolved, into which the ancient Nizhny Novgorod types of wood painting were integrated.
In the period from the XVII to the XVIII century, the Khokhloma style basically developed. In our time, its foci are:
- Factory "Khokhloma artist", which employs craftsmen from the villages of the Koverninsky district (Semino and others). In their paintings wildflowers and wild berries prevail;
- Association "Khokhloma painting", Semenov. Masters of the association traditionally develop the theme of fantastic flowers.
Khokhloma technology
The monastic mastery of the “thin brush” has found scope in a rich floral ornament. An important role was played by the quality of products. The art of Khokhloma implied observance by masters of a certain technology. It is characteristic that it has not changed until our time. We list in order of its stage:
- turning on a lathe of a wooden workpiece ("linen");
- primer blanks with a liquid solution of specially prepared clay ("shaft"). Nowadays, artificial primers are used for this purpose;
- tinning with tin or silver. Now aluminum is used for this;
- art painting on wood and drying of the product in the oven;
- varnishing and hot drying.
Intensive heat treatment of products determined the color scheme preferred by ancient Russian painters: a combination of gold and red cinnabar with black. Those. the temperature of Khokhloma furnaces did not affect the brightness and contrast of such paints.
Methods of painting Khokhloma
The ancient types of painting on wood, integrating into the Khokhloma, identified two of its systems: "background" and "horse" writing. The name of the system itself contains a way of applying the basic silhouette outlines.
The “horse” system involves applying a colored silhouette outline directly to a golden background. The background forms a golden “contour” directly from the background, by “sketching” the master with black and red colors of the space surrounding the “golden curls”.
Each of the systems uses the same types of Khokhloma painting. There are only four of them: “kudrina”, “under the berry” (or “under the leaf”); “Under the gingerbread”; "Under the background."
“Kudrina” implies a “grass” pattern, written with a very thin brush. It resembles sedge in some ways, however, curled by intricate harmonious dynamic rings. According to experts, this is the most ancient ornament.
“Under the Berry” - is drawn with a thicker brush. In addition to the “herbal base”, leaves and berries already appear here. The plant form is stylized and combined. On the same "stem" you can see both chamomile and strawberry leaves.
The “under the carrot” painting involves playing out a certain geometric shape (most often a rhombus). The figure is enlivened by "bushes" on the sides and illuminated by the sun in the middle.
In the “under the background” method, a vegetative contour is sequentially drawn, after which the remaining free background is painted over, and it is mostly black.
Due to the uniqueness of each master’s brush, Khokhloma is unique and unique. The types of murals we examined above alternate on it, pleasing the eye with the harmony of golden, red and black colors.
Gzhel. Finding Clay for Porcelain
Gzhel as the art of painting was born on the territory of the modern Ramensky district of the Moscow region. Earlier these places were called Gzhel volost, and the villages of Bokhteevo, Volodino, Gzhel, Kuzyaevo, Novokharitonovo, Turygino spread out on this area.
Until the 17th century, local peasants made relatively primitive irrigation dishes from clay. The situation has changed thanks to the industrial development of local clays suitable for porcelain production. The reference point was the decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to find “clay suitable” for the production of pharmaceutical vessels - in 1663.
The experiment was a success, since 1710 a pharmacy order began to use the local raw materials. Pharmacists praised the quality of clay, and the time came when industrialists became interested in them. They were interested in raw materials suitable for porcelain production. By order of the tsar in 1844, a commission was created, which included the owner of the porcelain factory in Moscow Afanasy Grebenshchikov and engineer Porcelinovoy manufactory Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov, who received a mining engineering education at Marburg University. Five years they searched for the right clay. In 1849, after eight months of exploration, clay was mined, from which first-class porcelain was produced. MV Lomonosov, a fellow practitioner of Vinogradov, highly praised their quality.
Gzhel. Production development
The industrialist Grebenshchikov began using the found raw materials at his Moscow plant. However, smart people from the village of Gzhel and the villages surrounding it, by the way, as we mentioned, already having pottery skills, also realized the benefits of using better clays.
The case went briskly, since excellent consultants lived in the villages - production workers from the A. Grebenshchikov factory. In the period from 1750 to 1820, artisan craftsmen produced majolica - oblong jug-fermenters, plates, mugs, dishes. Ornamental painting was done with green, yellow, blue and eggplant paint on a white background. The image included a bird - in the center, and around it - trees, bushes, houses. (i.e. demonstrated primitive types of painting dishes). Dishes were in demand. There was a competition of quality. The leaders were former pottery factories making high-quality semi-faience identical to “overseas” dishes.
The craftsmanship has been perfected over 80 years, and since 1820, almost all Gzhel craftsmen have been producing semi-faience. This is the heyday of the Gzhel art. Products by masters can also be seen in the Hermitage. This dish was considered the best and most elegant in Russia. The characteristic painted Gzhel teapots, bowls, plates filled the houses of merchants and nobles, taverns. The types of painting are being improved. Gzhel is bought all over the country, from Arkhangelsk to Astrakhan, exported to Central Asia and the Middle East. About thirty factories produce products. Manufacturers are involved in the production of gzhel: Barmins, Guslins, Gusyatnikovs, Kiselevs, Terekhovs, Sazonovs.
Unfortunately, starting in 1860, there was a decline in Gzhel painting. Folk art, born of the competition of hundreds of small producers and dozens of medium ones, is supplanted by the pragmatism of large monopolies. Among the monopolists, M. S. Kuznetsov stood out, with its five plants and an annual output of 2.1 million rubles. The production capacities of all the rest amounted to 14% of Kuznetsovsk. As a matter of fact, the manufacturer Kuznetsov “crushed” creativity. The competition has gone, motivation has decreased, quality has decreased, decline has come.
How artists draw gzhel
Gzhel is unique in that each master, using the classical types of art painting for her, creates his own individual technique.
This is a subtle art. The principal role belongs to the experience of the master, which manifests itself in the way the brush moves. At the same time, on a snowy white porcelain, a harmonious color change is obtained from intense blue to blurry blue. All this is painted with one and only paint - cobalt. The pattern is superimposed on the surface “the first time”, quickly.
Why is artist skill important? Initially, the real colors of the picture are not visible (a feature of cobalt). Everything depicted seems monotonous, and only when the gzhel passes firing in the oven, the pattern will fully manifest.
What is the composition of gzhel? The central role in it is usually engaged in a decorated flower. To the sides of it are a harmoniously twisty “grassy” plot enriched with leaves and berries. It happens that animalistic plots or those connected with everyday life (for example, at home) are woven into this drawing.
How is such a drawing practically obtained? Types of artistic painting for "drawn from the first time" Gzhel are actually reduced to methods of applying a smear. There are only four of them: a shaded brush stroke, a single brush painting, a “print” pattern, as well as complementary images.
The shadowed network smear is characterized by a wide color range due to the varying intensity of cobalt overlay by means of a special spread of the brush by the artist.
Painting with one brush is characterized by the fact that each subsequent smear differs in tone from the previous one. At the same time, the intensity of the smears gradually decreases, they “brighten”.
The “print” pattern is the thinnest. It is drawn only by the end of the brush.
The types of painting used by gzhel are not characterized by photographic replication of natural motifs, but are rethought and presented in an unexpected configuration. The reimagined blue leaves depicted by the artist, the petals of blue tulips, asters, carnations, roses follow the contours of birds or animals. Sometimes they outline stylized household objects or objects (for example, peasant huts).
Complementary images of the "grass" type - antennae, spirals, hatching elements, various strokes, geometric fragments - give the image completeness, create the necessary accents.
The emergence of Polkhov – Maidan painting
Russian folk painting is diverse . Her views in all their diversity, perhaps, can be described in a specialized monograph, but not in the article. Therefore, our task is more modest. We have already named the most “popular” types of painting: Khokhloma and Gzhel. However, there are others, they are all original and there are a lot of them. We will name some: Boretskaya, Gorodetskaya, Mezenskaya, Onega, Permogorsk, Pizhema, Polkhov-Maidan, Pluzhuzhskaya, Rakulskaya, etc. Without the possibility in this article to substantively talk about all of them, we will present a description of the only one of them - Polkhov-Maidan.
This painting arose at the beginning of the 20th century in the Voznesensky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Here in the villages of Polkhovsky Maidan and in the village of Voznesenskoye at the end of the 18th century there was a turning trade of monks of the Sarov Monastery. The peasants also learned the turning craft, having become skilled craftsmen in the manufacture of wooden utensils. The craftsmen also made, as they said, “caravans,” that is, products for fun: whistles, mushrooms, nesting dolls, Easter eggs, and children's toys.
The impetus for the creation of the painting was the acquisition by the peasant Paul Paul Nikitich of an incense incinerator, and since 1926 the peasants' awakened creative principle led them to paint products with oil paints, and since 1933 they were replaced by aniline paints.
After the work of the Polkhovites was adopted by the Zagors, Merinovtsy, Semenovtsi, new types of painting of matryoshka dolls were created (we will touch upon this topic later).
Technology of Polkhov – Maidan style of painting
Initially, the surface of a wooden product was ground and primed with starch paste. Then, the outline of the ink drawing was applied, after which the painting was made. For this, four colors were used: red, yellow, green and blue. Then a “tip-off” was carried out, a characteristic artistic stage of the Polkhov-Maidan style, which consisted in outlining the outline of the drawing in black. We add that this type of painting involves a technique such as overlaying flowers.
This type of art also uses a special technique of contour painting.
We mentioned this type of painting not by chance. He flourished in the USSR until the 90s, inclusive. At the Ascension Factory, five hundred people worked. Of these, 40% are painters, the rest are turners. They treated the work creatively, a creative laboratory worked at the factory. Products were exported to the USA and European countries. Today, the traditions laid down by the factory are being developed by entrepreneurs.
Her Majesty Matryoshka
Russian painting has not always evolved. Views of it sometimes arose unexpectedly - not from the "depth of time." They were generated by the insight of a single creative Russian master. This happened with the matryoshka. She is not an original Russian invention.
Matryoshka appeared in Russia in the 19th century in Sergiev Posad. The wife of the artist Sergei Vasilyevich Malyutin in 1898 brought from Japan a figure of the old man Fukurum, in which four more figures were invested (by the way, according to Japanese legend, the first such figure was made by a Russian monk). Sergei Vasilievich rethought her idea in Russian. A brilliant idea arose - to model a typical Russian family. The name Matrena was then popular in Russia. In addition, as Milyutin believed, it resonated with the ancient Roman name of the mother of the family.
Sergey Vasilievich made a drawing of a figure with eight investments. The woman was followed by her daughter with a black cock, then her son, then again a girl, the eighth figure was a baby. Turner V.P. Zvezdochkin turned a tree from their shape. The figure was painted by Sergei Vasilievich himself.
Production of nesting dolls. Types of painting
The world-wide popularity of nesting dolls, its recognition by the world dates back to 1900, when it "went out into the world" - at the world exhibition in Paris.
Could folk art pass by nesting dolls? Already in 1899, all Sergiev Posad produced new charming dolls: girls and women, ruddy, in caftans and aprons or in scarves and sundresses, with baskets, pets, birds, flowers. The Zagorsk style (as you know, Sergiev Posad was renamed Zagorsk) was distinguished by its picturesqueness, attention to small details.
Since 1922, dolls also began to be produced in the village of Merinovo in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The local turner A. Maiorov , having bought a Sergiev matryoshka, turned out “his”. She painted the figures of his daughter. Merinovtsy quickly mastered the manufacture of these complex figures. Merinovskaya nesting doll - emphasized bright, although with less detail than Zagorsk.
The third “Matryoshka field” was the village of Polkhovsky Maidan, famous for both turners and painting. Polkhov matryoshka has its own characteristics:
- fleeting, small strokes written face;
- the place of the outlines of the scarf and the lines of the sundress (skirt), from the back 2/3 of the matryoshka is painted scarlet (red) or green. The color of the scarf contrasts with it. In the forehead area of ​​the nesting doll, a flower of a wild rose is painted. An apron is indicated - from the neck to the ground. The apron painting is grouped “oval”. In the middle is a branch with an opened rose, leaves, berries. The composition is complemented by daisies and forget-me-nots.
The most difficult to manufacture is considered a matryoshka from Vyatka, which local craftsmen inlaid with straws.
Output
Russian art painting as a type of decorative and applied art is based on a deep folk tradition, on people's awareness of what the Motherland is, what is a family. It is associated with the centuries-old life of our ancestors, so painted products carry a charge of warmth, humanity, and a creative attitude to life. They really adorn the life of a modern person, they supplant "impersonality", elements of decorating living space are introduced.
Art painting also brings some emphasis to our lives, recalling continuity, the homeland, the universal human duty of every person - to make life around them more beautiful.