Decorative and applied art is an extensive branch of art, covering various spheres of artistic activity and focused on the creation of utilitarian products. The aesthetic level of such works is usually quite high. The collective term combines two types of arts - applied and decorative. The first has signs of practical application, the second is designed to decorate the human environment.
Creativity and Utility
Applied art - what is it? First of all, these are objects whose characteristics are close to the artistic style, and their purpose is quite diverse. Vases, jugs, dishes or dinner sets made of fine porcelain, as well as many other products, serve as decoration of living rooms, kitchen sets, bedrooms and children's rooms. Some objects can be works of genuine art and nevertheless belong to the category of applied creativity.
Wide field of activity
Applied art - what is it from the point of view of the master? A time-consuming creative process or a simple craft made from improvised materials? Of course, this is a work of art that deserves the highest praise. The utilitarian purpose of the product does not detract from its merits. Decorative and applied art is a wide field of activity for artists and sculptors, designers and stylists. Exclusive works of art created in a single copy are especially valued. At the same time, products manufactured in series are reckoned as souvenir products.
Decorations in the house
Decorative and applied art - what is it if we consider it as part of the aesthetic filling of the domestic environment? It is safe to say that all products and objects located around reflect the tastes of people in close proximity to them, as a person tries to surround himself with beautiful things. Decorative and applied art makes it possible to decorate housing, office space, recreation area. Particular attention is paid to the design of premises for children.
And finally, applied art - what is this in the understanding of the public? These are exhibitions, vernissages, fairs and many other public events that introduce people to culture. Fine arts and crafts increases the level of human development, contributes to the formation of his aesthetic taste. In addition, examination of expositions broadens the general horizons. Each exhibition of applied art is an acquaintance of the general public with new achievements in the field of art. Such events are of particular importance in the education of the young generation.
A bit of history
Folk arts and crafts originates in Russian villages. Simple crafts of homegrown master craftsmen are often classified as products in the category of "folk art". A good example of folklore style is the so-called Dymkovo toy - painted cockerels, figures, red clay jewelry.
Fishing is rooted in the past; it is more than four hundred years old. Ancient applied art appeared thanks to the national holiday "Whistler", when the entire female population sculpted clay whistles for this day in the form of hens, lamb, horses. The walk lasted two days.
Over time, the holiday lost its significance, and folk art continued to develop. Currently, Dymkovo art products are being replicated at the Vyatka Toy production association. Products are traditionally coated with whitewash and painted with bright, rich colors.
Fine Arts
Original products of folk art, as a rule, become the basis for commercial projects. Fairy-tale characters invented by the inhabitants of Russian villages are displayed in the famous Palekh caskets, Zhostovo trays, Khokhloma wooden items. The applied art of Russia is diverse, each direction is interesting in its own way, the products of Russian masters are in high demand among foreign collectors.
“Demand gives rise to supply” - this wording perfectly reflects the state of affairs in the sphere of folk art crafts in Russia. For example, gzhel-style artworks have been popular around the world for several centuries. Famous white and blue vases, plates, tea and coffee sets are welcome in every home, and especially valuable pieces are the pride of collectors. It is still unclear what applied art is - work, craft or artistic creation. In fact, each product requires some effort to create it, and at the same time it is necessary to give the image an artistic value.
Applied art in a children's room
In certain cases, the subject of artistic creation may be addressed to the younger generation. Of particular value are products made by children's hands. The immediacy inherent in boys and girls of preschool age, naive fantasy mixed with a desire to express their innermost feelings give rise to real masterpieces. Children's applied art, represented by drawings, plasticine figures, cardboard little men, is a real art work. Today, competitions are held throughout Russia, in which small "artists" and "sculptors" participate.
Contemporary Russian applied art
Photographs, daggerotypes, etchings, prints, prints, as well as many other examples, are also artistic creation. Products can be very different. At the same time, they are all united by belonging to social and cultural life under the general name - decorative and applied art. Works in this area are distinguished by a special folklore style. Not without reason all art crafts originated in the Russian outback, in villages and villages. Homegrown unpretentiousness and the complete absence of the pretentiousness that sometimes occurs in works of fine art can be traced in the products. At the same time, the artistic level of folk art is quite high.
In Russia, arts and crafts is part of the country's economic power. The following is a list of the main areas of folk art crafts that have received worldwide recognition and are sent for export in industrial volumes.
- Lacquer miniatures on a wooden base (Palekh, Mstora, Fedoskino).
- Zhostovo art painting on metal, Limoges enamel, enamel.
- Khokhloma, Gorodets, Mezen art painting on wood.
- Gzhel, Filimonovo toy, Dymkovo toy - art painting on ceramics.
Palekh
Palekh folk art appeared on the Russian expanses at the beginning of the 20th century. The art of lacquer painting arose in a small village in the Ivanovo province called Palekh. The craft was a continuation of icon painting, which goes back to pre-Petrine times. Later, Palekh masters participated in the painting of the Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin, the Novodevichy Convent, and the cathedrals of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
The revolution of 1917 canceled iconography, artists were left without work. In 1918, the masters created the Palekh art cooperative, which painted wooden crafts. Then the craftsmen learned how to create papier-mâché boxes and paint them in miniature style using traditional icon-painting technologies.
In 1923, varnish miniatures were presented at the All-Russian Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition, where they received a diploma of the 2nd degree. And two years later, Palekh caskets were exhibited in Paris at the World Exhibition.
The success of unusual art products was an incentive for the creation of the Union of Artists of Palekh and the Palekh Art Workshops under the Art Fund of the USSR.
Fedoskino
Russian varnish painting with the use of oil paints is associated with this word . The craft appeared in the village of Fedoskino near Moscow in the second half of the 18th century. The drawing was applied to papier-mâché products and then varnished in several layers.
The art of Fedoskino miniature was laid by the Russian merchant P.I. Korobov, who visited the German city of Braunschweig and adopted the technologies for creating snuff-boxes, beads, caskets and other products decorated with picturesque paintings.
Fedoskino lacquer miniature is painted with oil paints in four steps: first, a sketch of the drawing is made (“hardening”), then a detailed study (“grinding”), glazing is covered with transparent paints, the last process is glare, transmitting glare and shadow on the image.
The Fedoskino technique of drawing involves the use of a tint layer of reflective components: gold leaf, metal powder or potal. In some cases, the master can make a pearl lining. Transparent glaze paints together with a lining create a unique effect of deep glow. The colorful layer is underlined by a black background.
Mstera
So called the Russian folk craft, which appeared in the middle of the 18th century in the Vladimir province. It all started with "petty letters" - miniature icons with the drawing of the smallest details. After the revolution of 1917, when the need for icon painting disappeared, Mstera switched to caskets and papier-mâché boxes. The drawing was applied with tempera paints mixed on egg yolks. By the middle of the 20th century, the technology of the lacquer miniature of Mstera had finally formed.
The basic principles of drawing a drawing are to transfer the general contours from tracing paper to the surface of the product, then you should “paint it over”, drawing the drawing directly. The next stage is a detailed painting. And finally, “swim” - the final coloring with glare, which includes the created gold (the finest gold powder). The finished product is coated with a transparent varnish in six layers with intermediate drying, then polished.
The characteristic features of the master's painting are carpet decorativeness, a sophisticated play of shades and three color schemes used in coloring: ocher yellow, red and silver-blue. The theme of the drawing is classic: fairy tales, historical monuments, architecture.
Zhostovo
Zhostovsky folk craft is a metal tray painted in a special style. Zhostovo art was born at the beginning of the 19th century, in the villages of Troitsky volost, in the suburbs. Residents of three villages (Ostashkovo, Zhostovo and Khlebnikovo) engaged in the manufacture of painted products from papier-mâché. And in the workshop of the Vishnyakov brothers they began to make trays of tin with a colorful pattern.
The price list of the Vishnyakovs included two dozen different metal items and papier-mâché, all of them were painted, colorfully decorated and were in high demand at fairs, while the tray was always in the foreground.
Zhostovo painting is a floral theme in several versions: a garden bouquet, flowers "offhand", a garland, a wicker wreath. Field plants made up a separate composition.
The bouquets on the tray look natural due to the careful study of small details. The color palette is used as saturated as possible. The background, as a rule, is black, the edges of the tray are decorated with openwork ornaments, floral or stylized as a wood structure. Zhostovo tray is always painted by hand and is an exclusive work of art.
Khokhloma
This name was given to the Russian folk craft, rooted in the early 17th century. Khokhloma painting is the most complex and expensive of all currently existing techniques. Applied art is a long creative process related to wood processing, multi-layer primer and oil painting.
The manufacturing process of Khokhloma products begins with blanks. First, the masters beat the buck, that is , they chop the wooden blocks with an ax. Then the workpieces are processed on the machines to the desired size and shape. Processed blanks are called “laundry.” After polishing, they are coated with special liquid clay and dried. Then, the primed workpieces are covered with several layers of linseed oil with intermediate drying. This is followed by tinning, or rubbing into the surface of aluminum powder, after which the product becomes a white-mirror color. At this stage, it is ready for painting.
The main colors of Khokhloma are black and red (soot and cinnabar), auxiliary colors: gold, brown, light green and yellow. At the same time, brushes are used very thin (made exclusively from squirrel tails), since strokes are applied with a barely noticeable touch.
The thematic content of the picture is rowan berries, viburnum, wild strawberries, small foliage, thin, slightly curved green stems. Everything is drawn with bright, intense colors, the contours are clearly marked. The image is built on the principle of contrast.
Gzhel
This is the most popular folk craft, a traditional Russian center for the production of art ceramics. It occupies a vast region consisting of 27 villages, under the general name Gzhel bush, 60 kilometers from Moscow.
From time immemorial Gzhel places have been famous for deposits of high-grade clay, suitable for pharmaceutical vessels. In 1770, the Gzhel volost lands were assigned to the Pharmaceutical Order. Then, in Gzhel villages, the production of bricks, pottery pipes, stove tiles and children's toys for Moscow began.
Gzhel clay dishes were especially good, light and durable. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were 25 utensil factories in the volost. The proximity of Moscow stimulated the development of the production of earthenware; innumerable bowls, plates, dishes and other kitchen utensils were sold at capital fairs.
Gzhel toys at that time were made from the waste of dishes. No matter how much clay remains, all of it was used for sculpting cockerels, hens, lambs and goats. Initially, handicraft workshops worked randomly, but soon a certain line in production was outlined. They began to procure raw materials specifically for souvenir products; craftsmen also specialized in the profile of the most popular products.
White shiny horses and figurines were painted in different colors until cobalt, a universal paint, appeared. The intense bright blue color combined perfectly with the snow-white enamel of the workpiece. In the 50s of the last century, artists completely abandoned all other colors and began to use the glaze blue cobalt coloring. The motives of the picture could be very different, on any topic.
Other crafts
The range of Russian folk arts and crafts of arts and crafts is unusually wide. Here, and Kaslinskaya artistic casting, and chasing with elements of impregnation. Intarsia and marquetry technologies allow you to create magnificent paintings and panels. Russian applied art is a vast cultural layer of the country, the property of society.