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Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:58:51 -0700

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Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:34:12 -0700

Fairy tales hand-painted on lacquer miniatures...

"Sivka-burka" - Russian folk tale

Once upon a time in a Russian village lived an old peasant. He had three sons. The two elder sons were clever, but the youngest was a fool named Ivanushka. The family had a wheat field. One day they noticed that at night something had come into the field and trampled the wheat. The old peasant sent his sons to guard the field.

On the first night the eldest son went to the field, but did not try hard enough to stay awake and fell asleep. On the second night the middle son went to the field, but he too fell asleep and did not see anything.

On the third night Ivanushka went there. At midnight he saw a great chestnut-gray stallion wearing a gold saddle and a silver bridle. The stallion started to eat and trampled the wheat. Ivanushka managed to catch the wonderful horse. The stallion said, "Let me go free, I will be your friend. If you need something, go to the field, whistle and say, "Sivka-Burka, appear here!" I will come and help you."

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Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:35:24 -0700

Fairy tales hand-painted on lacquer miniatures...

"The Twelve Months" - Russian folk tale

There was once a widow who had two daughters, Helen, her own child by her dead husband, and Marouckla, his daughter by his first wife. She loved Helen, but hated the poor orphan because she was far prettier than her own daughter. Marouckla did not think about her good looks, and could not understand why her stepmother should be angry at the sight of her. The hardest work fell to her share. She cleaned out the rooms, cooked, washed, sewed, spun, wove, brought in the hay, milked the cow, and all this without any help.
Helen, meanwhile, did nothing but dress herself in her best clothes and go to one amusement after another. But Marouckla never complained. She bore the scoldings and bad temper of mother and sister with a smile on her lips, and the patience of a lamb. But this angelic behavior did not soften them. They became even more tyrannical and grumpy, for Marouckla grew daily more beautiful, while Helen's ugliness increased. So the stepmother determined to get rid of Marouckla, for she knew that while she remained, her own daughter would have no suitors. Hunger, every kind of privation, abuse, every means was used to make the girl's life miserable. But in spite of it all Marouckla grew ever sweeter and more charming.

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Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:10:36 -0800

Fairy tales hand-painted on lacquer miniatures...

"Sadko" - Russian bylina

In the north of Holy Russia lies the mighty and glorious town of Novgorod, known to all as Lord Novgorod the Great. And once there lived in great Novgorod a bard, a musician of some repute, by name: Sadko. He had little in the way of gold, and to support himself he made the rounds of the noble feasts and banquets, entrancing and delighting everyone, whether prince or boyar, merchant or peasant, with his marvelous skill on the gusli and his golden voice and his skill at weaving words and music into mighty visions of the exploits of Russian folk. He was always in demand and he looked forward to a day when he might have saved enough money to allow him to sing and play simly for pleasure rather than sustenance.

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Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:41:42 -0800

Fairy tales hand-painted on lacquer miniatures...

"Ilia of Murom and Nightingale the Robber" - Russian folk tale

In the famous city of Murom, in the village of Karatcharof, lived a peasant, Ivan Timofeewitch. He had an only child, Ilya Murometz. He sat as children do for thirty years, and when thirty years had passed, he began to walk firmly on his feet, became conscious of vast strength, made himself a warrior's equipment and a steel spear, and saddled a good horse, worthy of a hero. He went to his father and mother, and begged their blessing. 'My honoured father and mother, let me go to the famous city of Kief to perform my devotions to God, and to kneel to the Prince of Kief.' His father and mother gave him their blessing, laid upon him serious injunctions, and spoke to this effect: 'Ride straight to the city of Kief; straight to the city of Chernigof, and on your road do no injury, shed no Christian blood causelessly.' Ivan Murometz received the blessing of his father and mother, prayed to God, took leave of his father and mother, and started on his journey.
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Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:30:47 -0800

If you admire an art work with thin and smooth drawing on the black background plentifully decorated with gold shading know: before you - a Palekh lacquer miniature. It is based on a long local history of icon painting. Icon painting craft has arisen in the early thirties in village Palekh of the Ivanovo area. In spite of the fact that the church demanded to fulfill precisely every element of icon, Palekh painters did it in their own manner of writing faces, figures, elements of landscape, buildings, carriages and so on. On the icons you could see some domestic details such as furniture, clothes, arms, horse harness. Some of them have been kept in todays Palekh miniature art painting somewhat changed creatively.
Palekh painting wasn't born accidentally. It was a result of century-old traditions in new historical conditions based on the knowledge of icon-painting handicraft of many generations. Their methods were rich and varied. From the very beginning Palekh artists had been studying and keeping old Russian art traditions. Therefore at an icon and a product executed in the spirit of palekh miniature have much common. After the 1917 Revolution, when the icon business went into the deepest of declines, Palekh masters tried their hands at decorating art wood tableware, kitchen utensils, toys, dishes, porcelain and glass. As it turned out, the most interesting way was the painting of paper-mache boxes that became the black-lacquered miniature.
The varnish miniature is executed by tempera paint on a papier-mache. Colour of palekh painting is based on a combination of three colours - red, yellow and green. The Palekh miniatures usually represent characters from real life, literary works, fairy tales, bylinas, and songs. They are painted with local bright paints over the black background and are known for their delicate and smooth design, abundance of golden shading, and accurate silhouettes of flattened figures, which often cover the surface of the lids and sides of the articles completely. Poetic magic of the Palekh characters, decorativeness of landscapes and architecture, and elongated proportions of the figures go back to the icon-painting traditions. The miniatures are usually set off with a complicated pattern made with gold dissolved in aqua regia.
Palekh lacquered miniatures are painted on articles - caskets and boxes, brooches and hairpins for ties, a panel and ashtrays and great number of other little things made of papier-mache.
The process of making Palekh articles is the following: The first operation in the making of these gems of folk art is the cutting out of the cardboard. The strips of cardboard are covered with flour paste, placed on circular or rectangular moulds and pressed. After that the material is given a coating of warm linseed oil. The carefully checked pieces are handed to the joiners. Then the undercoat is applied to the article with a steel palette knife. The outside of Palekh articles is painted with black lacquer. The inside is painted with red lacquer. The final operation before painting: about seven coats of transparent oil varnish is applied to the outside and inside of the article. Every coat applied is dried in the furnace for 9 hours at 90�C.
The articles are now ready to be handed to the artists. The work of the artist begins with preparation of the paint. In Palekh the paints are mixed with egg emulsion. The yolk, separated from the white, is returned to the shell where a mixture of water and vinegar is added. Then the emulsion is stirred with a special brush. Before painting the article, the artist draws on the design. Then the composition is outlined in white lead with a very fine squirrel brush and the colours are then applied in strict succession. The work of the miniature painter requires not only creative inspiration, but also extreme care and precision which is why Palekh painters frequently make use of a magnifying glass. When the painting is over, the artist begins the gold work. The gold must be polished to give it the necessary shine. After having signed the article the artist coats it by transparent oil varnish and polish by hand.
It is amazing that what started out as a true folk tradition over hundreds years ago is still thriving and remains basically true to it's roots, albeit on a more organized scale.
Art Shop

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Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:25:00 -0800

National school of Mstyora (Mstera) lacquer painting was appeared on the base of the icon painting.
This settlement was mentioned in the chronicles for the first time in 1626. In the reign of Peter I the settlement belonged to Prince Fyodor Yurievitch Romodanovsky, companion-in-arms of the tsar and head of the Preobrazhensky department, and was called the Bogoyavlenskaya Sloboda.
Since the 18th century icon-painting became the leading trade of this village. The icon-painting style of Mstyora was determined by the tastes and demands of the old believers not of the Moscow region alone, but also of the Urals, Siberia, Zavolzhie (the Volga region) and Pomorie (coast area). Different groups of the old believers had different style requirements which made Mstyora masters imitate various icon-painters.
In the 19th century the settlement was named Mstyora. The indigenous inhabitants claim that the name derives from the Russian word "mastera" - masters.
Local master-craftsmen made icon mountings for churches and monasteries. It laid the groundwork for the local jewelry art employing the technique of filigree known in the time of the Kiev Russia.
Many talented artists lived here in the 1700s, so many different kinds of folk art arose here such as an icon painting, gold and silver embroidery and engraving.
Art works with a delicate miniature pattern was developed in Mstyora before the revolution, along with the famous Vladimir stitch with a massive ornament.
Nowadays, Mstyora is the center of the popular Russian art of miniature painting on lacquer articles made of papier-mache.
The Mstyora miniatures usually represent scenes from real life, fairy tales, folklore, literary and history works.
Special place in Mstera painting takes icon painting. As it has some specific features. This tradition was held by Byzantine art, the successors of which were first and foremost the Vladimir and Suzdal icon painters.The Byzantine technique of painting with flux and Byzantine icon painting was preserved in Mstera for many centuries, right up until the start of the 20th century.
Carpet decoration, variety and refinement of picturesque tinges, which contain with general tone of all composition are typical peculiarities of Mstyora miniature painting. Warmth and gentleness of colors, depth of landscape backgrounds (often with blue dales in the back), small size and squatness of human figurines, and subtlety of framing pattern done in gold are typical for the Mstyora miniature. Colors gamut of Mstera artists is blue-silver or yellow-red. Sometimes artists of Mstera are painting their works by only one ornament (pattern from grass, leaves and fruits).
Masterpieces of Mstyora artists are well-known around the world. They were awards by Gran-Prix, the gold and silver medals on the world exhibitions. The Art of Mstyora is represented in the collections of the biggest museums in Russia (Russian Museum, Tretyakov Gallery) and in the world.
Art Shop offers art collection of Mstyora lacquer miniatures as birthday gift idea for you and your family.