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Exhibition activity of the art crafts of the Msterskaya and Kholuyskaya lacquer miniatures in the 1930s.

Lavrov Dmitrii Evgen'evich

ORCID: 0000-0002-2607-7220

PhD in Art History

Senior Educator, the department of Museology, Saint Petersburg State University

199034, Russia, g. Saint Petersburg, nab. Universitetskaya, 7-9, aud. 91

agitlak@mail.ru
Other publications by this author
 

 

DOI:

10.7256/2454-0625.2023.3.36694

EDN:

HTIBYE

Received:

22-10-2021


Published:

09-03-2023


Abstract: The subject of this study is the analysis of the exhibition activities of the Msterskaya and Kholuyskaya artels of lacquer miniature in the 1930s - the period of the origin and formation of these famous crafts of Russian folk culture. The purpose of this article is to show the beneficial role of the Soviet state in the development of folk art by the example of the participation of these crafts in Soviet and foreign exhibition projects. The author compares the events of the 1930s with the state of lacquer crafts in modern Russia and suggests using the Soviet experience of informational and organizational assistance to lacquer miniature crafts to overcome their current state of crisis. Using the method of comparative analysis, as well as the historical and systematic method of research, the author shows the success of the exhibition practices of the Msterskaya and Kholuiskaya artels in the 1930s, as well as the support provided to lacquer crafts by the state authorities of the USSR. The scientific novelty of the study consists in an attempt to overcome the prevailing view of the current crisis state of Russian lacquer crafts as a result of only insufficient "innovative" leadership on the ground. The author's position is that the reason for such a crisis state should be sought, first of all, in the general situation of the lack of real support for Russian lacquer crafts from the state, which is the main conclusion of the article.


Keywords:

Kholui, Mstyora, Kholui lacquer miniatures, Mstyora lacquer miniatures, folk art crafts, Russian lacquer miniatures, Russian folk art, innovation, exhibition, Soviet state

This article is automatically translated. You can find original text of the article here.

In November 2013, the All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art (Moscow) hosted the international conference "Modern Russian Lacquer Miniature". Monica Kopplin, director of the Museum of Lacquer Art in Munster (Germany), who spoke at this conference, rightly stated the crisis state of lacquer crafts in modern Russia: "Russian lacquer art lacks dynamics, lacks development, it is in a painful stupor" [8, p. 205]. However, due to some misunderstanding, M. Kopplin saw the reasons for this situation in the decline in the quality of products and the lack of technological innovations in modern lacquer crafts, although already in 2013 there were enough examples of enterprises that produced quite high–quality and even innovative products and, despite this, came to bankruptcy - let's call Rolls-Royce and "Pan American Airways" (now, in 2022, such a list has become very easy to continue). As a model to be imitated by modern lacquer crafts of Russia, M. Kopplin in his speech cited the activities of the Lukutin family, who in the XIX century led the lacquer miniature factory near Moscow – the predecessor of the current Fedoskin craft – pointing to the inherent Lukutin craving for technological innovation; their desire to "feel the time" [8, p. 204], "the ability to change" [8, p. 205] and develop the product range, forgetting, however, to mention that all these innovations, the "ability to change" and "feel the time" ended with the closure of the Lukutinsky enterprise in 1904 and, in fact, the collapse of the fishery, which was saved by completely different people, not connected in any way with with the Lukutin clan, nor with their numerous abilities [22, p. 29].

Other participants of the Moscow conference in 2013, more familiar with the Russian reality, agreed with the assessment of the state of lacquer crafts as catastrophic, but called a completely different reason for this situation: this is the lack of proper support from the Russian state (good arguments about the importance of folk art do not count). These were the speeches of the Palekh miniature artist A. I. Kovalev, in the 1970s – 1980s the head of the Palekh craft [7, pp. 85-86]; one of the leading artists of the Fedoskinsky miniature, laureate of the prize of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR O. I. Shapkin [21, p. 111]; director of the LLC "Russian Lacquer Miniature", the artist of the Kholui lacquer miniature V. A. Chirkin [20, p. 92].

In the opinion of the author of this article, it was the Russian participants who were right here, and not the German speaker. As an example of a truly competent and innovative management of the lacquer miniature craft, one can cite the Soviet leadership of the lacquer miniature of the Mstery and the Lackey – the youngest lacquer crafts of the USSR, which arose only in the 1930s, but already in the first years of their existence, thanks primarily to the effective assistance from the Soviet state, they reached great heights in his artistic development, economic activity, as well as public recognition, including thanks to the skillfully conducted state exhibition policy. The proposed article is devoted to this aspect of the history of the Msterian and Kholui crafts of lacquer miniatures of the 1930s, which had not previously received sufficient attention in the scientific literature.

Since almost all of the 1920s - the time of the bright rise of the Palekh art – the Mster and especially the Lackeys developed rather spontaneously (i.e. without conscious guidance from the scientific and creative intelligentsia), the formation of local lacquer crafts fell already in the next decade, i.e. in the 1930s. The traditional date of birth of the craft of the Mster lacquer miniature is considered to be the summer of 1931, when a workshop of papier-mache painting artists was allocated from the local artel of painting and carpentry, consisting initially of 7 people [1, p. 41]; at the same time, the artel was renamed the Mster artel "Proletarian Art". Already in October 1933, the artel took part in a major exhibition "Russian Artistic Varnishes", held at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce on the initiative of the All-Artist and the Institute of Art and Handicraft Industry, at which the products of the lacquer crafts of Fedoskin, Palekh and Mstera were shown together for the first time [2, p. 43]. At the same time, the Moscow artel "Proletarian Art" receives a diploma of the first degree for the works of miniature painters Nikolai Prokofievich Klykov, Alexander Ivanovich Bryagin and Alexander Fedorovich Kotyagin. Thus, the first major exhibition project of the Mster lacquer craft turned out to be quite successful.

In 1931, a workshop-branch of the Mster artel was opened in Kholui [9, p. 54], which in June 1934, by the decision of the Ivanovo Regional Executive Committee and at the request of local artists, gained independence from the Mster craft, receiving the name of the Kholui Artel [19, p. 4]. The leading role in this process was played by the artists Kholuya Dmitry Mikhailovich Dobrynin, Konstantin Vasilyevich Kosterin, Sergey Aleksandrovich Mokin and Vasily Dmitrievich Puzanov-Molev, who in 1934 presented their experienced lacquer miniatures at the Ivanovo Regional Exhibition, earning positive feedback and support from the Ivanovo Union of Artists, as well as from the chairman of the Ivanovo Regional Industrial Council A. P. Korablev [18, p. 30]: in particular, A. P. Korablev ordered the release of funds to the Kholui artists-enthusiasts for further experimental work with the lacquer miniature. It was this success that became one of the important reasons for the formation of the Kholuysky art artel, registered by the Yuzhsky district Executive Committee in the summer of 1934 [9, p. 55] In March 1935, the works of the Kholuysky art artel were shown at the Regional Meeting of industrial cooperation drummers in Ivanovo (S. A. Mokin's caskets "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", "The Return of the collective farm brigade from work"; K. V. Kosterin's casket "The Power of Defense", and other works). Following the results of the exhibition (held on March 8-9), the Ivanovo Regional Council of Industrial Cooperation takes a number of steps to strengthen the state of the Kholui artel, primarily with regard to the preparation of its new or attracting artists who have left the craft: releases the artel four thousand rubles for apprenticeship (at that time consisting of only 10 people), initiates the process of creating a professional school in the Kholui and, finally, he sets the task of the artel to return to the profession the most talented icon painters who were forced to change their occupation after the revolution [15]. In the same year, 1935, an exhibition of the products of the Kholui Artel was held at the Moscow All-Union Research Institute of Art and Handicraft Industry – the first exhibition of the Kholui lacquer miniature in Moscow [19, p. 5], as a result of which funds were allocated to the craft for the purchase of a library.

The second half of the 1930s was a particularly fruitful period for the exhibition activities of the Msterskaya and Kholuiskaya artels. In January 1937, an exhibition of works of lacquer miniatures by Palekh, Mstera and Kholui, organized by the Department of Arts Affairs at the Ivanovo Regional Executive Committee, was held in Ivanovo – the first exhibition of Kholui miniatures together with the products of other lacquer centers (except Fedoskin) [14]. The exhibition, officially called the "Ivanovo Regional Exhibition of Folk Art of Palekh-Mstery-Lackey" [6], was supposed, according to its head, director of the State Museum of Palekh Art G. V. Zhidkov, "to give an opportunity to understand and feel the originality of the works of each of the three collectives" [6]. The event, which took place on January 12-25, 1937 in the Ivanovo Regional Museum of Local Lore (Burylinsky), became the most ambitious exhibition project in which the Kholui Art Artel had previously participated: in total, about 500 works were presented at the exhibition, of which 40 were created in the Kholui (V. D. Puzanov-Molev's box "Happy Childhood"; caskets of S. A. Mokin "Shepherd Boy" and "Strochei at work"; caskets of K. V. Kosterin "Bread wagon train", "Bachelorette Party" and "Return from the bazaar", as well as other works) [12, p. 204]. During the discussion in the periodical press that unfolded during the Ivanovo regional Exhibition of Folk Art, representatives of the Kholui artel, in particular, remind the regional leadership (Ivanovo Regional Industrial Council) of the need to organize their own production base in Kholui for the manufacture of papier-mache [3] (this issue was finally resolved in 1943 [11, p. 481]). The most notable works of the msterskaya artel at the Ivanovo regional exhibition were large plates-panels created by prominent craft artists for the upcoming World Exhibition in Paris [17]: "Harvest Festival" by V. N. Ovchinnikov, "Heroics of the Soviet Union" by A. F. Kotyagin and "The Path to Socialism" by A. I. Bryagin [16, pp. 9-11].

Two months later, in March 1937, an exhibition of folk art of the RSFSR was held in Moscow, where all the lacquer crafts of the country (including Fedoskino) were already presented [13]. The exhibition, organized by the All–Union Committee for the Arts, was held at the State Tretyakov Gallery and included approximately 2,000 exhibits, of which 35 works belonged to the Kholuysky Artel (most of them – 32 works - were devoted to contemporary themes [4, p. 115]). The Mster artel "Proletarian Art" participated in the exhibition with its works in the field of "easel miniature" (platinum panels); in addition, preparatory drawings of the Mster craft were shown for the first time at this exhibition, which allowed visitors to understand the scale of the work of the artists of the artel in the field of monumental painting [4, p. 13] (so, before the Mster the artists took part in the artistic design of the Folk Art Theater in Moscow) [13]. Thus, the 1937 exhibition, held at the State Tretyakov Gallery, became even more ambitious for the Kholuysky and Mstersk crafts than all those held earlier.

The crowning exhibition activity of the Kholui and Mster artels of the 1930s was their participation in the famous World Exhibitions - Paris 1937 and New York 1939-1940. Especially successful was the performance of the products of the Kholui and Mster crafts at the Paris Exhibition, which, as is known, took place from May 25 to November 25, 1937. The Kholui artel presented eight works to the Paris Exhibition (although the Kholui Artel initially presented 11 products to the Moscow selection committee of the exhibition, of which 3 were rejected [5], which however, the percentage was less than a similar "marriage" in the Palekh artel). The participation of the Kholui Art artel in the Paris Exhibition of 1937 was crowned with serious success: the organization, which had barely reached its third anniversary, received a diploma and a bronze medal at the World Exhibition [10, p. 258]; in addition, individual bronze medals were awarded to the miniature artists of the artel: V. D. Puzanov-Molev - for the work "Logging" and "Happy childhood"; K. V. Kosterin – for the work "Holiday on the collective farm" and "Life has become better"; S. A. Mokin – for the work called "Rest" [12, p. 204]. The artists of the msterskaya artel "Proletarian Art" received Grand Prix diplomas and gold medals: the oldest Msterskaya miniaturist artist, the initiator of the local craft, N. P. Klykov - for the work "Logging" and "Dubrovsky"; A. I. Bryagin – for the work "The Path to Socialism"; A. F. Kotyagin – for the work "Heroics of the USSR" [10, p. 258].

The Mster and Kholui crafts also took part in the New York World Exhibition (held from April 30, 1939 to October 27, 1940), at which the Mster miniature painter N. P. Klykov achieved the greatest success, receiving a Grand Prix and a gold medal for his products [23].   

Thus, in Kholui and Mster, exhibition activity was one of the most important reasons for the bright flourishing of local lacquer miniature crafts in the 1930s. The art artels of the Msterskaya and Kholuyskaya lacquer miniatures, to which the term "low–power artel" was recently applied [15], thanks to the effective support of the Soviet state, were able to go from participating in regional exhibition projects (sometimes only as authors of trial samples) to receiving world recognition and awards at World Exhibitions in Paris in a matter of years and New York. Significant experience of participation of the Msterskaya artel "Proletarian Art" and the Kholuiskaya artel in exhibition projects of the 1930s, as well as the economic, financial and organizational assistance provided by the Soviet state to young crafts, helped them to strengthen, survive in the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War [11, p. 479] and take an active part in exhibition projects of the post-war period. It is this kind of leadership of Russian folk crafts that we can call truly innovative today. 

 

 

 

 

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