 In
the 1920s, during the heat of the Soviets' new economic policy,
an eccentric artist, I. I. Golikov, visited his brother-in-law
in Moscow to discuss lacquer art. Golikov was fascinated with
Lukutin lacquer wares which were on display at the Handicraft
Museum. This inspired experimentation in the artist and he decided
to reproduce what he saw, with a twist of his own. He met with
the directors of the museum to acquire blank papier-mache boxes.
The directors could not see potential in the former icon-painter
and they did not honor his request. Ivan Golikov didn't give
up, he was allowed to work with papier-mache pans from A. A.
Glazunov's workshop, on which he painted two compositions: "The
Hunt for a Bear" and "Adam in Paradise". His
work exceeded all expectations, and as soon as the museum purchased
these first miniatures, lacquer art in Palekh was born.
Official recognition
of Palekh's Artel of Old Painting took place on December 5,
1924, which was founded by seven fellow artisans of Palekh.
The work at the Artel started with the painting of papier-mache
items of various forms: small chest coffers, lacquer boxes,
small painted boxes, and bead boxes. The Artel expanded tremendously
within the first decade of its existence. The joint venture
that these seven men engaged in employed more than one hundred
artists, and due to its enormous growth, the Artel was reassembled
and renamed as, "The Creative-Productions Union of Palekh."
The new Palekh became quite multicultural while
at the same time keeping a firm hold on its national roots.
When examining Palekh's art, the eye can readily see that
not only did its influences come from its homeland in the
west but also from the exotic cultures from the far east.
The Lukutino lacquer articles, which were introduced
to the Russian public at the end of the 18th century, actually
originated in Western Europe. A Russian merchant, Piotr Korobov,
hired two German craftsmen from Braunschweg to manufacture
lacquer peaks for the caps of military uniforms. The factory
was assembled in a village not far from Moscow, and its production
became an art form all its own during the time of Lukutin.
Fedoskino's contemporary style of lacquer miniature painting
is based on old Lukutin traditions.
Fedoskino was a place where Palekh's artists
could take a great deal of knowledge. In Fedoskino they were
introduced to new artistic concepts, to contemporary societal
art, and aspects of western culture. The new medium of working
with papier-mache did not come as easy as most might think
for Palekh's artists. Even when Palekh established for itself
a fool-proof way to manufacture its papier-mache, artists
from the city were sent to Fedoskino to collaborate on ways
to enhance the manufacturing process. Namely the goals of
the envoys to Fedoskino were to unearth the secrets to reproduce
the strength, lightweight, and durable product that Fedoskino
was able to produce.
The State Museum of Palekh Art, has on display
a unique lacquer box by the master Golikov, which depicts
the winter scene of the "Troika" on the cover of
a case of cigarettes. To hold the piece itself is very pleasurable,
not only because of its aesthetic quality but, because of
the weightless and graceful manner that it holds itself in
ones hand.
It is easy to understand the cultural link
through art between Fedoskino, Palekh, Western Europe and
the cultures of the Far East. Today, lacquer miniatures made
of papier-mache are much less functional; rather they serve
as exquisite pieces of fine art.
The inovators of Palekh lacquer miniatures,
began their Russian gifts during time in which different styles
of painting were hardly disputed. The "old-timer"
painters (as they were called in Palekh) created pieces "at
God's will," trusting their hearts, eyes, and hands.
"The artist should show a whirlwind in his work,"
proclaimed an eclectic Golikov. Before beginning his work,
he loved to scatter flowers on the table, and scatter paints
on the subjects. "At first glance, it's a bouquet; but
if you look closely - it's a battle, or a party."
Even with the creative diversity which the
first-generation artists possessed there were many organizing
elements that gave all of their pieces stylistic unity. Icon
painting traditions influenced every aspect of lacquer art.
This included: the monumental figurative order of I. V. Markichev's
articles, the intense graphic representation of I. N. Shakurov's
compositions, the colorful ornamental and picturesque works
of A. V. Kolotukhin, the superfine intermixing of paints by
I. M. Barkanov, and the skillful gold leaf paintings of I.
I. Zubkov.
Alexander Pushkin, the father of Russian literature,
played a very important role in influencing the works of the
artists in Palekh. The entire genre of scene painting was
re-invented, based on works by this 19th century literary
juggernaut. This expolsion of insperation was incited by A.M.
Gorkiy who presented the complete collection of Pushkin's
writings to the Artel, becoming the beginning of a beautiful
relationship between the poet and the painter.
At first the artists depicted scenes from Pushkin's
fairy tales and poems, and later they moved to depicting scenes
from tragedies, lyric poems, and prose. The world of Pushkin
entered the hearts of Palekh artists forever. Artist G. V.
Zhidkov is to be credited with the introduction of Pushkin
genre scenes on Palekh lacquer art. In the 1930's Zhidkov
was expelled from the Tretyakov gallery, and exiled to Palekh
from Moscow. Becoming the director of a museum in Palekh,
he actively collaborated with the artists and decided to head
a project to paint a great number of lacquer miniatures involving
themes from Pushkin's writings.
Under the leadership of Zhidkov, Palekh's classical
Pushkin theme depictions became beautiful icon-like paintings
of stories and fairy tales, such as "The Tale of the
Magic Golden Fish," "The Golden Cockerel,"
"An Oak Tree Grinning by The Sea," "Ruslan
and Ludmila," and others. Zhidkov's legacy will be remembered
as being the man who brought Pushkin to the world of lacquer
miniatures.
Pushkin themes played an important role in
the history of Palekh. The art was undergoing stages of radical
change. With these changes the period of experimenting was
complete, and serious creative work was beginning to take
place.
Within a few years the artists decided to set
up an institute to teach the painting of lacquer miniatures
in Palekh. The younger generation of painters had no iconographic
experience due to the new Communist regimes prohibiton to
paint icons. This made it necessary to educate them in the
old ways of the old icon-painters without the formal teaching
of icon-painting. A one-on-one approach to teaching the new
painters was necessary and a method where the apprentice was
placed next to the teacher observing his work and then trying
to repeat the techniques which were used. This is the way
one of most talented lacquer miniature masters, P. D. Bazhenov,
learned his craft. He became the Artel's first apprentice
under the guidance of the master Golikov himself.
However, this method of teaching was not suitable
for everyone, and it was used only for a short time. The Art
School in Palekh was founded in 1935.In comparison to other
educational institutions in Russia, the school had many peculiar
features. A first of its kind in Russia, it was a school that
produced masters skilled to manufacture a specific Russian
gifts.
The methods of painting, which were based on
two mutually exclusive systems of icon-painting and academic
art, made the training very specific. The instructions were
based on original samples of the best lacquer miniature masterpieces
and traditional icons. Palekh masters painted the same way
as did their icon-painting ancestors, with egg tempera, brushes
made from the tails of squirrels, and using gold paint prepared
using age-old techniques. The ancient Russian tradition continued
to be passed on without interruption.
Palekh became the guardian of the pasts rich
heritage even during a time of ideological hurricanes, orgies
of atheism, and the struggles that the State was having with
religion. Since there was no other source of opposition to
the new Communist regime, the churches became desicrated wastelands,
expositions of ancient paintings were closed to the public,
and old art had become an ideological enemy of the State to
the extent that even mentioning the name of the artist Andrei
Rublev caused apprehension.
In the wake of the new reforms, curiosities
arose. For example, Rublev's "Trinity" icon was
among the originals the students of the school used for learning.
While explaining the figurative structure of the piece, the
teacher, the well-known Zinovyev, continually tried not to
draw attention to the spiritual origin of the painting. Zinovyev
would refer to the Angels in the icon as the "girls with
the spears."
The old stereotypes continued during the thaw
of the Gorbachev era. In the 1980's, when the iron curtain
was lifted and opportunities for international relations appeared,
the art form experienced an incredible commercial boom. Palekh
became very popular again and foreign tourists were flooding
in to buy the art and the market started to determine the
character of the art's production.
 The
Russian people returned to celebrating such holidays as Christmas
and Easter when complete religious freedom was given back
to them. At the same time Palekh articles became cherished
and pleasant gifts. Even then ridiculous situations still
came to pass. When shipping an item to a customer, the production
managers wrestled with the problem of how to label a products
such as Easter eggs on official documents. To say that the
piece was an Easter egg, as it really was, was still impossible.
Easter eggs became known as, "objects of ellipsoid form"
in the documents which accompanied Palekh productions.
There was a time when ancient Russian icons
saved and created a new style of art in Palekh. Today, a boomerang
effect is taking place with the slow revival of icon-painting
which is shaping up to once again become a staple in Palekhs
fine painting tradition. Despite an icon-painting branch being
opened in the art school, to find an artist who did not paint
icons was much easier than finding one that did.
The Palekh craft was able to evolve during
a sixty year period under the infrastucture of a central art
organization. By the end of the 1980's that organization broke
up into a number of independent partnerships, all imposing
their own policies on how to manufacture lacquer miniatures.
The "Palekh Partnership," founded
in 1989, considers itself to be the direct descendent of the
organizations which operated using the basic principles based
on the old techniques in manufacturing Palekh art. The lineage
of the new "Partenership" starts in 1924, as the
"Artel of Old Painting", being renamed in 1935 as
"The Creative-Productions Union of Palekh", then
being given the name of "artistic and industrial workshops"
in 1954. The "Partnership" which exists today does
not celebrate its anniversaries as being one of a creation
but they celebrate them as a resurrection of the old style
which they are continuing
Today, more than 100 artists of various
generations and bacgrounds are working in the Partnership.
Each year, graduates of the art school are hired into the
staff of the Partnership, and the most skilled masters among
the "Partnership" become instructors at the school.
Therefore the skills and techniques are passed on from master
to pupil in a continuous cycle which ensure the development
of the craft in traditional fashion
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