Exhibition "AERS - PEARL OF RUSSIA". To the 85th anniversary of the Mstersky factory of lacquer miniatures

The All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art opens the exhibition “Mstera is the Pearl of Russia” dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the Mstera Lacquer Miniature Factory. The exhibition will feature more than 200 works from the funds of the All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art, the assortment cabinet of the PC Center for Traditional Mstorsky Miniatures and personal collections. The works presented in the exposition reflect the main stages of development of the Mstera art craft.

In the past, the village of Mstera on Vladimir land was a unique icon-painting center, but it gained world fame in the 20th century, when at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s the art of lacquer miniature painting on papier-mache arose here. Based on their own icon-painting traditions, the miniaturists of Mstera developed a unique artistic style in which the carefully prescribed landscape background with subtle color transitions and the rejection of the black background play an important role.

June 1931 is considered to be the date of birth of the Mstersky lacquer craft, when former icon painters united in the Proletarian Art cooperative (since 1960 - the factory). A significant role in the formation of Mstera’s art was played by the popular popular print, which before the revolution was printed in the local printing house of Golyshev. The founder of the ornamental trend in the miniature miniature was E. V. Yurin ("Ornament with a bird), based on the best examples of ancient Russian art.

Yurin E.V. Casket "Ornament with a bird" The first half of the 1970s.

The exhibition will feature works by the most prominent representatives of the industry: Nikolai Prokopyevich Klykov (“Near the city of Slavyansk”), Alexander Ivanovich Bryagin (“Alexander Nevsky gathers a army…”), Alexander Fedorovich Kotyagin (“The Capture of Izmail”), Vasily Nikiforovich Ovchinnikov, Ivan Alekseevich Serebryakov, Yevgeny Vasilievich Yurin and a number of other masters, whose art soon gained recognition at the 1937 Paris World Exhibition, where artists were awarded the Grand Prix and gold medals.

Kotyagin A.F. Plate “The Capture of Ishmael in 1790” 1942

Representatives of the second generation of miniaturists - Ekaterina Nikolaevna Zonina (“Haymaking ended”), Antonida Mikhailovna Ovchinnikova (“Escort the harmonist to the institute”), Nina Aleksandrovna Lyubomudrova, Vasily Ivanovich Korsakov and other masters - created vivid works that were imbued with the inimitable enthusiasm of the postwar era and at the same time preserving the best features of the Art of the Art.

The 1960s is a special period in the development of the Art of Msterskoy, which began in the wake of the "thaw" and is imbued with the spirit of genuine innovation. Extremely talented works were created at this time: “The correspondence of Ivan IV with Prince Kurbsky” and “The Word about Igor’s regiment” by Lev Aleksandrovich Fomichev, “Peter the Great at the construction site of St. Petersburg” and “1905” by Nikolai Ivanovich Shishakov, “Andrei“ Bogolyubsky ”and “Princely Hunt” by Yuri Mikhailovich Vavanov, “Who Should Live Well in Russia” by Lydia Alexandrovna Demidova.

Vavanov Yu.M. Casket "Princely Hunt" 1964

In the 1970s, the Mster lacquer industry was replenished with a galaxy of creatively gifted artists: Vladislav Fedorovich Nekosov (“Vladimirians see Alexander Nevsky to the Horde”), Vladimir Kapelyevich Moshkovich (“Duke Stepanovich”), Vladimir Nikolaevich Molodkin (“Ilya Muromets and Kalin Tsar” "). In these years, the artistic images of the works of the Mstersky lacquer miniatures become more defined, they clearly trace the connection with all the artistic experience of the old Russian craft.

Moshkovich V.K. Casket "Duke Stepanovich" 1989

The aesthetics of folk life is the main thing that has become a distinctive feature of Russian varnishes. The history of the country, literary works of Russian and foreign writers, poetry, Russian fairy tales, as the concentrated wisdom of the people, the complex world of human aspirations - all this is reflected in Russian lacquer painting.