Publications in the Traditions section

Riddles of patterns of Russian paintings

Have Gzhel dishes always been blue and white, what traditional painting was born after the October Revolution, and why do the painted caskets glow? We understand the secrets of folk art crafts.

Golden bowls. Khokhloma painting

Golden bowls. Khokhloma painting

Golden bowls. Khokhloma painting

The master began his work by beating the buckets - he prepared wooden blocks (buckles) from linden, aspen or birch. From them they carved wooden spoons and ladles, cups and salt shakers. The dishes not yet decorated with painting were called linen. The linen was primed and dried several times, and then painted in yellow, red and black tones. Floral ornaments, flowers, berries, lace twigs were popular motifs. forest birds on Khokhloma dishes, they reminded the peasants of the Firebird from Russian fairy tales, they said: “The Firebird flew past the house and touched the bowl with its wing, and the bowl became golden”.

After drawing the pattern, the products were covered with drying oil two or three times, tin or aluminum powder was rubbed into the surface and dried in an oven. After hardening with heat, they acquired a honey hue and really shone like gold.

At the beginning of the 18th century, dishes began to be brought to the Makariev Fair, where sellers and buyers from all over Russia gathered. Khokhloma products were known throughout the country. Since the 19th century, when guests from all over Europe and Asia began to come to the Nizhny Novgorod fair, painted dishes appeared in many parts of the world. Russian merchants sold products in India and Turkey.

Snowy background and blue patterns. gzhel

Snowy background and blue patterns. Gzhel. Photo: rusnardom.ru

Snowy background and blue patterns. Gzhel. Photo: gzhel-spb.ru

Snowy background and blue patterns. Gzhel. Photo: Sergey Lavrentiev / Photobank Lori

Gzhel clay has been known since the time of Ivan Kalita - from the 14th century. Local craftsmen used it to create "vessels for apothecary's needs", dishes and children's toys. At the beginning of the 19th century, factories appeared in the Gzhel volost, where porcelain was made. The first enterprise here was founded in 1810 by the merchant Pavel Kulichkov. First painting on chinaware was colored, but in the middle of the 19th century, the fashion for white and blue Dutch tiles and Chinese porcelain of the same shades came to Russia. Soon the blue patterns on the snowy background became hallmark Gzhel painting.

To check the quality of porcelain, before painting, the product was dipped in fuchsin - red aniline paint. Porcelain was painted in an even pink color, and any crack was noticeable on it. Masters painted with cobalt paint - before firing it looks black. With the help of special techniques, working only with a brush and paint, the artists created more than 20 shades of blue.

Gzhel plots are lush roses (they were called "agashki" here), winter landscapes, scenes from folk tales. Children go sledding, Emelya catches a pike in the pond, the villagers celebrate Maslenitsa ... After drawing the picture, the dishes were covered with glaze and fired. Pink products with black patterns acquired their traditional look.

Luminous brooches and jewelry boxes. Fedoskino lacquer miniature

Luminous brooches and jewelry boxes. Fedoskino lacquer miniature

Luminous brooches and jewelry boxes. Fedoskino lacquer miniature

“When we organized the artel, we had only one collection of Pushkin’s works for seven people ... This to a large extent explains the fact that we wrote most of our miniatures on Pushkin's subjects.

Alexander Kotukhin, miniaturist

In 1932, Palekh artists met with Maxim Gorky, who called the Palekh lacquer miniature "one of the miracles created October Revolution» . At his request, Ivan Golikov painted miniatures for the deluxe edition of The Tale of Igor's Campaign.

Gzhel, a small town in the Moscow region, is the center of a well-known art craft in Russia. The so-called Gzhel bush occupies a vast territory and includes 27 villages, the population of which has long been engaged in painting various products from snow-white porcelain and faience. The history of the Gzhel craft can be traced back to the 14th century, from the very time when a rich clay deposit was discovered near Moscow. The material was heterogeneous: in the upper layers there were layers of a simple red “shirevka”, below lay layers of “furs” of a pale yellow color, and in the very depths there was a “soap” - the most delicate White clay, an excellent material for the manufacture of high-quality porcelain and faience products.

Apothecary needs

For some time, dishes and other kitchen utensils were made from white clay. Then came the royal Apothecary Decree, ordering the shipment of all extracted raw materials to Moscow for the needs of medicine and pharmaceuticals. Manufacturing kitchen utensils had to be postponed, but after some time additional deposits of white clay were discovered, and thus there was already enough material for both pharmacies and pottery. During the abundance of raw materials, an art craft called Gzhel was born.

World fame

The patterns of which are distinguished by a special style, began to spread throughout Russia. At first, artists used multi-colored paints. Then the Gzhel painting, patterns, the subject of the drawing and the general style changed somewhat. The main color was a bright blue cobalt paint. Since then, Gzhel painting, the patterning of which is admired by people all over the world, has become a classic combination of two colors - white and blue. Genuine products do not allow any other shades, only in some cases the artist can use for light decoration.

heyday

The famous Gzhel plant theme and many other things that form the basis of a unique artistic style) were developed in the 19th century. In the rich houses of Russia, it was considered good form to serve the dinner table with dishes made of Gzhel porcelain. First of all, behind this was patriotism, pride in one's country. In addition, white and blue plates and tureens cost an order of magnitude cheaper than Meissen porcelain.

The images on the products were also exclusively on the Russian theme. Hunting with dogs, dancing on Maslenitsa, the procession on Easter and many other events of a truly Russian nature were depicted on tableware. Thus, Gzhel painting, the patterns of which were close in spirit to the Russians, became more and more popular.

Handmade

At the beginning of the 20th century, breeders in the Moscow region made attempts to put the production of blue and white products on stream, but this idea failed. Gzhel patterns must certainly be made by hand by experienced artists who are able to put their soul into their work. Mechanical drawing destroys the essence of art, the product becomes faceless.

Gzhel painting, patterns and ornaments, geometric figures or plots from village life - all this is the result of the creativity of talented artists working at the enterprises of folk art crafts of the Gzhel Bush. The first sign of the artist's skill is the presence of halftones in the painting, when pale blue strokes alternate with bright and saturated ones.

Gzhel painting: patterns

A flower, its delicate petals, the stem of a plant, leaves on thin cuttings ... All this is a classic theme of Gzhel painting. Plants are depicted in a stylized form, but their characteristic features are visible, currant berries cannot be confused with viburnum, and gooseberries cannot be called wild roses, even though all plants, flowers and berries are of the same bright blue color.

Children's theme

A significant part of the Gzhel folk crafts is dedicated to children. These are horses and elephants, donkeys and foals, painted wagons with a train, cars and planes with Gzhel painting. Patterns for children are just as skillful as those for adults, but the artist approaches his work with much more responsibility. After all, a child should never be disappointed. Therefore, artists, starting to paint toys and other children's products, try to do the job as best as possible.

Master classes

IN production associations Gzhel folk art crafts have sections for teaching those who wish to master the art of painting. Future artists take special courses in drawing and technologies for creating famous white-and-blue porcelain products, master such a type of folk craft as Gzhel painting. Patterns for beginners are simplified, however, the learning process consists of several stages.

The first lessons include learning to draw, or rather, drawing the contours of a future image. The strokes are applied with a drawing pencil of medium softness to Whatman-type paper without pressure, so that poorly marked lines can be erased with an eraser.

After the contour drawing is ready, you can start coloring. It is better to make a test image with water-soluble paint - watercolor, acrylic or gouache. Any brush is suitable for this, but for starters, you can use the 2nd number. On a separate piece of paper, several strokes should be made to select a blue color that is suitable for saturation. Then you need to try to draw a flower. If the image on paper turned out well, then at the next stage you can start painting the ceramic product.

Pattern variety

The database of each Gzhel ceramics enterprise contains plot and thematic sketches used, if necessary, by technologists. A variety of Gzhel paintings, patterns, photographs, drawings, copies - everything comes into play when you need to launch the next series of products.

Author's products are produced in separate batches, when products are maintained in the status of exclusivity from beginning to end. Their shape is unique, the painting is inimitable. Such Gzhel is highly valued, connoisseurs are trying to purchase this particular product. First-class products differ from ordinary ones in a detailed study of the pattern. The artist draws the smallest nuances, and as a result, a true masterpiece of the Gzhel folk craft is born.

Selling on the spot

IN Lately a good tradition appeared - in Gzhel production, to open a store selling products of local craftsmen. became more accessible, the choice increased. Large enterprises Gzhel industry launched the production of superservices, similar to those supplied to the imperial court in the 19th century. Representatives of previous generations remember dinnerware sets of 120 or more items. There were also smaller sets, for 12 persons out of 84 items. And very small, for two, called "Tete-a-tete." There was even a service for one person, a miniature one, which was called "Egoist".

Tsarist monopoly

In those distant times, a lot of Gzhel products went abroad. Europeans exported products of Russian masters by wagons. This went on for quite a long time, until the Russian imperial treasury department became the main buyer of factory products. Quite quickly, a monopoly arose, which subjugated the production of Gzhel, and since then all products have been shipped to the Treasury warehouse.

prospects

Currently, Gzhel is in demand more than ever. Factories and small workshops are working at full capacity. All residents of the so-called Gzhel bush are engaged in the production of snow-white painted ceramics.

Gzhel is a product made of ceramics or porcelain High Quality, painted in a special way: blue paint flawlessly white background. This native Russian folk craft, named after the village of the same name.

The village got its name from the word "zhgel", which meant "burn" or "burn" - a familiar term from the lexicon of potters.

Blue on white.

Story

In the middle of the 17th century on the banks of the river Gzhelka in the ancient village of Gzhel, located 60 km from Moscow, ancient masters of pottery lived and worked. They mined clay, which was very rich in their area, and made from it: bricks, tiles, tiles, pottery pipes, children's toys and dishes.

It is a historical fact that the surprisingly high quality clay from the Gzhel deposit was appreciated by the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. He issued a decree ordering the use of clay from this deposit for the manufacture of apothecary and alchemical utensils.

Pottery developed rapidly. Over time, the so-called "Gzhel Bush" already included 27 villages. By 1812, 25 factories and many private handicraft industries were producing dishes.

In the 18th century, the Gzhel workshops made porcelain using the Majolica technique - at that time it was popular.

By the end of the 18th century, 50 factories were already operating in Gzhel. Products from amazing clay were served throughout Russia, and even in the countries of Central Asia.

However, with the onset of the industrial crisis during the development of capitalism, folk craft began to fade. And by the end of the 19th century, it had almost completely disappeared.

Features of Gzhel painting

Gzhel painting is easy to recognize among other areas. Her characteristic style is blue and blue patterns on a dazzling white background.

For drawing a picture cobalt is used as a paint. It acquires a characteristic blue color during the firing process.

The images use geometric bands, floral patterns and floral ornaments. On large items, you can find whole landscapes and architectural structures, as well as conditional images of figures of people and animals.

Hedgehog, cow and horse.

Drawing on ceramic products applied by hand with a brush. This allows you to create images with cobalt oxide with many shades: from deep dark blue to delicate blue.

Gzhel at present

Today, Gzhel painting is very popular in Russia. On the site of a small old factory Today the Gzhel Porcelain Factory is operating.

Gzhel Porcelain Factory.

The company employs hundreds of craftsmen who have preserved the experience and traditions of their ancestors.

The factory produces, hand-painted with cobalt painting:

• dishes;
• vases;
• candlesticks;
• figurines;
• lamps;
• watch;
• caskets;
• fireplaces;
• chandeliers;
• teapots, etc.

The plant's product range reaches 600 items.

Not only dishes and animals, but everything, everything, everything ...

High-class professionals - technologists and artists skillfully combine technological innovations and centuries-old traditions of art in the production of products.

Porcelain shop in the village of Gzhel.

How to distinguish a genuine product from a fake

Gzhel is an exceptionally high-quality product. They are highly valued both in Russia and abroad. But sometimes you can find fakes. As a rule, they do not differ in workmanship, and the pattern is applied to them with ordinary paint, instead of cobalt oxide.

Real Gzhel can be distinguished by the following features:

• the surface of ceramics or porcelain is perfectly smooth, and the background is snow-white;
• on the bottom of the product there must be a Gzhel corporate stamp - a swan, or the word "Gzhel" is written and circled in an oval in clear large letters;

Company brand.

• on especially valuable products, there may be a mark “painted by hand”, and even the name of the master;
• real Gzhel is surprisingly durable, as it is made from unique varieties of white clay with the addition of quartz sand;
• the drawing made by the master is distinguished by the quality of drawing details;
• the form of products is simple, without excessive pretentiousness.

Directly educational activities for drawing: "Painting dishes" (Gzhel)

Target: To teach children to paint dishes based on Gzhel patterns.
Tasks:
1. To teach children to draw a pattern on the shape of a teapot based on Gzhel ceramics, conveying the characteristic elements of painting, colors, from pale blue to dark blue. Learn to beautifully arrange the pattern on the form.
2. Learn to draw a trefoil flower, branches, grass, curls with the end of the brush. Paint over rounded shapes first along the edge, then in
middle from left to right, from top to bottom in continuous lines. Teach children to dilute paint using a palette.
3. Raise interest in Gzhel ceramics, the desire to convey the richness, picturesqueness of the painting.
Purpose: This lesson is intended for senior preparatory group 5 -7 years old, for young educators, teachers additional education, parents.

Previous work:
Children got acquainted through the story with the history of the emergence of this
painting about masters. Acquaintance with illustrations, viewing filmstrip
"Russian masters". Excursion to the museum. Poletaeva to the exhibition
« applied arts ».
Material:
A large sheet in the shape of a teapot, brushes, coasters, a palette, watercolors, paints.

Lesson progress:

The edge of the porcelain miracle
And all around the forest...

Blue-eyed dishes -
Vases, teapots and dishes
Shines brightly from there
Like native heaven!

It is with this beautiful, tender poem that I want to start an excursion to the museum. To the museum, where there are illustrations of dishes, and not simple dishes, but Gzhel ceramics.
So. In a certain kingdom, in the Russian state, not far from Moscow, among the forests and fields stands the town of Gzhel.
A long time ago - they lived a long time ago - there were brave and skillful, cheerful yes
beautiful masters. Once they got together and began to think about how it would be better for them to show their skills, to please all people and glorify their land. Thought - thought and came up with. They found in their native little side miraculous clay, white - white, they decided to sculpt from it
different dishes, but such as the world has never seen. Each master began to show his ability. One teapot blinded, another master looked and did not sculpt a teapot, but blinded a jug, and the third a dish. Each master began to sculpt his own dishes, and there was not a single product
looks like something else. But the Gzhel masters decorated their products not only with stucco, they painted dishes with blue paint of different shades. They painted on the dishes various patterns of nets, stripes, flowers. Very intricate, elegant painting turned out. People fell in love with beautiful tableware and began to call it “gentle blue miracle”. The masters glorified their beloved land all over the world, they told everyone what skillful craftsmen live in Rus'. Fairy tale - the story is told by the teacher to the Russian folk melody
"Along the Volga - mother."
Today we will visit the exhibition of Gzhel ceramics.
Look and tell, please, what objects did the Gzhel masters paint? What painting elements did they use?
decorating your products? (flowers, grass, leaves, curls, branches). And what primary colors do the masters use in their products?
And now I want to invite you to become Gzhel masters.
Let's all sit down at our tables. And we will paint the teapot. Look how I painted the teapot. What elements are used in the painting of the teapot? And now I will show you in what order to draw these elements. Let's start drawing with the shamrock flower. First, draw a large petal in the center, then two small petals on the sides.
We will paint over the petal with pale blue, dilute the paint in the palette (there is very little water in the palette, because the paint should dry quickly). We paint over the petal along the edge from left to right with continuous lines without gaps. We work with blue paint. And now let the flower dry, and we will draw a branch, grass, curls with the end of the brush, along the upper and lower edges. You know it, and I won't show it. Our flower has dried up and now we will decorate it. Decorate it with dark blue paint. We work with such paints as real masters. To do this, take the end of the brush with dark blue paint and draw a thin line along the edge of the flower.
And now please tell us where we will start drawing our tea-nick. And when we start decorating the flower with dark blue paint.
Independent work children is performed to the sound of Russian instruments.

The teacher does individual work. At the end of the work, the children organize an exhibition of their work and analyze it.
After the exhibition, the teacher invites the children to tea from the Gzhel service.
These are the teapots that the children got.

Gzhel painting is truly amazing - only 2 colors, but any pattern made in this technology has such vivacity and volume that it is difficult to believe in its nature. Masters of Gzhel even from a few simple curls create real masterpieces, and you want to join them. At home, without training with a professional, you can also master the basic points of Gzhel painting and try to decorate any ceramic product on your own.

All the beauty of this design is achieved through mixing 2 colors, which allows you to get a large number of shades between pure royal blue and dazzling white. At the same time, the technology implies both their contrasting transitions, and stretching through the shading, and even the almost complete darkening of blue into black. All this is carried out both by changing brushes and by preliminary mixing of shades, and even by combining them on the pile at the same time.

• The complexity of Gzhel painting is the development of brush movements. The width and density of the stroke, the thickness of the paint layer on each part of the pile, its direction - there are no minor nuances here. Therefore, all beginners need to first work out basic elements, where gradually, step by step, new and new tricks are connected.
• The “black and white spot” also plays a significant role. If you analyze the drawings made using this technology, you will notice that the shades are arranged in the composition according to a certain pattern. It's almost a smooth transition from a clean, bright spot (which is the center of the pattern), to dark edges, to which the saturation and depth of color increase. The opposite is also possible, when small details at the edges go into an illuminated haze, and large central elements, on the contrary, are dark and dense.

It is important to remember that the elements of Gzhel painting are always accompanied by smoothness, softness, roundness of lines, ease in color transitions, even if they have a contrasting joint (there will always be a slight stretch), small details along the edge.

If you look at pictures with Gzhel painting, you will notice that the main elements that are repeated in absolutely any work are strokes and lines, complemented by floral ornaments. This is due to the fact that the "vegetative" theme is the most popular direction in this technology, along with the "ornamental" theme, which is necessary for the design of the periphery.

In Gzhel painting, there are several basic techniques that differ in the position of the brush, working length her pile, the direction of movement. Of these, the following are considered basic:

• "Sitchik". A brush with a thin long pile is used, in which only the tip is involved. Usually, in this technology, small details are made out, which are an ornament of one or another element - curls, waves, etc.: the basic patterns of Gzhel painting. In this case, a pure color is usually used, without a transition between them.
• "Chinese smear". The most interesting and most difficult technique is when both colors are picked up on the brush at once, or 1, but with contraction along the pile, and the elements are made inseparably with this brush, while the color saturation on the surface gradually fades away. Then the paint is picked up again, and again, as the elements are removed, the paints fade, becoming softer.

• "Smear with shadow". According to some sources - a kind of "Chinese": the paint is also typed on a common brush, the correct proportion of blue and white is preliminarily selected, their thickness on the pile is adjusted. Brush movements are carried out so that the blue area is always thick, saturated, has a shadow, and the light area surrounds it with a slight halo, scattering the color.

phased drawing V technique shadow smears

This technique is called the “double stroke” technique or “Chinese stroke”, and the resulting elements look spectacular not only in the classic white and blue range, but in other shades, as well as when drawing figures that are not related to the Gzhel painting. To make such a simple flower, you will need:

• acrylic paint in blue and white (best for training);
• water in a glass;
• mixing palette;
• a sheet of thick watercolor paper or a drawing surface that needs to be decorated;
• brushes of different sizes with squirrel or taklon bristles, necessarily flat, the cut can be either in the shape of a petal, or even or beveled: only the shape of the element that you receive depends on this.

The drawing begins with practicing the “double stroke” technique itself: you will need paints, a brush and a palette.

1. Drop on the palette next to each other a portion of white and blue paint. Gently pull their edges together to bring the shades into each other. Attach the brush to the drops so that the rich dark blue is at the base of the pile, the purest white is at its edge. With the plane of the brush, you need to make a couple of caressing movements on the palette in order to finally shade the transition between shades.
2. A simple stroke is performed by simply laying the plane of the brush on the surface and drawing it perpendicular to the hair. That is, the smear should not mix colors, as it was when shading on the pile, but display them in parallel. Watch the pressure of the brush so that there are no bald spots of color.
3. Did you manage to draw a straight line? You can start to deform it. Lay the brush flat as well, but now redistribute the weight so that most of it is at the end of the pile, and gently move the brush to the side, making it a slight rotation of 180 degrees. Coming to the end of the rotation, move the weight to the base of the pile and repeat the same action, but now relative to the new pivot point. It should look like a wave or an “S” laid on its side. Continuing to alternate zones with weight, output a long soft wave.
4. When this pattern is mastered, angularity is added to it: make an upward wave, but having dropped to the bottom point, do not transfer the weight to another zone - leave it there, on the edge of the pile, and bring the wave up again. The same thing will need to be repeated in reverse. It is from these elements that the petals of most flowers in the Gzhel painting are made up.
5. "Drops" in the shadow stroke technique are the most difficult to perform due to the special position and rotation of the brush, as well as the need to quickly and gracefully remove it from a sheet or other surface. Where the “head” of the drop will be, the brush is placed with its full weight, often the base of the pile, then rotates around it and begins to stretch to the side. At the same time, the pressure decreases and the line narrows. As soon as it reaches the minimum thickness, the pile must be removed from the surface, allowing it to pass another 0.5-1 mm for the most elegant breakage.
6. When the single "drops" are mastered, try to perform them next to each other: these will be the side petals of the flower.
7. The last task that is set before you when mastering the shadow stroke is to combine all the techniques worked out in a single flower. The upper and lower semicircle as its center, drops as framing petals. And the simplest elements - dots and lines - in the core, for the stamens.

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