The village of Palekh is located some 250 miles from Moscow in the Ivanovo region. Palekh artists are universally regarded as the most highly trained of the Russian miniature painters.
PALEKH: A RUS FOLK ART
By: Dr. Donald Houston
The village of Palekh is located some 250 miles from Moscow in the Ivanovo region. Palekh artists are universally regarded as the most highly trained of the Russian miniature painters. The discipline & masterful technique of the ancient art of icon painting is readily seen in works of the various artists. In the village of Palekh are many churches as well as a few nicer than average homes, however there are many homes that still lack plumbing or electricity. From a population of 2,000+, some 200-300 men & women actively paint. It is believed that only about 40-60 artists actually live up to the high standards of the pre-Soviet era. In order to legitimately sign a box, a Palekh artist must have graduated from the 4-year course of study at the local institute which only graduates 5 students per year. This institute receives applications from artists all over the Rus, i.e., Russia, Ukraine & many other former Soviet Union countries.
The village of Palekh stretches out broadly amongst the woods & fields in a truly picturesque corner of the Ivanovo region. In the 15th. Century it was a part of the Vladimir Susdal lands & was one of the first ancient centers of the icon art. In the 17th. & 18th. Centuries Palekh's craftsmen rose to become the most famous in all of icon art. They developed a unique style identifiably distinguished by the fine line tempera drawing saturated with gold of their own. These works were valued for the depth of the images, the subtlety of color placement, their intricate & minute attention to detail as much as for their fairy-tale-like ornamental design.
After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, when the icon business went into the deepest of declines, Palekh masters tried their hands at decorating wooden toys, dishes, kitchen utensils, porcelain & glass. As it turned out, the most interesting way was the painting of paper-mache boxes that became the black-lacquered works of art by such notable artists as E. Golikov, E. Vakurov, A. Kotukhin & E. Bakanov. It was these masters along with some of their fellow villagers established a shop of the ancient art in which a new kind of folk art, Palekh ancient lacquers, was born the in 1924. By the end of 1920`s there was a wide assortment of Palekh art objects.
It is magnificently colorful art of Palekh that has become so very well known worldwide. These elegant black-lacquered art pieces on which the heroes & heroines of Russian folklore come to life; amazing fire-birds, gold-manned troikas, beautiful maidens, & majestic princes subjugate us with a fairy tale-like world of beauty, movement & harmony of their color chords & shades.
Beautiful in proportion, elegant in form, the little jewelry boxes, bead boxes & powder cases beamed with bright colors & sparkled with golden & jewel-like colors decorative patterns. Ordinary things were transformed into objects of art at the hands of these highly talented artists. Battle scenes from Russian epics, traditional hunting scenes, village life scenes & prayers, literary plots & absolute joy of life all were reflected in the art of these highly distinctive artists. Within their art is the very embodiment of the Rus folk culture. There is an inherent passionate feeling of life in all of these works. The art of Palekh miniatures expresses the true national character of the Rus. Many examples of Palekh art have received recognition at international exhibitions & have become world reknowned.
One need not be an art expert nor an artist to fully appreciate & enjoy the sheer wonder of the imaginative yet life-like art of Palekh. One need only to like vibrant color, intricate attention to detail & the veritable wonder of seeing a life that once was or was was imagined to truly like & enjoy the enrapturing quality of Palekh lacquer art.
SOURCES:
http://www.lacquerbox.com/guide.htm
http://www.palekh.net
http://palekh.narod.ru/pal-eng.htm
http://www.dreamworks.org/dr02002.htm
http://www.artrusse.ca/palech.htm
Russian Lacquer, Legends and Fairy Tales; by Lucy Maxym, Coral Color Process Ltd., Commack, New York
Beauty Around Us; Yuri A. Arbat - Moscow, 1962
Folk Decorative Art; Yuri A. Arbat - Moscow, 1963
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