Zhostovo painting. Elements of Zhostovo painting. Zhostovo factory of decorative painting

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Striking with variety and color, splashing on the black or colored surface of the trays, Zhostovo painting forms bright floral patterns, decorated with the finest details. Exquisite roses and scarlet poppies, simple daisies and touching cornflowers, pompous peonies and radiant asters are combined with unknown, but no less beautiful flowers. Birds and butterflies, various berries and fruits look alive on such simple and ordinary items as trays. No matter how much you look, you will not find a single identical tray - each of them is unique! Where did such art come from, how do they make such beautiful things, where can I take lessons in Zhostovo painting? This article will tell about this and about the features of painting on metal, characteristic of masters from Zhostov near Moscow.

The history of lacquer painting

The very first, according to historical and archaeological data, the art of lacquer painting was mastered by the Chinese. Several millennia ago, in the Shan Yin era, the inhabitants of China decorated household utensils andeveryday items, weapons and ritual vessels.

Following China, the art of lacquer painting conquered the countries of Indochina, Persia and India, Japan and Korea. In each of the regions, the technique of lacquer painting developed independently, based on the traditions of folk crafts, but also borrowing the experience of masters from other countries.

How did lacquer painting get to Russia?

European merchants in the 16th-17th centuries, who traded with the countries of Southeast Asia, brought beautiful examples of painted lacquerware to their homeland. Inspired by the beauty and originality of oriental objects of various shapes and purposes, decorated with lacquer images, craftsmen from many European countries begin to make and decorate various things in the “Chinese” style.

Serious development of the production of objects decorated with lacquer painting, in such European countries as Holland, England, Germany and France, occurred only in the XVIII century.

Ural industrialist Nikita Akinfievich Demidov traveled extensively in Europe, where he became interested in the idea of lacquer painting. In 1778, in the Urals, in Nizhny Tagil, the craft of Ural flower painting on metal began to emerge.

The emergence of Zhostovo lacquer painting on metal

Made in the Urals and decorated with lacquer painting, metal chests and trays, jugs and buckets, as well as other everyday items were sold not only at the local Irbitskaya and Krestovskaya fairs, but alsoat the All-Russian Makariev Fair in Nizhny Novgorod.

Perhaps it was the products of the Ural craftsmen seen here that inspired the Vishnyakov brothers to paint metal trays with lacquer. Since 1825, the Vishnyakov family business has developed mainly as varnish painting of various papier-mâché products - snuff boxes, cigarette cases, albums, biscuits and caskets.

Since 1830, most of the workshops located in the villages and villages of the Troitskaya volost, such as Troitskoye, Khlebnikovo and Zhostovo, stopped making papier-mâché items, and switched to the production and painting of metal trays.

Proximity to the capital allowed the fishery to do without intermediaries and have a permanent sales market, as well as purchase the necessary materials at affordable prices.

History of fishery development

Starting from the 30s of the 19th century, metal trays began to be made and decorated with varnish in almost all the surrounding villages. At this time, Zhostovo painting was at the peak of its popularity. In the post-revolutionary years, the demand for the products of Zhostovo masters dropped sharply, which led to the unification of disparate artists into small professional artels.

In 1928, all small artels from Troitsky, Novosiltsevo, Zhostovo and other surrounding villages united into a specialized artel "Metalpodnos" with a control center in Zhostovo.

The most difficult time for Zhostovo painting, as for most other folk crafts,began in the 1940s and 1950s. It was at this time that the production of trays significantly decreased, but the production of children's goods unusual for the craft increased several times. Zhostovo painting for children is small wooden and metal trays, buckets and spatulas, decorated with individual elements.

Modern history

Khrushchev's "thaw" has made positive changes in the life of the fishery. In 1960, the artel "Metallopodnos" was reorganized and received its current name - the Zhostovo Decorative Painting Factory. Attention from the government, active joint work of craftsmen and scientists, participation in various domestic and foreign exhibitions allowed the fishery to get out of a long-term crisis.

Today the factory is actively working, the author's works of artists working on it adorn the expositions of many museums around the world, as well as the houses of prominent figures in culture, science and politics.

Features of becoming

As already mentioned, Zhostovo painting developed under the influence of the Ural flower painting on metal. But the Zhostovo craftsmen, who originally processed and decorated various papier-mâché items, managed to transfer all their technological discoveries to metal trays. For their primer, they used their own compositions, as well as special copal varnishes.

The nearby center of the Lukutinskaya lacquer miniature had no less influence on the development of the craft. For further stylistic developmentZhostovo painting was influenced by Rostov enamel and floral motifs of Ivanovo calicoes, as well as porcelain paintings made at factories near Moscow.

What are trays made of and how?

Modern Zhostovo trays are produced in two ways: by stamping and forging.

From ordinary sheet iron, special mechanical presses make blanks for trays of standard shapes and sizes. Then, on an electric press, by means of special molds and a combined stamp, the edges are rolled up - a bead. And to make the sides of the tray rigid, they are rolled.

Zhostovo painting artists can work not only with standard forms of trays. There are 26 standard forms to choose from, from which the most appropriate to the plan is selected. Then, if it is unique, the forger (blacksmith) takes over, making a forged tray. To do this, a bracket is cut out of several metal sheets with hand scissors, which is subsequently, under the influence of a hammer, pulled out and knocked out. When rolling, a special wire is inserted into the edges of the tray, which ensures its strength, and then the edge itself is leveled with a hammer.

How are trays prepared for painting?

After the trays have taken shape and been rolled, they are primed on both sides with a putty consisting of chalk diluted in drying oil. Once the primed tray has dried in a special cabinet, the master primer sands its surface with sandpaper, and then applies anotherputty layer. Previously, the tray was covered in two layers with black soil, consisting of kaolin clay, kerosene, Dutch black and vegetable oil. Each layer must be dried and polished. Today, the traditional primer method is no longer used, instead a brown factory primer applied from a spray gun is used. After drying, the primed tray is puttied and dried. The puttied tray is then sanded by hand with a pumice stone.

Only after that, black turpentine-based paint is applied to the tray, and after another drying it is covered in 2-3 layers with black oil varnish. The dried and cleaned tray is handed over to the artist for painting.

How are colored backgrounds on trays made?

Zhostovo factory of decorative painting, in addition to trays with a traditional black background, produces products with red, blue, green and light blue backgrounds. To create them, a thin layer of light varnish is applied to the surface of the tray. Until it dries, sprinkle it with bronze or aluminum powder. After the metallized background dries, it is painted with glazing paints of the desired color, which results in an intense and saturated, but at the same time shimmering, as if translucent, background.

Painting on a colored background requires changing both coloristic features and techniques. So, the highlights are only slightly indicated, and the shadows are drawn a little.

Artistic painting of Zhostovo trays

Zhostovo masters paint with special squirrelbrushes and oil paints diluted with turpentine and linseed oil. Each artist simultaneously works on several works. To remove the ornament, white paint with varnish (gulfarba) is used, sprinkled with aluminum powder, or the so-called created gold - gold powder diluted in turpentine or transparent varnish.

Zhostovo painting is carried out in two stages: painting and straightening. At the stage of painting, the artist draws the main silhouette of the composition on the working surface of the tray with a wide brush. For its implementation, diluted (bleached) paints are used. The coated tray is then dried for 12 hours in drying cabinets.

After that, the master starts straightening and draws bright places, applies colored shadows and paints highlights that add volume to the composition. The stamens of the flowers and the veins of the leaves appear in thin lines. Large elements of Zhostovo painting, such as large flowers, are associated with smaller stems, blades of grass and other parts of the composition. The latest ornament is applied to the sides.

The finished work is polished three times with a colorless varnish and dried in ovens, after which the surface is manually polished to a mirror finish.

Main painting motifs

Most often, Zhostovo artists create simple flower arrangements in the form of bouquets, in which large garden and smaller wildflowers rhythmically alternate. As a rule, several large flowers form the basis of the composition, suchlike a rose, aster, peony, dahlia or tulip, surrounded by a scattering of small flowers and buds and interconnected by thin stems, twigs and leaves. In addition to large garden flowers, some artists bring modest violets, lilies of the valley, bindweeds or pansies to the fore.

Bouquets of both garden and wild flowers can be complemented by images of fruits, berries, birds and butterflies. Sometimes painters depict only still lifes of fruits or bunches of berries such as mountain ash on trays.

In addition to flower arrangements, a plot Zhostovo painting is also created, a photo of which you can see below. As a rule, she depicts scenes from the life of ordinary people, landscapes, landscapes, as well as horse troikas. By and large, Zhostovo painting (the pictures are presented in the article) is really a real art.

Expressive means of Zhostovo applied art

Initially, compositions for trays were borrowed from paintings, but each artist had his own interpretation of them. Today, the masters implement the already classic compositions, but also strive to find new ones.

It should be noted that in each work of Zhostovo painting, the compositions are inscribed in a plane and associated with the shape of the tray, they perfectly convey the conditional depth and volume of the painted objects. An important expressive means of Zhostovo art is the rhythmic and color balance of the drawing.

Can it be learned?

You can find out what Zhostovo painting is, how to draw in this technique, in Zhostovo itself. The factory, whose products are famous all over the world, offers tours of the tray museum and master classes in lacquer drawing. In almost every city there is a travel agency offering tours to the factory, where you can see how the Zhostovo painting is made. A master class on it is also provided by the program. You can also organize a trip to Zhostovo on your own, after contacting the museum and specifying its opening hours.