Palekh is a cozy urban village located in the Ivanovo region. ABOUT exact date The origin of the historical site is still debated. The chronicles indicate that the village appeared before the 15th century. In the 15th century it became part of the Vladimir-Suzdal lands. In 1852, Ivan the Terrible wrote a will. According to him, Palekh began to belong to his son John.

In 1616, the settlement came into the use of V.M. Ostrogubova. As a sign of gratitude for participation in the Polish-Lithuanian uprising, Palekh soon passed to Ivan Buturlin. Later they built on the land wooden church in the name of the Exaltation of the Cross.

In the 19th century, icon painting actively developed. Crafts such as wood carving, weaving, embroidery, and working with sheepskin became widespread. Since ancient times, Palekh masters have been famous for their unique style. Their works were sophisticated, interesting, and unlike others.

The most important objects were often ordered from Palekh artists. They painted the walls of the Faceted Chamber, frescoes in the Kremlin in Moscow, decorated the Novodevichy Convent and the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and many others. Famous modern icon painters - Eva Yarusheva, Yuri Petrov, Anna Gordeeva.

The history of Palekh is based on interesting facts. According to legend, the Tatars once completely destroyed cities such as Vladimir and Suzdal. From these cities, Suzdal and Vladimir monastic icon painters fled to the forests to escape. In place of the forest, they built houses and began painting icons. This is how the name Palekh was formed.

The famous Palekh miniature appeared here. This type of painting includes boxes, cigarette cases, caskets and other papier-mâché items coated with varnish. Mostly scenes of everyday, folklore, historical nature are depicted. Artists create a variety of beautiful drawings on a black background. The images are thin and have graceful lines. Gold predominates, with elegant oblong patterns.

Palekh icons deserve special attention. They are said to have attracted Goethe's interest. In addition, N. Nekrasov, N. Leskov, and A. Gorky admired the magnificent creations of local icon painters. In 1924, the “Artel of Ancient Painting” was created. She received a high award at an exhibition in Paris.

Palekh City Day is celebrated on June 24. Large-scale celebrations, festivals, and exhibitions are organized. The holiday always has a rich program. Tourists try to time their arrival precisely for this date. The grand opening of the holiday is traditionally held at the site of the House of Culture.

How to get there?

The Family Suitcase company regularly conducts trips to the cities of the Golden Ring of Russia.

Considering creative products created by talented craftsmen, many ask the question of where Palekh is located. Most guests prefer to travel by private car. It's comfortable. The distance Moscow-Palekh is 400 kilometers. Traffic will be carried out along the M7 highway. You need to go through Vladimir and Suzdal. The total duration of the journey is 6-6.5 hours.

There is a daily bus to Palekh. Boarding is carried out from the Shchelkovsky railway station in Moscow. The stop is made at Yuzha station. There are also buses going from Moscow to Ivanovo. At the final station you will need to change to the Ivanovo-Palekh bus.

There is a railway connection. Shuya station is located 75 kilometers from the settlement. This solution is chosen by those traveling from St. Petersburg or Nizhny Novgorod. If you are heading from the capital, then a train with a direction such as Moscow-Kineshma will do, then you will need to transfer to a bus or use a taxi. Buses run frequently and the journey takes 1.5 hours.

If you want to avoid additional hassle, then book an excursion to Palekh from Moscow and other cities. The trip will be carried out on a comfortable bus accompanied by a guide.

Hotels, restaurants, cafes

Hotels in the city offer good service. The number of rooms is not rich, but you can find quite comfortable conditions for relaxation. Such hotels as “Kovcheg”, “Palekh”, “Grand Shuya” are in high demand. As for food outlets, you can take note of the establishments “Gourmet” and “Skazka”.

Attractions

The provincial place is famous beautiful scenery, an amazing history of appearance, big amount creative workshops, architectural monuments, holy places. Coming here, everyone will certainly discover something new for themselves. Cozy, well-groomed streets with shady trees, golden domes, fields, lakes create a calm, relaxing atmosphere for relaxation. This is the birthplace of the Firebird. A bird is depicted on the coat of arms and flag of the village.

Museums

The State Museum of Palekh Art is a unique place from which you can start your journey around the village. The gallery opened in 1935. In the main hall you can admire the exhibits that made the place widely known in Russia and beyond. Russian icon painting is represented by both ancient works of the 18th century and modern works. There is an exhibition dedicated to Palekh lacquer miniatures created in different periods of time. The guide will tell you about the fate of the authors and the intricacies of their creative process. Boxes with scenes from Russian fairy tales and a collection of paintings from the past century deserve special attention. Museum complex includes workshops N.V. Dydykina, P.D. Korina, I.I. Golikova, N.M. Zinovieva.

The house - Dydykin's workshop - is an ancient gallery dedicated to the work of the talented sculptor. Here you will see hundreds of unique creations by the author. Among them are many prototypes of famous personalities. It feels like you are momentarily immersed in the past. The author himself bequeathed all his works to the museum. Not far from the workshop there is a cozy apple orchard. Fir and spruce trees grow, which were planted by the sculptor himself.

House-museum of I.I. Golikova is a gallery opened in 1968. The founder of lacquer miniatures worked here. However, his personal belongings did not survive. Things that belonged to Golikov are kept in only one room. This is a desk, a bookcase, a bed, and chairs. In another room you can view works by artists of the post-revolutionary period. On the walls hang photographs and illustrations of the old city of Palekh.

House-museum of P.D. Korina is the oldest building in the complex. It was built back in the 1860s. The exhibition opened in 1974. There are ancient icon paintings on the walls of the rooms. The author's workshop has been preserved - an easel, sketches. The third room contains sketches used for the improvement of the metro. The kitchen is presented unchanged. The setting is early 19th century.

House – museum of N.M. Zinoviev consists of only one room. It served as a creative workshop and bedroom. There is a Russian stove and kitchen. The exterior decor of the building is original. Carved window frames, ring high altitude. There is a well in front of the house. The Soviet artist lived and was born here. The exhibition presents some of his creations, photographs, books, and some things.

The Museum of Icons is a gallery that appeared in the village recently (2014). It consists of an exhibition and art hall. The exhibition presents a large number of ancient icons that came here from various parts of the country. Mostly they were brought by local residents. Some exhibits were moved here from churches and chapels when they were closed in Soviet time. Contemporaries gained a lot of experience from the ancient art of icon painting. The works of G.M. are presented. Melnikova. They tried to preserve the local style of craft.

Temples

The Church of the Exaltation of the Cross is an architectural monument of the 18th century. The object was built in 1762 - 1774. Construction was financed by local residents. Even nearby villages helped. The cathedral is made in the style of ancient Russian architecture of the 17th century. The church consists of five chapters and is distinguished by rich decoration. The bell tower is equipped with a porch, which is similar in outline to a tent. The gilded iconostasis is large. Consists of six tiers. Its painting was carried out by local artists. The Rococo style was used. IN Soviet period there was a museum of Palekh art here. Therefore, the shrine managed to survive the destruction. In 2012, the monastery acquired the status of a cathedral.

Elias Church was built in 1790. The cathedral was located near the cemetery for a long time. This building was used for a long time as a small church for local residents. In its structure, the object resembles the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross. This is a modest, brick building, equipped with a low hipped bell tower. The window casings are made with an arched motif. This is an architectural monument. A memorial plaque erected back in the 60s reminds of this.

The Church of the Sign is located at the entrance to the village. Its construction took place in 1804. Funds were collected for the construction local population. Landowner P.N. also took an active part. Buturlin. The lighting was completed in 1810. The shrine includes three thrones. They are illuminated in honor of the Sign Holy Mother of God, in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Holy Martyr Paraskeva Friday. The building is characterized by picturesque surroundings. It looks great in the overall panorama of the city, acting as the main accent.

What to see in Palekh in one day?

A walk through the amazing Palekh will allow you to fully enjoy the architectural heritage of a unique place. In the center of the village you will be greeted by a small and cozy pond. If you follow the alley further, a monument to Lenin will open in front of you. There are almost no people on the street. Silence and harmony reign all around, you can even hear birds singing. Perhaps this is one of the most best places in order to take a break from the bustle of the city.

There is a bridge across the Paleshanka River. I would like to stop here for a moment to fully enjoy the surrounding beauty. Here, too, there is such a wedding tradition as hanging a castle on a bridge. It is noteworthy that houses made of stone and wood are mixed with each other. From this big picture becomes even more mysterious.

It is definitely recommended to visit the souvenir shop to purchase products from local craftsmen. In other places it is unlikely that you can already find it. Beware of fakes. Palekh creativity is highly valued, so it is often copied.

Palekh boxes are the most frequently purchased product. Images with a fairy tale theme are in demand. Masters illustrate books and create products with a variety of intricate designs. Fairy tales by A.S. are depicted. Pushkina, P.P. Bazhova. The city of artists is famous for souvenirs, the production of which is carried out using ancient recipes for creating paints.

The paints consist of natural materials. The painting is done with the finest squirrel brushes. At the end of the work, the paint is fixed with varnish. On final stage the surface is treated with gold and silver. There is an art school in the city where masters are trained. Russian lacquer miniatures are famous for their extraordinary scenic beauty.

On the main street there is a real rural club. It is a beautiful, carved wooden building, painted in light gray tones. There are notices about organizing rock concerts. This suggests that there are many young people in the village. Residents are not deprived of sports life. There is a central stadium. Football is popular. You can also see the central telegraph building.

The Palekh House of Crafts is a city institution. It opened in 1991. This was once the house of N.M. Safonova. This was the owner of an icon painting workshop at the end of the 19th century. The mansion has a separate room dedicated to Safonov. You will be able to get acquainted with personal belongings and photographs.

In addition, the exhibition hall contains many works by local ancient artists and modern authors. There are various sections and clubs for children. If desired, adults will also be able to learn the basics of ancient crafts. Spectacular, theatrical performances are periodically organized on the territory.

The monument to the fallen soldier is located in the central part of the city. The obelisk was erected as a tribute to all the soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War. The height of the monument reaches 14 meters. The composition is represented by the figure of a soldier. The warrior hero holds a sword in one hand. He is wearing soldier's boots, a cap and a raincoat. Soviet soldier gathered for war to defend his homeland. In front of the monument there is an imitation eternal flame. Every year, on May 9, it lights up.

Video

Palekh or Palekh miniature is one of the traditional Russian artistic crafts, a type of lacquer painting.

The folk craft that developed in the village of Palekh, Ivanovo region, consists of lacquer miniatures in tempera on papier-mâché. Palekh is the center of icon painting in the traditions of Russian painting of the 15th-17th centuries.

The Palekh icon painting style developed under the influence of the Moscow, Novgorod, Stroganov and Yaroslavl icon painting schools. Palekh icons were famous for their particularly delicate writing with the use of gold on the clothes of saints and in ornaments. The painting of icons was divided into several stages, each of which was carried out by different masters: one primed the board, the second (the flag bearer) drew the outline of the future icon, the third painted the final part - the entire composition, except for the faces - they were painted by the personal artist. The names and texts were written by the master signer, and the dryer completed the work on the icon.

In the middle of the 19th century, several workshops operated in Palekh, the largest of which were the establishments of the Safonovs, Belousovs, Korovykins, and Parilovs.

After the revolution of 1917, Palekh icon painters faced the need to search for new forms of realizing their creative potential. In 1918, the masters united into the Palekh artistic decorative artel, which produced wooden crafts with painting. In 1923, they were presented at an art and industrial exhibition in Moscow and awarded a second degree diploma.

At the same time, the Palesians first became acquainted with a new material - papier-mâché, which for a century was the basis for Fedoskino lacquer miniatures. With the support of the famous art critic, native of Palekh Anatoly Bakushinsky, the masters mastered new material, transferring onto it the traditional technology of tempera painting for ancient Russian icons and the conventional style of the image.

In 1924, Palekh artists great success used at the exhibition in Venice. Soon the Palesans received an invitation from Italy to send four artists to organize a school, but the artists refused to leave their homeland.

The founding of the "Artel of Ancient Painting" is considered to be the birthday of Palekh art.

Initially, Artel included seven people: Ivan Golikov, Ivan Bakanov, Alexander and Ivan Zubkov, Alexander and Vladimir Kotukhin, Ivan Markichev. Soon they were joined by Dmitry Butorin, Alexey Vatagin and others. In 1925, the works of the Palesans received recognition at the International Exhibition in Paris.

In June 1932, more than 100 people worked at the Artel of Ancient Painting, including 48 masters and 20 candidate students.

In March 1935, the artel was transformed into the "Association of Artists of Palekh". It was closed in 1940 and restored in 1943.

In 1954, the “Partnership” was transformed into Art and Production Workshops (PHPM). In the same year, the Palekh branch of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR was created.

In 1989, the Palekh art and production workshops were closed.

The style of Palekh painting is characterized by a thin and smooth pattern on a predominantly black background, an abundance of golden shading, and a clear silhouette of flattened figures, sometimes completely covering the surface of the lid and side walls of the boxes. The decorativeness of the landscape and architecture, the elongated graceful proportions of the figures, the color based on a combination of red, yellow and green colors go back to the traditions of ancient Russian icon painting. The composition is usually framed with exquisite ornaments made of melted gold.

Palekh artists successfully worked in the field of theatrical and decorative art, book graphics, monumental painting, painting of porcelain, as well as restoration of monumental painting.

Currently, creative organizations operate in Palekh: JSC "Partnership Palekh", cooperative "Association of Artists of Palekh", Small Enterprise (SE) "Masters of Palekh", MP "Traditions of Palekh", Joint-Stock Company closed type "Palekh", creative workshop "Paleshane".

Since 1926, apprenticeship has been revived at the Artel of Ancient Painting. At the turn of 1920-1930, a vocational school was opened, reorganized in 1935 into an art college, and from 1936 into the Palekh Art School named after M. Gorky.

Currently, the school provides training in the specialty "Decorative and applied arts and folk crafts" (lacquer miniature painting).

The State Museum of Palekh Art was created. Its collection includes more than 15.4 thousand items. It includes 1.5 thousand icons of the 14th-20th centuries, works of Western European painting of the 16th-18th centuries, more than three thousand works of lacquer miniatures, sculpture, graphics, early printed books, embroidered items, household items and ethnography.

There are four memorial museums in the structure of the State Museum of Palekh Art: House-Museum of P.D. Korina, Museum-Workshop N.V. Dydykina, House-Museum of I.I. Golikov, Museum-Estate of N.M. Zinoviev.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Palekh is an ancient settlement on the Vladimir-Suzdal land, the first mention of which dates back to the beginning of the 12th century. The glory of Palekh began with icon painting, when by the middle of the 18th century an independent Palekh style of icon painting had formed. Palekh icons of this time are included in the golden fund of Russian icon painting.

The traditional skill of ancient Palekh icon painting combined with art household item, forming a new species decorative creativity- Palekh lacquer miniature. The rich experience of icon painting with its linearity and patterning was translated into decorative and applied art.

In 1989, after the liquidation of the only organization of artists in Palekh, the Palekh Art and Production Workshops, by decision of the Council of the Labor Collective, the cooperative “Association of Palekh Artists” was organized, which included the majority of artists, auxiliary workers and engineering personnel.

Having started its activities practically from scratch, the cooperative has become a leading fishing enterprise. Today, the association employs masters in the production of traditional semi-finished papier-mâché and about 120 artists of lacquer miniatures, among whom there are many members of the Union of Artists of Russia.

The team has formed many family dynasties of hereditary artists, such as the Kukulievs, Kochupalovs, Paramonovs, Kurkins, Petrovs, Sivyakovs, Krivtsovs, Lebedevs, Fedotovs, Bokarevs, Zhiryakovs and others. Leading masters are regular participants in exhibitions. The association is headed today by the hereditary artist Viktor Vladimirovich Paramonov.

The association today is the only enterprise in Palekh where the unique traditional technology for producing papier-mâché has been completely preserved. Absolutely all of the association’s products are original, and each of them is marked with the artist’s name in gold.

All works of the enterprise are assessed by the Art Council, are protected by a trademark and have a quality certificate, which allows them to be distinguished from all kinds of fakes and other low-quality products. The list of product samples is registered with the Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology Russian Federation December 20, 2001 for No. 147.

The spirit of the times did not pass by the artists of Palekh. Masters of lacquer miniatures from the Association of Palekh Artists again began painting icons. Today, OHP is ready to accept orders for the production of not only lacquer miniature products, but also for painting various icons with any subjects.

Products

The Association of Palekh Artists produces a wide range of papier-mâché products with a wide variety of shapes: boxes, spectacle cases, cigarette cases, powder compacts, caskets, writing utensils, panels, plates and much more. The products are distinguished by the strict beauty of proportions and the correspondence of the form to the material.

Photo gallery

Contacts

Name: Production cooperative "Association of Palekh Artists"
Supervisor: Viktor Vladimirovich Paramonov
Address: Ivanovo region, Palekh, st. Lenina 23
Tel: +7 (49334) 2–20–76
Email mail: [email protected]

Production technology

The technology for making papier-mâché boxes came to Palekh from Fedoskino, where the craft of miniature painting existed since the 18th century oil paints based on realistic painting. Since then, this technology has not fundamentally changed.

The process of making papier-mâché itself and products made from it is very long and labor-intensive, including several stages.

Sheets of cardboard cut to specific sizes are glued together with flour paste into multilayer plates, or wound onto special blanks and pressed to form tubes of various shapes and sizes. After drying, these plates and tubes are soaked in hot linseed oil and subjected to heat treatment according to a certain regime for at least 20 days. All work is done manually.

From ready-made tubes and plates, craftsmen directly make the products themselves, called “linen”. All carpentry techniques are used in relation to papier-mâché. This is the most labor-intensive process, requiring the highest skill, precision and experience working with this material from the performer. On at this stage The equipment used is a sanding machine, milling and sawing machines, but 90% of the work is manual labor.

The next stage is preparation. The products are oiled, primed, puttied, coated on the outside with black varnish, on the inside with red enamel, and polished. After each operation - oven drying for 24 hours. All work is done manually.

The technology of tempera miniature painting was completely adopted from former icon painters and did not change throughout the existence of the craft. The same materials are used: egg tempera and melted gold leaf. The artist independently chooses the theme of the future work and a suitable semi-finished product.

A drawing of the future work is applied to the pumice-coated box, bleaching preparation is done, coloring is done, and paint is applied. The painting is varnished and dried, and then painting with melted gold leaf is applied to the varnish. The gold is polished and re-fixed with varnish.

Unlike related crafts (Kholui, Mstera), copies are not written in Palekh. The method of creative variation within the traditions of Palekh art is widely used; the artist, within the same theme, in combination with a variety of semi-finished products, creates unique unique works.

Each painted product undergoes an expert assessment by the artistic council of the enterprise for compliance with traditions, canons, execution techniques and determination of artistic merit.

The product, approved by the artistic council, is sent for final finishing.

Its surface is covered with 6 layers of varnish, cleaned, rubbed and polished on special wheels, and then polished by hand. The final polishing is done directly with the palm of the hand, which gives reason to consider this work truly unique.

Hello dears.
We continue with you a short review of Russian folk crafts. Well, at least, the most famous of them :-)) Last time we remembered the beautiful Fedoskino miniature: , but today it’s time to talk a little about a more “promoted brand” - namely about Palekh.

Palekh miniature - folk craft, developed in the village of Palekh, Vyaznikovsky district, Vladimir province (now Palekh district, Ivanovo region). The lacquer miniature is made with tempera on papier-mâché. Usually boxes, caskets, egg capsules, brooches, panels, ashtrays, tie pins, pincushions, etc. are painted. Very popular, especially among foreigners :-) Although the art of Palekh painting is still very young, it is only a little over 70 years old.


The settlement of Palekh itself is very old. In the 15th century, the village of Palekh was part of the Vladimir-Suzdal lands. According to the Spiritual Testament of Ivan the Terrible in 1572, the village of Palekh was in the local ownership of his son Ivan. In 1616, Palekh was listed as the estate of Vasily Ivanovich Ostrogubov and the widow of Yuri Ivanovich Ostrogubov. Soon it was granted patrimonial ownership to Ivan Buturlin “for the Moscow siege of the prince,” that is, for participation in the war against the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. According to the scribe books of 1628-1630 of the Vladimir district of the Bogolyubsky camp, Palekh is the patrimony of Ivan Buturlin and his children.


The village has always been drawn to art and the place was famous for its icon painters. Palekh icon painting reached its greatest flourishing in the 18th century. early XIX century

At first, Palekh painting strictly obeyed the established canons of depicting icons, but gradually they began to change: images of people, landscape outlines, buildings, animals, clothing, and interior items acquired their own, unique style. The artists of Palekh finally found the creative freedom they so needed, and enjoyed it. They developed a unique style of icon painting, which was characterized by extreme detail and the use of a gold and tempera palette.

After the revolution of 1917, icon painting in Palekh ceased to exist. On December 5, 1924, the “Artel of Ancient Painting” was organized in Palekh to paint papier-mâché products. As a result of long creative searches former icon painters showed the world virtuoso compositions painted with a rainbow of colors and golden patterns on papier-mâché boxes.


The Palesians did not abandon the usual technique of painting with egg paints using created gold. In the figurative solutions of new works, they still used medieval techniques of stylization and conventional forms. The most popular and most successful compositions of the first years of the existence of Palekh miniatures were “troikas”, “hunts”, “battles”, “couples”, “shepherdesses”, “idyls”, “festivities”. These works had neither a developed plot nor a vivid image, only a strongly expressed ornamental beginning.


One of the brightest and talented artists Palekh was Ivan Ivanovich Golikov. He was called the master of the horse, battle and three. The fabulous horses with fragile legs in Golikov’s miniatures are colored with all the colors of the rainbow, and “battles” and “hunts” are a manifestation of the indomitable imagination of the Palekh artist. Golikov’s “troikas” are dynamic, impetuous, but sometimes stately and solemn. I.I. Golikov turned to this motif many times, drawing winter and summer three-pieces on a variety of objects: brooches, powder compacts, cigarette cases, trays.


In the art of Palekh lacquer miniatures, portraiture develops as an independent genre. Its founders were former personal icon painters: Pravdin N.A., Palikin I.F., Serebryakov I.G. Portrait images are created on various papier-mâché objects: plates, boxes, brooches, cigarette cases. Palekh artists paint portraits of statesmen, historical figures and their contemporaries.

In the middle of the 20th century, realistic tendencies intensified in the art of Palekh, expressed by the desire of many artists for external verisimilitude in revealing the plot and individual images. Many compositions of those years are characterized by pomp, excessive monumentality and decoration.

The following generations of miniaturists sought to revive the traditions created by the founders of Palekh miniatures. The art of lacquer miniatures has not exhausted itself; it has enormous potential.


Palekh artists show their talent in many types of fine arts: monumental painting, book graphics, theatrical decorations.
At the end of the 80s, a trademark appeared on the works of Palekh Artists - the firebird. Each work is accompanied by a certificate indicating the authenticity of the work.

Currently, more than 600 artists live and work in Palekh; every tenth resident of Palekh is a graduate of the Palekh Art School. A.M. Gorky. They work in various creative groups: the cooperative “Association of Palekh Artists”, JSC “Partnership Palekh”, LLC “Artists of Palekh”, icon painting and iconostasis workshops.
The style of Palekh painting has a number of features, namely: smoothness, subtlety of design, black or dark background, a large amount of shading done in gold, clarity, delineation of the silhouette of simplified figures. Decorative landscape and architecture, elegance of elongated proportions of figures, dynamic combination of red, yellow and green colors - everything in products with Palekh miniatures goes back to ancient Russian traditions.

Black varnish became the main background color, the conventional space of the Palekh miniature and its distinctive feature. Black background of lacquer miniature or " Blank sheet“as if it collects in itself, contains all the colors and embodies the essence of the thing. It symbolizes the darkness of the earthly principle from which light is born. In addition, black color also has internal volume and depth.
Gold in Palekh miniatures is not only a key element of writing technique, but also part of the artistic worldview. It is inextricably linked with the symbol of light, which has great historical traditions, going back to medieval ideas about the two principles of life - light and dark. IN Christian symbolism light acquires a special aesthetic meaning, becoming a prototype of Divine grace. The material carrier of this light is gold, which symbolizes it and is the materialized Divine clarity.

Typical subjects of Palekh miniatures are borrowed from Everyday life, classical, fairy tales, epics literary works and songs.
I think that the works of the masters will delight more than one generation of Russians and foreign guests.

Have a nice time of day.

P aleh has been famous for its icon painters since pre-Petrine times. Palekh icon painting reached its greatest flourishing in the 18th - early 19th centuries. The local style developed under the influence of the Moscow, Novgorod, Stroganov and Yaroslavl schools.

Palekh miniature, which arose as a result of social and cultural changes that occurred in Russia after 1917, managed to preserve centuries-old traditions iconography and transfer them to new forms. From icon painting, the Palesians took the materials and method of painting with tempera emulsion paints, compositional techniques, the style of stylization of human figures, architecture and landscape, the skills of linear drawing with paints, created gold, but at the same time they embodied them in new forms and with new subjects of secular content on the themes of modern rural life, history, epics, fairy tales, classical Russian literature.

In 1918, former icon painters created the Palekh artistic decorative artel, which was engaged in painting on wood. The founder of the Palekh style is considered to be I. I. Golikov, who in 1922, having become acquainted with the products of Fedoskino masters, created the first work in the so-called Palekh style.

The people of Palestine began to master a new material - papier-mâché, which was the basis for Fedoskin's lacquer miniatures. Palekh masters transferred to papier-mâché the traditional technology of tempera painting for ancient Russian icons and the conventional stylistics of the image. An expensive semi-finished product - papier-mâché blanks - was initially purchased from the Fedoskino artel, but soon they established their own production.

For the first time, Palekh miniatures on papier-mâché, commissioned by the Handicraft Museum, were presented at the All-Russian Agricultural and Handicraft Exhibition in 1923. At the end of 1924, Palekh artists united in the Artel of Ancient Painting, and already in 1925, Palekh miniatures were exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris, where they created a real sensation and enjoyed great success. In 1935, the artel was transformed into the Palekh Artists' Association, and in 1954 the Palekh art and production workshops of the USSR Art Fund were formed.

Already from the first years of the existence of the Artel of Ancient Painting, the question of training specialists arose. In 1928, a vocational school of ancient painting opened in Palekh. In 1935, it was transformed into the Art College, which later became known as the Palekh Art School named after A.M. Gorky.

Assortment and forms of painted Palekh masters The items were quite large: brooches, bead boxes, chests, boxes, cigarette cases and snuff boxes, eyeglass cases and powder compacts and much more. The Palekh miniature of the pre-war period has a pronounced ornamental beginning, while it lacks vivid images and developing story line. The most successful and popular compositions of that period were battles, shepherdesses, hunting and folk festivals.

In the first post-war decades, many masters of Palekh miniatures depicted in their works various battle scenes from both the end of World War II and other great battles that glorified the Russian army.

In the 1950s, lacquer miniatures in Palekh experienced a clear crisis, which was caused by the tendency of many artists towards excessive realism, pretentiousness and monumentality, which displaced from the products the romance and sublime sophistication characteristic of the works of previous years. In the 1960s, poetry and allegory returned to the works of Palekh artists. During this period, Paleshan artists, in search of themes for their works, turned to folklore sources and works classical literature, as well as to modern songs. At the same time, socially significant events, such as, for example, human flight into space, are also reflected in the products of craftsmen.

Having survived the difficult 1990s, the Palesians did not abandon their traditional craft. The Palekh Art School annually graduates young masters who carefully preserve the traditions and features that make Palekh miniature so interesting. Today there are several artels and family businesses that produce traditional lacquer products in Palekh.

Palekh painting, like any other folk art formed in a particular area, has its own distinctive features and traditions. From others public schools lacquer painting Palekh style is different the following features: writing with egg tempera paints; use of dark backgrounds; gold painting; variety of color transitions; general soft tone of the letter; patterned ward writing; a variety of rainbow lights; miniature (small) multi-stamp letter; variety of composition elements and their picturesqueness; miniature painting; patternedness and ornamental richness of the design; careful detailing of each element; elongation and fragility of human figures; the subtlety of drawing people's body parts.

Palekh is characterized by multilayer tempera painting based on a pattern outlined in white. First, color spots are applied, then miniatures and details are painted, then gold and the so-called space are introduced, when paint is applied to the light parts in several stages, increasing the amount of white in the main tone. Paleshians, as a rule, resort to a complex painting technique - glazing or "floating" painting, which consists of multi-layered writing with transparent strokes, when the lower layers of the painting are visible through the upper ones.

Work on a product begins with the creation of a blank. Cardboard plates are greased with flour paste made from wheat or peklevanny (a mixture of rye and wheat) flour and glued one on top of the other on a table or horizontal board. The number of layers depends on the required thickness of the product and ranges from 3 to 30. The sides of caskets, boxes, cases and other items are made by wrapping strips of cardboard onto round or rectangular blanks (up to 12 layers).

Then the blanks are pressed. The compressed semi-finished products are dried in a dry, dark room for 3–15 days. After drying, the workpiece is soaked in heated linseed oil, in a vat with which it remains for about a day. After this, the blanks are dried for two to three days in a sealed cabinet at a temperature of +100 degrees.

A semi-finished product made in this way becomes as strong as the strongest types of wood, and lends itself well to carpentry and turning: it can be sawed and planed, it can be turned into various shapes on a lathe, and hinges and locks can be inserted into it.

Each blank is made for four products at once. Then they are sawed. Then the workpieces are carefully selected and handed over to carpenters, who process the workpiece with a file, and round products are finished on a lathe. The bottom of the products is made separately, glued into place and adjusted with a plane. Then the workpiece is ground on a sanding wheel and finished with an emery brush.

After carpentry, the products go to the painting preparation workshop, where they are smoothed with sandpaper and primed. The soil consists of river silty clay mixed with soot and ground with boiled oil (linseed oil) on a stone slab with a smooth stone chime. The primer is applied three times with a bristle brush and leveled with a flat board or spatula. After applying each layer of primer, the products are thoroughly dried in the oven, cleaned with sanding blocks and water and dried again. Then all the outer sides are painted with soot dissolved in oil varnish, and the inner parts are painted with cinnabar mixed with carmine dissolved in the same varnish. After this, the black surfaces are coated three to four times with black varnish. At the end of the preparation, the product is coated with light varnish: black surfaces once, and red internal ones - three times. After each operation with varnish, the products are dried well in the oven, and the last time for at least 12 hours. This long process of processing products for painting creates a durable and even tone on all its planes. In this form they go to the artist, who decorates them with his painting.

When the semi-finished products are ready, they are handed over to the artists. Paints in Palekh are diluted traditionally - using egg emulsion. In the old days, and later in lacquer miniatures, artists prepared paints themselves. They were made with egg yolk diluted with table vinegar or bread kvass (less often with beer or rainwater), and they were called “egg” or “yolk”. To do this, carefully separate the yolk from the white, since even an insignificant amount of it will interfere with the artist’s work (the white will hang on the brush and will not allow thin lines to be drawn). Egg They carefully broke it from the blunt end, leveled the hole, and released the protein through it. Then they rolled the yolk into the palm of their hand, washed the shell well and, having broken the film on the yolk, poured it back into the now clean shell, into which more vinegar was poured. Mix everything together well with a round spatula. The liquid prepared in this way is a solvent for dry paints. The egg yolk serves as a binder in it, and the vinegar turns the paint powder into a liquid mass and eats up the excess fat content of the yolk.

The painting of the product is carried out in several stages. First, the drawing is transferred to it. To do this, the reverse side of the drawing is rubbed with dry chalk powder or whitewash with a finger; then the drawing is superimposed on the surface of the object and carefully translated with a finely sharpened pencil. To prevent the design from shifting or warping during translation, its upper corners can be temporarily glued to the surface of the object with some light glue. When the drawing is removed, a clear imprint remains on the surface of the object. Remains of white powder are brushed off quill pen so that the outlines of the drawing remain clean.

The next stage is bleaching preparation, which is done so that the color of the paints on the varnish stays stronger. The artist, working on the composition, thinks about where and what tones to put, and according to this, the whitening preparation is done. The lightest places are prepared with thick white, tones of medium brightness - less thick, and darker ones - with liquid white; very dark places are left without bleaching preparation. It is melted cleanly and softly, without roughness, in strict accordance with the drawing. With properly performed bleaching preparation, the work looks like it is almost finished, done according to the principle of a light silhouette. Serious preparation with white helps to speed up the artist’s work in its further stages.

Next, the artist begins painting with paints - applying colored spots. For coating, as well as for preparing with white, use a medium-sharp brush. From the prepared paints, tones of different densities are compiled on a palette. One of the techniques of revealing is when all the elements of painting are revealed in a fluid manner, each with its own main tone. This technique reveals human clothing, animal figures and some other elements of painting. With such an opening, the evenness and transparency of the melt is maintained, while the revealed elements do not look like they were painted with pure paint, and each melt plays with a lively tone. When fluffed, it creates the impression of volume of the element. Since paints tend to settle (their light parts settle down, and the dark ones rise to the top of the melt), the larger the paint layer, the more dark particles of paint appear on the surface, and if the artist covers it unevenly with the melt, then the coating appears in dark spots. A well-versed artist knows how to use this property of paints. The opening of the heads and naked parts of the human body - sankir - is compiled according to the type chosen by the artist: it can be light yellow, for a tanned face - brownish, for a pale one - yellow-greenish, etc. The opening and sankir are made at the same time.

The next stage is painting - drawing in a dark tone all the contours and details: the contours of tree trunks and branches, the general shapes of leaves, mountain ledges, the pattern of waves, the contours and folds of human clothing, the contours of animals, buildings and their details, as well as all other elements compositions. For painting, a dark tone is made, in most cases from burnt umber, which is diluted with egg thinner, and then the painting is done with a sharp squirrel brush. The artist does the painting not with the same lines, but with soft, smooth, dark, living lines of different thicknesses and different strengths, thereby revealing the volumes of the images. It is important that the lines of the painting do not look separate from the roofing, but merge with it in the overall tone.

After painting, the shadow and light parts of all elements of the composition are fused with a medium-sharp brush in order to further emphasize the volume. The shadow parts are melted in tones somewhat darker than the cover, and on the light parts in tones somewhat lighter than it, so that the tone of each element looks more sonorous and more picturesque. The result is a play of several different tones, and the overall tone becomes more sonorous.

The subsequent final finishing of clothes, human figures and all landscape objects with paints aims to further enhance the conventional volume of all elements and give them completeness. On some clothes and human figures, gaps are made - most of them in gold, a smaller part in paint. The space is painted on clothes, the highest places of the human body (on the shoulders, chest, stomach, knees) or the body of an animal, which emphasizes their shape. The space is often done in three tones, consonant with the covering, painting and shadow fusion. The space has a main spot called the snare, from which there are strokes that emphasize the shape of the body parts. The first tone of the space is wider and slightly lighter than the flare, the second is somewhat lighter and narrower than the first, and the third tone, lighter, is made in one line, which emphasizes the second tone and is called the revitalization of the space. For a better sound, space bars are placed on warm tones with cold tones, and on cold ones with warm tones. All finishing with paints is done softly, does not break out of the tones of the overlay and fusion, organically connects with all the surrounding tones and gives completeness to the entire painting.

Next comes the smelting (registration with liquid paints) of the head. The melting is done in several stages with a medium-sharp brush. During the first melt (ohrenia), convex places on the face, neck, ears, arms, legs are melted in a flesh tone in such a way that it shines through the subsequent melts. After drying, the second melt follows - applying blush, composed of cinnabar, on the cheeks, brow ridges, end of the nose, lips, earlobes, on the bends of the fingers and toes, on the elbows, palms and knees. The third melt is when burnt umber melts the pupils of the eyes, eyebrows, mustaches, and dark hair. The fourth melt - the lining - is made up of ocher and cinnabar and is designed to combine all the previous melts with sankir, so that the light parts of the face and figure are shrouded in a light halftone. The tone of the fifth fusion - the fusion - is compiled according to the tone of the depicted face chosen by the artist. It should be applied so that the previous melts can be seen through it. Finally, the sixth and last step is the overlay of highlights. Next comes the final finishing of the heads and naked parts of the body with the restoration of the drawing - inventory. To do this, take a sharp brush, create a dark brown tone (from burnt umber) and use it to draw all the facial features with thin, lively lines. With these lines, the artist reveals a certain image of a person, his psychological state and character. At the same time, the hair on the head, beard, and mustache is combed in a tone slightly lighter than the applied highlights. The pupils of the eyes and eyelashes are marked with soot.

All that remains is to paint the entire work in gold and silver, but first it is necessary to secure all the work done with varnish. You cannot paint with gold on a loose painting: the paints absorb the gold. An object painted with paints is coated with copal varnish twice. Dry thoroughly after each coating. Before painting with gold, the varnish surface is rubbed with pumice until matte, since gold does not stick to the varnish. Pumice powder is brushed off the wiped surface with a goose feather.

Gold leaf is carefully crushed and rubbed with fingers. Gum arabic (transparent acacia resin) is used as a binder. Gold painting is also done with the finest brush. Sometimes silver or aluminum powder is used. Gaps with gold and aluminum are applied on clothes in those places where gaps in color are not applied: in dark tones - in gold, in light tones - in silver. They also make all the ornamental decorations. Painting with gold and silver on miniatures is used in three types: “in bristles”, with inoculation and ornamental painting.

In order for the gold applied to the product to acquire shine, it must be polished. A wolf tooth was used for this because it has a particularly smooth surface.

After the artist has signed the piece, it is varnished and dried, and then polished on a mechanical wheel covered in plush or velvet. The final finishing touches during polishing are done only by hand. The surface is covered with lard and treated for an hour with a palm moistened with water. From friction, the surface of the varnish heats up, becomes completely leveled and acquires a mirror shine.

Palekh painting, sparkling with semi-preciousness, seems to splash on the black surface of boxes, boxes, caskets, forming a colorful pattern covered with the finest golden touches and ornaments on clothes, trees, buildings. In the compositions, reality is intricately combined with fantasy. People, houses, trees, observed in real life, but depicted with special plastic sharpness, coexist with fantastic “slides”, “chambers”, “trees”. The subject compositions on the top and side surfaces of objects are decorated with thin gold ornaments of a wide variety of never-repeating patterns.