Khokhloma painting has a long history - it originated in the 17th century. in the villages on the left bank of the Volga.
Several villages have mastered this craft, but the sale of products took place mainly in Khokhloma - hence the common name of this artistic craft.
The concept of "Khokhloma" is ambiguous: it is not only the name of the village, but also the name of the type of craft, and all the products of this craft, and the type of painting.
Currently, the city of Semyonov is considered the center of Khokhloma. Nizhny Novgorod region.
Art Association "Khokhloma painting"
In 1925, the artel "Handicraftsman-artist" was created in Semyonov, since 1931 it has been the artel "Export". In 1960, the enterprise began to be called the Khokhloma Painting factory, and in 1970 the Khokhloma Painting factory was renamed into an art association.
Khokhloma: Semyonov matryoshka
Back in 1922, the traditional Russian Semenov matryoshka was born. It is distinguished by a yellow-red background and a bright bouquet of flowers on the apron. Today, the art factory exports more than 60% of its products.
Versions and legends
When and where Khokhloma painting originated is more or less known. But main question: how did it come about? What was the impetus for the creation of this bright and unique color, this sparkling golden background?
And here we learn that there are several versions and legends on this topic. Let's retell one of the legends.
In ancient times, a master icon painter lived in Moscow. The king highly appreciated his skill and rewarded him for his work. The master loved his craft, but even more loved the free life. One day he secretly left the royal court and moved into the dense forests.
The master cut down his own hut and began to do what he loved. He dreamed of such an art that would become dear to everyone, like a simple Russian song, and that the beauty of the Russian land would be reflected in it. So the first Khokhloma bowls appeared.
The fame of the great master spread throughout the earth. People came to admire the work of the master, many remained to live nearby. The glory of the master also reached the formidable sovereign. He ordered a detachment of archers to find and bring the fugitive. Having learned about the impending disaster, the master gathered fellow villagers and revealed to them the secrets of his craft. And in the morning, when the royal messengers entered the village, they saw how the hut of the miracle artist was burning with a bright flame. The hut burned down, and the master was nowhere to be found. But its colors remained on the ground, which seemed to absorb the heat of the flame and the blackness of the ashes. The master has disappeared, but his skill has not disappeared, and Khokhloma colors still remind everyone of the happiness of freedom, the heat of love for people and the thirst for beauty.
This legend is told in different ways, but if you are very inquisitive, you can find and read it in the collections of legends and fairy tales of the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Can the legend be trusted? How to know. But after all, the art of Khokhloma has been preserved since those ancient times, and this is only possible if the skill is passed from teacher to student, further and further.
And here is another legend.
The remarkable icon painter Andrei Loskut fled Moscow, dissatisfied with the church innovations of Patriarch Nikon. He settled in the wilderness of the Zavolzhsky forests and began to paint wooden handicrafts, paint icons according to the old model.
Patriarch Nikon found out about this and sent soldiers for the recalcitrant icon painter. But Andrei refused to obey and burned himself in the hut, and before his death he bequeathed to people to preserve his skill. Sparks went out, Andrey crumbled. Since then, they have been burning with a scarlet flame, sparkling with gold nuggets. bright colors Khokhloma.
There are other versions of the origin of this craft. For example, this one.
Unique way of coloring wooden utensils"for gold" in the forest Trans-Volga and the very birth of the craft is attributed to the Old Believers. The Old Believers reject the attempt made in the 1650-1660s by Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich church reform, the purpose of which was proclaimed the unification of the liturgical order of the Russian Church with the Greek Church. This reform caused a split in the Russian Church. The Old Believers were persecuted, so they hid in the dense forests in the Volga region. Among the Old Believers there were many icon painters, masters of book miniatures. They brought with them ancient icons and handwritten books, fine painting skills, freehand calligraphy and samples of the richest floral ornament.
I. M. Bakanov "Khokhloma artists at work"
And the local craftsmen were well versed in turning, passed down from generation to generation the art of making dishes, patterned woodcarving.
Turning shop
So the forest Trans-Volga region became a real artistic treasury. In fact, two crafts were combined here: the plasticity of turning utensils (carved forms of ladles, spoons) and icon painting. Here was born the secret of making "golden" dishes without the use of gold.
The abundance of forests, the proximity of the Volga, which was the main trading artery of the Trans-Volga region, contributed to the development of the fishery. Through the Caspian steppes, Khokhloma dishes were delivered to Central Asia, Persia, and India. The Europeans also willingly bought up the Trans-Volga products. The peasants carved, painted wooden utensils and took them for sale to the large trading village of Khokhloma - there was a bargain here. Hence the name "Khokhloma painting", or simply "Khokhloma".
But there is another version: Nizhny Novgorod artisans used imitation of gilding on wood in the coloring of wooden utensils even before the appearance of the Old Believers. In the large Nizhny Novgorod handicraft villages of Lyskovo and Murashkino, in the Trans-Volga "selishka Semyonovskoye" wooden utensils were made (brothers, ladles, dishes for holiday table), painted with tin powder. It is believed that this method existed before Khokhloma.
But be that as it may, we now have a unique and unsurpassed decorative painting of wooden utensils and furniture, made in red, green and golden tones on a black background. Khokhloma is known and appreciated all over the world.
Modern centers of Khokhloma painting
In Semyonov, he founded the school of Khokhloma painting Georgy Petrovich Matveev (1875-1960).
Khokhloma painting currently has two centers: the Khokhloma Painting and Semyonovskaya Painting factories in the city of Semyonov, Nizhny Novgorod Region, and the village of Semino, Koverninsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region, where the Khokhloma Artist enterprise operates. It unites the craftsmen of the villages of the Koverninsky district: Semino, Kuligino, Novopokrovskoye, etc. this moment The company is in great difficulty. In Semino, there is also an enterprise LLC Promysel, which has been producing wooden boxes with Khokhloma painting for 19 years.
In Semyonov, Matveev is remembered and respected. A bust was erected in his memory, and one of the central streets of the city bears his name.
Bust of G. P. Matveev in the city of Semyonov
Khokhloma painting
The painting of wooden utensils appeared in Russia a long time ago - in the 16th century. They released her in large quantities, hundreds, thousands of pieces, since the tree wore out quickly, and utensils are necessary in everyday life. It was sold "at Macarius", in Moscow and in Veliky Ustyug.
Art historians attribute the origin of the Khokhloma craft to the second half of the 17th century. Initially, they were engaged in fishing in the villages of Semino, Novopokrovskoye, Khryashchi, Kuligino, by the end of the 19th century. the list expanded to 150 surrounding villages.
For the first time, the mention of the village of Khokhloma is found in documents of the 16th century. Even under Ivan the Terrible, Khokhloma was known as a forest area called “Khokhlomskaya Ukhozheya” (Ukhozheya is a place cleared from the forest for arable land).
Wooden utensils from the most ancient times were with a Russian person in great use: ladles and brackets in the shape of a floating bird, round bratins, dinner bowls, spoons different forms and sizes were found in archaeological excavations as far back as the 10th-13th centuries. There are samples that date back several millennia.
In ancient times, in the dense Trans-Volga forests near the trading village of Khokhloma, the first settlers hiding from persecution were "leakers", that is, fugitives who took refuge here from persecution for the "old faith", from tsarist arbitrariness, landlord oppression. Among them were icon painters and masters of handwritten miniatures. It was not easy to feed on peasant labor on scarce land, and fugitive people adapted themselves to painting wooden utensils, which were sharpened here by local craftsmen from time immemorial. Previously unknown painting fabulously transformed the modest kitchen utensils. But especially beautiful and inimitable were the various sets, bowls and brothers that came out from under the brush of one famous master. It seemed that his painting absorbed the sun's rays - golden, which are at noon, and red - cinnabar at dawn.
It was said among the people that the artist painted his dishes not with a simple one, but with a magic brush woven from the sun's rays. Bright, festive dishes fell in love not only with the inhabitants of the district, the fame of it spread throughout Russia. Seeing Khokhloma dishes, the king immediately guessed who was painting them, and sent guards to the Volga forests. The warned painter managed to escape, but he taught the wisdom of an unusual craft local residents and left them paints and a magic brush. Such is the old legend about the origin of the bright and original art of Khokhloma painting, which is often called golden, fiery, or fiery. And this is no coincidence; the art of Khokhloma could not have been born without fire, without hardening products in a Russian oven.
Already in the 18th century, the craft was widely spread among the peasant population and became known far beyond the borders of the country.
Elegantly painted wooden utensils were not inferior in beauty to the royal ones. But it is inconvenient to use unpainted wooden utensils, because wood absorbs liquid, quickly becomes dirty, and cracks from hot food. We noticed that the oiled walls of the vessels are easier to clean, the dishes last longer.
It was then, probably, that the idea arose to cover the dishes with drying oil - boiled linseed oil. Drying oil covered the surface of the object with an impenetrable film. This composition, used by icon painters to protect paintings from moisture, has been known to Russian masters for a long time. Painted utensils using gold were also not durable, and besides, the poor peasant could not afford to buy them.
So the peasants began to think about how to make the dishes so that they were no worse than the boyars, and the peasants could use them. Folk craftsmen solved this problem thanks to the icon painters from the Old Believer environment, who mastered the ancient technique of “gilding” products. It is no coincidence that the basis of the painting was a golden background.
It is known that in ancient times, among the Slavs, and then in Russia, silver, and later gold, was used as a symbol of light. So it was in the works of folk art, in book miniatures, icon painting. Art historians suggest that it is from the technique of writing icons that the marvelous “golden Khokhloma” originates. But then, for the sake of cheapening, the craftsmen began to use silver powder instead of gold.
More than one generation of masters took part in the creation of "Khokhloma gold". Each of them contributed to the improvement of this unique art.
There are almost no genre scenes in the paintings of Khokhloma; the artists directed all their art to the depiction of plant forms, or the so-called herbal ornament, associated with the traditions of painting Ancient Russia. Flexible, wavy stems with leaves, berries and flowers run around the walls of the vessel, decorate its inner surface, giving the object a uniquely elegant appearance. On some things, the stems of flowers stretch upwards, on others they curl or run in a circle.
The Khokhloma craft reached its peak in the 18th century. At this time, two types of letters are formed: riding And background.
horse painting was carried out with plastic strokes on the tinned surface of the dishes, creating a magnificent openwork pattern. A classic example"horse" letters can serve "grass"
Salt cellar with "horse painting"
For "background" the painting was characterized by the use of a black or red background, while the drawing itself remained golden.
Bowl with "background" painting
But such a color scheme did not appear in Khokhloma painting right away. It has undergone tremendous changes, over the years it has become more concise and solemn. The bleaching agents, which created the impression of a three-dimensional form, disappeared, and the range of colors was limited. If earlier masters used white, blue, blue, pink, green and brown paints, then gradually red, black and gold become the main colors of the ornament.
This limitation was caused not only by the fact that these paints did not burn out in the oven during hardening, but also by the fact that artists preferred the combination of these colors, primarily because of their special decorative qualities.
"Horse painting"
When “riding” writing, the master applies a drawing with black or red paint on a gold or silver background of the product.
Three types of ornament can be distinguished here: "herbal" painting, painting "under the sheet" or "under the berry", painting "gingerbread" or "saffron milk".
"Grass painting" reminiscent of familiar and familiar herbs to everyone since childhood: sedge, white-bearded, meadow grass. This is perhaps the most ancient type of painting. It is written in curls, various strokes, small berries or spikelets on a silvery background. "Grass" drawing has always been popular among Khokhloma masters of painting. FROM big love they wrote out this drawing with a brush, then collecting it in dense bushes, then scattering them over the surface of the product.
A set of dishes with "horseback" herbal painting
The methods of painting floral ornaments are so diverse that amazing motifs come out from under the brush of the master. They twist into peculiar elements, the combination of which creates many combinations. From individual blades of grass, artists paint their favorite motif of a rooster or hen, which sits on a tree and pecks berries from it.
The letter, in which, in addition to weed, the masters include leaves, berries and flowers, is called "under the sheet" or "under the berry". These paintings differ from the "grass" in larger strokes, forming the shape of oval leaves, round berries, left by the poke of the brush. Folk craftsmen take their motifs by stylizing plant forms. Therefore, it is not surprising that on the products of Khokhloma masters we see flowers, daisies, bells, grape leaves, strawberries, currants, gooseberries, cranberries.
Painting on the "background" under the "leaf" and "berry"
The basis of the painting under the sheet make up pointed or rounded leaves, connected by three or five, and berries located in groups near a flexible stem. In the painting of large planes, larger motifs are used - cherries, strawberries, gooseberries, grapes. This painting has great decorative possibilities. In comparison with the "grass" it is multi-colored. For example, if in the "grass" painting mainly black and red are used, then in the painting "under the sheet" or "under the berry" masters write leaves in green, as well as in combination with brown and yellow.
These murals are enriched with a herbal pattern, which is written in such compositions with green, red, brown colors. Another peculiar kind of painting belongs to the riding letter - "gingerbread" or "saffron milk". This geometric figure, most often inscribed in a square or rhombus, and in the middle of the rectangle - a "big camelina" - the sun.
Gingerbread painting are more simple and conditional than herbal ones, when you look at them, it seems that the Sun, with rays curled in a circle, is in constant motion.
Dish with "horseback" painting with ornament "gingerbread"
IN "background" In writing, two types of ornament are distinguished: - painting "under the background" and painting "kudrin". painting "under the background", as already noted, begins with drawing a stem line with leaves and flowers, and sometimes with images of birds or fish.
Painting on the "background"
Then the background is painted with paint, most often black. Details of large motifs are drawn on a golden background. On top of the painted background, “herbal additions” are made with the tip of the brush - rhythmic strokes along the main stem, berries and small flowers “stick” with a poke of the brush. “Gold” shines through in this type of writing only in the silhouettes of leaves, in large forms of flowers, in the silhouettes of fabulous birds, which Khokhloma masters love to draw.
supplies. Painting "under the background". 1930s GIM.
Painting "under the background" a much more time-consuming process and not every master will cope with such work. Items with such a painting were usually intended for a gift, and, as a rule, they were made to order and were valued higher. A variety of "background" painting is "curly". It is distinguished by a stylized image of leaves, flowers, curls. The space not occupied by them is painted over with paint, and the golden branches look spectacular against a bright red or black background. Curly hair got its name from golden curly curls, the lines of which form bizarre patterned shapes of leaves, flowers and fruits.
Painting on the "background" - "curly"
painting "curly" looks like a carpet. Its peculiarity is that leading role plays not a brush stroke, but a contour line. A flat spot of gold and a subtle touch of detail. The background in this type of painting is also painted in red or black.
Manufacturing and painting technology Khokhloma products
The life of a wooden cup, the oldest item in terms of shape, began with a turner. In the presence of a large number of small rivers in the Trans-Volga region, which were easy to dam, the peasants found it more profitable for themselves to build water lathes, like mills. Having chosen a suitable place in the forest, near the water, they set up a small hut, with five or six crowns, and the river was dammed up. The room was illuminated by small portage windows, and in winter they installed a stove that was heated in black, without a pipe.
Outside, near the dam, a huge water-filling wheel was fitted to the wall of the house. Water overflowing through the dam filled the buckets, and the wheel began to rotate, setting in motion metal shafts - machine tools. To save effort and money, such lathes often built two or even four families.
The turnery inside is quite small - 4x4 meters. In addition to the furnace and two lathes, there are shelves for finished products on the walls. The mouth of the stove is turned towards the door so that the smoke comes out faster.
Before starting work, the turner takes a piece of log measuring 70-80 centimeters and, sharpening one end, drives the log into the chuck of the machine shaft. Then he turns the lever, releasing the wheel, and it begins to rotate, setting the machine in motion. Changing the tool all the time, the master begins to process the rotating log. Here in his hand is a "pipe" - a rounded knife on a long handle (it is necessary for emphasis). With this knife, he removes the bark and all the unevenness of the wood from the ridge. Then with a “smoker” with a straight knife, it cleans the entire cylindrical surface of the ridge.
What follows is a very responsible operation. The wood blank must be marked for the number of cups that should be obtained. The turner does this by eye, but by the fact that the parts of the ridge marked in size are accurate to the centimeter, one can see a lot of experience and skill worked out to virtuosity. Lightly, as if playfully, he touches the rotating wooden cylinder. Falls, curling into a curl, thin shavings, and the smell of fresh wood spreads throughout the room.
Having processed the outer surface (rounding the walls and marking the bottom of the cup), the craftsman selects its inner part with hook-knives, smoothes the outer walls, and before our eyes, in a matter of minutes, a finished cup appears from a piece of wood. A cup of such an impeccable shape, with such smooth walls, that you want to stroke it, hold it in your hand, admire the pristine beauty of natural wood. Having finished processing one ridge, the turner inserts another, and work continues.
In a day, an experienced craftsman could carve up to a hundred cups. And in Khokhloma, in the heyday of turning dishes, up to a million pieces of products were brought annually.
The ladle-maker and spoon-maker had the same time-honored skill. When carving a ladle, the master in a piece of wood saw in advance the future image of the product, and under his skillful cutter, natural curves and knots became a bird with swan neck, then with a proudly arched head of a horse, and then suddenly twisted in a loop, resembling an unknown creature, ready to either swim away or take off.
Taking a piece of wood of a certain size - a baklusha, the spoonman cut it into as many pieces as, in his opinion, spoons could turn out. A few more blows - and in front of us is an almost finished spoon. Then comes the final finishing. With a hook-knife (the same as that of a turner, but short), the inner part of the blade is selected, the surface is planed, smoothed, and the product is ready.
The whole family worked on the dressing of spoons, and here there was a firm division of labor: the most important operations (until the stump acquired a clear spoon shape) were the responsibility of men. The surface of the spoons was finished by women or children, and finally men corrected them again.
Finished spoons came to Semyonov, where they were bought up and given away for coloring. Every week, up to half a million pieces were brought into the city.
The coloring of Khokhloma products is that magical process when an ordinary white tree acquires the brilliance and beauty of gilding.
Since the processing of products took place with the use of drying oil and hardening in a furnace, the room was filled with the intoxicating smell of burnt oil. Therefore, if the craftsmen had the opportunity, they painted in separate rooms - dye houses. Who a separate room was not - they worked in a residential hut.
The dye house was a log cabin with large furnaces, it was heated in a black way. The room was illuminated by a small window. The ovens had a low mouth, as special shelves for drying products were placed above it up to the ceiling. The same shelves went along the wall - finished products were placed on them.
In the villages where spoons were dyed, there were few individual dye-houses: there were only twenty-five dye-houses in ten villages, and they were distributed very unevenly.
Manufacturing process Khokhloma painting of products began with drying. White dishes were sharpened from raw wood, so they were kept at room temperature for twelve to fifteen days. Then they made a drive - the products were primed, coated with clay).
The fact is that wood is a very porous material, and in order to close all the pores, to create a waterproof layer, it had to be smeared. Good material for this it turned out to be ordinary clay, which is now in in large numbers mined on the banks of the Volga, near Gorodets. Previously, dyers bought it on the basis of such a calculation: a pood of clay - a pood of flour.
Khokhlomichi call this clay vap, which is why the very process of impregnating products with clay began to be called vaping. The clay was dissolved in warm water, kneaded the pieces and stirred, getting a solution of a certain density, Then a rolled up shred sheepskin dipped into the solution and lubricated the walls of the product with thick ope. After that, the product was left for a while - the solution had to be absorbed into the wood. Then greased again. The product, welded in this way, with a clay crust formed on it, was placed on the boards, where it was supposed to dry.
The dried product was impregnated with unboiled linseed oil using pieces of wool. little time it was again kept so that the layer of clay mixed with oil, and then polished, wiping the entire surface of the product with a bast bast and finally with flax rags (waste during its processing). The purpose of sanding is to drive the oiled mass into the pores of the wood and remove grains of sand and all excess mass. After polishing, the product was placed to dry on boards in a heated oven and kept there for four to five hours.
The third operation is puttying, that is, puttying the product with a mixture of clay and drying oil. This mixture should close up all the bumps, knots, cracks and other defects in the wood. The master puts the finished putty in the right place and rubs it with his finger, removing the excess mass with a scraper. The puttied product is again placed to dry.
The next stage is processing with drying oil to create an oil film on the product.
The preparation of drying oil is a special and complex process that only the old masters knew, keeping the secret of its composition from each other. The products were smeared with drying oil three times, each time in between they were dried again and again and only after that they were placed in an oven at a temperature of 80-90 degrees. Only now, in the fifth operation, the oiled product was tinned - coated with tin powder so that it first became silver, and then, under drying oil, gold.
At the end of the 19th century, aluminum powder was invented, which began to be used instead of drying oil. Tinning in a cold way (from the usual hot method, a tree could catch fire) is a brilliant find of Khokhlomichi. This method was kept secret for a long time, and only in our time has it become widely known. It consists in the ability, with various complex manipulations with various constituent substances, to turn tin bars into a fine powder, which is rubbed with a special swab - a chrysalis - into a proliferated product so that it becomes light and shiny, like silver. The tinned product is ready for painting with paints.
If the previous operations were associated with purely technical techniques, then at this stage the ability to write freely with a brush is required.
In the past, Khokhloma masters worked as families, and with early years the child was introduced to artistic skills. Therefore, Khokhloma is so fluent in the technique of painting. His hand now presses the brush and draws a wide juicy strip, then leads it easily and freely, and a thin, barely visible line appears on the subject.
Painted tinned products were placed in a furnace for hardening. The drying oil turned yellow from the oven heat, and under its film the silver began to glow with gold.
This work was very hard. As already noted, only wealthy peasants had dye-houses, and those who were poorer did dyeing in the same room where they lived.
Here is what Sofya Ivanovna Rodicheva, a dyer from Semenov, who at one time worked for fifteen years for a buyer, merchant Bulganin, said: “It was sooty, smoky and dirty in the hut, carbon monoxide from paint. Sometimes they got so bad that they lay for three days, losing their sight. In general, in old age, all dyers' eyesight became very poor.
Russian furnaces in the houses of dyers, as well as in dye-works, were with a low mouth. The top of the stove was fenced with boards, bars - grates - were laid across them. On special boards on the grate and set to dry the spoons.
It was easier to work in the dyers, although it was also not easy. Painted dishes were placed in the oven immediately, as soon as the oven was heated up and the heat was removed from it, and in order to place the dishes in the depths of the furnace, it was necessary to climb inside. To do this, they put on trousers, a jacket, boots, tried to do everything faster, but when they got out, the clothes were already smoking. Up to fifty thousand spoons were put into the oven at a time, and from five to eight thousand into the oven.
Modern technological process of Khokhloma painting
1- The turned or cut ground workpiece is primed (by dipping). Clay (vapa) or primer (No. 138) is used as a primer.
2- Wipe the primed workpiece with a soft sponge and dry at room temperature for 6-8 hours.
3- The workpiece is covered 2-3 times with drying oil or a mixture of drying oil and varnish in equal parts.
4- Intermediate drying at room temperature for 5 hours.
5- Rubbing aluminum powder with soft leather or suede until a mirror surface is obtained.
6- Artistic painting with oil paints diluted with natural drying oil.
7- Drying 24 hours on racks at a temperature of 20-25°C or 1.5-2 hours in an electric oven at a temperature of 100°C.
8- Varnishing 3-5 times with PF-283 varnish, with intermediate drying and polishing.
9- Drying 2-3 hours at room temperature and 15-20 minutes in an electric oven at a temperature of 200°C or 3-4 hours in an electric oven at a temperature of 130-140°C until a golden hue appears.
At present, products with Khokhloma painting are produced by several dozen enterprises, but there are two genuine Khokhloma centers: this is the Khokhloma Artist in the village of Semino and the Khokhloma Painting in the city of Semenov. Seminskaya painting is more traditional, closer to its origins - peasant dishes. Semyonov's motifs are more fancy and refined, designed for more demanding customers.
Master class: Painting the plate "Autumn leaf"
Purpose: The product is intended for registration of an office of service work.
All the leaves are like leaves
Here, everyone is golden.
The beauty of such people
They call it Khokhloma!
We need to work:
1. Disposable plate
2. Wooden spoon
3. Acrylic paints red, yellow and black colors
4. Brushes, pencil, palette, water jar
5. Colorless varnish
6. Ornament of the future painting
Khokhloma is an old Russian folk craft that was born in the 17th century in the district of Nizhny Novgorod. Khokhloma is a decorative painting of wooden utensils and furniture, made in red, green and black on a gold background. The traditional elements of Khokhloma are red juicy rowan and strawberry berries, flowers and branches. Often there are birds, fish and animals.
So today we will try to paint a plate and a spoon with Khokhloma patterns.
The pattern will fit into the circle.
We come up with (or take from the Internet) a suitable ornament and transfer it to our plate.
Golden leaves with dark berries will look very good on a red background. Carefully fill the background with red, outlining each leaf and curl.
Since initially there was a colored edging on the plate, which we didn’t need at all, and we couldn’t drown it out in red, we make a black rim in the inside of the plate and along the very edge.
Khokhloma painting originated in the 17th century in the depths of the once impenetrable forests Trans-Volga, along the banks of the Uzola River, which flows into the Volga near the ancient Gorodets, in the villages of Khokhloma (hence the name of the painting), Big and Small Bezdel, Mokushino, Shabashi, Glibino and Khryashchi. There was a large fair in Khokhloma, where craftsmen from the surrounding villages and villages have long brought their products for sale and from where they dispersed not only throughout Russia, but also beyond its borders.
The technique of painting wood in gold without the use of gold was known to Russian icon painters as early as the 12th century. She penetrated into the Trans-Volga region with icon painters - "schismatics" who sought refuge in the forests of the Trans-Volga region, and their associates - masters who owned turning and knew the drawings of the most ancient ornament. Thus, the art of Khokhloma was formed as a precious fusion of traditions developed in folk crafts and brought by masters of ancient painting.
Khokhloma inherited from folk crafts classical forms wooden turning utensils and compositions of geometric ornament, clear in rhythm, based on a subtle understanding of the plasticity of a thing. Icon painters brought to Khokhloma the skill of the “thin brush” — calligraphic skills of free writing and drawing of the richest floral ornament, characteristic of decorative painting of the 17th-18th centuries. In the ornament of this time, one can see those types of plant patterns that were subsequently received new life in the art of painting Khokhloma wooden utensils.
On the basis of the Russian floral ornament of the 17th-18th centuries, the varieties of painting characteristic of Khokhloma were formed, which have survived to this day.
Probably, in the same period, the masters of Khokhloma used for the first time in the Volga region when painting wooden utensils, techniques that made it possible to obtain a golden sheen without gold.
Currently, the village of Kovernino in the Nizhny Novgorod region is considered the birthplace of Khokhloma, where from the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th they traded painted wooden utensils made in villages and villages. Khokhloma painting is characterized by gold, black, red, green, sometimes brown and orange colors.
The secret of the “gold” of Khokhloma is the use of an aluminum (silver or tin) coating. It is this metallized layer in combination with a varnish coating and heated to high temperature, gives subsequently a golden effect.
Production of Khokhloma dishes long time restrained by the high cost of imported tin. Only a very wealthy customer could provide the craftsmen with tin. In the Trans-Volga region, monasteries turned out to be such customers. So, the villages of Khokhloma, Skorobogatovo and about 80 villages along the rivers Uzola and Kerzhents worked for the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
From the documents of the monastery it is clear that the peasants of these villages were called to work in the workshops of the Lavra, where they could get acquainted with the production of festive bowls and ladles. It is no coincidence that it was Khokhloma and Skorobogatov villages and villages that became the birthplace of the original painting of dishes, so similar to precious ones.
The abundance of forests, the proximity of the Volga - the main trade artery of the Trans-Volga region - also contributed to the development of fishing: loaded with "wood chips" goods. The ships were heading to Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod, Makariev, famous for their fairs, and from there - to the Saratov and Astrakhan provinces. Through the Caspian steppes, Khokhloma dishes were delivered to Central Asia, Persia, and India.
The British, Germans, French willingly bought up the Trans-Volga products in Arkhangelsk, where they were delivered along the Kholmogory tract. The peasants turned, painted wooden utensils and took them for sale to the large trading village of Khokhloma (Nizhny Novgorod province), where there was a bargain. Hence the name "Khokhloma painting", Or simply "Khokhloma".
Manufacturing technology "Khokhloma"
Technological process the creation of Khokhloma products and currently retains the basic principles found back in the 17th-18th centuries. Basically, this process is as follows.
1. First, a white wooden promise (“linen”) is turned from dried wood on a lathe.
2. After drying, the "linen" is primed with liquid purified clay - "vapa", as the masters call it. After priming, the product is dried for 7-8 hours and must be manually covered with several layers of drying oil (linseed oil). The master dipped a special tampon made of sheep or calf skin turned inside out into a bowl with drying oil, and then quickly rubbed it into the surface of the product, turning it so that the drying oil was evenly distributed.
This operation is very responsible. The quality of wooden utensils, the strength of the painting will depend on it in the future. During the day, the product will be covered with drying oil 3-4 times. The last layer will be dried to a “slight touch” - when the drying oil slightly sticks to the finger, no longer staining it.
3. The next stage is tinning, that is, rubbing silver or tin into the surface of the product (currently aluminum powder is used). It was also performed manually with a sheepskin swab. After tinning, the objects acquire a beautiful white-mirror shine, and are ready for painting.
4. After painting, the product was again rubbed with drying oil, varnished twice and placed for several hours in a hardening oven, where the temperature reaches 150 °C. In order for the paints not to lose color, they must be heat-resistant. Thanks to the durable lacquer coating, Khokhloma is not afraid of heat, cold, or water, so you can serve various dishes, including hot ones, in Khokhloma dishes.
Painting under Khokhloma
The main colors that determine the character and recognizability of Khokhloma painting are red and black (cinnabar and soot), but others are allowed to revive the pattern - brown, light tone green, yellow tone. Painting brushes were made from squirrel tails so that they could draw a very thin line.
In Khokhloma, “horse” painting is used (when the pattern is applied with red or black paint on the golden surface of the background) and “background” (on the contrary, the golden background is painted over in red or black, and the patterns themselves remain golden. It is carried out in two stages: first, the outlines are drawn pattern, then close the background, leaving the pattern itself golden, to match the background color.This method is also called "writing under the background").
In addition, there are various types of ornaments:
- "gingerbread" - usually inside a cup or dish, a geometric figure - a square or a rhombus - decorated with grass, berries, flowers;
- "grass" - a pattern of large and small blades of grass;
- "kudrina" - leaves and flowers in the form of golden curls on a red or black background;
Masters and simplified ornaments are used. For example, "speck" (pattern "berries"), which is applied with a stamp cut from the plates of a raincoat mushroom, or with a piece of fabric folded in a special way. All products are painted by hand, and the painting is not repeated anywhere.
No matter how expressive the painting is, as long as the pattern or background remains silvery, this is not yet a real “Khokhloma”.
Khokhloma products
Khokhloma products attract not only the beauty of the ornament. They are valued for their durable lacquer coating, thanks to which they are used in Everyday life. In a Khokhloma dish, you can serve okroshka to the table, pour hot tea into a cup - and nothing will be done with a wooden product: varnish will not crack, paint will not fade. It is no coincidence that at all times the existence of the Volga craft craftsmen, who own the "tricks" of making this "magic dishes".
The range of Khokhloma products has been formed for a long time. It is based on carved spoon products and turning utensils: cups, bowls, coasters, bowls, salt boxes, spoons. In recent decades, new forms of household items have been created: sets of dishes for compote, fish soup, salad, berries, pancakes and honey, kitchen sets - coasters with shelves, as well as large decorative items for home decoration - decorative dishes, panels. In the decoration of Khokhloma products, folk craftsmen use several options. All of them differ in temperature conditions, the duration of drying and hardening, the subtleties of performing techniques. On the example of one of the types of finishes, the operations through which each item goes through are visible.
The process of making Khokhloma
Khokhloma products are made from local hardwood - linden, aspen, birch. From dried wood - small-sized "stools", sawn into thick blocks of "ridges", blanks and "churaks" are hewn out. In the turning shop, a massive workpiece turns into a conceived product, the “churak” seems to melt under the master’s cutter, everything superfluous flies off with a light white ribbon of shavings. The turned product is dried again and only then it gets to the finishers, who prepare it for painting. Sometimes one product passes through the hands of a master finisher up to three dozen times.
The semi-finished product is dried at a temperature of 22-28 ° C for 3-20 days, depending on the size of the product. When the moisture content of the wood reaches 6-8 percent, drying is completed. If the humidity is higher, the product may turn out to be of poor quality: with bubbles - breaks in the varnish surface.
Dried products putty. They do this either in the old fashioned way with a vape, or with special putties. Vap is a fine-grained elutriated clay, diluted to a very muddy water. 25-50 percent of chalk is added to the solution. It is easier to use putty from a liquid flour paste. A piece of woolen cloth is dipped into the prepared solution and the product is coated with it. After drying, the operation is repeated again. Final drying lasts 6-8 hours.
The product is primed with linseed oil, which is applied with a linen cloth. After that, he is allowed to rest for 40-50 minutes and only then wiped with a flap, removing excess oil. After priming, the product is placed in an oven for 4-6 hours, where the temperature is maintained at 40-50 °C. For drying products using Khokhloma technology, a cabinet is needed in which the temperature can be adjusted within the range of 30-120 ° C. Dried blanks are cooled to room temperature and lightly sanded.
The next responsible process is coating the product with drying oil. To do this, take natural drying oil, cooked from linseed or hemp oil. It is evenly smeared on the hands and the product is lightly rubbed with them as if they were washing it. After drying for 2-3 hours at a temperature of 22-25 ° C, when the drying oil no longer sticks to the hands, but the film is not completely dry, the product is dried a second time, applying a thicker layer. If the wood absorbs a lot of drying oil, such as aspen, then the whole process is repeated again, if not enough, it is enough to oil the product twice. As soon as the surface of the product acquires an even sheen, it can be tinned, that is, coated with aluminum powder.
For application, half-days are used with model devices - pupae, which are a tampon, to the working part of which a piece of natural fur (preferably sheepskin) with a short trimmed pile is sewn. After half-drying, the product acquires an even metallic sheen. In this form, it goes to the painting.
Khokhloma painting
The paints used for painting Khokhloma products are subject to increased requirements, since many of them can fade from high temperatures during the drying and hardening process. Masters take heat-resistant mineral paints - ocher, minium, as well as cinnabar and carmine, soot, chrome greens. Dilute them with purified turpentine.
Mostly women work in the dye shops. The artists sit at low tables, on low stools. With such a landing, the knee is a support for the object being painted. Khokhloma craftswomen are characterized by working on weight: a small turning thing, leaning on the knee, is held with the left hand, and with the right hand, an ornament is applied to its rounded surface.
This way of holding the painted object makes it easy to turn it in any direction with any inclination. Brushes, paints, a palette and things in work are conveniently placed on the table. For application simple ornament dies are used, which are cut from hat felt, raincoat mushroom and other materials that hold paint well and allow you to print a pattern on the product. When performing the motifs "berry", "flower" often use round pokes from rolled nylon fabric.
Khokhloma masters master a special technique of holding a brush, in which not only fingers, but the whole hand are involved in the process of writing, thanks to which it is possible to draw long plastic strokes and series of strokes on spherical or cylindrical surfaces in one continuous, inseparable movement.
The brush, placed on the phalanges of the index and middle fingers, is pressed against them with a pad thumb, which allows you to slightly rotate it while writing. When painting, they sometimes lightly lean on the little finger, touching it to the product. A thin brush with a hairy tip is placed almost vertically to the surface of the object. It is usually led to itself, slightly rotating in the direction where the smear is bent.
Khokhloma painting is characterized by two types of writing and closely related classes of ornament - "horse" and "background".
"Horse" painting is applied with plastic strokes on a metallized surface, forming a free openwork pattern. A classic example of horse writing is "grass", or "grass painting" with red and black bushes, stems, creating a kind of graphic pattern on a gold background.
Another kind of riding letter - "under the sheet". Larger plant forms are widely used in it - rounded leaves, berries, located symmetrically at the stem.
The "background" painting is characterized by the use of a background - black or colored, while the drawing itself remains golden. Before the background is filled, the contours of motifs are preliminarily applied to the surface to be painted. The forms of large motifs are modeled by hatching. Often, a small herbal pattern is written on a painted background - a "postscript". A more complex type of background writing is the curl, so named for the profusion of round curls that create fabulous shapes of plants, flowers, and birds.
Khokhloma decoration
After painting, the product goes to the final finishing, during which it is rubbed with drying oil, varnished twice and placed for several hours in a hardening oven, where the temperature reaches 150 ° C.
Modern Khokhloma
Currently, Khokhloma painting has become widespread. Two of its major centers are widely known - the Seminsk factory of art products "Khokhloma artist" and the Semenov order "Badge of Honor" production association "Khokhloma painting", located in the Gorky region.
The Semin masters, who continue the traditions of the indigenous Khokhloma, subtly feel the beauty of meadow herbs and wild berries. They paint predominantly traditional, ancient-shaped dishes. Semyonov masters, city dwellers, often use rich forms of garden flowers in painting, preferring the technique of painting "under the background". They love precise contour drawing and make extensive use of a variety of shading to model motifs. But along with the main centers of Khokhloma painting, many new industries have emerged that produce products "under gold".
The products are of great variety. The simple forms of wooden utensils - bowls, cups and barrels, supplies and kandeks - go back to traditional Russian utensils. Beautiful in proportion, strong and stable, they create an atmosphere of comfort and conviviality in the house. Rural craftsmen are not inclined to search for innovative, spectacular solutions, preferring a set of familiar items, the optimal sizes and proportions of which have become classic. Such dishes, selected by the century-old tradition of turning craft and already possessing high artistic merit, are painted by craftswomen with floral patterns.
The painters are excellent at all types of Khokhloma painting, they know and love the golden patterns of the kudrina, ancient grass writing with sprawling black and scarlet stems applied with calligraphically precise strokes. However, in their work, the masters prefer painting with a black-lacquer background and more often paint images of garden and meadow flowers, fruits and leaves that are familiar and so close to the villager. The artists combine in one work the beauty of the spring flowering of nature and its autumn generosity, in poetic images embodying the farmer's dream of a rich harvest, thanks to which the objects they paint become a kind of symbol of the wish for well-being. The black background, so beloved by craftswomen, helps them achieve greater sonority in the color scheme of the painting, and the floral pattern stands out more clearly on it.
In their work, they widely use a special modeling technique - they apply a colored contour of a soft shade to the depicted plants, which envelops the motifs with radiance, giving them fabulousness. Such a mysteriously shimmering ornament covers not only gift items, unique works that masters prepare for large reviews of folk arts and crafts - vases, brothers, ladles, but also mass production of collective farm craft.
The surface of the ladle-duck with mounted ladles, painted by the leading master of the collective farm industry Antonina Vasilievna Razborova, is covered outside and inside with a pattern of branches of a forest wild grouse tree with small ruddy apples and golden stars of inflorescences. Similar five-petalled flowers, different in size, are written next to strawberries and apples, raspberries, hops and gooseberries, and bunches of mountain ash. But they are so organically included in the ornament that there is no doubt about the legitimacy of such combinations.
illustrative examples Khokhloma painting
Khokhloma- an old Russian folk craft, born in the 17th century in the district of Nizhny Novgorod.
Khokhloma is a decorative painting of wooden utensils and furniture, made in gold and red (and, occasionally, green) on a black background. When painting a tree, not gold, but silvery tin powder is applied to the tree. After that, the product is coated with a special composition and processed in the oven three or four times, which achieves a unique honey-golden color, giving the wooden utensils the effect of massiveness.
The traditional elements of Khokhloma are red juicy rowan and strawberry berries, flowers and branches. Often there are birds, fish and animals.
Andr. Klenin. "Alien Khokhloma"
It is believed that Khokhloma painting originated in the 17th century on the left bank of the Volga, in the villages of Big and Small Bezleli, Mokushino, Shabashi, Glibino, Khryashchi. Currently, the village of Kovernino in the Nizhny Novgorod region is considered the birthplace of Khokhloma. The peasants turned, painted wooden utensils and took them for sale to the large trading village of Khokhloma (Nizhny Novgorod province), where there was a bargain. Hence the name "Khokhloma painting", or simply "Khokhloma".
There is also a legendary explanation for the appearance of Khokhloma painting. There was a wonderful icon painter Andrei Loskut. He fled from the capital, dissatisfied with the church innovations of Patriarch Nikon, and began to paint wooden crafts in the wilderness of the Volga forests, and paint icons according to the old model. Patriarch Nikon found out about this and sent soldiers for the recalcitrant icon painter. Andrei refused to obey, burned himself in the hut, and before his death bequeathed to people to preserve his skill. Sparks went out, Andrey crumbled. Since then, the bright colors of Khokhloma have been burning with a scarlet flame, sparkling with golden nuggets.
History
It is believed that Khokhloma painting originated in the 17th century on the left bank of the Volga, in the villages of Big and Small Bezleli, Mokushino, Shabashi, Glibino, Khryashchi. Currently, the village of Kovernino in the Nizhny Novgorod region is considered the birthplace of Khokhloma.
The peasants turned, painted wooden utensils and took them for sale to the large trading village of Khokhloma (Nizhny Novgorod province), where there was a bargain. Hence the name "Khokhloma painting", or simply "Khokhloma".
There is also a legendary explanation for the appearance of Khokhloma painting. There was a wonderful icon painter Andrei Loskut. He fled from the capital, dissatisfied with the church innovations of Patriarch Nikon, and began to paint wooden crafts in the wilderness of the Volga forests, and paint icons according to the old model. Patriarch Nikon found out about this and sent soldiers for the recalcitrant icon painter. Andrei refused to obey, burned himself in the hut, and before his death bequeathed to people to preserve his skill. Sparks went out, Andrey crumbled. Since then, the bright colors of Khokhloma have been burning with a scarlet flame, sparkling with golden nuggets.
Khokhloma centers
Currently, Khokhloma painting has two centers - the city of Semyonov, where the Khokhloma Painting and Semenov Painting factories are located, and the village of Semino, Koverninsky District, where the Khokhloma Artist enterprise operates, uniting craftsmen from the villages of the Koverninsky District: Semino, Kuligino, Novopokrovskoye and others (the factory is located in Semino, in other villages - branches).
In Semyonov, the School was founded by G.P. Matveev.
Technology
How are products with Khokhloma painting created? First they beat the buckets, that is, they make rough wood blanks. Then the master stands up for lathe, removes excess wood with a cutter and gradually gives the workpiece the desired shape. This is how the basis is obtained - “linen” (unpainted products) - carved ladles and spoons, supplies and cups.
Making "linen"
After drying, the "linen" is primed with liquid purified clay - vapa, as the masters call it. After priming, the product is dried for 7-8 hours and must be manually covered with several layers of drying oil (linseed oil). The master dips a special tampon made of sheep or calf skin turned inside out into a bowl with drying oil, and then quickly rubs it into the surface of the product, turning it so that the drying oil is evenly distributed. This operation is very responsible. The quality of wooden utensils, the strength of the painting will depend on it in the future. During the day, the product will be covered with drying oil 3-4 times. The last layer will be dried to a “slight touch” - when the drying oil slightly sticks to the finger, no longer staining it. The next stage is “tinning”, that is, rubbing aluminum powder into the surface of the product. It is also performed manually with a sheepskin swab. After tinning, the objects acquire a beautiful white-mirror shine, and are ready for painting. Oil paints are used in painting. The main colors that determine the character and recognizability of Khokhloma painting are red and black (cinnabar and soot), but others are also allowed to revive the pattern - brown, light-colored greens, yellow tone. Painting brushes are made from squirrel tails so that they can draw a very thin line.
Tinning and artistic painting
They distinguish the painting “horseback” (when the background is first painted over, and a silver pattern remains on top) and “under the background” (first the outline of the ornament is outlined, and then the background is filled with black paint). In addition, there are various types of ornaments:
"gingerbread" - usually inside a cup or dish, a geometric figure - a square or a rhombus - decorated with grass, berries, flowers;
"grass" - a pattern of large and small blades of grass;
"kudrin" - leaves and flowers in the form of golden curls on a red or black background;
Masters and simplified ornaments are used. For example, “speck”, which is applied with a stamp cut from the plates of a raincoat mushroom, or with a piece of cloth folded in a special way. All products are painted by hand, and the painting is not repeated anywhere. No matter how expressive the painting is, as long as the pattern or background remains silvery, this is not yet a real “Khokhloma”.
Khokhloma painting
Painted products are coated 4-5 times with a special varnish (with intermediate drying after each layer) and, finally, they are hardened for 3-4 hours in an oven at a temperature of +150 ... +160 ° C until a golden oil-lacquer film is formed. This is how the famous “golden Khokhloma” is obtained.
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