Gorodets painting is one of the most remarkable folk crafts in Russia. Methodological guide to lessons from "Gorodets painting"

The significance of folk crafts in Russia for revealing the features of life, the artistic vision of the world, the Russian people is very great. The famous Gorodets painting is one of the brightest examples of the original creativity of the people.

Gorodets painting. The history of the fishery

V mid-eighteenth century in Russia, the first peasant artels begin to emerge, producing simple dishes and household items. The most popular items were donets for spinning wheels and toys, which were carved from wood, decorated with carvings and taken to the fair in the village of Gorodets. One of the main decorations for items was wood inlay. The cut out elements were inserted into the prepared recesses, and thus a convex original ornament was created on the surface. Later, the elements of the ornament began to be tinted and colored, and then the complex inlay was completely replaced by painting. So, on the lower Volga, in the villages with capacious Russian names Khlebaikha, Boyarskoye, Savino, Koskovo, the Gorodets craft arose, the center of which was the village, and now the city of Gorodets.

Gorodets painting, whose history continued to develop throughout the 19th century, became widely known at the beginning of the 20th century, when venerable masters organized an artel, in Soviet times which has become a factory of Gorodets painting, expanding the range wooden products, decorated with a characteristic pictorial ornament. Masters of Gorodets painting painted children's furniture with paints, kitchen utensils, jewelry boxes, and more.

Characteristic features of Gorodets painting

Gorodets painting borrowed elements of its uncomplicated subjects from rural life. The specific free stroke of the brush, with characteristic pointed details, somewhat similar to the wood carvings that they once complemented with color, clearly testify to the origins of this art.

The main attention of Gorodets artists is attracted by genre scenes from rural and urban provincial life: Sunday festivities of youth, peasants with accordions in striped trousers and chrome boots, brightly dressed young ladies, like dancing horses and important riders akimbo. Images attract with their childish naivety, festive theatricality, which is often emphasized special tricks, for example, a curtain painted on the sides of the picture, as if parted in front of the audience. Gorodets masters love to depict flower arrangements in the form of intertwined garlands or large rosettes scattered throughout the field. The most favorite motifs in painting are roosters with belligerently flowing tails, and surprisingly graceful dancing horses in festive harness.

Gorodets painting is characterized by bright rich colors. Favorite colors: red, emerald green, black, blue, juicy blue and white. Shading effects are achieved by whitening the primary colors, which adds expression to the pattern. The coloring of the picture is based on contrast. Bright is the white or black contour stroke of individual elements.

Masters of folk crafts draw without preliminary sketches, broadly and juicy applying strokes one after another immediately to the product, using certain, strictly fixed writing techniques. Layer after layer, a dynamic, bright, unique pattern is created. Perhaps this is the main feature of folk art.

The history of Gorodets craft continues. Modern craftsmen at the factory in Gorodets create amazingly beautiful creations. Many of them are award winners. I.E. Repin, and their products adorn museum and exhibition halls. Among the famous Gorodets artists can be called A.E. Konovalova, L.F. Bespalov, F.N. Kasatov, A.V. Sokolov and others.

On the left bank of the Volga, just above Nizhny Novgorod, there is a large village of Gorodets, founded in the 12th century. Places along the banks of the Volga were beneficial for the development of trade - near Makarievskaya, the largest fair in Russia. Therefore, various crafts began to develop rapidly among the population: in Gorodets itself there were blacksmiths, and gingerbread, and dyers. There were especially many carpenters and wood carvers: the forest gave cheap material The peasants of all the surrounding villages around Gorodets were also engaged in fishing: some carved spoons, others sharpened bowls and cups, and still others made tools for spinning and weaving. Linen was well born on the Trans-Volga lands, women spun threads and wove canvases for sale, so there was enough work for carvers and painters.

In a short period of time, the artists mastered the art of painting to perfection. Although the images retain a mostly planar character, instead of chiaroscuro, transitional shades and animations begin to play an increasingly important role. The accuracy and flexibility of the line, the subtlety of the stroke, the confidence and lightness of the stroke sometimes border on virtuosity. Items of small size or utilitarian purpose (salt cellar, chest for children's toys), as a rule, are painted with floral patterns, in which a rose flower, leaves, branches, plumage of birds are cut with white strokes. V decorative panels the plot most often unfolds either in two or three tiers, or in several scenes, or in a single decorative painting. People are depicted in costumes that retain the features of the clothes of the last century. If the action takes place inside the building, then the interior of the premises resembles some ancient architecture with bizarre columns, arches, and free space is filled floral ornaments. Everything creates the impression of idleness, elegance from the contrasts of colors and from fantasy.

Today, the traditional folk art craft "Gorodets painting" is developing in the historical center of its origin and existence, as the art of decorating flat surfaces. Painting that does not require heat treatment allows craftsmen to use a wide variety of shapes, colors, and shades. The richness of its palette is boundless, and for 60 years the masters of the Gorodets painting factory have been preserving and developing the traditions of this folk art craft.

Gorodets painting on wood, a traditional art craft that developed in the middle of the 19th century in the villages along the Uzola River in the vicinity of Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod Region.

The emergence of painting originates in the production of Gorodets spinning bottoms, inlaid with bog oak and decorated with contour carvings. Unlike the widely used spinning wheels, carved from a single wooden monolith, the Gorodets spinning wheels consisted of two parts: a bottom and a comb. The bottom was a wide board, tapering to a head with a pyramidal “spear”, into the hole of which a comb leg was inserted. When the spinning wheel was not being worked on, the comb was removed from the spear, and the bottom was hung on the wall, becoming a kind of decorative panel.

In the middle of the last century, craftsmen began to enliven inlaid bottoms, first only by tinting the background, then by carving, and later by introducing colorful plot drawings. The earliest similar bottom, which has survived to this day, was made by master Lazar Melnikov in 1859. Gradually, painting, technologically simpler, finally replaced labor-intensive inlay.

The Gorodets craftsmen transferred to painting not only the plots previously used in incrustation, but also a generalized interpretation of images, prompted by carving techniques. The painting used bright juicy colors of red, yellow, green, black, mixed with liquid wood glue. Over time, the range has expanded; in addition to the traditional spinning bottoms, they began to manufacture and paint boxes-mochesniks, wooden Toys, furniture, even parts of the house shutters, doors, gates. In 1880, about 70 people from seven neighboring villages were involved in the fishery. Among the oldest masters, who became the initiators of Gorodets painting, the names of the brothers Melnikov and G. Polyakov were preserved, later they were joined by painters who kept the secrets of craft at the beginning of the 20th century I. A. Mazin, F. S. Krasnoyarov, T. Belyaev, I. A. Sundukov.

Gradually, original techniques of Gorodets painting were developed, which, in their multi-stage nature, are close to professional painting. Initially, the background is painted, which is also a primer. On a colored background, the master makes “underpainting”, applying the main color spots with a large brush, after which he models the shape with thinner brushes. Finishes the painting with whitewash and black color, uniting the drawing into one whole. The finished plot is usually enclosed in a graphic frame or stroke. In the Gorodets painting there are many simple ornamental motifs - roses, buds, grasses.

With the development of the craft, the subjects of painting, borrowed, apparently, from popular prints, were significantly enriched. In addition to traditional horses, tea parties, festivities, scenes from city life, characters folk tales, battle scenes inspired by Russian-Turkish war.

The Gorodetsky fishery lasted about fifty years. Its heyday falls on the 1890s, when the production of Donets reached 4 thousand per year, but by the beginning of the 20th century, the fishery fell into decline. After World War I, painting production ceased completely, and even the most famous painters were forced to look for other ways to earn money.

The revival of the Gorodets painting is associated with the name of the artist I. I. Oveshkov, who arrived in the Gorky region in 1935 from Zagorsk. Through his efforts, a public workshop was opened in the village of Koskovo, bringing together old painters. Oveshkov took over not only the management of the workshop, but also organized professional training for artists. With his direct participation, the expansion of the range of painted jewelry boxes began, wall cabinets for dishes, high chairs, folding screens. In 1937, the Gorodets masters participated in the exhibition "Folk Art", held at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, where modern products were demonstrated next to the Donets of the 19th century.

In 1951, the Stakhanovets carpentry and furniture artel was opened in the village of Kurtsevo, headed by the hereditary painter A. E. Konovalov from Gorodetsk. Artel engaged in the manufacture of furniture with motifs traditional painting cabinets, bedside tables, stools, tables; the range is constantly expanding. In 1960, the artel was transformed into the Gorodets painting factory.

Currently, the factory produces painted rocking toys, children's furniture, decorative panels, dishes, turning utensils. Although it has changed functional purpose Gorodets products, traditional motifs and images, long-legged horses, horsemen, magic birds, flowers-kupavki have been preserved in their painting.

Gorodets painting

(Gorodets)

The name "Gorodets" sounded only in the 1930s after the appearance of the works of one of the most famous researchers of folk culture V.M. Vasilenko. In earlier periods, we are talking about "Nizhny Novgorod painting" or "Kurtsevo dyers". The new name stuck because Gorodets was the main market for Uzol painted utensils and also had wood painting workshops. But the most important thing: since the middle of the 19th century, the very content of the painting is connected with Gorodets, its way of life, narvas, and images. The famous Uzol painting has grown on the basis of the entire artistic culture of Gorodets and its environs, the history of which has more than eight centuries.

emergence Gorodets painting associated with the production of wooden spinning donets in the villages located near Gorodets. The production of donets contributed to the emergence of the original local pictorial style.

The bottom of the spinning wheel. Gorodets painting.

The city of Gorodets is located on the left bank of the Volga River, not far from Nizhny Novgorod. Near Novgorod was the largest in Russia Makarievskaya fair, then Nizhny Novgorod, where trade came from all over Russia and from other countries, which contributed to the development of crafts. There were gingerbread men, dyers, blacksmiths, carpenters and wood carvers in Gorodets. Products sold in the city or at the fair. The Nizhny Novgorod spinning wheels were designed in such a way that the main decoration was on the bottom (a board on which the spinner sits), since the comb from which the tow was spun was not intended for plot compositions, unlike the blade of the Severodvinsk spinning wheels.

The spinning wheel consists of a comb, bottom and spindle.

Later, they began to paint not only spinning wheels, but also all kinds of items from peasant life - baskets, salt shakers, wooden toys, boxes for storing yarn and many other products. The colors of Gorodets painting have always been bright, juicy, all products were necessarily decorated with lush bouquets of flowers resembling roses and daisies. In the process of developing the craft (by the end of the 19th century, residents of a dozen villages were involved in it), the painting pattern was also supplemented with new subjects. There were characters from folk tales, scenes from city life, all kinds of "tea parties" and festivities.

Gorodets painting. gatherings

Gorodets painting. Panel "Game of towns".

Gorodets painting. Red cavalry

Gorodets painting. “Daria bought goods from Macarius”

You will never confuse with anything the joyful colors of Gorodets painting, its black horses with a hooked leg and swan neck, its birds with outlandish tails in the form of a butterfly wing. Horses are always depicted in profile, and people - only full face. And all this - surrounded by luxurious flower garlands.

Gorodets painting is symbolic. Horse it is a symbol of wealth, bird- a symbol of happiness, and flowers- health and prosperity in business. The subjects of the ancient Gorodets painting were horse riders, young ladies in crinolines, weddings, feasts, tea parties and other solemn scenes from the life of the townspeople. But from the fact that all this was depicted by peasant artists, an extremely peculiar style of painting was created, in which the pomposity and pretentiousness of urban elements are naively mixed with the simplicity and sincerity characteristic of ordinary people.

In the old days, Gorodets products were decorated by craftsmen using a special inlay technique. Figures carved from wood of another species (for example, bog oak) were inserted into the recesses. Such elements differed in relief on the surface, and only two shades of wood in the hands of Gorodets craftsmen created real works of art based on an ordinary board. Later, craftsmen began to use tint (bright blue, green, red and yellow colors), which made the product even more colorful.

In the second half of the 19th century, inlay as a complex and time-consuming technique was replaced by ordinary carving with painting, and already at the end of the century, picturesque elements became the predominant decor of Gorodets painting.

Technique for performing Gorodets painting

The technology of Gorodets painting is in many ways simpler than Khokhloma, especially in terms of preparing the base. Gorodets painting is done directly on a wooden base, which, if desired, can be covered with red, black or yellow color. All the main colors used in the painting should have saturated and diluted shades. On the working surface, thin lines with a pencil outline the composition of the future pattern. The main task is to outline the size and position of the main elements, or nodes, for example, animals and flowers. Experienced craftsmen skip this stage, drawing immediately with paints. Nodes tend to draw more light tone paints (painting). Thin strokes of a dark shade (shadow) are applied to light spots, depicting details: flower petals, folds of clothes, interior details, etc. At the same stage, leaves and buds are depicted between large elements. The final stage of the painting is the application of black (liquid) and white (revive) paint with strokes and dots. These actions are performed with the thinnest brush and give the work a finished look. After the paint has dried, the product is covered with a colorless varnish.

Materials: Tempera. You can use gouache with the addition of PVA glue.

Two shades are made from each primary color: one is bleached, the other is more saturated.

Gorodets colors

Painting procedure:

A) The painting is done directly on a wooden base or the base is primed with yellow, red, black colors.

B) On the cutting board or surface of another object chosen for painting, the composition of the future pattern is outlined with thin lines in pencil. The main thing is to outline the location and size of the main, brightest spots - for example, flowers. These are the nodes of the composition. Medium details - unblown buds - connect large details to each other; small ones - twigs, leaves - complement the theme and have little effect on the overall composition.

V) At the nodes of the composition wide brush are applied, as a rule, spots of the correct round shape- the base of the flower.

G) On top of the light spots, thin strokes are applied with a second, darker color scheme of the same shade, for example, blue on blue - a stroke. Outline stroke - drawing, depicts the contours of the flower petals. At the same stage, leaflets are depicted between large elements, the shape of which is obtained with two or three brush strokes.

The whole painting consists of elements: circles - underpaintings, brackets, drops, dots, arcs, spirals, strokes.

D) The final stage of the painting is the application of strokes and dots with black and white paint. This technique is called "animation" and gives the work a finished look. It is carried out with the thinnest brush.

E) After the tempera has dried, the product can be coated with a colorless varnish.

Motives of Gorodets painting

The most common motives are:

Flowers- roses, cupavki with symmetrical leaves;

Birds

"Tree of Life"- a traditional story that personifies nature. On both sides of the "tree", horses or birds can be depicted.

Riders, carriages, ladies, soldiers, cavaliers, dogs are traditional for the plot Gorodets painting.

Types of composition of Gorodets painting

Exists three types of composition in Gorodets painting: flower painting, flower painting with the inclusion of the motif "horse" and "bird" and plot painting.

flower painting

Flower painting is most often used, as it is the easiest to perform. In less difficult variant at work, one flower with leaves diverging from it can be depicted. In a more complex version, for example, a strip of floral ornament, and the lid is decorated with flowers inscribed in a circle. On the lids of bread bins, flowers are usually arranged in a rectangle or rhombus.

In floral ornament, the following most common types of ornament can be distinguished:

"Bouquet"- shown symmetrically. Usually written in cutting boards or meals. Small bouquets of one to three flowers can be seen on small items, such as boxes, cups, salt shakers.

"Garland"- this is a kind of "bouquet" when one or two large flower located in the center, smaller flowers with leaves diverge from them to the sides. They can fit into a circle, a strip, or be placed crescent-shaped (on corner screensavers). This type of floral ornament composition is most often used when painting cutting boards, bread boxes, caskets, dishes, and children's furniture.

"Rhombus"- one of the variants of the "garland", when one or more flowers are written in the center, forming the center, and the buds and leaves, gradually decreasing towards the tops of the rhombus, are located along its imaginary edges. This floral arrangement can most often be seen on rectangular cutting boards, chests, benches, cabinet doors, and bread boxes.

"Flower Stripe"- has been preserved in the Gorodets craft from painted spinning wheels, where it separated the upper and lower tiers. Depending on what product it is written on, it can be a repeating ribbon composition of flowers of the same size, separated by pairs of leaves, or the same composition in which the following alternate: flowers of the same size, but different in pattern; flowers of the same size, but different in color; flowers, different in pattern, color and size. Such ornamental stripes are usually used when painting bulky items, such as round boxes. Narrative compositions encircle a narrow strip. The wider stripe is the middle tier in the three tier composition.

"Wreath"- resembles a "flower strip", but only closed along the edge of the dish or the lid of the box.

Floral arrangements are usually symmetrical in the arrangement of motifs and color distribution. Despite the existence of rigid schemes for constructing floral patterns, artists come up with countless options for this painting.

Floral painting with the inclusion of the motif "horse" and "bird"

Floral composition with the inclusion of the motif "horse" and "bird" is also very common in Gorodets painting. It can be seen on dishes and cutting boards, caskets and bread boxes, children's furniture and even spoons. The inclusion of new motifs also increases the number of options for various compositions. Just as in flower painting, motifs can be symmetrical in products depicting a horse and a bird. They are located on the sides flowering tree or inside a flower garland. Sometimes, among the symmetrically written floral ornament, there are two birds, asymmetrical in pattern, sometimes different in color. In the case when the motifs "horse" or "bird" are depicted separately in the composition, the symmetry flower arrangement may be preserved or may be broken.

By performing this look on a set of cutting boards, Gorodets artists create symmetry within the set itself. So, if it consists of three boards, then the two extreme ones will be symmetrical, although this symmetry is rather arbitrary. On the extreme boards, various motifs of flowers can be depicted, or when writing birds, two motifs will be used: “rooster” and “hen”. Such an ornament looks amazingly beautiful and integral on decorative dishes, where the center is clearly defined. In addition, Gorodets craftsmen write such patterns not only against the background of wood, but also on colored backgrounds. They look especially impressive on black and red “linings”, although artists use other colors along with them, for example, yellow, ocher, golden, orange, etc.

It must be taken into account that the input this species ornament, the zoomorphic motif brings a certain semantic coloring. So, the image of the motif "rooster" or "horse" is interpreted as a messenger of the sun, a wish of happiness, good luck, success. The paired image of a “rooster” and a “hen” symbolizes family well-being, wishing the family happiness and many children.

Story painting

Narrative painting is carried out on large items: panels, chests and large caskets, cutting boards and dishes. The plot painting is usually done in two or three tiers (the main plot is written in the upper part with a feast, date, walk, departure, etc., in the lower part the plots help to reveal this topic). The middle part separating the tiers is presented in the form of a flower strip. Another option is also possible: the main plot is depicted, girded with a flower stripe.

The plot painting is one of the most time-consuming and surprisingly beautiful views compositions of Gorodets painting. Here dates and festivities, gatherings and feasts, holiday trips and farewells, illustrations for various fairy tales and stories from modern life and much, much more.

Decorative panels are usually elongated horizontally rectangular shape. It may consist of three separate boards. They preserve those traditional methods of organizing space that were developed by the artists of Gorodets back in late XIX v. These are the columns standing on the sides, and the rich, beautifully draped curtains on the sides and Wall Clock hanging in the center of the depicted interior, huge windows and round tables. And the clothes of the main characters - young ladies and gentlemen - have not changed at all. Only colors are now used brighter. Horizontal panels, like vertical ones, are often divided by artists. The hero or group of main characters of the plot composition, as a rule, is located in the center of the horizontal mural or in the upper part of the vertical one. They stand out in color, size, tone, rhythm.

Images of columns and curtains can be used as a separating motif. Thus, the artists depict several rooms on decorative panels, and central theme related in meaning to the plots shown on the sidewalls. There are murals where the panel is divided into two parts. Then two semantic centers appear, inextricably linked with each other, each part has its own center, and it is built according to general laws.

A peculiar reading of the characters of the plot composition. The male figure on a horse is interpreted as a groom, a lonely girl standing near a birch-friend is read as a bride. Scenes of feasts, tea parties, weddings, parties are performed against the backdrop of a window with the obligatory inclusion of a table. The table is never empty, it is filled with cups, a samovar or a vase of flowers - this is a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Richly draped curtains and wall clocks carry the same semantic reading. The faces of people in the Gorodets painting are always turned towards the viewer. Very rarely there are images deployed in three quarters.

Artists are not limited to the image interiors. Appear on decorative canvases village houses with carved shutters and platbands, with chimneys, decorated with carved roosters, here are wells with roofs decorated with horses' heads. Panels depicting street scenes are sometimes divided into parts. In the center, the main plot will be given, sometimes it can show interior decoration rich house. But more often than not, modern Gorodets masters do not divide the scenes of festivities, trips and dates into parts. Entire streets with houses, fences, churches, plant motifs in the form of trees are reproduced on the panel. Animals are often written under the feet of the main characters - dogs, cats, cockerels, chickens. With this construction of the plot, the main characters are depicted in the foreground, larger than the secondary ones, they are often highlighted in color. Despite the complexity of the plots, artists always include flowers in the painting, even if a winter landscape is shown.

The tradition of signing works or accompanying them with folk proverbs and sayings goes back to the first painted Gorodets items of the last quarter of the 19th century. folk wisdom, expressed in words, helps to reveal the plot of the image, enlivens the drawn picture and emphasizes the great semantic meaning that the author put into his product.

© "Encyclopedia of Technologies and Methods" Patlakh V.V. 1993-2007

The Volga region became the birthplace of Gorodets painting, namely the villages and villages of Khlebaikha, Kurtsevo, Koskovo, Savino, Bukino and others, located along the banks of the Volga tributary of the clear and bright river Uzola. There, the peasants of several villages painted spinning wheels and took their products to the Nizhny Novgorod fair to sell. Therefore, the painting was first called Nizhny Novgorod. More precisely, even before the advent of this painting, the spinning wheels were decorated with carvings. Over time, the carving began to be slightly tinted - for greater elegance, and later the carving on the spinning wheels was completely replaced by painting.

Uzola river

Why was the painting called Grodetskaya?

The name "Gorodets" sounded only in the 1930s after the appearance of the works of one of the most famous researchers of folk culture V.M. Vasilenko. In earlier editions, we are talking about "Nizhny Novgorod painting" or about "Kurtsevo dyers". The new name stuck because Gorodets was the main market for Uzol painted utensils and also had wood painting workshops. But the most important thing: since the middle of the 19th century, the very content of the painting is connected with him, his way of life, narvas, and images. The famous Uzol painting has grown on the basis of the entire artistic culture of Gorodets and its environs, the history of which has more than eight centuries.

View of Gorodets from the Volga. Mid 19th century

Gorodets has long been famous for "deaf" woodcarving, since most of all there were craftsmen who worked with wood. The forest provided cheap material that was always at hand. This thread is created with an ax and a chisel.

Bright pages in the history of the folk craft that arose here are connected with the activities of Peter I to create the Russian navy. Each ship was certainly decorated with wooden carvings, demonstrating both the military power of Russia and the artistic talent of the peoples inhabiting it. During the 18th century, shipbuilding moved closer to the conquered shores of the seas. Talented craftsmen had to look for a new application of their accumulated experience. Some began to carve spoons, others sharpened bowls and cups, and still others made tools for spinning and weaving. Distaffs for spinning wheels, which were decorated, won particular popularity. The bottom of the spinning wheel is a seat that was not visible during operation. But, having finished spinning, the peasant woman hung the bottom on the wall, and it became an adornment of a modest life.

Spinning wheel

Where do you see the spinning wheel now? Only in the museum. The spinning wheel consists of a comb, bottom and spindle. Donce is wide board on which the spinner sat. The bottoms of the spinning wheels were painted. After work, the spindles were put in a box, and the bottom was hung on the wall like a picture.

Samples of spinning wheels collected in museums show how the technique of decorating the donets has changed since late XVIII until the beginning of the 20th century. The carving was replaced by inlaid pieces of bog oak, followed by painting, which can be done more easily and quickly.

The heyday of Gorodets painting is associated with the arrival in 1870 of the icon painter Ogurechnikov from Gorodets to the village of Kurtsevo, who was invited to renovate the painting of the local church. It was he who helped local craftsmen to master the painting techniques that have long been used in painting icons: the methods of applying layers of paint, "vivifying" with white - all that gives painting completeness and expressiveness. Masters have long used the tint of inlaid objects, so they were ready to accept the painting technique. At the end of the 19th century, cheap factory-made chintz appeared, which replaced fabrics hand made. Donets, combs, and spindles, so necessary for the manual production of fabrics, became unnecessary in factories. Made with love and talent the best examples spinning wheels have taken a worthy place in museums and have become an example for future generations.

N.N. Noskov. Icon Mother of God"Fadeless Color". 2005 The traditions of the old masters of icon painting are still alive today. There is an icon-painting workshop at the Gorodets painting factory. The well-known icon-painting plot was painted using the Gorodets ornament.

Later, they began to paint not only spinning wheels, but also all kinds of items from peasant life - baskets, salt shakers, wooden toys, boxes for storing yarn and many other products. The colors of Gorodets painting have always been bright, juicy, all products were necessarily decorated with lush bouquets of flowers resembling roses and daisies. In the process of developing the craft (by the end of the nineteenth century, residents of a dozen villages were involved in it), the mural pattern was also supplemented with new subjects. There were characters from folk tales, scenes from city life, all kinds of "tea parties" and festivities.

Gorodets painting in our time

By the beginning of the 20th century, the fishery slowly fell into decline, and soon ceased to exist altogether. Gorodets painting began to be restored only in the 30s, when a painters' workshop was opened. Later, already in the 50s, an artel was formed. Today, the heritage of the old masters and their best traditions the artists working at the Gorodets painting factory in Gorodets, which was established in 1960, strive to revive. Fortunately, the ancient Volga painting is now in the safe hands of talented contemporary artists. Five of them are Laureates of the Repin Prize. This is the highest award for artists of our country. The names of these artists: Bespalova L.F., Kubatkina L.A., Kasatova F.N., Rukina T.M., Sokolova A.V. There was a time when Gorodets painting almost died, but there were kind and talented people who revived it. They are our national pride. Nowadays, masters work in the art workshop in Gorodets and teach their students.

Bibliography

Compositions of Gorodets painting can be divided into three types:
- flower painting;
- flower painting with the inclusion of the motif "horse" and "bird";
- plot painting.
Such a division is conditional, since the plot painting is not complete without floral motifs. Despite the fact that Gorodets painting has a limited number of motifs, it is still diverse in terms of construction schemes. And even if products with Gorodets painting are made on the basis of one composition, but in different color scheme, we will not immediately catch the resemblance. This ability of artists helps to highlight the plot of this work more clearly, give it a different semantic sound, satisfies the various tastes of connoisseurs of this art.
And now let us dwell separately on each of the listed types of Gorodets painting compositions.

flower painting
This type was most often used, and is still used on "mass" products, since it is the simplest in execution. So, decorating the salt shaker, the artist depicted on the front wall of the product and on its lid one flower each with leaves diverging from it. On larger items, such as supplies, decorative dishes, bread bins, cutting boards and children's furniture, the compositions of the floral ornament are richer and more varied, they are thought out by the masters more carefully. For example, on the side walls of the delivery, a strip of floral ornament is often depicted, and the lid is decorated with flowers inscribed in a circle. On the lids of bread bins, flowers are usually arranged in a rectangle or rhombus.
In the floral ornament of Gorodets painting, the following most common types of ornament can be distinguished:

I. Khabibulina. Floral ornament composition

I. Khabibulina. Flower Arrangement "Rhombus" "

"Bouquet"- shown symmetrically. As a rule, it is written on cutting boards or dishes. Small bouquets of one or three flowers can be seen on small items, such as boxes, cups, salt shakers.
"Garland"- represents one or two large flowers in the center and smaller flowers with leaves diverging to the sides. They can fit into a circle, a strip, or be placed crescent-shaped (on corner screensavers). This type of floral ornament composition is most often used when painting cutting boards, bread boxes, caskets, dishes, and children's furniture.

"Rhombus"- one of the variants of the "garland", when one or more flowers are written in the center, forming a diamond-shaped center, and the buds and leaves, gradually decreasing towards the tops of the diamond, are located on two perpendicular axes intersecting.
This flower arrangement can most often be seen on rectangular cutting boards, chests, benches, cabinet doors, children's tables and bread boxes.

"Flower Stripe"- has been preserved in Gorodets painting since painted spinning wheels, where it separated the upper and lower tiers. Depending on what product it is written on, it can be a repeating ribbon composition of flowers of the same size, separated by pairs of leaves, or a ribbon composition in which alternate: flowers of the same size, but different in pattern; flowers of the same size, but different in color; flowers, different in pattern, color and size. Such ornamental stripes are usually used when painting bulky items, such as supplies, round caskets. Narrative compositions encircle the narrow ornamental strip. The wider stripe is the middle tier in the three tier composition.

"Wreath"- resembles a “flower strip”, but only closed along the edge of a dish, lid, delivery or casket.
Flower arrangements are usually symmetrical in terms of the arrangement of motifs and the distribution of color. Even if the artist uses different colors when applying underpainting to a wooden base, these colors are the same in tone. Thanks to this, there is no one-sided preponderance of elements in the painting. The colors in the painting are bright, open, which makes the decorative work more elegant. Despite the existence of rigid schemes for constructing floral patterns, artists come up with countless options for this painting.

Floral composition with the inclusion of the motif "horse" and "bird".
This type of ornament is also very common in Gorodets painting. It can be seen on dishes and cutting boards, caskets and bread boxes, children's furniture and even spoons.
With the inclusion of new motifs, the number of variants of various compositions also increases. Just as in flower painting, motifs can be symmetrical in products depicting a horse and a bird. They are located on the sides of a flowering tree or inside a flower garland. There are such options when, among a symmetrically written floral ornament, two birds sit, asymmetric in pattern, and sometimes different in color.
In the case when the motifs "horse" or "bird" are depicted separately in the composition, the symmetry of the flower composition can be preserved, or it can be broken.

Scheme of a flower composition with the image of a bird

By performing this look on a set of cutting boards, Gorodets artists create symmetry within the set itself. So, if it consists of three boards, then there will be two extreme ones; symmetrical, although this symmetry is rather arbitrary. On the extreme boards, various motifs of flowers can be depicted, or when writing birds, two motifs will be used: “rooster” and “hen”. But the asymmetry will not be evident, since the artist, starting to paint, thinks over the placement of motifs as a whole. Throughout the work, she is present in his mind, he thoughtfully and clearly works out every detail, every element of the painting.
Such an ornament looks amazingly beautiful and integral on decorative dishes, where the center is clearly defined. In addition, Gorodets craftsmen write such patterns not only against the background of wood, but also on colored backgrounds. They look especially impressive on black and red “linings”, although artists use other colors along with them, for example, yellow, ocher, golden, orange, etc.

Story composition scheme

It should be borne in mind that the zoomorphic motif introduced into this type of ornament brings a certain semantic coloring. So, the image of the motif "rooster" or "horse" is interpreted as a messenger of the sun, a wish of happiness, good luck, success. The paired image of a “rooster” and a “hen” symbolizes family well-being, wishing the family happiness and many children.

Story painting
This is one of the most time-consuming and surprisingly beautiful types of Gorodets painting compositions. Sometimes it is impossible to imagine how inexhaustible the source of plots that originate from the Gorodets master. Here dates and festivities, gatherings and feasts, holiday trips and farewells, illustrations for various fairy tales and stories from modern life, as well as much, much more.

Story composition scheme .

The very type of composition suggests that the painting will be done on large items: decorative panels, chests and large caskets, cutting boards and dishes. In fact, this is a return of the masters to those unique paintings that were made on gift spinning wheels. Such works were rarely done by masters, with great diligence and taste. Only experienced master could afford to make a "unique" spinning wheel. Therefore, the plot of the composition was very carefully thought out and built.
When performing narrative painting on cutting boards, Gorodets artists often rely on those traditional compositions that were common on Gorodets spinning wheels. This is a painting in two or three tiers, when the main plot is written in the upper part of the board with a feast, date, walk, departure, etc., in the lower part - the plots help to reveal this topic. So, a wedding plot may be accompanied by a pair of birds or the groom's departure on a horse; a festive feast - the arrival of guests or preparation for a feast. The middle part, separating the upper and lower tiers, is presented in the form of a flower strip.

If the boards have not enough elongated shape, then the artists do without the lower tier, depicting the main plot scene and encircling it with a flower strip.
Decorative panels have, as a rule, a horizontally elongated rectangular shape. It may consist of three separate boards. They preserve those traditional methods of organizing space that were developed by the artists of Gorodets at the end of the 19th century. These are the columns standing on the sides; and rich, beautifully draped curtains on the sides and a wall clock hanging in the center of the depicted interior; huge windows and round tables. And the clothes of the main characters - young ladies and gentlemen - have not changed at all. Only paints are now used more sonorous and juicy. Horizontal panels, like vertical ones, are often divided by artists. The hero or group of main characters of the plot composition, as a rule, is located in the center of the horizontal painting or in the upper part of the vertical one. They stand out in color, size, tone, rhythm.
Images of columns and curtains can be used as a separating motif. Thus, the artists depict several rooms on decorative panels, and the central theme is connected in meaning with the plots shown on the sidewalls. There are murals where the panel is divided into two parts. Then two semantic centers appear, inextricably linked with each other, each part has its own center, and it is built according to general laws.
A peculiar reading of the characters of the plot composition. The male figure on a horse is interpreted as a groom, a lonely girl standing near a birch-friend is read as a bride. Scenes of feasts, tea parties, weddings, parties are performed against the backdrop of a window with the obligatory inclusion of a table. The table is never empty, it is filled with cups, a samovar or a vase of flowers - this is a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Richly draped curtains and wall clocks carry the same semantic reading.
The faces of people in the Gorodets painting are always turned towards the viewer. Very rarely there are images deployed in three quarters. Thus, the viewer or the owner of the product sees himself or one of his closest friends and comrades in the hero, and in the entourage surrounding them, the world in which he would like to live.
Artists are not limited to depicting interiors. Rustic houses with carved shutters and architraves, with chimneys decorated with carved roosters appear on decorative canvases, here are wells with roofs decorated with horses' heads..
Panels depicting street scenes are sometimes divided into parts. At the same time, the main plot will be given in the center, sometimes it can show the interior decoration of a rich house. But more often than not, modern Gorodets masters do not divide the scenes of festivities, trips and dates into parts. Entire streets with houses, fences, churches, plant motifs in the form of trees are reproduced on the panel.

Animals are often written under the feet of the main characters - dogs, cats, cockerels, chickens. With this construction of the plot, the main characters are depicted in the foreground, larger than the secondary ones, they are often highlighted in color. Despite the complexity of the plots, artists always include flowers in the painting, even if a winter landscape is shown.
The illustrations for fairy tales are surprisingly diverse. Artists especially love the fairy tales of A. S. Pushkin. In the paintings, they often use the scenes that surround them in life: feasts, horsemen, girls sitting at work, etc. to which work this illustration belongs. This is probably why artists sign their works (for example, "Panel on the Tale of the Dead Princess"). The tradition of signing works or accompanying them with folk proverbs and sayings goes back to the first painted Gorodets products of the last quarter of the 19th century. Proverbs and moralizing statements of the same kind We meet under the pictures of the Russian popular print.This confirms the commonality and the huge influence that popular prints had on folk art as a whole.
Folk wisdom, expressed in words, helps to reveal the plot of the image, enlivens the drawn picture and emphasizes the great semantic meaning that the author put into the gift product ("Husband and wife are one soul", "Work until you sweat, eat bread for hunting", etc. .).