Folk crafts are a unique phenomenon of national cultures. They reflect the aesthetic ideals of ordinary people, wonderful impulses of the soul, the desire to reflect the perfection of God's world. The amazing skill and talent of folk craftsmen live in their products, many of which are not a hundred years old. Live and please us, the descendants of those who seem to be playing, controlled with threads and needles, bobbins and knitting needles, brushes and paints. And also with axes and hammers, creating wonderful teremas without a single nail, the finest wooden or iron lace and many other miracles with their worn-out hands.
Artists from God
Ural-Siberian painting is one of the most striking examples of such folk crafts. Its elements can still be seen on antique utensils, household items, kitchen utensils somewhere in peasant houses of remote small villages. Usually in such places forgotten by God, and the original national thinking is preserved, and in families by inheritance they pass and carefully store things made by great-great-grandfathers. That Ural-Siberian painting - a phenomenon that originated in the culture of the Russian people for a long time, around the 17-18 centuries. It has found wide application in the design of the interior and exterior of common people, reflecting the natural desire of people for the beautiful, the desire to ennoble their life. When the eastern outskirts of Siberia and the Urals began to be actively developed by settlers from Pomorie and the Russian North, they, naturally, transferred their traditions, including artistic ones, to a new ground. And the Ural-Siberian painting became a kind of combination of the picturesque manner of local peoples with the arrivals. At the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries, peasants from the southern regions of Russia and Ukraine were sent to Siberia and the Urals in search of a better share of settling new territories. They also contributed to the cultural environment of the places where they settled on the settlement. This was clearly demonstrated in those innovations of the letter, which distinguishes the Ural-Siberian painting of the late 19th century.
Features of technology
How can you distinguish the picturesque manner of the craftsmen of this region from others? First of all, the so-called "double" smearing technique. A lot of additional elements, except for the main one, in the compositions, a variety of colors is the second sign by which an experienced ethnographer, local historian, artist or art historian will immediately indicate that we are facing Ural-Siberian painting. Pictures, given in the article as examples, also help to demonstrate the uniqueness of folk painting. The third distinguishing feature of the work of peasant nuggets is freedom, improvisation in the drawing. The artist first applies a background of oil paints on the product, and on top of it embodies his creative ideas. This is the complexity of the technique: the artist creates immediately, without preparatory drafts.
Hand of the Master
Contains Ural-Siberian painting elements of the plant world, stylized figures of people and animals. In each separate work, the artist concentrates on the game of contrasts, trying to maximize the wealth of this or that color shade. Therefore, in drawings decorating trays, dishes, caskets, window shutters and the like, as a rule, there is no riot of colors - they are used 3-4 times a maximum. But it is thanks to the contrast that juiciness, expressiveness, vividness of the image is achieved. The most indicative in this respect is the Ural-Siberian painting on wood. A modest bouquet of wildflowers, a handful of strawberry berries, a green twig - everything looks touching, cute and very beautiful. Especially on a dark background - black, brown, blue.
Motifs of painting
What was most often portrayed by local artists? First of all, nature is the surroundings or the one that was native to the immigrants at one time. This is well demonstrated by the history of the Ural-Siberian painting. Berries and flowers, typical for those places, overseas fruit, grape brush, grass and shrubs flaunt in pictures in all their splendor. Often it is possible to see birds on folk crafts. Among them, a proud inhabitant of a peasant farmstead - a rooster - in elegant plumage, the beauty of Russian forests - a pheasant - in his bright "dress", withered owls, fantastic prophetesses, syrins with sad female faces. From beasts artists of the Urals and Siberia were drawn bears, wolves, dogs. Figures of people, as a rule, are red girls and good fellows in national costumes or working attire.
Compositional solutions
The principle of the golden section, proportionality in all elements of the composition are mandatory for the Ural-Siberian painting. The main picture is located in the center. Vegetative elements of the ornament - grass, branches, flower stems, leaves - balance details, make the background brighter, diverse, saturated, interesting, and the image - proportional. Thanks to them, all the details of the picture are perceived as one harmonious whole.
A color scheme
Even in the old days, the artists of the Ural and Siberian regions invented and widely used the "bleach" technique. What it is: when the background of the murals is dark (green, orange, burgundy, blue), then drops of white paint are added to it. Thanks to this technique, the palette acquired pastel softness, some muffled tones. And if the background of the picture was chosen in a light palette - blue, woody, golden, white, then folk masters used the "razzhivku" - dark strokes. For what it was required: to achieve harmony in the transition from one color to another, from the center of the picture to its edges. The best examples of the Ural-Siberian painting show us the unique beauty and craftsmanship of folk creations. These traditions are alive now thanks to modern artists.