The history of Russia at the end of the 17th - first quarter of the 18th century is inseparable from the name of one of the largest political figures in Russia - Peter I. Significant innovations at this time invade not only the field of culture and art, but also into industry - metallurgy, shipbuilding, etc. At the beginning of the 18th century, the first mechanisms and machine tools for metal processing appeared. Much in this area has been done by Russian mechanics Nartov, Surnin, Sobakin, and others.

At the same time, the foundations of the state system of general and special education are being laid. In 1725, the Academy of Sciences was founded, at which a department of artistic crafts was opened.

A. Nartov.Lathe. Peter's era. XVIII century.

In the 18th century, new principles of architecture and urban planning were formed. This period was marked by an increase in the shaping of products of the characteristic features of the Western European Baroque (Holland, England).

As a result of the undertakings of Peter I, items of traditional Russian forms quickly disappear from the royal and aristocratic palace life, still remaining in the dwellings of the masses of the rural and urban population, as well as in church use. It was in the first quarter of the 18th century that the significant difference in stylistic development was noted, which remained for a long time characteristic of professional creativity and folk art crafts. In the latter, age-old traditions of Russian, Ukrainian, Estonian, etc. applied arts are directly and organically developed.

The norms of noble life require a demonstration of wealth, sophistication and brilliance in the life of a sovereign person. The forms of the old way of life, including Peter's (still businesslike, strict), by the middle of the 18th century were finally supplanted. The dominant position in Russian art is occupied by the so-called Rococo style, which logically completed the tendencies of the late Baroque. The ceremonial interiors of this time, for example, some rooms of the Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo palaces, are almost entirely decorated with elaborate carvings.

The general features of rocaille ornamentation (curvature of lines, abundant and asymmetrical arrangement of stylized or close-to-nature flowers, leaves, shells, eyes, etc.) are fully reproduced in Russian architecture and furniture of that time, ceramics, clothes, carriages, ceremonial weapons, etc. .. But the development of Russian applied art still followed a completely independent path. Despite the unconditional similarity of the forms of our own products with Western European ones, it is easy to notice the differences between them. So, but in comparison with French, Russian furniture products have much more free forms and softer in outlines, drawing. Craftsmen still retained the skills of folk carving, larger and more generalized than in the West. No less characteristic is the polychromy of Russian products and the combination of gilding with painting, which is rarely found in France, and is widely accepted in Russia.

From the 60s of the 18th century, the transition to classicism began in Russian architecture with its laconic and strict forms, turned to antiquity and marked by great restraint and grace. The same process takes place in the applied arts.

In the planning, equipment and decor of city mansions and palaces (architects Kokorinov, Bazhenov, Quarenghi, Starov, etc.), there is a clear symmetry, proportional to clarity. The walls of the premises (between the windows or opposite them) are hidden by mirrors and panels made of silk damask, decorative cotton fabrics, and cloth.

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Sofa - rococo style. Russia (fragment). Mid-18th century

Armchair of classicism style. Russia. Second half of the 18th century

The floors are made of various types of wood, and sometimes covered with canvas or cloth; the ceilings are painted (for example, the grisaille technique that imitates relief molding). Spruce plank "under wax" floors are used instead of inlaid parquet. Walls and ceilings are often upholstered with fabric or wallpaper. If in the ceremonial rooms impressive marble fireplaces are arranged, then in the intimate chambers more traditional stoves are erected on pedestals or legs, lined with tiles. The difference in the lamps is just as noticeable: in the halls there are jewelry made and expensive chandeliers, candelabra, sconces, in the chambers there are much more modest candlesticks and lamps. There is even more contrast in the forms of ceremonial and household furniture. All this speaks not so much about the desire of the owners of palaces and mansions to save money, but about their consideration of the subject environment as an important factor in a psychologically appropriate atmosphere.

Most of the furniture and a number of other products at the end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century were not constantly needed; if unnecessary, they were either removed or transferred to inactively used parts of the premises. The seating furniture was necessarily covered. In this regard, transformable furniture with a work surface has received great development - tea and card tables, a folding dining table, a table for needlework, a system of tables of different heights that fit under each other, etc. All this significantly increased the comfort of life, a fine differentiation of its functional support and the variety of the appearance of the premises in various everyday situations. At the same time, a number of household processes that took place outside the building during the warm season - on the terrace and in the park - stood out. As a result, new types of products are spreading - garden furniture, umbrella awnings, park lamps, etc. In the 18th century, serf workshops were organized at individual estates, producing rather large batches of furniture, porcelain, carpets and other products.

At the end of the 18th century, the separation of the actual design of products (furniture, lamps, clocks, tapestries, and other utensils and decoration items) as a special area of \u200b\u200bcreative activity from their handicraft was already noticeably reflected in the equipment of large palaces. Most of the designers are architects and professional artists. In the production of products for the mass market, machines and mechanical methods of processing materials are used, making the engineer a leading figure in production. This leads to the distortion and loss of the high aesthetic qualities inherent in consumer goods, to the separation of industry from art. This trend was natural in the conditions of capitalist development of society and one of the main trends for the entire 19th century.

In the course of the intensive development of capitalist relations in Russia in the 19th century, the capacity of industrial production increased. By the middle of the 19th century, there was already an acute need for artistically professional personnel of product designers and craftsmen. For their preparation, specialized educational institutions were opened in Moscow (Count Stroganov) and St. Petersburg (Baron Stieglitz). Their very name - "technical drawing schools" - speaks of the emergence of a new type of artist. Since 1860, the special craft education of performers has been developing. Many books are published on the processing technology of various materials: wood, bronze, iron, gold, etc. Trade catalogs are published, replacing the previously published magazine "Economic Store". From the middle of the 19th century, the sciences related to issues of occupational health and the use of household items have been formed. However, throughout the entire 19th century, all mass manufactured products in the artistic sense remain completely subordinate to the undividedly dominant concept of beauty as a decorative and ornamental design of products. The consequence of this was the introduction of classic style elements into the form of most of the products: complex profile finishes, fluted columns, rosettes, garlands, ornaments based on antique motives, etc. In some cases, these elements were introduced into the forms of even industrial equipment - machine tools.

In the stylistic development of applied art and household products in the 19th century, three main periods are conventionally distinguished chronologically: the continuation of the tendencies of classicism in the mainstream of the so-called Empire style (first quarter of a century); late classicism (circa 1830-1860) and eclecticism (after the 1860s).

The first quarter of the 19th century was marked by a general rise in ideology and building scope in Russian architecture, which caused a significant revival in the applied arts.

Empire style armchair. First quarter of the 19th century.

The victory in the war of 1812 to a certain extent accelerates and completes the process of the formation of Russian national culture, which is acquiring pan-European significance. The activity of the most famous architects - Voronikhin, Quarenghi, Kazakov, closely associated with the classicism of the previous period, falls only on the first decade of the century. They are being replaced by a galaxy of such remarkable masters as Rossi, Stasov, Grigoriev, Bove, who brought new ideas and a different stylistic spirit to Russian art.

Austerity and monumentality are characteristic features of the architecture and forms of various household items in the Empire style. In the latter, decorative motifs noticeably change, more precisely, their typology expands through the use of decorative symbols of Ancient Egypt and Rome - griffins, sphinxes, fascias, military attributes ("trophies") entwined with a garland of wreaths, etc. Compared with examples of early classicism in general the number of decor, its "visual weight" in the compositional solution of products increases. Monumentalization, sometimes, as it were, coarsening of forms, occurs due to the greater generalization and geometrization of classical ornamental motifs - okant, wreaths, lyre, armor, etc., which are increasingly moving away from their real prototypes. Painterly (scenes, landscapes, bouquets) painting of objects almost completely disappears. The ornament tends to stain, contour, applicativity. Most of the products, especially furniture, become large, massive, but varied in overall configuration and silhouette. The heaviness of the Empire style in pieces of furniture almost disappeared already in the 1830s.

From the middle of the XIX century, new searches began in the field of architecture, applied and industrial creativity.

A pan-European artistic direction was born, which was named "Biedermeier", after the name of the bourgeois of one of the characters of the German writer L. Eichrodt (the work was published in the 1870s) with his ideal of comfort and intimacy.

Factory made iron. Russia. Second half of the X1X century.

In the second half of the 19th century, manual labor was further squeezed out of the production of utilitarian household products. For centuries, the evolving methods and techniques of their artistic solution, the principles of shaping come into conflict with new economic trends in mass production and profitability of the production of things on the market. The response to a changing situation is twofold. Some masters - the majority of them - make compromises. Considering the inviolable traditional view of all everyday things as an object of decorative and applied art, they begin to adapt the ornamental motives of classicism to the capabilities of the machine and serial technologies. "Effective" types of decoration and finishing of products appear. As far back as the 1830s in England, Henry Coole put forward an outwardly reformist slogan to decorate factory products with elements "from the world of fine art forms." Many industrialists willingly take up the slogan, striving to make the most of the consumer's attachment to externally decorated, ornamental enrichment forms of household items.

Other theorists and practitioners of applied arts (D. Ruskin, W. Morris), on the contrary, suggest organizing a boycott of industry. Their credo is the purity of the traditions of medieval craft.

For the first time in the countries of Western Europe and in Russia, handicraft artels and craftsmen, in whose work deep folk traditions have been preserved, are attracting the attention of theoreticians and professional artists. In Russia, the Nizhny Novgorod fairs of the 1870s-1890s demonstrate the viability of these traditions in the new conditions. Many professional artists - V. Vasnetsov, M. Vrubel, E. Polenova, K. Korovin, N. Roerich and others - are enthusiastic about the folk sources decorative arts... In various regions and provinces of Russia, in cities such as Pskov, Voronezh, Tambov, Moscow, Kamenets-Podolsk, etc., craft enterprises appear, the basis of which is manual labor. The work of workshops in Abramtsov near Moscow, in Talashkino near Smolensk, P. Vaulin's enterprise near St. Petersburg, and the ceramic artel "Murava" in Moscow were of particular importance for the revival of creative, dying out crafts.

Samovar. XIX century.

Russia. Second half

Industrial pump. XIX century.

However, the products of all these workshops constituted such an insignificant part of the total consumption that they could not have any noticeable effect on mass production, although they proved the legitimacy of the existence, along with mass machine production, of decorative art, which preserves folk traditions. Later, this was confirmed by the invasion of machine technology in such areas of decorative and applied arts as jewelry (bijouterie), carpet weaving, sewing clothes, which led to a sharp drop in their artistic quality.

In the forms of the bulk of manufactured products of the second half of the 19th century, practically nothing new is being developed. However, the novelty of the most general situation already at this time contributes to the addition of internal prerequisites for innovative searches - the awareness of stylistic searches as an important creative need, as a manifestation of the artist's artistic individuality. If until now style trends (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism, etc.) were born and spread, as a rule, as a result of general, almost "global", spontaneously crystallized trends in the aesthetic development of the world, then from the middle of the 19th century, style originality is regarded as a direct creative achievement of an individual artist, architect. In this regard, interest in the heritage of art of all times and peoples is sharply activated. This rich heritage becomes a source of imitation, direct borrowing or fancy creative reworking.

Modern style table with armchair. End of the 19th century

As a result, the bulk of the products is an unusually variegated picture, in which there are now clear, now subtle reminiscences of antiquity, the Romanesque era, the Gothic, the Italian or French Renaissance, the art of Byzantium and Ancient Russia, the Baroque, etc., often eclectically mixing in design of one product, interior, building. Therefore, this period in the history of architecture and applied art was called eclectic. Nonetheless, products (lamps, metal buckets, troughs, dishes, stools, etc.) are relatively cheap, but made without any artistic purpose, often in ugly shapes and of poor quality, into the people's life.

The search for a new style is carried out taking into account the real need in the conditions of machine production, a fundamentally new approach to the shaping of products, on the one hand, and the preservation of the decorative traditions of the past, on the other. The bourgeoisie, which by the end of the 19th century had taken strong positions in the Russian economy, strove for its own artistic ideology in architecture and design - the cult of the rational, relative freedom from the archaisms of noble culture, encouraging in art everything that could argue with the styles of the past. Such at the end of the 19th century was the modern style - "new art" in Belgium, Great Britain and the USA, "Jugendstil" in Germany, "Secession style" in Austria, "free style" in Italy. Its name - "modern" (from the French. Moderne) meant "new, modern" - from lat. modo - "just recently". In its pure form, fading away and mixing with other stylistic trends, it lasted for a relatively short time, until about 1920, that is, about 20-25 years, like almost all stylistic trends of the 17th-20th centuries.

Modern is diverse in different countriesah and in the work of individual masters, which complicates the understanding of the tasks they were solving. However, the almost complete eradication of all previously used decorative and ornamental motifs and techniques and their radical renewal became characteristic. Traditional cornices, rosettes, capitals, flutes, “oncoming waves” belts, etc. are replaced by stylized local plants (lilies, iris, carnations, etc.), female heads with long curly hair, etc. Often there is no decoration at all , and the artistic effect is achieved due to the expressiveness of the silhouette, articulations of the form, lines, as a rule, thinly traced, as if freely flowing, pulsating. In the forms of Art Nouveau products, one can almost always feel a certain whimsical will of the artist, the tension of a tightly stretched string, exaggerated proportions. In extreme manifestations, all this is sharply aggravated, elevated to a principle. Sometimes there is a disregard for the constructive logic of form, an almost fake enthusiasm for the spectacular side of the task, especially in the solution of interiors, which are often spectacularly theatrical.

With all the weaknesses - pretentiousness, sometimes loudness of forms, a new approach to the solution of the building, interior, environment has emerged with the consistency of a functional, constructive and technological solution.

Art Nouveau candlestick. The beginning of the twentieth century.

Set of dishes. End of the 19th century

Dressing table from the Art Nouveau period. Early XX century

Modern in the vast majority of its samples did not abandon the decoration of products, but only replaced the old decorative motives and techniques with new ones. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, at the time of the triumphs of the new style, again, at first timidly, then the fashion for the old styles came back widely, which had a well-known connection with the preparations that had begun for the celebration of the centenary of the Patriotic War of 1812. The exhibition "Contemporary Art", held in St. Petersburg in 1903, clearly showed the birth of "classicizing modern".

The results of modernity are complex. This is the purification of applied art from both eclecticism, and from the "anti-machineism" of advocates of handicrafts, and from failed attempts to restore the styles of the past. These are the first symptoms of the emergence of architecture and applied art on the path of functionalism and constructivism, on the path of modern design. At the same time, soon discovering a tendency to nationalize the style, Art Nouveau caused a new wave of purely decorative searches. Many painters turn to applied art and interior design (S. Malyutin, V. Vasnetsov, A. Benois, S. Golovin, etc.), gravitating towards the colorfulness of the Russian fairy tale, to the "gingerbread", etc. In the perspective of the subsequent historical process , the solution of urgent problems of mass industrial production, such experiments could not have a serious ideological and artistic value, although they gave impetus to the development of another branch of applied art - artistic crafts and especially theatrical and decorative art.

Modernity, as it were, cleared and prepared the way for the establishment of new aesthetic and creative principles in the art of creating everyday things, accelerated the emergence of a new artistic profession - artistic design (design).

The formalization of functionalism and constructivism into special directions in the architecture and artistic design of Western countries occurred in the late 1910s in connection with the stabilization of life and the success of the economy after the First World War. But the fundamental foundations of the new modern architecture were determined in the pre-war period in the work of such architects as T. Garnier and O. Perret (France), H. Berlaga (Holland), A. Loos (Austria), P. Behrens (Germany), F. Wright (USA), I. Shekhtel, I. Rerberg (Russia) and others. Each of them in his own way overcame the influence of modernity and fought.

In 1918, under the department of fine arts of the People's Commissariat for Education, special departments for architecture and art industry were formed. Serious attention is paid to the training of specialists. In 1920, V. I. Lenin signed a decree on the establishment of the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKHUTEMAS). Graduates created new samples of fabrics, furniture, dishes, etc.

Studying in workshops (in 1927, the All-Union Artistic and Technical Institute was transformed into VKHUTEIN), was conducted in the faculties: architecture, ceramic, textile, etc. At the faculty of wood and metal processing under the leadership of A. Rodchenko, D. . Lissitzky, V. Tatlin and other masters were searching for new forms and designs of various objects. All the activities of VKHUTEMAS were aimed at developing students' skills of an integrated approach to the design of the subject environment of everyday life and production.

In the 1920s, a "production art" trend took shape, developing the principles of functionalism and constructivism, striving to affirm the aesthetic ideal of rationally organized material production in the minds of artists. Any previous forms of art were declared bourgeois "production workers", unacceptable for the proletariat. Hence, they denied not only "practically useless" fine art, but also all purely decorative art, for example jewelry. In the 1920s, technical and economic conditions for the implementation of their ideas were not yet ripe in our country.

VKHUTEMAS and the "production workers" of the 1920s were ideologically and aesthetically closely associated with the Bauhaus and in a number of important moments represented with it, in essence, a single trend in the artistic design of that time. Within the framework of this new movement, the aesthetics of modern design were formed, overcoming contradictions in the applied art of the previous period. The practical artistic activity of the founders of design was also the development of an arsenal of artistic and expressive means of the art of creating things. In their works (furniture, lamps, dishes, fabrics, etc.), the closest attention was paid to such properties of materials and forms as texture, color, plastic expressiveness, rhythmic structure, silhouette, etc., which acquired a decisive importance in composition. products without conflicting with the requirements of constructive logic and manufacturability of form. Another area that successfully developed in our country in the 1920s is engineering design. In 1925, the famous radio tower was erected in Moscow according to the project of the outstanding engineer V. Shukhov, whose openwork silhouette has long become a symbol of Soviet radio. A year earlier, J. Gakkel created the first Soviet diesel locomotive on the basis of the latest achievements in technology, the form of which even today looks quite modern. In the 1920s, the need for scientific research of the laws of human activity in an artificially created object environment was realized. The Central Institute of Labor is being organized, within its walls, research is being conducted on the scientific organization of labor and the culture of production. The attention of scientists and designers is attracted by issues of biomechanics, organoleptic properties, etc. Among the notable works of those years is the project of a tram driver's workplace (N. Bernstein).

J. Gakkel.Locomotive. Early 1930s

The mid-century style also affects the arts and crafts. For items made of porcelain, for example, Elizaveta Petrovna's "Own" service, and other materials, curvilinear shapes are characteristic, as well as a luscious stucco ornament, ascending in the pattern to the shell and flexible plant shoots. The whimsical silhouette of objects is organically combined with bright colors, an abundance of gilding, and the glitter of mirrored surfaces that complement the festive picture of the interior.

Painting of the first half of the 18th century

Painting has undergone tremendous changes since the Petrine era. The art of easel painting with its semantic and compositional features is taking shape. Reverse perspective is replaced by a direct and associated transfer of the depth of space. The most important feature is the image of the figure in accordance with the principles of anatomical correctness. New means of transferring volume appear. Chiaroscuro plays the most important role, displacing the conventional symbolic contour line. The very technique of oil painting, with its characteristic specific techniques and the system of relationships between colors, is firmly, although not immediately, entering artistic use. The sense of texture is sharpened. The artist acquires the ability to convey the specific properties of soft velvet, harsh ermine fur, heavy gold brocade and delicate lace. In the plot picture, new principles of the interconnection of figures can be traced. The depiction of the naked body is a new and most difficult task. The very structure of painting becomes more ramified. Since the beginning of the 18th century, secular art has cultivated different types easel works, monumental painting in the form of panels and plafonds, miniature writing. The portrait includes all known varieties - ceremonial, intimate, in the usual and costume versions, double and double. Artists master allegorical and mythological plots... The presence of these features, although at first revealed in a compromise form, allows us to speak about the emergence of a new type of painting.

The first steps towards the formation of a portrait are associated with the activities of the painting workshop of the Armory. The works made by Russian and foreign masters, by their nature, gravitate towards the Parsuna. Of all the typological variants, the Parsuna prefers a ceremonial portrait and is found in this capacity in several varieties. Among them, the "portrait-thesis" is the most archaic. He combines portrait images and numerous explanatory inscriptions within the conventional iconic space. You can also talk about the "portrait-apotheosis". These are the portraits-paintings, symbolizing the feats of arms of Peter I. Common portraits of Peter, Menshikov, Sheremetev in height and on horseback are also common.

Space is interpreted everywhere in a very stereotypical way, and the general arrangement of objects rather serves as a symbolic designation of real spatial relations. The problem of internal and external space is solved just as conditionally in semantic and large-scale relations. Parsuna deviates somewhat from the richness of color characteristic of 17th century icon painting. However, the scrupulous transfer of the ornamentation of the garments and various details gives the canvases an increased decorative sound.

The master has not yet fully mastered the new principles of conveying volume, combining emphasized convexly written faces and flat patterned robes. The large size of the canvases, their imposing spirit, the richness of the furnishings and the displayed jewels are intended to illustrate the social significance of the depicted. The image is autonomous, it is self-centered and indifferent to others. Painting, which has not yet matured to the transmission of the individual, in its own way tries to notice the features inherent in this character. However, the general and the individual have not yet merged into an organic unity, and the specific properties barely show through under the summary typifying mask.

The Parsuna line, which existed for a relatively short time, mainly in the 80s and especially in the 90s of the 17th century, subsequently encounters a very strong stream of works by foreigners and retired artists that practically supplanted it. At the same time, one should not think that it turned out to be an accidental episode in the general process of the development of the Russian portrait. Having been pushed aside from the main positions, the parsuna continued to exist. In addition, its features manifested itself in the work of a number of leading artists as evidence of the unfinished transition from medieval writing to a new style. As such, it can be found in the works of I. Nikitin, I. Vishnyakov and A. Antropov.

Traces of parsunism are also found in the second half of the 18th century, especially in the works of serfs or provincial artists who independently came to the new art, as a rule, proceeding from icon painting. Note that parsunism as an artistic phenomenon exists not only in the Russian school, but also in Ukraine and Poland. It is also found in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and even in the countries of the Middle East, that is, where painting in a similar historical situation is experiencing a fundamentally similar introduction to the art of modern times and secular art.

Reflection of the critical nature of the Peter the Great's era in the decorative and applied arts. Western European artistic influences (Holland, England, France, Italy). The processes of the formation of the estate system and the consolidation of secular culture and their impact on the development of arts and crafts. Multi-layered arts and crafts, uneven development of its individual spheres. Preservation and development of traditional trends (provincial and folk culture, church art).

Improvement of the technique of handicraft and manufactory production. The origin of the art industry (production of tapestries, art glass, faience, stone cutting, silk and cloth production). Manufacturing of fashionable items, luxury goods. Discovery and development of deposits of copper, tin, silver, colored stone, high quality clays.

The role of the Academy of Sciences in the "prosperity of free arts and manufactories", the reflection of new natural science and technical interests in decorative and applied arts. New forms of education and training of craftsmen at art manufactories. Closing of the Armory workshops. Pensionership and its role in the development of certain types of arts and crafts. The emergence of craft organizations of artisans in Russia. The work of foreign masters in various fields of arts and crafts.

Artistic style in arts and crafts. Fashion, its impact on changing tastes, changing the subject environment. The emergence of new types of objects, the renewal of aesthetic ideas in decorative and applied arts. Art synthesis trends. The role of architecture, monumental art, graphics and illustrated publications in the development of arts and crafts. Decorative tendencies of baroque culture in the design of festivals, complexes of triumphal gates, gardening art.

The art of interior decoration as a special kind artistic activities in the works of architects of the first quarter of the 18th century. The first interior works and the main style trends (baroque, rococo, classicism). New types of premises (offices, state bedrooms, living rooms, "turners", "picture halls") and their content (Summer Palace, A.D. Menshikov's palace, Peterhof Grand Palace, Monplaisir). Works by French masters. "Chinoiserie" in the interiors of the Petrine era.

Ensemble solution of the subject environment. The emergence of design activities in the field of material culture and arts and crafts.

Development of the furniture business. New types and forms of furniture, materials and methods of decoration. Influence of English and Dutch furniture. Baroque and rococo furniture.

Wood carving, its role in the interior. Carved reliefs. The iconostasis of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Ship carving and carriage.

Silver business. Preserving the traditions of the 17th century. Creation of workshops for goldsmiths and silversmiths. Jewelry Art. Portrait miniature on enamel. Order badges and "honored" persons. The first masters of miniature painting were Grigory Musikisky and Andrey Ovsov.

Pottery and faience of the Petrine era. Dutch tiles in the interior. Expansion of imports of faience products from England and Holland. The first private manufactory of A. Grebenshchikov in Moscow, the appearance of domestic fine faience.

Increased consumption of glass, founding glass factories in Yamburg and Zhabino near St. Petersburg. Mirrors and lighting fixtures. Formation of the style of ceremonial palace dishes with matte engraving. Maltsov's first private glass and crystal factory in Mozhaisky district.

Stone carving and gemstone cutting. Foundation of the first cutting factories in Peterhof and Yekaterinburg. Bone carving. Basic carving techniques, stylistic techniques. Traditions Kholmogory. The emergence of lathes, changes in the shape of products. Petrovskaya Turner and A. Nartov. Influence of engraving and picture book on bone carving. Founding of the Tula Arms Factory, the development of the art of artistic processing of steel in decorative items.

Suit typology. Change of a medieval dress for a European-style costume. The establishment by Peter of the rules for wearing and types of noble dress. Introduction of statutory clothing and uniforms for the army and navy, for officials. The appearance of new manufactories due to changes in the costume. Replacement of oriental fabrics with Western European ones. Samples of a men's suit from the wardrobe of Peter I.

Founding of the St. Petersburg Tapestry Manufactory. Training of Russian masters.

Decorative and applied art of the era of Anna Ioannovna. Artistic silver. Foundation of a state-owned glass factory on the Fontanka in St. Petersburg. Tapestry manufactory activity. Trellis style and use in the interior. L.Karavak and his projects in the field of decorative arts.

Revitalization in artistic culture during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. The predominance of French influences. Baroque and Rococo in Russian Art. Rococo in interior design, costume, jewelry art, gardening art. Synthesis of architecture and arts and crafts in baroque and rococo interiors. Works by V.V. Rastrelli and A. Rinaldi in the field of interior design. Decorative materials and interior decoration techniques. Baroque and rococo furniture types. Fabrics in the interior. Lighting. Ensemble in different types decorative and applied arts of the middle and second half of the century.

Silver business. Approval of the baroque style. Monumental and decorative works. Large ceremonial sets. Changing the shape of objects, new types of dishes for new products. Jewelry Art. Activities of the court masters. Rococo style in jewelry. Types of women's jewelry. Colored stone in jewelry.

A suit, its image, type of cut, materials, accessories, character of decoration. Influence of French fashion. Baroque and rococo in women's and men's suits.

The invention of domestic porcelain. Foundation of a porcelain manufactory in St. Petersburg. DI Vinogradov's activities and the "Vinogradov" period of the development of Russian porcelain. The first palace services, vases, small plastic. Creation of a state-owned faience factory in St. Petersburg.

Etched glass from the Elizabethan era. The activities of the St. Petersburg state glass factory and the plant on the river. Nazier. Baroque and Rococo in artistic glass. Glass in the decoration of palace interiors V.V. Rastrelli. Private factories of the Nemchinovs and Maltsovs. MV Lomonosov's experiments in the field of colored glass, the beginning of its production at the Ust-Ruditskaya factory.

Bone carving. Rococo style, the work of the carver Osip Dudin.

Decorative and applied art of the second half of the 18th century

Classicism in arts and crafts 1760–1790 Combination of Rococo style with antique motives. The role of architects in the decorative and applied arts of the era of classicism. Training of masters of decorative and applied arts at the Academy of Arts.

Early classicism interior. Materials and forms, color, sculptural decoration, reduction in cost of decorative finishing. Interior work by C. Cameron. A circle of decorative techniques, new materials, the image of the premises and the ensemble. Interiors of V. Brenna.

Classicism furniture, character, shape, influence. Antique prototypes. New types of furniture. Participation of architects in the development of furniture art in Russia (Brenna, Lvov, Cameron, Voronikhin). D. Roentgen's furniture in Russia. Workshop of G. Gambs and I. Ott. Jacob style in Russian furniture. Change of materials in furniture art (mahogany, gilded wood, poplar, Karelian birch). Fabric and embroidery in furniture.

Spol's workshop in Moscow. Carved decor in the interiors of M. Kazakov. Carved furniture of the Ostankino Palace. The flourishing of the set technique in Russian furniture of the second half of the century, methods of execution and materials Furniture production at Okhta in St. Petersburg. Papier-mâché as a material for furniture and decorative arts.

Russian and French artistic bronze. The main types of products and decorative techniques. Bronze and glass in lighting fixtures. Bronze in the decoration of stone and porcelain vases and furniture. Foundry House activities. Foreign bronze masters in St. Petersburg (P. Azhi, I. Tsekh and others).

Costume. Changing the types and silhouette of clothing in the 1770s-1780s. The introduction of a uniform noble dress. Ceremonial court dress, use of stylized national forms. "Greek style" 1790s in costume and hair. A radical change in the design of the suit. Fashion for shawls, scarves, capes, mantilla, shawls.

Jewelry Art. The activities of I. Pozier, Dubulon, J. Ador, I. G. Scarf, I.V. Buch, the Duval brothers. Large imperial crown. Court diamond workshop. Artistic silver. Influence of French silver in the Louis XVI style. The art of black on silver. The growing role of northern jewelry centers - Vologda, Veliky Ustyug. Factory of niello and enamel products of the Popov brothers in Veliky Ustyug. Enamel with silver overlays.

Porcelain, manufacturing and decoration techniques. Imperial Porcelain Factory. Early classicism in the form and decoration of products. Influence of European porcelain and faience. The activities of J.-D. Rachette. IPZ contacts with the Academy of Arts. Decorative vases and palace services in the interior of the classicism era. Large ceremonial sets, their composition, character of decoration. The search for expedient forms of objects and techniques for decorating products. Porcelain plastic (series of figures "Peoples of Russia", "Traders and peddlers"). Genre drawing and engraving in porcelain sculpture and painting on porcelain. Biscuit products. "Pavlovsky" porcelain of the late 1790s.

F. Gardner's factory in Verbilki. Order sets.

Art glass. G. Potemkin's plant in Ozerki. Colored glass and crystal. Glass in the interiors of Charles Cameron. The Imperial Glass Factory in the 1790s. Connection between the products of the imperial porcelain and glass factories. Bakhmetev's plant in the Penza province. The flourishing of glass painting in the 1780s and 90s. Gothic motives in art glass.

Tapestry manufactory activity. The connection of tapestries with the general trend in Russian painting (historical theme, allegory, portrait in tapestry). The transition from rococo to classicism. Tapestries in interior decoration.

Stone carving. The role of Ch. Cameron in the development of the culture of colored stone and its use in the interior. New methods of using stone, "Russian mosaic". Activities of the Peterhof Lapidary Factory. Discovery of new deposits of colored stone in the Urals and Altai. Yekaterinburg factory and Kolyvan factory. The invention of stone processing machines. Vases based on drawings by A. Voronikhin and D. Quarenghi.

The flourishing of Tula steel (furniture and decorative items). Noble and merchant factories. Factory of lacquer miniatures P.I. Korobov. The emergence of handicrafts at art manufactories. The development of artistic crafts in the second half of the 18th century: Khokhloma painting, lace weaving, patterned weaving, carpet weaving, artistic metal, etc.

Renewed exposition

"Decorative and applied art of Russia in the 18th - first third of the 19th century"

As part of the celebration of the 35th anniversary at the All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and folk art a renewed permanent exhibition “Decorative and applied art of Russia of the 18th - first third of the 19th century” was opened.

“Peter the Great challenged Russia, and she answered him with Pushkin,” A.N. Herzen most accurately defines the meaning and boundaries of the era to which the exposition of these halls is dedicated. The items presented here are living milestones that marked the formation and flourishing of Russian culture in the bosom of the European cultural tradition of the New Age. They capture the changes in the way of life and artistic landmarks, the transformation of old and the emergence of new object forms, techniques and even types of arts and crafts.

The design of the new exposition is based on the principle of demonstrating exhibits as unique art objects, which are combined into thematic, stylistic and typological blocks. This solution allows you to assess the value of each object in terms of time, style, development of a particular type of decorative and applied art, and focuses on its artistic value in itself.

The scenario of the inspection is built on the basis of the spatial solution of the exposition, not only meaningfully (in typology, subject matter, style and chronology), but also visually - from Peter the Great to Biedermeier.

The central themes of the new exposition are: "The Epoch of Changes: the Turn of the 17th-18th Centuries", to which the so-called "primitives of the 18th century" adjoin, which transformed the realities of the new era in the forms of traditional art; "Classic russian XVIII century ", representing the era from Peter to Paul in high examples of court art, as well as" Russian Empire "and" In the Rooms ", demonstrating two facets of Russian culture of the first third of the XIX century - the brilliant imperial style and the emergence of a culture of private life, correlated with the phenomenon of German Biedermeier. At the same time, the exposition allows viewing works in the usual order - by type of art, highlighting furniture, art metal, glass, porcelain, ceramics, stone-cutting art, bone and beads.

Special attention should be paid to such unique church objects as the Reliquary Cross and Panagia, which date back to the 17th century. They were made in an expensive technique at that time - filigree enamel. Among the earliest exhibits are chests with metal fittings and decorative trim, inkpots, Ural brass dishes of the 17th - early 18th centuries. Brass mugs from the Demidov plant in the Urals are a striking example of the ceremonial representative metal tableware for table setting.

Table setting items and trays were then made using different techniques. For example, two glass, dark blue cups with the monograms "EML" and "WGS", produced by the Imperial Glass Factory, are a rare example of painted items from the late 18th - early 19th centuries. Latin monograms on cups belong to the Swedish envoy to Russia in 1793 Werner Gottlob von Schwenier - "WGS" - and his mother Ebbe Maria Lagerbring - "EML". The cups were kept for more than two centuries in Skarhult Castle, Skane (Sweden), as a family property.

In the exposition one can get acquainted with unique samples of Russian palace furniture of the 18th-19th centuries, among which the chess and card tables in the technique of marquetry are of particular interest. Among the exhibits of furniture typical for the first half of the 19th century, two slides of rare quality in the "jacob" style draw attention. Two armchairs designed by Osip Ivanovich Bove belong to the same time. Of interest are the "Minin and Pozharsky" mantel clock made by the Parisian bronzer Pierre-Philippe Thomir and, reproducing in an interior format, the famous monument of Ivan Martos, standing on Red Square.

A special place in the exposition is occupied by the tapestry "The Rescue of Fishermen", which was made in Flanders in an unknown workshop in the second half of the 17th - early 18th centuries. She entered the VMDPNI in 1999 with the collection of the Museum of Folk Art. S.T. Morozov. The plot of the tapestry is borrowed from the Bible: in the center of the composition is depicted one of the miracles - "Walking on Water". The tapestry was restored in several stages - it was partially restored by specialists from the Museum of Folk Art. S.T. Morozov, and, already in 2014, the full restoration was completed by specialists-restorers of the All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art. Thus, the tapestry acquired new life and will be presented at the exposition for the first time.

In the corresponding thematic sections are presented lighting fixtures made of glass and crystal, interior items made of porcelain and bronze of the late 18th-19th centuries. Each exhibit is a reference example of a particular style, captures the spirit of its time and represents the possibilities of artistic and technical skill.

Such a spatial arrangement of the exposition allows the museum to organize excursions and special programs in the most efficient and interesting way. The most interesting and significant exhibits will be presented with extended annotations, as well as accompanying QR codes, thanks to which visitors will be able to receive more detailed information. The exposition is equipped with a modern system of lighting equipment. Due to its high interactivity, the new exposition promises to be more lively and interesting, as well as to promote creative dialogue with visitors, especially with children and youth.

Wedding chest. Italy. 17th century

The sculptural group "Winter". From the series "The Four Seasons". Germany. Meissen

Service items. France. Sevres. 1780-1784. Soft porcelain, painting. Freezer

Hall of French art of the 18th-19th centuries

Cabinet. Augsburg. 17th century. Wood, carving, white metal, gilding, 196x135x61

Bureau cylinder. Russia. End of the 18th century.

Vase. Russia. First quarter of the 19th century. Glass, painted in gold. Height 35.5

Freezer. Russia. Imperial Porcelain Factory. First quarter of the 19th century. Porcelain, painting. Height 40

Collections of decorative and applied art are also associated with the name of A.P. Bogolyubov, who donated 40 items of old porcelain, mostly Saxon, at the opening of the museum. There were 92 items of various utensils and furniture. In 1897, after the death of Bogolyubov, according to his will, another group of things was received, including furniture, glass, bronze, silverware.

Bogolyubov's collections, in particular porcelain, were significantly replenished in the first post-revolutionary years from the State Museum Fund, where all nationalized works of art flocked. In 1970, the museum received samples of Russian and Western European porcelain (over 300 items) bequeathed to O. A. Gordeeva, a famous Saratov ophthalmologist.

The history of this delicate and refined art goes back centuries. Porcelain originated at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries in China. In Europe, they learned about him in the XIII century. The famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo brought several porcelain vessels from the East. Europe was seized by the "porcelain fever", everyone wanted to have products from this shiny white material, painted with bright, unfading colors. Information has been preserved that when things made of porcelain broke, they still continued to be stored, often shards were set in precious metals and worn as jewelry... In porcelain, not only beauty was appreciated, but also properties unseen before. The glazed surface of porcelain was not exposed to chemical attack and was impervious. There were legends about porcelain. The secret of its production could not be solved until the beginning of the 18th century. But along the way, a lot of new materials were discovered, similar in appearance to the products of Chinese masters. This is how milky glass appeared in Venice, Spanish-Moorish ceramics, faience in England and Holland.

The first in Europe to receive porcelain was I. F. Betger, who found deposits of white clay (kaolin) near Meissen in Saxony. The secret of porcelain production, which was fought in Europe for centuries, was discovered. Soon the porcelain of the Meissen manufactory became known throughout Europe. And now the products of this plant are popular with art lovers.

In the collection of our museum, Meissen porcelain is presented very well and fully. This includes items bequeathed by Bogolyubov and porcelain items from the collection of O. A. Gordeeva, as well as other exhibits.

Of greatest interest is Meissen porcelain of the 18th century. This era is considered a classic period in the development of European porcelain. At this time, the master seeks to emphasize the whiteness and subtlety of porcelain, submits the material taking into account its natural properties.

Meissen - the first European porcelain production - is especially famous for small plastic. In the images of ladies, gentlemen, allegorical compositions and pastorals, one of the qualities of the Rococo style manifested itself with particular force - the illusion of a continuous smooth flow of the line. The names of Johann Joachim Kendler and Peter Reinicke are associated with the formation of Meissen plastics. Their works combined elements of sculpture and decorative and applied art proper. The whimsical contours and the beauty of color are what characterize the sculptures made according to their models.

Two allegorical figures from the "Four Seasons" series - "Winter" and "Spring", made according to the models of Johann Joachim Kendler, reveal the characteristic features of the Rococo style in porcelain. The seasons are represented in the images of ancient gods sitting on the clouds. Winter is personified by Saturn and Hebe, spring by Mars and Flora. The sculptural groups are adorned with fine stucco and brightly painted flowers for which the Meissen factory was famous in the 18th century.

The small collection of products of the Berlin plant is distinguished by high artistic qualities. Basically, these are items for table setting and interior decoration. The most delicate purple, which was the glory of this production, is painted based on A. Watteau's "carriage cup". The bodies of teapots, coffee pots, and decorative vases are decorated with the favorite pastorals and floral patterns of the 18th century.

A group of items from the Vienna Factory is presented in the 18th - early 19th centuries, when the features of a new style - Empire style - were taking shape in European porcelain. Taking care of the increased decorativeness, the Viennese masters gave their own version of the painting. In the mirror of the plates in the rich gold frame of the ornament, most often copies from the paintings of the Renaissance masters were placed.

Each country went its own way to porcelain, developing both a special technology and a special character of ornamentation, sometimes within the same style. Throughout Europe, French dishes with colored backgrounds were famous: turquoise, pink, blue, painted in medallions framed with gilded ornaments. Such porcelain was made at the Sevres Manufactory, the main porcelain production in France.

This is how the blue ice cream maker, tray and spice tray, which were part of the service that belonged to Prince Yusupov, are painted. This service has been produced for more than one year and was decorated by the largest porcelain painters. The ice cream maker was painted by Vincent the Younger, the author of the painting on the famous cameo service ordered by Catherine II Sevres and now kept in the Hermitage. The Yusupov service was made of "soft porcelain". And the specific properties of this material could not be more consistent with the Rococo style with its usual soft contours and wavy lines. The peculiarities of the Sevres mass also determined the nature of the painting: no ceramic material gives such sonorous deep tones with many shades.

In Russia, porcelain was first obtained in the middle of the 18th century by D.I. Vinogradov at the Imperial Porcelain Factory (IPZ) in St. Petersburg. In the museum collection, Russian porcelain is represented by products of numerous private enterprises. The museum can be proud of the magnificent samples of the IPE, the factories of Gardner, Popov, Kornilov, Gulin, Safronov, which have their own unique charm.

The achievements of Russian masters in the classicism style of the early 19th century, or Empire style, are well known. Russian porcelain within the framework of this style, as well as other branches of applied art, provides excellent examples.

Empire style was inspired by antiquity. The decor is dominated by laurel wreaths, lions, griffins, military attributes, etc. The forms reveal the solidity of the masses, their static character. According to the laws of this style, the IPZ craftsmen made a tabletop vase in the form of two classical figures supporting an oval-shaped bowl. White color figures made of biscuit (unglazed porcelain) are contrasted with the blue tone and gilding of the base. Affects the love of the Empire style for the brightness and contrast of color. Another vase is also a sculptural group: Venus puts a quiver with arrows on Cupid. Such vases were made for large ceremonial or anniversary services and were installed in the center of the festive table.

The features of the same style are distinct in an ice cream maker on three paws of a dark color, under the old bronze. Its color was beautifully combined with the brilliance of the gilding.

The products of private factories are more distinctive. You can talk about priest's porcelain, Gardner's or Safronov's. These factories are represented by objects not unique, in contrast to the IFZ, but by the so-called ordinary dishes related to the life of a particular class. It is easy to guess the social belonging of the so-called "tavern" brightly elegant teapots, decorated with unpretentious flower painting, created at the Popov factory in the 1830-1850s.

The source from which the craftsmen drew the shapes of the dishes and the motives of the painting is traditional Russian folk art. This path will be the most fruitful in the time of the impending interstyle, it will largely save Russian private factories in this difficult time from the loss of ceramics ", which is inevitable in the era of eclecticism. green cups, made by the masters of the priest's factory, the main thing has not been lost: the balance of the form and functional purpose of the object.

The collection of Soviet porcelain is relatively small. It is represented by propaganda porcelain, which in the 1920s was one of the means of revolutionary propaganda.

A dish and cups painted according to drawings by S. Chekhonin and N. Altman, sculptures by N. Danko, plates by A. Schekatikhina-Pototskaya with revolutionary slogans and emblems of the young Soviet state - this first porcelain of the Land of the Soviets spoke the language of its time. It was exhibited in special showcases in Moscow on Kuznetsky Most and in Petrograd on Nevsky. "This porcelain was news from a wonderful future, for which the Soviet country fought in terrible battles with hunger, devastation, and intervention," wrote E.Ya.Danko, artist and historiographer of the Lomonosov factory (formerly the Imperial Porcelain Factory), in her memoirs.

Glassware stored in the A.N. Radishchev Museum came in the same way as porcelain: in 1897, according to A.P. Bogolyubov's will, through the State Museum Fund, from private collections.

A small but interesting collection of Russian glass of the late 18th - early 19th centuries was bequeathed to the museum of E.P. Razumova in 1973.

Russian glass factories, state and private, appeared at the beginning of the 18th century in Moscow and St. Petersburg, near Smolensk and Kaluga. The demand for glass items is growing. The number of factories is also growing. The famous Maltsev plant appears on the Gus River near Vladimir, the Bakhmetyev plant near Penza in the village of Nikolskoye.

The earliest pieces of glass from the 18th century in our collection are those of private factories. First of all, this is a green glass damask with an unpretentious floral ornament and the inscription: "Make this vessel in the Gavrilov factory in 726...." This is an early example of Russian ordinary dishes, which were made in large quantities, they were not spared or taken care of. Instead of the lost and broken, they bought a new one. Therefore, few such dishes have survived. Shtof is also interesting because it is signed. It contains the date and place of manufacture. It is known that in 1724 the plant of Gavrilov and Loginov was founded in the Moscow district. There is no further information about this production. Our damask gives an idea of \u200b\u200bthe nature of the products of a little-known company.

Glass in Russia was practically not marked. Only starting from the 20s of the XIX century (from the era of Nicholas I) the Imperial Glass Factory began to put stamps on its products. The presence of a brand, of course, is not the only way to determine the place and time of manufacture of a particular item. The remarkable monuments of glass making are the tall, conical cups of the 18th century, often with lids, ornamented with carved emblems of royalty or monograms. The benzels were framed by plant shoots and curls called "rocailles". Along the top of the goblets, at the rim, there is a pattern of engraved and polished "pits" with arches. Racks of legs were made in the form of balusters with "apples", which were strung on the rack, sometimes up to five pieces. The engraving in these items was shallow and sweeping. These qualities distinguish Russian cups from the cups of Bohemia and Germany kept in the museum.

Obviously, in private factories, numerous colored glasses, decanters, and bottles were made. Colored glass was very popular in Russia. Unlike Western Europe, here they made dishes of solid colored glass, which appeared in large numbers in the middle of the 18th century. This is due to the successful experiments of M. Lomonosov.

At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, tall faceted decanters with corks of various shapes appeared, glasses raised on thin legs, graceful glasses, sparkling with facets, ornamental dishes, which were used to decorate festive tables and suppliers. Faceted dishes are made of colorless glass with the addition of lead, which gives a special shine. It is called crystal and is cut by the so-called "diamond edge". This technique is still used in glass making.

The second half of the 19th century was a time of heightened interest in arts and crafts, especially in its history. Collecting antiques is becoming widespread. It is not by chance that an increased interest in antique furniture was also determined at the same time. Collectors collect carved gilded furniture of the 18th century, typesetting dressers, cabinets, Italian and German wedding chests, massive oak and walnut wardrobes in Germany of the 17th century. Similar items were in the collection of Bogolyubov.

Passion for antique furniture gives rise to fakes that flooded antique shops. One after another in Paris, Venice, St. Petersburg, workshops are being created that make furniture that resembles antique, sometimes indistinguishable from genuine - the wood is so smoothly polished, the proportions of its structural parts are so faithfully observed.

Earliest furniture museum collection dates back to the XVI-XVII centuries. These are furniture from Germany, France, Italy, Holland, assembled by A.P. Bogolyubov. Of course, our collection of furniture of that time does not give reason to talk about the prevailing interior, but it allows us to imagine national characteristics pieces of furniture art from different countries in a fairly broad chronological framework.

Furniture is short-lived, wood is used as the material for its manufacture, which is easily exposed to a variety of influences. A lot of her died both from natural disasters or as a result of wars, and for reasons associated with the influence of fashion. Furniture belongs to consumer goods. This means that over time it wears out and has to be replaced with a new one. Few furniture has survived from the dwellings of the common people. Nevertheless, the main stages in the history of furniture art in some European countries can be traced to the objects of our collection.

In 16th century Italy, a solid wood chair with a carved back, a wedding chest, a Venetian workmanship, and an altar were made. For the manufacture of this furniture, brown walnut was used, a material characteristic of Italy, which allows the master to achieve a great artistic effect. The motives of the carving were drawn from the heritage of ancient art. In a wedding chest, apparently of Florentine work, the rare unity of form and ornamentation that distinguished the Italian furniture makers of the 16th - early 17th centuries is surprising.

Furniture of this era in its constructive logic is similar to architectural structures. The altar is designed in the form of a portal with columns intertwined with grapevine, with a podium in a niche for the figure of the Mother of God - these architectural elements are extremely characteristic of furniture of the 16th-17th centuries. This is especially true for cabinet furniture made in the south of Germany. The wardrobe turns into a kind of two-story building, each tier of which is divided by a cornice. The tiers are decorated with columns or pilasters. The doors of the cabinets resemble portals or windows, crowned with platbands or pediments. All these architectural details are reinforced with glue and are, in fact, a decoration that hides the structure of a cabinet made up of two chests. This impression is reinforced by the folding chest handles on its side facades. This is how the wardrobe decorated with a burl is designed (a growth on a tree, a wood defect that gives a rich beautiful texture). Wardrobes were necessarily supplied with shelves, and clothes were kept folded in them. They could also serve to store various utensils.

The shape of a folding chair, the so-called curule chair, can also be considered traditional for Germany in the 16th-17th centuries. For the ancients, it was a symbol of power. Only sitting on such an armchair was it possible to administer judgment and reprisals. Such a chair was usually worn for consuls, senior military leaders, and dictators. Smoothly curved legs-uprights, made of several narrow slats, are crossed and connected with crossbeams for strength, and a removable board inserted into the upper part of the chair as a spacer constitutes the back.

Since the 16th century, a peculiar form of the chair appeared in Germany, which became widespread in the furniture art of this country in the 17th century - the so-called peasant chair. Our museum also has a whole series of similar items with different versions of the same ornament. The prototype of such a chair was at first just a stump of a tree, stripped of branches and reinforced for stability on three legs. And for comfortable urban dwellings, chairs with four legs were made - examples of high skill. Only a board serving as a back is decorated with them. It can be not only walnut, but oak and pine. It depends on where the item was made. In carving, as a rule, motifs of grotesque ornament are used, which often turns into a fabulous pattern by the master's fantasy.

The 17th century brings a lot of new things to the art of furniture. This is primarily due to social transformations in Europe, which led to a change in the position of the third estate. Having come to power, it cultivates modesty, simplicity, and the sanctity of the family hearth. Dutch furniture is in great demand and is exported to all countries. At the other extreme is France, in whose art a magnificent, solemn style prevails.

There is only one piece in our collection of furniture, which is typical of the palace ceremonial furnishings of the 17th century. This is the so-called cabinet - a cabinet with many drawers, compartments, and a pull-out board. It was made by the craftsmen of the city of Augsburg, decorated on the facade with metal plates depicting animals, twisted gilded posts. The board is made of fine wood.

Such offices appeared in the 16th century. Their homeland is Spain. The first offices were boxes on the underframe. In the 17th century, these were already large wardrobes, which became part of the decoration of the room, which was called the study. In closets, medals, letters, jewelry were kept.

Most of the collection of Russian furniture, which includes works of the 18th-19th centuries, was made either in small private workshops or by furniture makers of noble estates. The craftsmen introduced into their works a variety of artistic tastes, all the knowledge and skills they had accumulated, methods of wood processing, decoration and decor. They were reflected primarily in the forms of household furniture of that time, which were greatly influenced by folk art. This manifested itself not only in the forms and decor, but in the choice and processing of wood. Karelian birch and poplar became the favorite material already at the end of the 18th century. They are used only in Russia.

Each country in the art of furniture was either the ancestor of a certain style, such as Italy in the Renaissance, or the birthplace of a famous master furniture maker, such as T. Chippendale in England or J. Jacob in France.

Russian furniture is represented mainly by items of decoration of the noble interior of the first third of the 19th century. It was one of the most brilliant eras in the history of decorative and applied art in Russia, and furniture in particular. In the art of the first decades of the 19th century, the Empire style dominates, which originated in France and became the property of all of Europe. Russia, in which he became an exponent of lofty and progressive ideas, gives its own special, original version of this style. The decorativeness characteristic of the Empire style, the striving for monumentality and generalization of forms determined in furniture the very choice of material and the nature of its interaction with form and decor. The main materials of Russian furniture makers will be mahogany and Karelian birch, which they love for the beautiful texture of wood.

The furniture stored in our museum is mainly made by the hands of serf craftsmen and represents that version of the Empire style, which was widely included in the life of the Russian nobility. It is simpler than palace furniture. This furniture came to the museum after the Great October Socialist Revolution from the surrounding estates, town houses and has not only artistic, but also historical value.

The seating furniture is especially varied. Two paired armchairs with openwork carved backs, decorated with gilded lyres, are an example of Russian household furniture of the first quarter of the 19th century. There are forms that are almost devoid of ornaments, veneered with golden Karelian birch with black eyes.

At this time, another room appeared in the interior of the noble estate, the so-called sofa room, and its indispensable accessory was the sofa. Usually these are soft, rectangular sofas, the tops of the backs and elbows are veneered with Karelian birch or mahogany, which became widespread in those years. In the interior, the sofa was combined with armchairs and a front table. Such variations are found in our exposition and testify to the already established interior in the Empire era. This furniture differs from the front one: there is less gilding, instead of bronze, wood gilded on levkas is used, one of the traditional methods of wood processing, so beloved by Russian craftsmen, is preserved - carving.

The collecting activity of the museum continues. IN last years the collections of decorative and applied art were replenished with interesting exhibits, the best of which found their place in the exposition.