Patterns of Gzhel painting. Elements of Gzhel mural

The city of Gzhel is the center of one of the most famous art crafts in Russia. It is located in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region. "Gzhel bush" stretches over a vast territory and consists of 27 villages, whose inhabitants are engaged in the manufacture and painting of white faience and porcelain. The history of the appearance of Gzhel art is rooted in the 14th century AD, when the Kudinovskoe clay deposit was discovered in the Moscow region. In the upper layers there was a shire, a simple red material, below were layers of yellow "furs" - clay of medium quality, and finally, in the depths there was a delicate "soap" - thin white clay, an indispensable material for the production of high-quality faience and porcelain.

Pharmaceutical needs

White clay went to make utensils and other utensils, until the apothecary royal decree appeared, which obliged to deliver all the extracted Gzhel clay to Moscow for the needs of the pharmacy order. However, some time later, several deposits were discovered underground, and the white material became sufficient for all needs of the Russian capital and its environs. In addition to pharmacy vessels and tea sets, master craftsmen started making art products. This is how the Gzhel folk craft appeared, known today in the whole world.

World fame

The patterns of Gzhel painting are a picture made with bright blue cobalt paint on a snow-white background, traditionally - hand-written simple geometric and floral ornaments. Images on products can also be plot-like, for example a woman with buckets or a harmonizer surrounded by dancing fellow villagers. The patterns of the Gzhel painting are, as a rule, floral motifs, repeated many times on the convex or concave surface of the product.

An attribute of the artist's high skill is the use of halftones, when the center of the picture is filled with pale blue strokes, and closer to the periphery, the image becomes brighter and brighter. Flowers Gzhel pattern - a special form of interpretation, they necessarily repeat the contours of a real plant. In the image you can see the petals, pistils, stamens, stems and even antennae with which the flower clings to its neighbors.

Technologies

The patterns of the Gzhel painting are subject to a certain patterning system. They can alternate or be arranged chaotically, but in any case, the image is maintained within the framework of the planned plot. At the factories for the production of tableware and artifacts from faience and porcelain, the patterns of the Gzhel painting are systematized. There is a library, which contains numerous drawings used by technologists in production. Subjects of images are the most diverse: from simple pictures from village life to fairytale stories with several characters.

Modern patterns Gzhel mural are complex and diverse. Although, it would seem, monochrome drawings are monotonous by themselves, and this means that beautiful combinations of colors can not be expected. However, the professionalism of artists who know the art of multi-layered paints with the finest shades, does wonders. The products of Gzhel masters are not only beautiful, but also unique, because manual work involves only one unique specimen.

Varieties

To apply patterns of Gzhel painting is a delicate and responsible art. The main task of the master is the uniform distribution of color and shades so that the picture is balanced and harmonious. Each product is a conditional center of the composition, from which the constituent parts of the plot or elements of the vegetation ornament are evenly diverge . In some cases, blue cobalt paints are supplemented with decorative lines of gold color.

Usually such coloring is applied to the so-called bone china. This is a special grade of white ceramics with a barely perceptible cream shade resembling the color of melted milk. Bone porcelain slightly shines, and this property artists use when painting. The drawing is positioned in such a way that a space free from the paint remains. Then the clean light areas of the surface of the product begin to interact with the color pattern.

Elements of Gzhel mural

Drawing on white and blue products is always stylized. It can be a grotesque image of wonderful fairy-tale characters or a winter landscape in the countryside. And not because on faience or porcelain it is impossible to draw any real picture, but because this kind of folk craft obeys its own laws of stylistics, according to which the products differ. Russian crafts for all their diversity are quite strictly classified. To confuse one kind of folk art with another is almost impossible.

Famous masters of Gzhel constantly improve their creativity, their individual products are classics of the genre. These works of art are in museums and private collections, they are priceless. Gzhel painting, utensils or other artistic products are always interesting and unique. The assortment of products, daily produced by factories and small workshops, is unlimited.

Master class "Gzhel painting"

The art of painting is held regularly in circles open all over the place. However, it is impossible to master the art of Gzhel drawing without getting acquainted with the history of this ancient folk craft.

At the initial stage, students try to reproduce simple images in Gzhel style on paper. To do this, you can use a regular paper or thick drawing sheets. Paint for a start should be watercolor. If the Gzhel pattern on paper turned out, you can go to the original base - the ceramic billet. At this stage, watercolor paints will no longer work, you need real cobalt blue.

Services

In the 18-19 centuries Gzhel cookware was especially in demand. A lot of products went abroad. Europeans bought faience and porcelain of Russian production with Gzhel painting in huge quantities. This continued until the Russian Imperial Court became the main customer for all the factories that produce white-blue services.

The tsar and his entourage enjoyed a special demand for the famous "Guryevsky" service for 150 people for large feasts and feasts. Then followed "Monomakh" and "Tsar-father" for 12 persons each. There were sets of 84 items, starting with a huge tureen and ending with saucers for jam. Popular were small sets of "Tet-a-tet" for two and "Egoist", designed for a lover of beautiful dining utensils.

Decline

In the 20-ies of the last century in Gzhel, there was a decline. The first alarm was made by the potters themselves, who began to warn that if it was not corrected, pots and bowls soon would have to be bought abroad. Fortunately, they were heard, the factories earned new power, and in 1933 the large enterprises took on their balance the state and so the faience, porcelain and other products of the Gzhel bush again flowed into the Russian market and then abroad .

Famous artists

Gzhel is different, one eye can not be taken away from one product, but the other does not cause interest. Why is this happening? The main criterion, which determines the quality of Gzhel ceramics, is a detailed study of the drawing. The more detailed the image, the more valuable the painting. Gzhel connoisseurs are well acquainted with the work of all the outstanding masters of our time. Collectors buy only their works, museums and exhibition complexes also try to get exclusive art products.

Among the most famous masters are Denisov, Dunashov, Okulov, Azarov, Rozanov and Tsaregorodtsev. Highly artistic works of N.I. Bessarabova kept in the Russian Museum of St. Petersburg and the Historical Museum in Moscow. Countless masterpieces are scattered all over the world, all of them are in private collections and galleries.

It has become a good tradition to open stores selling Gzhel artworks in the factories that produce these works of art. The demand for white and blue beauty is still high, and there is no tendency to reduce it. Gzhel will thrive as long as there are deposits of white clay under the earth, and its reserves today seem inexhaustible.