Applied art of the 18th century. Decorative and applied art of the middle of the XVIII century

Wedding chest. Italy. 17th century

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Collections of decorative and applied arts 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. Various utensils and furniture then totaled 92 items. In 1897, after the death of Bogolyubov, according to his will, another group of things was received, including furniture, glass, bronze, and silverware.

The Bogolyubov 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 (more than 300 items), bequeathed to O. A. Gordeeva, a well-known Saratov ophthalmologist.

The history of this subtle and refined art goes back centuries. Porcelain originated at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries in China. In Europe, they learned about it in the XIII century. The famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo brought several porcelain vessels from the East. Europe was gripped by "porcelain fever", everyone wanted to have products from this white shiny material, painted with bright, unfading colors. Information has been preserved that when things made of porcelain were broken, they still continued to be stored, often shards were set in precious metals and worn as jewelry. Porcelain was valued not only for beauty, but also properties that had never been seen before. The glazed porcelain surface was not exposed to chemical attack and was impenetrable. There were legends about porcelain. The secret of its production could not be unraveled until the beginning of the 18th century. But along the way, many 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 had been fought over in Europe for centuries, was discovered. Soon porcelain from 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 completely. 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 the classical 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.

The special glory of Meissen - the first European porcelain production - is 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 Kaendler and Peter Reinicke are associated with the formation of Meissen sculpture. Their works combined elements of sculpture and arts and crafts proper. Whimsical contours and beauty of color - that's what characterizes the sculptures made according to their models.

Two allegorical figures from the "Four Seasons" series - "Winter" and "Spring", made after the models of Johann Joachim Kaendler, 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 represented by Saturn and Hebe, spring by Mars and Flora. The sculptural groups are decorated with finely stuccoed flowers painted in bright colors, which the Meissen factory was famous for in the 18th century.

High artistic qualities distinguish a small collection of products from the Berlin factory. These are mainly tableware and interior decoration items. The most delicate purple, which was the glory of this production, is painted based on the motives of A. Watteau "coach cup". The bodies of teapots, coffee pots, decorative vases are decorated with pastorals, favorite in the 18th century, with floral ornaments.

The group of items from the Vienna factory is represented by the 18th - early 19th centuries, when features of a new style, the Empire style, took 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 a rich gold frame of the ornament, copies from the paintings of the masters of the Renaissance were most often 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. French dishes with colored backgrounds were famous throughout Europe: 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 maker, which were part of the service that belonged to Prince Yusupov, are painted. This service was made for many years and decorated by the largest porcelain painters. The ice cream maker was painted by Vincent Jr., the author of the painting on the famous cameo service commissioned by Sevres by Catherine II and now kept in the Hermitage. The Yusupov service was made of "soft porcelain". And the specific properties of this material corresponded perfectly to the Rococo style with its usual soft contours and wavy lines. The features 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 (IPM) 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 IPM, the factories of Gardner, Popov, Kornilov, Gulin, Safronov, which have their own unique charm.

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

Empire was inspired by antiquity. The decoration motifs are dominated by laurel wreaths, lions, griffins, military attributes, etc. In the forms, the solidity of the masses, their static character, was revealed. According to the laws of this style, a table decoration vase in the form of two classical figures supporting an oval-shaped bowl was made by the craftsmen of the IPM. The white color of figures made of biscuit (unglazed porcelain) is contrasted with a blue tone and gilding of the base. The love of the Empire for the brightness and contrast of color affects. 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 placed in the center of the ceremonial table.

The features of the same style are distinct in the ice-cream maker on three lion's paws of dark color, under the old bronze. Its color was beautifully combined with the glitter of gilding.

The products of private factories are more distinctive. You can talk about priestly, Gardner or Safronov porcelain. These factories are not represented by unique items, in contrast to the IPM, but by the so-called ordinary utensils associated with the life of a particular class. It is easy to guess the social affiliation of the so-called "tavern" bright elegant teapots, decorated with unpretentious flower painting, created at the Popov factory in the 1830-1850s.

The source from which the craftsmen drew the forms of dishes and motifs of painting is traditional Russian folk art. This path will be the most fruitful at the time of the impending interstyle, it will largely save Russian private factories in this difficult time from the loss of "ceramicity" inevitable in the era of eclecticism. In the coffee pot of the Kornilov factory, painted on a white background with small gold leaves and roses, in bright green cups, made by the craftsmen 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 china, which in the 1920s was one of the means of revolutionary propaganda.

Dish and cups painted after drawings by S. Chekhonin and N. Altman, sculptures by N. Danko, plates by A. Shchekatikhina-Pototskaya with revolutionary slogans and emblems of the young Soviet state - this first porcelain of the Land of Soviets spoke the language of its time. It was exhibited in special showcases in Moscow on the Kuznetsk bridge 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 (former 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 the will of A.P. Bogolyubov, 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 E.P. Razumova Museum 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. Demand for glassware is on the rise. The number of factories is also growing. The famous Maltsev factory appears on the Gus River near Vladimir, and the Bakhmetiev factory near Penza in the village of Nikolsky.

The earliest works of the glass industry of the 18th century in our collection are the products of private factories. First of all, this is a green glass damask with an unpretentious floral ornament and the inscription: "Make this vessel in Gavrilov's factory in 726. . ." This is an early example of Russian ordinary dishes, which were made in large quantities, they did not spare it and did not take care of it. Instead of the lost and broken, they bought a new one. Therefore, few such dishes have been preserved. Shtof is also interesting because it is signed. It shows 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 other information about this production. Our damask gives an idea about the nature of the products of a little-known enterprise.

Glass in Russia was practically not marked. Only starting from the 20s of the 19th century (from the era of Nicholas I) did the Imperial glass factory begin to put stamps on its products. The presence of a stamp, of course, is not the only way to determine the place and time of manufacture of an item. Remarkable monuments of glassware are tall, conical goblets, often with lids, ornamented with carved coats of arms of reigning persons or monograms. Benzels were framed with plant shoots and curls, which were called "rocaille". On the top of the goblets, near the edge, there is a pattern of engraved and polished "pits" with arches. Racks of legs were made in the form of a baluster with "apples", which were strung on a rack, sometimes up to five pieces. The engraving in these products was shallow and sweeping. These qualities distinguish Russian cups from the cups of Bohemia and Germany kept in the museum.

Obviously, numerous colored glasses, decanters, bottles were made at private factories. Colored glass was very popular in Russia. Unlike Western Europe, dishes were made from 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, high faceted decanters with corks of various shapes, glasses raised on thin legs, elegant glasses with sparkling edges appeared - elegant dishes that decorated festive tables and supplies. Faceted dishes are made of colorless glass with the addition of lead, which gives a special shine. It is called crystal and cut with the so-called "diamond face". This technique is still used in glassmaking today.

The second half of the 19th century was a time of heightened interest in arts and crafts, especially in its history. The collection of antiquities is widespread. It is no coincidence that an increased interest in antique furniture was also determined at the same time. Collectors collect carved gilded furniture of the 18th century, chests of drawers, cabinets, Italian and German wedding chests, solid oak and walnut cabinets from Germany of the 17th century. Similar items were in the collection of Bogolyubov.

Fascination with antique furniture gives rise to fakes that flooded antique shops. One after another, in Paris, Venice, St. Petersburg, workshops are being created that produce antique furniture, sometimes indistinguishable from the original - the wood is so smoothly polished, the proportions of its structural parts are so correctly observed.

The earliest furniture in the museum collection dates back to the 16th-17th 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 grounds to talk about the existing interior, but it allows us to present the national features of furniture art from different countries in a fairly wide chronological framework.

Furniture is short-lived, the material for its manufacture is wood, 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 related to the influence of fashion. Furniture is commodities. This means that over time it wears out and has to be replaced with a new one. Little furniture from the dwellings of ordinary people has been preserved. Nevertheless, the main stages in the history of furniture art in some European countries can also be traced in the objects of our collection.

In Italy of the 16th century, a chair was made of solid wood with a carved back, a wedding chest, a set of Venetian work, an altar. 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. Carving motifs were drawn from the heritage of ancient art. In the wedding chest, obviously of Florentine work, one is surprised by the rare unity of form and ornament, which distinguished the Italian furniture makers of the 16th - early 17th centuries.

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

The form of a folding, 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, it was possible to administer judgment and reprisal. Such a chair was usually worn behind consuls, senior military leaders, dictators. Smoothly curved leg-racks, made of several narrow planks, are crossed and connected by crossbars for strength, and a removable board inserted in the upper part of the chair as a spacer makes up the back.

Since the 16th century, a peculiar form of 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 variants of the same ornament. The prototype of such a chair was at first simply a stump of a tree, cleared of branches and strengthened for stability on three legs. And for comfortable urban dwellings, chairs with four legs were made - examples of high craftsmanship. They are decorated only with a board that serves as a back. 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 a grotesque ornament are used, which often turns into a fabulous pattern by the imagination of the master.

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

In our collection of furniture there is only one item that is typical for the palace ceremonial furnishings of the 17th century. This is the so-called cabinet - a cabinet with many drawers, compartments, with a sliding board. It was made by the craftsmen of the city of Augsburg, decorated on the facade with metal plates depicting animals, twisted gilded columns. The board is made of precious wood.

Such cabinets appeared in the 16th century. Their homeland is Spain. The first cabinets were caskets on the underframe. In the 17th century, these were already large cabinets that became part of the decoration of the room, which was called the office. Medals, letters, jewelry were kept in cabinets.

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. Masters brought into their works a variety of artistic tastes, all the knowledge and skills they had accumulated, methods of woodworking, decoration and decoration. 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 forms and decor, but in the choice and processing of wood. At the end of the 18th century, Karelian birch and poplar became the favorite material. They apply only in Russia.

Each country in the art of furniture was either the ancestor of some style, such as Italy in the Renaissance, or the birthplace of an illustrious 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 Russian arts and crafts, and furniture in particular. The art of the first decades of the 19th century is dominated by the Empire style, which originated in France and became the property of all of Europe. Russia gives its own special, original version of this style, in which it became the spokesman for lofty and progressive ideas. Decorativeness characteristic of the Empire style, the desire 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 material 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, city houses and has not only artistic, but also historical value.

Particularly varied seating furniture. Two twin 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 decorations, veneered with Karelian birch of golden color 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 is the sofa. Usually these sofas are soft, rectangular in shape, the tops of the backs and the elbows are veneered with Karelian birch or mahogany, which was widespread in those years. In the interior, the sofa was combined with armchairs and a table in front of the sofa. Such variations are also 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 after gesso is used, one of the traditional methods of woodworking, so beloved by Russian masters, is preserved - carving.

The collection activity of the museum continues. In recent years, collections of arts and crafts have been replenished with interesting exhibits, the best of which have found their place in the exposition.

Changes in everyday life and their impact on arts and crafts. Features of the ornament and decor of the artistic styles of baroque, rococo, classicism.

Silver and gold business: Petersburg school, Moscow craftsmen and manufactories, black silver of Veliky Ustyug. New types of tableware made of precious and non-ferrous metals: teapots, coffee pots, bouillottes, samovars. Household and church utensils. State regalia. Orders and medals. Enamels. Enamel artists A.G. Ovsov, G.S. Musikisky.

The emergence of Russian porcelain. D.I. Vinogradov. Imperial and private porcelain factories. Majolica, faience. Art glass. Decorative fabrics and tapestries. New in clothes. Cabinet and type-setting furniture. Marquetry. Wood carving in civil and church interiors. Crews. Decorative rock. Cameos.

Artistic folk crafts. Carved and inlaid donets of Gorodets. Bone carving Kholmogor. Gold embroidery of the Tver province. Lace of Galich and Vologda. Gzhel ceramics.

Music and theater in the 18th century

Multi-voiced choral singing. Kants. Instrumental music and orchestras. Opera art. Ballet. Music in court, urban and peasant life. The emergence of the national school of composers. E.I. Fomin. I.E.Khandoshkin. D.S. Bortnyansky. M.S. Berezovsky. A.O. Kozlovsky.

Attempts to create a public public theater under Peter the Great. Amateur performances at the court. School theaters in spiritual and secular educational institutions. Professional troupes of foreign actors.

Dramaturgy of Russian classicism: tragedies and comedies. The influence of sentimentalism on the theater repertoire. The appearance of drama and comic opera on the Russian stage. A.P. Sumarokov - playwright and theatrical figure. Founder of the Russian professional theatre, actor and director F. G. Volkov. His friend and follower I.A. Dmitrevsky. Mass theatrical performances.

Fortress theatre. Troupe of Count P.B. Sheremetev. P.I. Kovaleva-Zhemchugova, T.V. Shlykova-Granatova and other artists. Palace-theater in Ostankino. People's Theatre.

ABBREVIATIONS OF THE NAMES OF THE MAIN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS MENTIONED IN THE LIST OF CULTURAL MONUMENTS

BAN - Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg)

VMDPNI - All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art (Moscow)

GIM - State Historical Museum (Moscow)

GMGS - State Museum of Urban Sculpture (St. Petersburg)

GMMK - State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin (Moscow)

GNIMA - State Research Museum of Architecture (Moscow)

GOP - State Armory Chamber (Moscow)

State Russian Museum - State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg)

State Tretyakov Gallery - State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow)

State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)

ZIKhMZ - former Zagorsk (now Sergiev-Posad) historical and art museum-reserve (Sergiev Posad, Moscow region)

MIDU - Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine (Kyiv)

MPIB - Museum of Applied Arts and Life of the 17th century "The Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles and the Patriarchal Chambers in the Moscow Kremlin" (Moscow)

NGM - Novgorod United State Museum-Reserve (Novgorod)

NGP - Novgorod Chamber of Facets (Novgorod)

SHM - Samara Art Museum (Samara)

MONUMENTS OF RUSSIAN CULTURE

SECTION I. HISTORY OF RUSSIAN CULTURE OF ANCIENT AND MIDDLE AGES

(BEFORE THE END OF THE XVII CENTURY)

FOLK WOODEN ARCHITECTURE

RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

1. Klet churches: Church of Lazarus from the Murom Monastery (14th-16th centuries) - Kizhi Nature Reserve; Church of the Deposition of the Robe from the village of Borodava (15th century) - Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve; Church of the Transfiguration from the village of Spas-Vezhi (17th century) - Kostroma Museum-Reserve; St. Nicholas Church from the village of Tukholya (17th century) - Novgorod Museum-Reserve "Vitoslavlitsy"; the chapel of Michael the Archangel from the village of Lelikozero (18th century) - the Kizhi Museum-Reserve; Church of St. Nicholas from the village of Glotova (18th century) - Suzdal Museum-Reserve.

2. Tent churches: St. Nicholas Church in the village of Lyavlya (16th century); the Church of St. George from the village of Vershina (17th century) - the Arkhangelsk Museum-Reserve "Small Korely"; Resurrection Church from the village of Patakino (18th century) - Suzdal Museum-Reserve; Church of the Assumption (18th century) in the city of Kondopoga.

The history of Russia at the end of the 17th - the 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 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 was 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 established, under which a department of artistic crafts was opened.

A. Nartov. Lathe. Peter's era. 18th 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 life of the palace, 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 a significant difference in stylistic development was outlined, which remained for a long time characteristic of professional creativity and folk art crafts. In the latter, centuries-old traditions of Russian, Ukrainian, Estonian, etc. applied art are developed directly and organically.

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 business-like, strict), were finally forced out by the middle of the 18th century. The dominant position in Russian art is occupied by the so-called Rococo style, which logically completed the trends 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 lifelike flowers, leaves, shells, eyes, etc.) are fully reproduced in Russian architecture and furniture of that time, ceramics, clothing, carriages, ceremonial weapons, etc. However, the development of Russian applied art nevertheless took a completely independent path. Despite the undeniable similarity of the forms of our own products with Western European ones, it is not difficult to notice the differences between them. So, but in comparison with the French, Russian furniture products have much freer forms and are softer in outline and drawing. Masters 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 and painting, which is rare in France, but accepted everywhere 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 occurs in applied art.

In the planning, equipment and decoration of city mansions and palaces (architects Kokorinov, Bazhenov, Quarenghi, Starov, etc.) there is a clear symmetry, proportional clarity. The walls of the premises (between 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 (detail). Mid 18th century

Classic style armchair. Russia. Second half of the 18th century

The floors are made of wood of various species, and sometimes covered with canvas or cloth; ceilings are painted (for example, the grisaille technique imitating relief molding). Instead of stacked parquet, spruce plank "under wax" floors are used. Walls and ceilings are often upholstered with fabric or wallpapered. If marble fireplaces of impressive size are arranged in the front rooms, then more traditional stoves on pedestals or legs, lined with tiles, are erected in the intimate chambers. The difference between the lamps is just as noticeable: in the halls - these are jewelry-made and expensive chandeliers, candelabra, sconces, in the chambers - much more modest candlesticks and lamps. There is even more contrast in the forms of front 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 objective environment as an important factor in the psychologically appropriate atmosphere.

Most furniture and a number of other products at the end of the 18th-first half of the 19th century were not constantly needed; if there was no need, they were either removed or transferred to inactively used parts of the premises. Seating furniture must be covered. In the same connection, transformable furniture with a working plane - 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. a variety of appearance of premises in various everyday situations. At the same time, a number of domestic processes that took place outside the building during the warm season - on the terrace and in the park - were highlighted. As a result, new types of products are spreading - landscape gardening furniture, umbrella awnings, park lamps, etc. In the 18th century, serf workshops were organized at individual estates, producing rather large batches of furniture, porcelain, rugs and other products.

At the end of the 18th century, in the equipment of large palaces, the separation of the actual design of products (furniture, lamps, clocks, tapestries and other utensils and decorations) as a special area of ​​\u200b\u200bcreative activity from their handicraft production already significantly affects. The designers are mainly architects and professional artists. In the production of products for the mass market, machines and mechanical methods of processing materials are used, turning the engineer into a leading figure in production. This leads to a 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 the capitalist development of society and one of the main ones for the entire 19th century.

In the course of the intensive development of capitalist relations in Russia in the 19th century, the capacities of industrial production increased. By the middle of the 19th century, the need for artistically professional staff of product developers and craftsmen was already acutely felt. For their training, specialized educational institutions are 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, a special craft education of master performers has been developing. Many books are published on the technology of processing various materials: wood, bronze, iron, gold, etc. Trade catalogs are published, replacing the previously published magazine "Economic Store". Since the middle of the 19th century, sciences related to issues of occupational health and the use of household items have been formed. However, throughout the 19th century, all mass factory production in artistic terms remained completely subordinate to the undividedly dominant idea of ​​​​beauty as a decorative and ornamental design of products. The consequence of this was the introduction into the form of most of the products of the style elements of classicism: complex profile completions, fluted columns, rosettes, garlands, ornaments based on antique motifs, etc. In a number of 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 line with the so-called Empire style (the first quarter of the century); late classicism (about 1830-1860) and eclecticism (after the 1860s).

The first quarter of the 19th century was marked by a general upsurge in ideological and building scope in Russian architecture, which caused a significant revival in applied art as well.

Empire style armchair. First quarter of the nineteenth century.

The victory in the war of 1812 to a certain extent accelerates and completes the process of formation of the Russian national culture, which is acquiring a pan-European significance. The activity of the most famous architects - Voronikhin, Quarenghi, Kazakov, closely connected 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, Beauvais, who brought new ideas and a different stylistic spirit to Russian art.

Strictness and monumentality are characteristic features of the architecture and forms of various household items of 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, fascia, military attributes (“trophies”), wreaths garlanded, etc. Compared with examples of early classicism in general the amount of decor, its “visual weight” in the compositional solution of products increases. Monumentalization, sometimes, as if coarsening of forms, occurs due to the greater generalization and geometrization of classical ornamental motifs - edging, wreaths, lyres, armor, etc., which are increasingly moving away from their real prototypes. Picturesque (scenes, landscapes, bouquets) painting of objects almost completely disappears. The ornament strives for a spot, contour, applicability. Products for the most part, especially furniture, become large, massive, but diverse in general configuration and silhouette. The heaviness of the Empire style in pieces of furniture almost disappeared already in the 1830s.

From the middle of the 19th century, new searches began in the field of architecture, applied and industrial creativity.

A pan-European artistic movement was born, called "Biedermeier", named after 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, intimacy.

Factory iron. Russia. Second half of the 19th century

In the second half of the 19th century, manual labor was further ousted from the production of utilitarian household products. For centuries, the methods and techniques of their artistic solution, the principles of shaping, which have evolved over the centuries, come into conflict with the new economic trends in the mass character and profitability of producing things on the market. The response to the changing situation is twofold. Some masters - the majority of them - make compromises. Considering indestructible the traditional view of all everyday things as an object of decorative and applied art, they begin to adapt the ornamental motifs of classicism to the capabilities of the machine and serial technologies. “Effective” types of decoration and decoration of products appear. As early as the 1830s in England, Henry Cool put forward the outwardly reformist slogan of decorating factory products with elements "from the world of fine arts forms." Many industrialists eagerly take up the slogan, seeking to take advantage of the consumer mass's attachment to the outwardly decorated, ornamentally enriched forms of home furnishings.

Other theorists and practitioners of applied arts (D. Reskin, W. Morris), on the contrary, propose to organize a boycott of the industry. Their credo is the purity of the traditions of medieval crafts.

In the countries of Western Europe and in Russia, for the first time, handicraft artels and craftsmen, in whose work deep folk traditions were still preserved, attracted the attention of theorists 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 - enthusiastically turn to the folk origins of decorative art. In various regions and provinces of Russia, in cities such as Pskov, Voronezh, Tambov, Moscow, Kamenetz-Podolsk, and others, handicraft enterprises are emerging, the basis of which is manual labor. The work of workshops in Abramtsovo near Moscow, in Talashkino near Smolensk, the enterprise of P. Vaulin near St. Petersburg, and the Murava ceramic artel in Moscow was of particular importance for the revival of creative crafts that were dying out.

Samovar. 19th century

Russia. Second half

Industrial pump. 19th century

However, the products of all these workshops made up 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 of decorative art that preserves folk traditions along with mass machine production of things. Later, this was confirmed by the invasion of machine technology in such areas of decorative and applied arts as jewelry (jewellery), carpet weaving, tailoring, 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, nothing new is practically 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 artistic individuality of the master. If until now stylistic 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, stylistic 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 richest heritage becomes a source of imitations, direct borrowings, or undergoes bizarre creative processing.

Table with modern armchair. End of the 19th century

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

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 formation 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 a strong position 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 everything in art that could compete with the styles of the past. Such at the end of the 19th century was the Art Nouveau style - “new art” in Belgium, Great Britain and the USA, “Jugendstil” in Germany, “Secessions style” in Austria, “free style” in Italy. Its name - "modern" (from French moderne) meant "new, modern" - from lat. modo - "just now, recently." In its pure form, fading away and mixing with other stylistic trends, it did not last long, until about 1920, that is, about 20-25 years, like almost all stylistic trends of the 17th-20th centuries.

Art Nouveau is diverse in different countries and in the work of individual masters, which complicates the understanding of the tasks he solved. However, the characteristic was the almost complete eradication of all previously used decorative and ornamental motifs and techniques, their radical renewal. Traditional cornices, rosettes, capitals, flutes, “incoming wave” 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, articulation 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 some whimsical will of the artist, the tension of a tightly stretched string, exaggerated proportions. In extreme manifestations, all this is sharply exacerbated, elevated to a principle. At times, a disregard for the constructive logic of form emerges, an almost sham passion for the spectacular side of the task, especially in solving interiors, often effectively theatrical.

With all the weaknesses - pretentiousness, sometimes loudness of forms, a new approach to solving the building, interior, furnishings with the logic of a functional, constructive and technological solution has arisen.

Modern style candlestick. Early 20th century

Set of dishes. End of XIX century.

Modern dressing table. Early 20th century

Art Nouveau in the vast majority of its samples did not abandon the decoration of products, but only replaced the old decorative motifs 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 widely, the fashion for the old styles returned, which had a certain connection with the preparations for the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812. The exhibition "Modern Art", arranged in St. Petersburg in 1903, clearly showed the birth of "classicizing modernity".

The results of modernity are complex. This is the cleansing of applied art from eclecticism, and from the “anti-machinism” of the champions of manual crafts, and from failed attempts to restore the styles of the past. These are the first symptoms of the exit of architecture and applied arts to the path of functionalism and constructivism, to the path of modern design. At the same time, having soon discovered a trend towards the nationalization of 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 toward the colorfulness of a Russian fairy tale, to “gingerbread”, etc. In the perspective of the subsequent historical process , solving urgent problems of mass industrial production, such experiments could not have serious ideological and artistic significance, although they gave impetus to the development of another branch of applied art - art crafts and, in particular, theatrical and decorative art.

Art Nouveau, 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 formation of functionalism and constructivism into special directions in 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), X. Berlaga (Holland), A. Loos (Austria), P. Behrens (Germany), F. Wright (USA), I. Shekhtel, I. Rerberg (Russia) and others. Each of them overcame the influence of modernity in his own way and fought.

In 1918, special departments for architecture and the art industry were formed under the Fine Arts Department of the People's Commissariat for Education. 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.

Education in the workshops (in 1927 they were transformed into the VKhUTEIN All-Union Artistic and Technical Institute), was conducted at the faculties: architecture, ceramics, textiles, etc. At the faculty of wood and metal processing under the direction of A. Rodchenko, D . Lissitzky, V. Tatlin and other masters were looking for new forms and designs of various objects. All activities of VKHUTEMAS were aimed at developing in students the skills of an integrated approach to designing the subject environment of everyday life and production.

In the 1920s, a trend of “production art” developed, developing the principles of functionalism and constructivism, striving to establish in the minds of artists the aesthetic ideal of a rationally organized material production. Any former forms of art were declared by the "manufacturers" to be bourgeois, unacceptable to the proletariat. Hence their denial of not only "practically useless" fine art, but also all purely decorative art, such as jewelry. In the 1920s, the 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 connected 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 was formed, overcoming the contradictions in the applied art of the previous period. The practical artistic activity of the founders of design was also the development of the arsenal of artistic and expressive means of the art of creating things. In their works (furniture, lamps, utensils, fabrics, etc.), the closest attention was paid to such properties of materials and forms as texture, color, plastic expressiveness, rhythmic structure, silhouette, etc., which have become crucial in the composition products without conflicting with the requirements of constructive logic and manufacturability of the form. Another area that successfully developed in our country in the 1920s is engineering design. In 1925, in Moscow, according to the project of the outstanding engineer V. Shukhov, the famous radio tower was erected, the openwork silhouette of which became a symbol of Soviet radio for a long time. A year earlier, J. Gakkel created the first Soviet diesel locomotive based on the latest technological achievements, the shape of which even today looks quite modern. In the 1920s, the need for scientific research on the laws of human activity in the objective environment artificially created by him was realized. The Central Institute of Labor is being organized, within its walls, research is being conducted on the issues of the scientific organization of labor, the culture of production. The attention of scientists and designers is attracted by questions of biomechanics, organoleptics, etc. Among the notable works of those years is the project of the workplace of a tram driver (N. Bernshtein).

I. Gakkel. Locomotive. Early 1930s

In the second half of the 18th century, Russian applied art reached a significant upsurge. This was facilitated by the development of the economy, trade, science and technology and, to a large extent, close ties with architecture and fine arts. The number of large and small factories, plants, workshops producing fabrics, glass, porcelain, and furniture grew. The landowners in their estates arranged various workshops based on serf labor.

The humanistic ideas of the Enlightenment were reflected in a peculiar way in the applied art of the late 18th century. The masters of this time were distinguished by attention to personal tastes and needs of a person, the search for convenience in the environment.

The new style - Russian classicism - at the turn of the 1770-1780s was established in all types of applied art. Architects M. F. Kazakov, I. E. Starov, D. Quarenghi, C. Cameron, A. N. Voronikhin created interiors in the spirit of noble simplicity and restraint with a clear division of parts, with a structurally justified arrangement of both plastic and picturesque architectural decor.

Furniture, candelabra, chandeliers were designed for the palace premises in the same principles. In the ornamentation of furniture, dishes, fabrics, built in a clear rhythm, antique motifs appeared - acanthus, meander, ionics, vividly interpreted flowers, garlands, images of cupids, sphinxes. Gilding, colors became softer and more restrained than in the middle of the 18th century.

At the end of the 18th century, a passion for antiquity forced to abandon even a complex and magnificent costume. Light loose dresses with flowing folds, with a high belt in the antique style came into fashion (V. L. Borovikovsky. "Portrait of M. I. Lopukhina." 1797).

The synthesis of arts in Russian classicism is based on the principle of a harmonious combination of all types of arts.

Furniture. During the period of classicism, its forms are simple, balanced, clearly built, the rhythms are calm. The outlines still retained some softness, roundness, but vertical and horizontal lines already stood out. Ornaments (low carvings, paintings, bronze and brass onlays) emphasized the expressiveness of the structures. There was more concern for convenience. For front rooms for various purposes, sets were designed: a living room, an office, a front bedroom, a hall. New furniture forms arose: tables for card games, handicrafts, light portable bobbie tables (with a bean-shaped lid), various types of chests of drawers. Sofas were widely used, and in office furniture bureau-secretaries, a bureau with a cylindrical rolling lid.

As in previous periods, Russian furniture is more massive, more generalized, simpler in details than Western furniture. The material for it was local wood species - linden, birch (with gilding and staining in light colors), walnut, oak, poplar, ash, pear, bog oak. At the end of the 18th century, they began to use Karelian birch and imported colored wood of mahogany, amaranth, rosewood and other species. Masters were able to show their beauty, structure, color, brilliance, skillfully emphasized by polishing.

Russian craftsmen achieved great achievements in the technique of typesetting (marquetry). Its essence is in the composition of ornaments and whole Pictures (usually from engravings) on the surface of wooden objects from pieces of colored wood. Works of this kind are known not only among the capital's court furniture makers, but also among former serfs who worked in Moscow and the Moscow region: Nikifor Vasilyev (Fig. 78), Matvey Veretennikov and the nameless masters of Tver, Arkhangelsk, who introduced walrus ivory into the set. Samples of the high art of carving the furniture of the Ostankino Palace belong to the serfs Ivan Mochalin, Gavrila Nemkov and others. Furniture and carvings by craftsmen from Okhta, who were transferred to the capital from different places under Peter I, were famous in St. Petersburg.

Fabrics. Of all the industries in the second half of the 18th century, the textile industry developed most successfully (Moscow, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Vladimir province). Its rise was determined not only by large manufactories, but also by small peasant enterprises. Special perfection was achieved by the craftsmen in new patterned linen fabrics with complex weaves, with a play of natural silvery-white shades of linen. Here the traditions of peasant weaving, a deep understanding of the material affected. Mass cheap motley and krashenina were also produced. The decorative qualities of colored cloth and woolen fabrics have improved significantly.

The production of silk fabrics for dresses and decorative fabrics, scarves, ribbons developed rapidly (ill. 80). By the end of the 18th century, they were not inferior in quality to French ones - the best in Europe. Russian weavers learned to use a variety of threads, the most complex weaving, reminiscent of embroidery. Compositional techniques, the richness of the palette in decorative fabrics achieved the transfer of space, the subtlety of tone transitions, the accuracy of the pattern of flowers, birds, landscapes. Such fabrics were used in the decoration of palaces, sent as gifts abroad.

Until the 1780s and 1790s, patterns from complex, wavy flower garlands, ribbons, and beads were used in fabrics for dresses, especially in sundress fabrics. But gradually the garlands were replaced by stripes, the patterns became simpler, their rhythms smoother, the color scheme lighter, softer.

In the 1750-1760s in St. Petersburg and later in Moscow, in the village. Ivanovo (now the city of Ivanovo) developed the production of chintz (cotton fabric with a printed pattern with custard, non-fading paints and subsequent burnishing). In the patterns of chintz, the craftsmen, especially those from Ivanovo, reworked the motifs of silk fabrics in a peculiar way. On the basis of folk heeling, they combined a juicy picturesque spot and graphic cutting (pattern contours, lattices, background dots). At first, calicoes were very expensive. By the end of the 18th century, their cheap varieties began to be produced.

Porcelain. By the end of the 18th century, Russian porcelain became one of the best in Europe. The State Porcelain Factory worked successfully in St. Petersburg. His products were distinguished by their slightly warm whiteness, brilliant glaze, and high technical quality. The forms of dishes, vases, their painting were not inferior to Western ones.

The most significant of the services is created - Arabesque for court receptions (1784, ill. 77). The table decoration of this set of nine allegorical sculptures glorifies the annexation of Georgia and the Crimea, the "virtue" of Catherine II (sculptor Zh. D. Rashet). It is dominated by the calm poses characteristic of classicism of the end of the 18th century, light gilding, strict proportions of service dishes painted in the form of arabesques, based on antique ornaments.

In the 1780s, a series of sculptures "Peoples of Russia" was created (creative processing of engravings) - brightly decorative, with characteristic images - representatives of individual nationalities (Yakut, Samoyed, Tatar). Sculptural figurines of street vendors, artisans depicted in motion and at work were produced. Porcelain sculpture has become a favorite decoration of noble interiors for many decades.

Of the private porcelain factories, the factory of Franz Gardner (1765) (Verbilki village near Moscow) is the most viable. Already at the end of the 18th century, he made sets for the royal house with the original use of motifs of Russian orders in the paintings. Fairly cheap Gardner chinaware, distinguished by its simplicity of form and rich flower painting close to folk traditions, was a success both in the capital and in the provinces (ill. 79).

Glass. Colored glass brings true glory to Russian glass in the last third of the 18th century. M.V. Lomonosov, with his work on the theory of color and the technology of colored glasses, opened up new paths for Russian glassmaking, enriched the palette of glass, and revived Russian mosaics. He organized a factory for the production of smalt, beads and glass in the village of Ust-Ruditsa, Petersburg province. Masters of the State-owned plant in St. Petersburg Druzhinin and Kirillov were trained in the melting of colored glass by Lomonosov. The plant masters the production of glass of deep and pure tones - blue, violet, rose-red, emerald green. Now its production is no longer dominated by engraved crystal, but by thin colored and colorless glass. Glasses, goblets, decanters get smooth shapes, in which the body smoothly passes into the leg, creating soft, graceful contours. The gold and silver paintings of garlands, bows, stars, monograms are calm in rhythm and emphasize the plastic volumes of the vessels.

The so-called milky-white glass (mugs, carafes, church objects) is also produced, reminiscent of the appearance and nature of the murals of more expensive porcelain.

By the end of the 18th century, the private glass factories of Bakhmetyev in the Penza province, the Maltsevs in the Vladimir and Oryol provinces, and many others were developing and achieving great success. Their colorless and colored glass, crystal are widely distributed throughout Russia.

Artistic processing of metal. The heyday of jewelry art in Russia begins in the middle of the 18th century and continues throughout the century. It has artistic materials of extraordinary beauty: diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and other precious and semi-precious stones, painted enamels, non-ferrous metals (gold, silver, platinum, alloys). The art of cutting stones reaches a high degree of perfection. To enhance the play of a stone, jewelers find a variety of artistic and technical techniques for mounting, moving parts. Jewelery artists create whimsical shapes, multi-colored jewelry: earrings, rings, snuff boxes, buckles for shoes, buttons for luxurious suits for both men and women.

In the last third of the 18th century, the forms of jewelry acquire balance, the color range of precious stones becomes stricter.

During this period, silversmiths achieved great success. In accordance with the new tastes, the forms of silver sets are simple and clear. They are decorated with flutes, antique ornaments. On silver glasses and snuff boxes, the masters of Veliky Ustyug reproduce from engravings images of ancient scenes, victories of Russian troops.

An outstanding phenomenon in the applied art of the 18th century is the steel art products of Tula masters: furniture, caskets, candlesticks, buttons, buckles, snuff boxes. They build the decorative effect of their works on the opposition of smooth light steel and decorations in the form of faceted pieces sparkling like diamonds. Craftsmen use burnishing (heat treatment in a furnace at different temperatures) of metal, which gives different shades - green, blue, purple, from thick to bright. The traditions of folk art are reflected in the love for bright color, in a deep understanding of the material.

Colored stone. In the second half of the 18th century, deposits of marbles, cherry-pink eagle in the Urals, multicolored jaspers, variegated breccias, Altai porphyries, and blue Baikal lapis lazuli were discovered. In addition to Peterhof (1722-1723) and Yekaterinburg (early 1730s), in the very heart of Altai, the Loktevskaya factory began to work in 1787 (since 1802 it was replaced by Kolyvanskaya). There are ample opportunities for the use of colored stone in the decoration and decoration of monumental and decorative works of palace interiors.

The ability to reveal the aesthetic qualities of the material has always distinguished Russian masters, but it was especially clearly expressed in the art of stone-cutting. Working according to the projects of architects, stone cutters artistically reveal the fabulous beauty of the stone, its natural pattern, unusual shades of color, brilliance, enhancing them with excellent polishing. Gilded bronze in the form of handles, the pommel only complements and emphasizes the shape. Projects for stone-cutting products, obelisks, vases, which were based on ancient forms, were created by Quarenghi and Voronikhin.

The heyday of Russian applied art of the 18th century was associated with the work of the architects Kazakov, Starov, Quarenghi, Cameron, Voronikhin and a number of trained folk artists. But its true glory was created for the most part by the remaining unknown serf craftsmen - furniture makers, carvers, weavers, stone cutters, jewelers, glassmakers, ceramists.

Development of decorative and applied arts contributed to the improvement of handicraft and manufactory production techniques, the emergence of the art industry (manufacturing of tapestries, art glass, faience, stone cutting, silk and cloth production), manufactory production of fashionable things, 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", reflecting new natural-science and technical interests in decorative and applied arts, is significant. In the first half of the 18th century, new forms of education and training of masters at art manufactories appeared; there are guild organizations of artisans in Russia, which does not negate the wide distribution of foreign masters in various areas of decorative and applied arts.

In arts and crafts (interior items, furniture, decor) style is actively dictated by fashion. As a result, new types of objects appear, aesthetic ideas in arts and crafts are updated. In the decorative and applied arts of the middle of the 18th century, there is a tendency for a synthesis of arts, where architecture, sculpture, painting, and applied crafts are merged into a decorative ensemble.

As a result, the art of interior design becomes a special kind of artistic activity in the work of architects of the 18th century. This type of artistic activity causes the emergence of new types of premises (studies, front rooms, bedrooms, living rooms, "picture halls") and their content (Summer Palace, A.D. Menshikov's Palace, Grand Peterhof Palace, Monplaisir).

All this contributes to the development of furniture business, new types and forms of furniture, materials and ways of decorating it appear. The influence of English and Dutch furniture is very strong here. Under the influence of Europe, even the baroque and rococo style in furniture is taking shape in Russia.

Classicism furniture has a characteristic character and form. To a large extent, antique motifs can be traced in the forms and decoration of furniture. In the middle of the 18th century, architects were involved in the development of new types of furniture, furniture art appeared in Russia and author's furniture (Brenna, Lvov, Cameron, Voronikhin). In the second half of the 18th century, the first furniture workshops appeared (the workshop of G. Gambs and I. Ott). For this period in the art of furniture is characterized by the style of "Jacob". By the second half of the 18th century, materials in furniture art were changing: mahogany, gilded wood, poplar, Karelian birch appeared here; Increasingly, textiles and embroidery are used in the manufacture of furniture.

Ceramics and faience occupy a special place in the decorative and applied arts. This happens at first due to the expansion of imports of faience products from England and Holland. However, soon the first private manufactory of A. Grebenshchikov appeared in Moscow, producing Russian fine faience. Later, the style of ceremonial palace dishes with matte engraving was formed, and the fashion for crystal as an interior item spread. This entails the opening of Maltsov's first private glass and crystal factory in the Mozhaisk district.

In the 18th century, due to the growing popularity of arts and crafts, interior decor, the consumption of glass increased, which was used to create a variety of mirrors and lighting fixtures.

Sculpture and painting of the second half of the 18th century.

An important role in the development of 18th century painting was played by creation Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky. Despite the fact that the artist was not officially listed as a student of the Academy, he undoubtedly used the advice of its teachers and, above all, Levitsky. The natural talent and iron perseverance of the young artist soon led to the fact that Borovikovsky was promoted to the ranks of the first masters of the late 18th century. He created a series of excellent portraits of his contemporaries, including G. Derzhavin, V. Arsenyeva, M. Lopukhina, O. Filippova and many others. A constant interest in the spiritual experiences of a person, emphasized lyricism and contemplation, fanned by a haze of sentimentality, so characteristic of the era, are characteristic of most of Borovikovsky's works. The artist never followed the path of external, superficial characteristics of the image, constantly striving to convey the subtlest spiritual movements of the portrayed faces.

His work is dominated by a chamber portrait. Borovikovsky seeks to affirm the self-worth and moral purity of a person (portrait of Lizynka and Dashinka, portrait of E.N. Arsenyeva, etc.). At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, Borovikovsky was attracted by strong, energetic personalities, he focuses on citizenship, nobility, and the dignity of those portrayed. The appearance of his models becomes more restrained, the landscape background is replaced by the image of the interior (portraits of A.A. Dolgorukov, M.I. Dolgoruka, etc.).

Borovikovsky is also a recognized master of portrait miniatures. The collection of the Russian Museum contains works belonging to his brush - portraits of A.A. Menelas, V.V. Kapnist, N.I. Lvova and others. The artist often used tin as the basis for his miniatures.

Russian portrait painting of the 18th century reaches its true height in the work of D.G. Levitsky . Already in one of his early works - a portrait of the architect A. Kokorinov - Levitsky showed outstanding abilities as a painter. The portrait of the great French materialist philosopher D. Diderot, painted by Levitsky in St. Petersburg in 1773, and the series of portraits of pupils of the Smolny Institute created by the artist are of high artistic merit. The images of these girls are marked with sincerity and warmth, the originality of each of them is masterfully conveyed.

Portraits of subsequent years - Lvova, the artist's father, the Bakunins, Anna Davia and many other masterpieces of Levitsky - are clear evidence of his brilliant talent.

Levitsky created an extensive gallery of portraits of his contemporaries, capturing the living images of the people of the era as widely and fully as anyone else. The art of Levitsky completes the history of the development of Russian portrait painting in the 18th century. However, one should also note some historically determined limitations of his work: like other remarkable artists of his time, Levitsky could not reflect the social contradictions of reality. The people depicted by the artist, in accordance with the prevailing aesthetic ideas, always pose somewhat, as if they are trying to show themselves to the viewer in the “most pleasant” light. However, in a number of his works the artist achieves amazing simplicity and vitality.

Levitsky's legacy is enormous and still evokes in the audience a feeling of direct aesthetic pleasure. The professional excellence of his works and their realistic orientation place the artist in one of the most honorable places in the entire history of Russian art.

Among the most famous works of D.G. Levitsky are the following: “Portrait of E.A. Vorontsova”, “Portrait of the architect A.F. Kokorinov”, “Portrait of N.A. Lvov”, “Portrait of M.A. Dyakova”, “Portrait of Ursula Mniszek", "Portrait of Agashi's daughter in Russian costume", etc.

In the field of portraiture, Russian artists of the second half of the 18th century also said their new word. The sharpness of the psychological characteristics, which marked many portraits of this time, is striking - the brush of the best Russian masters is increasingly gravitating towards the truthful transfer of the image of a person. It is significant that at this time portraits were already being created not only of the nobility and the "powerful of this world", but also of a number of progressive public figures. In these portraits, elements of splendor and external gloss are completely absent; artists turn their attention to the transfer of the inner content of a person, to the disclosure of the strength of his mind, the nobility of his thoughts and aspirations.

The development of the Russian portrait found expression in the work of F. Rokotov.

Fedor Stepanovich Rokotov- one of the best Russian portrait painters. Having received an art education under the guidance of L.-J. Le Lorraine and Count Pietro Rotary, worked in the manner of the latter, but he delved into nature more than him and was diligent in execution. In 1762 he was admitted as an adjunct to the newly established St. Petersburg. Academy of Arts for the painting "Venus" presented to her and for the portrait of Emperor Peter III.

Delicate pictorial skill distinguishes the portraits of this artist. The intimate spirituality of the image, especially in female portraits, Rokotov brings to great expressiveness and strength. The highly technical perfection of the artist's works - in terms of the nature of the drawing and pictorial skill, only Levitsky can be compared with him. The portraits created by Rokotov are distinguished by the refinement of the drawing and the elegance of color.

The most famous works of Rokotov include: "Portrait of an unknown woman in a pink dress", "Portrait of A.I. Vorontsov", "Portrait of G.G. Orlov in armor", "Coronation portrait of Catherine II", "Portrait of A.P. Struyskaya" , "Portrait of the poet V.I. Maikov", "Portrait of Surovtseva", etc.

In the second half of the XVIII century. in Russian painting began to develop household genre. However, genre painting was considered by the leadership of the Academy of Arts and the privileged strata of society as something vile, unworthy of the artist's brush. Despite this, after the peasant war led by E. Pugachev, both in literature, theater and music, and in painting of the 1770-1780s. began to show interest in the peasantry, its way of life, way of life. Often these were sentimental images of idyllic shepherds and shepherdesses who had nothing to do with real peasant life. However, there were exceptions.

One of the first in Russian painting, the peasant theme was developed by the serf Prince G. A. Potemkin Mikhail Shibanov . He painted the pictures “Peasant Dinner”, “Feast of the Wedding Pact”, etc. In Shibanov’s paintings there is no denunciation of serfdom, however, in these canvases there is no idealization of peasant life. The artist is distinguished by knowledge and understanding of the life and character of the Russian peasant.

The peasant theme was reflected in the work of the artist I. M. Tankov (1739 - 1799), the author of the painting "Feast in the Village" and I. A. Ermenev (1746 - after 1792), who painted the watercolors "Peasant Lunch", "Beggars Singers" and etc.). For the first time in the history of Russian art, the artist conveyed the gloomy side of folk life, the squalor of poverty.

In the second half of the XVIII century. the real flourishing of Russian sculpture begins. It developed slowly, but Russian Enlightenment thought and Russian classicism were the greatest stimuli for the development of the art of great civic ideas, large-scale problems, which led to interest in sculpture in this period. Shubin, Gordeev, Kozlovsky, Shchedrin, Prokofiev, Martos - each in itself was the brightest individuality, left its mark on art. But all of them were united by common creative principles, which they learned from Professor Nicolas Gillet, who headed the sculpture class at the Academy from 1758 to 1777, common ideas of citizenship and patriotism, and high ideals of antiquity.

The search for the generalized beautiful does not exclude the full depth of comprehension of the human character, the desire to convey its versatility. This striving is palpable in the monumental and decorative sculpture and easel sculpture of the second half of the century, but especially in the portrait genre.

His highest achievements are connected, first of all, with creativity. Fedot Ivanovich Shubin (1740-1805), fellow countryman Lomonosov, who arrived in St. Petersburg already as an artist, who comprehended the intricacies of bone carving. The first work of Shubin in his homeland is a bust of A.M. Golitsyn already testifies to the full maturity of the master. All the versatility of the characteristics of the model is revealed during its circular inspection, although there is undoubtedly the main point of view of the sculpture.

Shubin worked not only as a portrait painter, but also as a decorator. He made 58 oval marble historical portraits for the Chesme Palace (located in the Armory), sculptures for the Marble Palace and for Peterhof, a statue of Catherine II - the legislator (1789-1790). There is no doubt that Shubin is the largest phenomenon in Russian artistic culture of the 18th century. The French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet worked in Russia together with Russian masters. In the monument to Peter the Great on Senate Square in St. Petersburg, he expressed his understanding of Peter's personality and his historical role in the destinies of Russia.

Fyodor Fyodorovich Shchedrin(1751-1825). He went through the same stages of training at the Academy and retirement in Italy and France as Shubin. Executed by him in 1776, "Marsyas" is full of turbulent movement and a tragic worldview. Like all sculptors of the Classical era, Shchedrin is fascinated by ancient images (“Sleeping Endymion”; “Venus”), while showing a particularly poetic penetration into their world.