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THE InstaPLANET CULTURAL UNIVERSE PRESENTS: RUSSIAN MINIATURES OF FEDOSKINO
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YOU ARE IN THE FEDOSKINO GALLERY-1 OF THE ELSNER COLLECTION:
Добро Пожаловать!
We hope you will enjoy this introduction to the unique world of Fedoskino fine-art-in-miniature, an organic part of Russian cultural development since the late 18th century.
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View of St. Petersburg, translucent oil paints, gold and metallics on three matched panels of mother-of-pearl by Fedoskino master artist Sergey Kozlov, 2005
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About this Artist: Prominent Fedoskino artist Sergey Kozlov was born in 1955 in the ancient town of Dmitrov. He graduated from the Fedoskino Art School in 1974. His teachers were Gennady Larishev, Sergey Monashov and P. Davydov
Sergey Kozlov has been a member of the USSR Union of Artists since 1983. His works are found in the permanent collections of many Russian museums. The artist frequently participates in international juried art exhibitions and has been awarded many prizes and honors, among them the National Prize of Russia.
Sergey Kozlov specializes in the fine art of Fedoskino lacquer miniature painting. He is an accomplished master of exquisite and refined form and technique. He combines reflective lacquer surfaces, oils and "through-painting" with translucent paints, preferring to use a cold blue and gray palette in his compositions. By applying an undercoat of gold and mother-of-pearl, he achieves striking color effects and gives his painted scenes a rich glow.
His works are in very high demand among collectors in Russia, Europe and the U.S.
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FEDOSKINO (Федоскино) ...
... is the oldest of the four Art Centers of Russian Lacquer Miniature painting on papier-mâché.
It stands apart both geographically and in the fact that oil paints are used rather than egg tempera.
While allowing the artist a free hand in impressionistic interpretation, the style of Fedoskino painting is largely realistic in composition and detail.
The other three Russian lacquer art centers are PALEKH (Palech - Палех), KHOLUI (Kholuy, Kholuj, Holui - Холуй) and MSTERA (Mstiora - Мстера), situated in the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality, Ivanovo region of central Russia.
All three are deeply rooted in the 17th-19th century Icon Painting tradition, which lasted until the 1917 Russian revolution and is now being revived by young artists of the 21st century.
To this day, the miniaturists of Palekh, Kholui and Mstera continue to employ the established technique of painting in egg-based tempera overlaid with intricate gold leaf highlighting.
The Village of FEDOSKINO, the original center of fine Russian Miniature painting , is located in the picturesque surroundings of Moscow, on the banks of the Ucha River. With its coniferous forest, birch groves, meadows, hills and ravines, Fedoskino is one of the most romantic and astonishing places, and gives rise to some exquisite and delicate visual poetry as exemplified by the works of Fedoskino Artist ALLA KOZLOVA (see illustrations).
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FEDOSKINO is a very old village, world-renowned for its miniature paintings on lacquered papier-mache boxes and -plaques since 1795. The Fedoskino tradition derives from Russian classical painting and miniatures of the 18th and early 19th centuries and the Russian folk arts. The art works are painted with a great variety of subjects like Genre scenes, scenes inspired by Literature, Songs and Fairy-tales, Portraiture, as well as historical and contemporary themes. Here, Fedoskino Artist Yevgeniy SOLODILOV chooses a theme from Pushkin's "Queen of Spades".
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In FEDOSKINO the traditional technology of papier-mache lacquer box making and painting is carefully passed on from generation to generation. It is based on the classical multilayer oil painting techniques used by the Old Masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Karl Brullov, Rubens, and Nattier, as seen in the World's Major Museums.
At present, there are over three hundred Artists working in Fedoskino (out of a population of approx. 2,500). Many of them belong to the families, whose members have been painting miniatures for over 5 generations. Several of them are couples, where both husband and wife are accomplished painters in their own right, like Master Artist Yuriy DUBOVIKOV and his wife Galina DUBOVIKOVA, whose painting of "Peter The Great" in miniature is shown here.
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In the process of creating a true FEDOSKINO masterpiece, three to four layers of oil paint are applied, each being dried and coated with a transparent lacquer, before the entire completed work is polished. The several layers of painting result in a tonal richness and glowing of the colors. The paints are applied in thick opaque layers and / or in "through-painting" with translucent paints over an under-layer of gold leaf or mother of pearl which makes the colors seem to sparkle from within. Gold, silver and bronze powders are often employed instead of gold leaf. Such multiple layers of painting are one of the striking features of the Fedoskino miniature.
Recently, some Russian lacquer artists have incorporated freshwater pearls and other unusual sculptural elements into their creations as exemplified by this miniature casket by Eduard MAKAROV "The Spirit of Holy Russia", which takes on a dreamy, almost metaphysical quality.
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Another undisputed modern Fedoskino Master is Igor Alexandrovich ISAEV.
Isaev (b.1956) has developed his own unique painting technique by fleshing out his compositions with densely applied short dabs of his brush, vaguely reminiscent of pointilism, yet different in cadence.
With this highly specialized technique he achieves a distinct luminescence in his works, which vibrate with a kinetic energy that is reflected back from a silvery bluish-violet palette of pastels.
It conveys to the viewer a sense of catching but a glimpse of a fleeting moment in time.
There is a certain intimacy implied in capturing the mood of a landscape or architectural scene in just one singular unique emotional freeze-frame, which will never present itself again, and can, therefore, never be repeated either as a painting or as a personal experience.
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"I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief." - Jerry Spence, and The InstaPLANET Cultural Universe
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