Work of folk decorative art: types. Folk art Creation of works of folk art

Folk art

artistic, folk art, folklore, artistic creative activity working people; poetry, music, theater, dance, architecture, fine and decorative arts created by the people and existing among the masses. In collective artistic creativity, people reflect their work activities, social and everyday life, knowledge of life and nature, cults and beliefs. The N. t., formed in the course of social labor practice, embodies the views, ideals and aspirations of the people, their poetic fantasy, richest world thoughts, feelings, experiences, protest against exploitation and oppression, dreams of justice and happiness. Having absorbed the centuries-old experience of the masses, N. t. is distinguished by the depth of artistic mastery of reality, the truthfulness of images, and the power of creative generalization.

The richest images, themes, motifs, and forms of literary art arise in the complex dialectical unity of individual (although, as a rule, anonymous) creativity and collective artistic consciousness. For centuries, the people's collective has been selecting, improving and enriching the solutions found by individual masters. Continuity and stability of artistic traditions (within which, in turn, personal creativity is manifested) are combined with variability and diverse implementation of these traditions in individual works.

The collectivity of scientific literature, which constitutes its constant basis and undying tradition, manifests itself during the entire process of the formation of works or their types. This process, including improvisation, its consolidation by tradition, subsequent improvement, enrichment and sometimes renewal of tradition, turns out to be extremely extended in time. It is characteristic of all types of literary work that the creators of a work are simultaneously its performers, and the performance, in turn, can be the creation of variants that enrich the tradition; Also important is the close contact of performers with people who perceive art, who themselves can act as participants in the creative process. The main features of folk music include the long-preserved indivisibility and highly artistic unity of its types: poetry, music, dance, theater, and decorative art merged in folk ritual actions; in the people's home, architecture, carving, painting, ceramics, embroidery created an inseparable whole; folk poetry is closely related to music and its rhythmicity, musicality, and the nature of the performance of most works, while musical genres are usually associated with poetry, labor movements, and dances. The works and skills of scientific literature are directly passed on from generation to generation.

N. T. appeared historical basis of the entire world artistic culture. Its original principles, the most traditional forms, types and partly images originated in ancient times in the conditions of a pre-class society, when all art was the creation and property of the people (see Primitive art). WITH social development of humanity, the formation of a class society, and the division of labor gradually distinguishes professionalized “high,” “scientific” art. N. t. also forms a special layer of world artistic culture. It identifies layers of different social content associated with the class differentiation of society, but by the beginning of the capitalist period, non-fiction art was universally defined as the collective traditional art of the working masses of the village, and then the city. The organic connection with the fundamental principles of the people's worldview, the poetic integrity of the attitude towards the world, and constant polishing determine the high artistic level of folk art. In addition, scientific technology has developed special forms of specialization, continuity of skill, and training in it.

The science of technology from different peoples, often far removed from each other, has many common features and motifs that arose under similar conditions or were inherited from a common source. At the same time, national literature has for centuries absorbed the peculiarities of the national life and culture of each people. It has retained its life-giving labor basis, has remained a treasure trove of national culture, an exponent of national self-awareness. This determined the strength and fruitfulness of the influence of literary criticism on all world art, as evidenced by the works of F. Rabelais and W. Shakespeare, A. S. Pushkin and N. A. Nekrasov, P. Bruegel and F. Goya, M. I. . Glinka and M. P. Mussorgsky. In turn, N. t. adopted a lot from “high” art, which found diverse expression - from classical pediments to peasant huts ah to folk songs based on the words of great poets. N. t. has preserved valuable evidence of the revolutionary sentiments of the people, their struggle for their happiness.

Under capitalist conditions, having fallen into the sphere of bourgeois socio-economic relations, science and technology develops extremely unevenly. Many of its branches are degrading, completely disappearing or are in danger of being replaced; others lose their valuable traits by industrializing or adapting to market demands. In the 19th century height national identity, democratic and national liberation movements, and the development of romanticism aroused interest in N. t. At the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. The influence of folklore on world culture is increasing, some lost branches of folklore are being restored, and museums and societies for its protection are being organized. At the same time, public and private patronage of the arts often subjugates N. t. commercial purposes, the interests of the “tourism industry”, for which it cultivates in it the most archaic features and religious-patriarchal remnants.

In a socialist society, conditions have been created for the preservation and development of scientific technology; inheriting and establishing national folk traditions, it is imbued with the ideas of socialism, the pathos of reflecting a new, transformed reality; N. t. enjoys systematic support from the state and public organizations, and its masters are awarded prizes and honorary titles. A network of research institutions has been created - institutes and museums that study the experience of scientific technology and contribute to its development. Many traditional genres of non-fiction are dying out (for example, ritual folklore, conspiracies, folk drama), but others find a new place in life. New forms of artistic culture of the masses are also being born. Amateur artistic performances (choirs, choreographic groups, folk theaters, etc.), which have a different nature than N. t., but partly use its heritage, are developing intensively. High examples of N. t. created over many centuries retain the meaning of an eternally living cultural heritage, a treasury of artistic experience of the masses.

Folk poetry is the mass verbal artistic creativity of a particular people; the totality of its types and forms, denoted in modern science by this term, has other names - folk literature, oral literature, folk poetry, folklore. Verbal artistic creativity arose in the process of the formation of human speech. In a pre-class society, it is closely connected with other types of human activity, reflecting the beginnings of his knowledge and religious and mythological ideas. In the process of social differentiation of society, various types and forms of oral verbal creativity arose, expressing the interests of different social groups and strata. The most important role in its development was played by the creativity of the working masses. With the advent of writing, literature arose that was historically associated with oral literature.

The collectivity of oral literature (meaning not only the expression of the thoughts and feelings of a group, but above all the process of collective creation and dissemination) determines variability, that is, the variability of texts in the process of their existence. At the same time, the changes could be very different - from minor stylistic variations to significant reworking of the plan. In memorizing, as well as in varying texts, a significant role is played by peculiar stereotypical formulas - so-called commonplaces associated with certain plot situations, passing from text to text (for example, in epics - the formula for saddling a horse, etc.).

In the process of existence, genres of verbal literary fiction experience “productive” and “non-productive” periods (“ages”) of their history (emergence, distribution, entry into the mass repertoire, aging, extinction), and this is ultimately associated with social and cultural - everyday changes in society. The stability of the existence of folklore texts in folk life is explained not only by their artistic value, but also by the slowness of changes in the lifestyle, worldview, and tastes of their main creators and guardians - the peasants. The texts of folklore works of various genres are changeable (albeit to varying degrees). However, in general, traditionalism has immeasurably greater strength in literary fiction than in professional literary creativity.

The collectivity of verbal literature does not mean its impersonality: talented masters actively influenced not only the creation, but also the dissemination, improvement, or adaptation of texts to the needs of the collective. Under the conditions of division of labor, unique professions of production performers arose. N. t. (ancient Greek Rhapsodes and Aeds, Russian Skomorokhs, Ukrainian kobzars (See Kobzar), Kazakh and Kyrgyz Akyns, etc.). In some countries of the Middle East and Central Asia, and in the Caucasus, transitional forms of verbal literature developed: works created by certain individuals were distributed orally, but the text changed relatively little; the name of the author was usually known and was often introduced into the text (for example, Toktogul Satylganov in Kyrgyzstan, Sayat-Nova in Armenia).

The richness of genres, themes, images, and poetics of verbal folk music is due to the variety of its social and everyday functions, as well as the methods of performance (solo, choir, choir, and soloist), the combination of text with melody, intonation, and movements (singing, singing, and dancing, storytelling, acting out, dialogue, etc.). Over the course of history, some genres have undergone significant changes, disappeared, and new ones have appeared. In the ancient period, most peoples had tribal traditions, work and ritual songs, and conspiracies. Later, magical and everyday tales, tales about animals, and pre-state (archaic) forms of Epic arose. During the formation of statehood, a classic heroic epic, then historical songs (See Song) and ballads (See Ballad) arose. Even later, non-ritual lyrical song, Romance, Chastushka and other small lyrical genres and, finally, workers' folklore (revolutionary songs, oral stories, etc.) were formed.

Despite the bright national coloring of the works of literary N. t. different nations, many motifs, images and even plots in them are similar. For example, about two-thirds of the plots of fairy tales of European peoples have parallels in the fairy tales of other peoples, which is caused either by development from one source, or by cultural interaction, or by the emergence of similar phenomena based on general patterns of social development.

Until the late feudal era and the period of capitalism, verbal scientific literature developed relatively independently of written literature. Later, literary works penetrate the popular environment more actively than before (for example, “The Prisoner” and “Black Shawl” by A. S. Pushkin, “Peddlers” by N. A. Nekrasov; see also about this in the article Free Russian Poetry, Popular literature). On the other hand, the work of folk storytellers acquires some features of literature (individualization of characters, psychologism, etc.). In a socialist society, the accessibility of education provides an equal opportunity to discover the talents and creative professionalization of the most gifted people. Various forms of mass verbal and artistic culture (the work of songwriters, ditties, the composition of interludes and satirical skits, etc.) are developing in close contact with professional socialist art; Among them, traditional forms of verbal literary fiction continue to play a certain role. Centuries of existence have ensured the enduring artistic value and the long-term existence of such songs, fairy tales, legends, etc., which most clearly reflect the characteristics of the spiritual makeup of the people, their ideals, hopes, artistic tastes, and way of life. This also determines the profound influence of verbal literary theory on the development of literature. M. Gorky said: “... The beginning of the art of speech is in folklore” (“On Literature”, 1961, p. 452). For the recording of folklore, its study, and methodological principles of study, see Folklore.

Folk music ( musical folklore) - vocal (mainly song), instrumental and vocal-instrumental collective creativity of the people; exists, as a rule, in non-written form and is transmitted through performing traditions. Being the property of the entire people, musical theater exists mainly thanks to the performing art of talented nuggets. These are among different peoples Kobzar, guslar (see Gusli), buffoon (See Buffoons), Ashug, Akyn, kuishi (see Kuy), Bakhshi, gusan (See Gusans), Hafiz, olonkhosut (see Olonkho), aed (See Aeds), Juggler, Minstrel, Shpilman, etc. The origins of folk music, like other arts, go back to the prehistoric past. The musical traditions of various social formations are extremely stable and tenacious. Every historical era more or less ancient and transformed works coexist, as well as newly created works based on them. Together they form the so-called traditional musical folklore. Its basis is the music of the peasantry, which for a long time retains the features of relative independence and is generally different from the music associated with younger, written traditions. The main types of musical folklore are songs (See Song), epic tales (for example, Russian epics, Yakut olonkho), dance melodies, dance choruses (for example, Russian ditties (See Chastushka)), instrumental pieces and tunes (signals). , dancing). Each piece of musical folklore is represented by a whole system of stylistically and semantically related variants that characterize changes in folk music in the process of its performance.

The genre wealth of folk music is the result of the diversity of its vital functions. Music accompanied the entire working and family life of the peasant: calendar holidays of the annual agricultural circle (carols (See Carols), Vesnyanka, Maslenitsa, Kupala songs), field work (mowing, harvest songs), birth, wedding (lullabies and wedding songs), death (funeral lamentations). Among pastoral peoples, songs were associated with taming a horse, driving livestock, etc. Later greatest development in the folklore of all peoples, lyrical genres have appeared, where simple, short melodies of labor, ritual, dance and epic songs or instrumental tunes are replaced by detailed and sometimes complex musical improvisations - vocal (for example, Russian drawn-out song, Romanian and Moldavian Doina) and instrumental (for example, program pieces by Transcarpathian violinists, Bulgarian cavalists, Kazakh dombra players, Kyrgyz komuz players, Turkmen dutarists, Uzbek, Tajik, Indonesian, Japanese and other instrumental ensembles and orchestras).

In various genres of folk music, various types of Melos have developed - from recitative (Karelian, Runes, Russian epics, South Slavic epic) to richly ornamental (lyrical songs of Near and Middle Eastern musical cultures), polyphony (See polyphony) (polyrhythmic a combination of voles in ensembles of African peoples, German choral chords, Georgian quarto-second and Middle Russian subvocal polyphony, Lithuanian canonical Sutartins), rhythmics (See Rhythmics) (in particular, rhythmic formulas that generalized the rhythm of typical labor and dance moves), mode-scale systems (from primitive narrow-voluminous modes to developed diatonic “free melodic structure”). The forms of stanzas, couplets (paired, symmetrical, asymmetrical, etc.), and works as a whole are also varied. Musical music exists in single-voice (solo), antiphonal (see Antiphon), ensemble, choral, and orchestral forms. The types of choral and instrumental polyphony are varied - from heterophony (See Heterophony) and bourdon (a continuously sounding bass background) to complex polyphonic and chord formations. Each national folk musical culture, including a system of musical folklore dialects, forms a musical and stylistic whole and at the same time unites with other cultures into larger folklore and ethnographic communities (for example, in Europe - Scandinavian, Baltic, Carpathian, Balkan, Mediterranean and etc.).

The recording of folk music (in the 20th century with the help of sound recording equipment) is carried out by a special scientific discipline - musical ethnography, and its study - ethnomusicology (musical folkloristics).

On the basis of folk music, almost all national professional schools arose, each of which contains examples of various uses of folklore heritage - from the simplest arrangements of folk melodies to individual creativity, freely implementing folklore musical thinking, laws specific to a particular folk musical tradition. In modern musical practice, music is a fertilizing force for both professional and various forms of amateur art.

In Russia, the dramas “Tsar Maximilian and his rebellious son Adolf”, “Boat” (variants - “Boat”, “Gang of Robbers”, “Stepan Razin”, “Black Raven”) were most widespread in the peasant, soldier, and factory environment; The dramas “King Herod” and “How the Frenchman Took Moscow” were also performed. By their type, they belong to the tyrant-fighting, heroic or so-called robber dramas known among many nations. “Tsar Maximilian” has a literary source - the school drama “The Crown of Demetrius” (1704), which is based on “The Life of St. Demetrius”; “The Boat” (late 18th century) is a dramatization of the folk song “Down the Mother Volga.” The final formation of these plays is associated with the inclusion in their text of fragments from the works of poets of the late 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. - G. R. Derzhavin, K. N. Batyushkov, A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, motives and images of popular print novels. In Rus' there were also satirical plays “The Barin”, “The Naked Barin”, “Petrushka”.

The most characteristic feature folk theater(as in folk art in general) is the open convention of costumes and props, movements and gestures; During the performances, the actors directly communicated with the audience, who could give cues, intervene in the action, direct it, and sometimes take part in it (sing along with the choir of performers, portray minor characters in crowd scenes). The folk theater, as a rule, had neither a stage nor decorations. The main interest in it is focused not on the depth of revealing the characters of the characters, but on the tragic or comical nature of situations and situations. Of great importance are the exit monologues of the characters, the performance by the characters of songs (folk or specially composed for the performance), and arias from operas. There are two types of characters in folk drama - dramatic (heroic or romantic) and comic. The former are distinguished by a high solemn style of addresses, monologues and dialogues, the latter by comic, parody techniques, and wordplay. The traditional performance in the folk theater subsequently determined the emergence of a special type theatrical performances, obtained a stable form. These performances in many countries are called traditional theater. Folk dance pantomime performances have been widespread in Asian countries since ancient times. On their basis, the traditional theater of the peoples of Asia was formed: wayang topeng theaters in Indonesia, kolam theaters on the island. Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Kathakali in India, etc.

The originality of the artistic and performing techniques of the folk theater attracted professional theater figures and was used by them (W. Shakespeare, Moliere, C. Goldoni, A. N. Ostrovsky, E. De Philippe, etc.).

Folk dance is one of the oldest types of folk dance. The dance was part of folk performances at holidays and fairs. The appearance of round dances and other ritual dances is associated with folk rituals (Ceylonese fire dance, Norwegian torch dance, Slavic round dances associated with the rituals of curling a birch tree, weaving wreaths, and lighting fires). Gradually moving away from ritual actions, round dances were filled with new content that expressed new features of everyday life. Peoples engaged in hunting and animal husbandry reflected their observations of the animal world in their dance. The character and habits of animals, birds, and domestic animals were conveyed figuratively and expressively: the buffalo dance North American Indians, Indonesian pencak (tiger), Yakut bear dance, Pamir - eagle, Chinese, Indian - peacock, Finnish - goby, Russian crane, gander, Norwegian cockfight, etc. Dances on the theme of rural labor arise: Latvian dance of reapers, Hutsul - woodcutters , Estonian - shoemakers, Belarusian lyank, Moldavian poame (grapes), Uzbek silkworm, buttermilk (cotton). With the advent of craft and factory labor, new folk dances emerged: the Ukrainian cooper, the German glassblowers’ dance, the Karelian “How cloth is woven”, etc. Folk dances often reflect the military spirit, valor, heroism, battle scenes are reproduced (“pyrrhic” dances of the ancient Greeks, combining dance art with fencing techniques, Georgian khorumi, berikaoba, Scottish sword dance, Cossack dances, etc.). Great place in dance N. the theme of love is occupied; initially these dances were openly erotic; later dances appeared that expressed the nobility of feelings, a respectful attitude towards a woman (Georgian Kartuli, Russian Baynovskaya Quadrille, Polish Masur).

Each nation has developed its own dance traditions, plastic language, special coordination of movements, methods of relating movement to music; For some, the construction of a dance phrase is synchronous with the musical one, for others (among the Bulgarians) it is not synchronous. The dances of the peoples of Western Europe are based on the movement of the legs (the arms and body seem to accompany them), while in the dances of the peoples of Central Asia and other Eastern countries the main attention is paid to the movement of the arms and body. In folk dance, the rhythmic principle always dominates, which is emphasized by the dancer (tamping, clapping, ringing of rings, bells). Many dances are performed to the accompaniment of folk instruments which dancers often hold in their hands (castanets, tambourine, drum, doira, accordion, balalaika). Some dances are performed with household accessories (scarf, hat, dish, bowl, bowl). The costume has a great influence on the nature of the performance: for example, Russian and Georgian dancers help the smoothness of their movements. long dress covering the feet; A characteristic movement in Russian and Hungarian men's dance is tapping on the top of hard boots.

The flourishing and popularity of folk dance in the USSR contributed to the emergence of a new stage form - folk dance ensembles. In 1937, the USSR Folk Dance Ensemble was created, which established stage folk dance in professional choreography. Elements of folk dance are also used in classical ballet. In all republics Soviet Union Professional folk dance ensembles and song and dance ensembles have been created. Professional and amateur folk stage dance groups are common in countries around the world (see Dance).

Folk architecture, fine and decorative arts include tools, buildings (see Wooden architecture, Housing), household utensils and household furnishings (see Wood in art, Iron, Ceramics, Artistic varnishes, Furniture, Copper, Art vessels, Glass ), clothing and fabrics (see Embroidery, Kilim, Carpet, Lace, Printed cloth, Clothing, Art fabrics), toys (See Toy), Lubok, etc. Among the most important artistic and technical processes common in science and technology are pottery, weaving, artistic carving, decorative painting, forging, artistic casting, engraving, embossing, etc. Folk architecture and decorative arts belong to material production and are directly creative in nature; hence the unity in them of aesthetic and utilitarian functions, imaginative thinking and technical ingenuity.

By creating and designing an object-based environment and giving object-aesthetic expression to labor processes, everyday life, calendar and family rituals, N. t. has been an integral part of the slowly changing structure of people's life from time immemorial. In some features of the N. t., norms of work and life, cults and beliefs can be traced, dating back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The most common element of artistic design is the ornament, which was born in antiquity, which helps to achieve organic unity of the composition and is deeply interconnected with the technique of execution, the feeling of the subject, the plastic form, and the natural beauty of the material. Individual ornamental motifs, most of which originally had a mythological meaning (“world tree”, “great goddess” with her upcoming ones, solar symbols), captured the features of primitive consciousness, mythological and magical ways of communicating with nature. These ancient roots appear, for example, in folk toys, in which the features of primitive cult plastic art can be traced. The works of N. t. are often characterized by a specific connection with one or another custom, which persists even when the memory of the cult nature or mythological conditionality of this custom is lost. This also explains the fragility and ephemerality of many N. t. objects (sand drawings, painted eggs), designed for periodic reproduction in a regularly repeated ritual.

Unlike the “high” art of the social elite, N. t. does not know contrasting changes in artistic styles. In the course of its evolution, individual new motifs appear, but the degree of stylization and the nature of understanding of old motifs change more; images that were once associated with indigenous ideas about the world gradually acquired a narrowly utilitarian meaning (for example, in various amulets and spell signs that decorated everyday objects) or began to play a purely decorative role, while the shape of the object often underwent only minor structural and functional changes . The idea of ​​a thing in scientific art is usually not fixed in a preparatory model or drawing, but lives in the mind and hand of the master; at the same time, the results of his individual ingenuity, leading to the development of the most rational methods of work, must be accepted by the people's collective. Because of this, the tradition fixed by centuries of selection undergoes constant, but only partial, specific changes. Ancient objects(for example, wooden duck ladles) can be extremely close to life; Later interpretations of these forms in scientific literature, while preserving the original typology and figurative basis, combine them with centuries-old techniques of generalization, decorative stylization, and the rational use of technical means and materials.

As society differentiates itself by class, the prerequisites arise for the emergence of artistic production, serving the needs of the lower strata of society and initially limited to domestic artistic work for oneself and to village crafts. The presence of a special folk branch is already revealed in ancient art (for example, in votive objects (See Votive objects) of the Italo-Etruscan circle, reminiscent of Neolithic sculpture). The initial monuments of palace and even religious architecture are clearly connected with the simplest ancient examples of folk wooden and stone architecture (Aegean Megaron, German halle), portable dwellings of nomads, etc., but then the paths of urban and estate construction diverge sharply and folk architecture, serving mainly peasant life (a residential building, threshing floor, barn, barn, stable, etc.).

In medieval Europe, feudal-church culture was opposed by the desire to preserve the cultural tradition of the clan system, economic and political isolation, and the cult of local gods; an expression of this became the folk current in medieval art, usually saturated with images of the animal style (See Animal style). The folk worldview, expressed with particular purity in pagan jewelry-amulets, also appears in monuments that are examples of the influence of folk culture on the court and church (such are the reliefs of the Vladimir-Suzdal school (See Vladimir-Suzdal school), the grotesque plasticity of Romanesque and Gothic churches, ornamentation of manuscripts). However, the underdevelopment of commodity-money relations, the weak differentiation of forms of life, as well as the fundamental anonymity of medieval art and the proximity of its masters to the people did not contribute to the complete isolation of art. In countries that later entered the early capitalist stage of development, in particular in medieval Rus', such the situation persisted until the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. In the countries of the East, which preserved the medieval way of life especially for a long time (until the 19th and 20th centuries), all decorative and applied arts are deeply imbued with folk craft skills, and highly developed arts and crafts are not fundamentally different from the crafts of the privileged strata; in the fine arts of a number of countries there is a strong folk current (Chinese, Japanese, Indian popular prints). Finally, in countries that experienced colonization, the basis for national culture was usually the ancient native culture, although it absorbed many features of the introduced cultures.

With the decomposition of feudalism and the guild system, a folk art craft working for the market emerged; Thanks to this, N.T., while still maintaining a close connection with folk life, masters new types of products, new forms and themes. On the other hand, the identification of artistic individuality and the cult of ancient art, established during the Renaissance, lead to the fact that literary art emerges more and more clearly as something local, isolated, tied to native antiquity. Folk art culture - works religious art(votive painting, icons painted on glass, painted sculpture), rapidly developing from the 16th-17th centuries. (especially in countries of the Catholic cult), the design of festivals, lubok, with their naive archaism of forms, already has a completely different figurative system than the refined, sometimes innovative unusual works"high" art; A similar discrepancy arises in the style of household items. This gap is less noticeable where folkloric elements penetrate deeply into the culture of the privileged strata and the church. In Russia this was manifested, for example, in the architecture of the palace in the village. Kolomenskoye (17th century), with its abundance of forms of folk wooden architecture, and in countries Latin America- in the decor of Baroque churches, which absorbed the features of the art of pre-Columbian civilizations. In the 17th-18th centuries. in N. t. the ideographic principle noticeably weakens. In plant motifs, now everywhere replacing symbolic-geometric patterns, the decorative structure becomes freer and more diverse. More and more fresh observations and everyday stories are penetrating into folklore, and the desire for a fairy-tale-folklore understanding of life is growing. upper strata society, to borrowing the forms of dominant styles, simulating the texture of expensive and labor-intensive materials. However, new motifs and forms (Renaissance, Baroque, Empire), penetrating into literary style, retain only a very distant resemblance to the model, becoming simplified and frozen in a rhythmically clear decorative scheme. In general, for the 17th - early 19th centuries. This is the era of the heyday of N. t., which gave an extraordinary variety of its types and forms. This was facilitated by equipping N.T. with materials and tools previously inaccessible to him, the emergence of new technical capabilities, and broadening his horizons folk artists, development of folk lyrics and satire.

In the 19th century the intensively developing artistic handicraft production is increasingly drawn into the system of the capitalist economy; Trade crafts in most countries are finally separated from conservative home crafts. In Russia after 1861, folk arts and crafts acquired the character of private workshops working for the all-Russian market. The narrow specialization of crafts, the growing division of labor and the standardization of motifs give rise to patterns and forms that are extremely fused with virtuoso techniques of technical execution (sometimes reaching almost machine speed); at the same time, artisanal, mechanically impeccable skill is increasingly crowding out creativity. By imitating examples of mass urban production, often random and anti-artistic, masters destroy the unity of technical and aesthetic principles typical of folklore. Compositions that were previously strictly organized and rich in semantic associations become freer, but less logical. In painting, tempera paints are being replaced by oil paints, and later by aniline paints; the folk icon and popular print are replaced by Oleography; in plastic, the three-dimensional object form loses its architectural character. The image and ornament, previously fused with the thing, now become like a picture pasted onto the surface. Some industries, unable to withstand competition with cheap factory products, decline or die out, but others emerge and expand, using mostly techniques, stylistics, and even examples of professional easel art and the commercial art industry. In a number of countries that previously had the richest cultural heritage (England, Denmark, the Netherlands), it almost completely disappears, but is developing intensively in industrially backward areas that have preserved powerful layers of medieval culture (the northern provinces of Russia, Brittany in France, Tyrol in Austria , Slovakia, Balkan countries, Spain, Sicily in Italy).

Since the mid-19th century, following the recognition of the value of verbal folklore, interest in folk decorative art arose in a number of countries. Since that time, the aesthetics of national art (both national and exotic), its colorfulness and rhythm have increasingly influenced professional architecture and the fine and decorative arts. The collection of art collections begins, public organizations and philanthropic circles revive a number of extinct crafts and organize new ones. This activity acquired particular scope at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. with the spread of the “Modern” style and related national-romantic movements. However, by imposing easel-type solutions on folk craftsmen, artists and theorists of “modernism” often showed a lack of understanding of the specifics of artistic painting. Similar mistakes were made later (including in Soviet practice in the 1930s-50s); in a number of capitalist countries, on the contrary, attempts were made to bring folk sculpture and ornament closer to abstract art.

The works of modern folk art are mainly of the nature of decorative items and souvenirs, figuratively indicating the uniqueness of the folk culture of a particular area; Thanks to their clearly handmade appearance, they impart characteristics of national tradition and immediate humanity to an environment created largely by standardized industrial means. Folk arts and crafts play an important role in the economies of developing countries. In many countries (primarily in the USSR and other socialist states), funds are being sought to protect folk crafts and their artistic originality, the activities of folk craftsmen are encouraged through competitions and exhibitions, vocational schools and colleges train artists and performers. With the participation of research institutes and museums, traditions are carefully studied and samples of art are collected, in particular, in order to highlight products and decorative techniques that are in tune with the modern way of life. N. t. has an undiminished influence on the art industry, helping to find the most expressive forms and decor of everyday things; Some features of folk art live in the works of amateur artists, as well as professional artists who use the experience of folk art. A number of extinct folk crafts have been revived in the USSR, many have received new development and are associated with Soviet life orientation (thus, former centers of icon painting became world-famous centers of lacquer miniatures). In the diverse types and genres of Soviet literature, careful preservation of folk traditions is combined with a breadth of interests and an active perception of Soviet reality.

For information about the literary arts of various peoples, see the sections Literature, Architecture and Fine Arts, Music, Ballet, Drama Theatre, and Circus in articles about individual countries and the republics of the USSR.

Lit.: Chicherov V.I., K. Marx and F. Engels about folklore. Bibliographic materials, in the collection: Soviet folklore, No. 4-5, M. - L., 1934; Bonch-Bruevich V.D., V.I. Lenin on oral folk art, “Soviet Ethnography”, 1954, No. 4; Lenin's legacy and the study of folklore, Leningrad, 1970. Propp V. Ya., Specifics of folklore, in the book: Proceedings of the anniversary scientific session of Leningrad State University. Section of Philological Sciences, Leningrad, 1946; his, Folklore and Reality, “Russian Literature”, 1963, No. 3; Chicherov V.I., Questions of the theory and history of folk art, M., 1959; Gusev V. E., Aesthetics of folklore, Leningrad, 1967; Bogatyrev P. G., Questions of the theory of folk art, M., 1971; Kravtsov N. I., Problems Slavic folklore, M., 1972; Chistov K.V. Specificity of folklore in the light of information theory, “Questions of Philosophy”, 1972, No. 6; Schulze F. W., Folklore..., Halle/Saale, 1949; Cocchiara G., Storia del folklore in Europa, Torino, 1952 (Russian translation - M., 1960); Corso R., Folklore, 4 ed., Napoli, 1953; Thompson S., Motifindex of folk-literature, v. 1-6, Bloomington, 1955-58; Aarne A. The types of the folktale. A classification and bibliography, 2 ed., Hels., 1964; Krappe A. H., The science of folklore, N. Y., 1964; Bausinger H., Formen der "Volkspoesie", B., 1968; Vrabile G., Folklorul. Obiect. Principle. Methoda. Categorii, Buc., 1970.

Melts M. Ya., Russian folklore. Bibliographic index, 1945-1959, Leningrad, 1961; the same 1917-1944, L., 1966; the same 1960-1965, L., 1967; Kushnereva Z.I., Folklore of the peoples of the USSR. Bibliographic sources in Russian (1945-1963), M., 1964; Volkskundliche BibliogrgIphie B, - Lpz., 1919-957; [Continued], in the book: Internationale volkskundliche BibliogrgIphie Bonn, 1954-70.

Bartok B., Why and how to collect folk music [trans. from Hungarian], M., 1959; Kvitka K.V., Izbr. works..., vol. 1-, M., 1971-1973; Essays on the musical culture of the peoples of Tropical Africa, collection. art., comp. and ter. L. Golden, M., 1973; Bose F., MusikaIlische Völkerkunde, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1953; Nettl B., Theory and method in ethnomusicology L. 1964; Brăiloiu S. Folklore musical, in his book: CEuvres, v. 2, Buc., 1969, p. 19-130.

Alferov A.D., Petrushka and his ancestors, M., 1895: Onchukov N.E., Northern folk dramas, St. Petersburg, 1911; Russian folk drama of the 17th-20th centuries. Texts of plays and descriptions of performances, ed., intro. Art. and comments by P. N. Berkov, M., 1953: History of Western European Theater, ed. S. S. Mokulsky, vol. 1, M., 1956; Avdeev A.D., Origin of the theater, M. - L., 1959; Vsevolodsky-Gerngross V.N., Russian oral folk drama, M., 1959; Dzhivelegov A.K., Italian folk comedy..., 2nd ed., M., 1962; Cohen S. Le théâtre en France au moyen-âge, v. 1-2, nouv. ed., P., 1948.

Tkachenko T. S. Folk dance M., 1954; Goleizovsky K. Ya. Images of Russian folk choreography, M., 1964; The encyclopedia of social dance, N.Y., 1972.

K. V. Chistov(literature),

I. I. Zemtsovsky(music),

N. I. Savushkina(theater),

A. K. Chekalov, M. N. Sokolov(architecture, fine and decorative arts).

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Folk arts and crafts. Artistic crafts of Russia
Part 1

Compiled by Tatiana Kosntantinova

ISBN 978-5-4485-5649-4

Created in the intellectual publishing system Ridero

Preface

The currently intensifying processes of erosion of the spiritual identity of national culture are gradually leading to the loss of the historical and cultural identity of individual territories, cities and regions. The commercialization of cultural life continually unifies folk customs and traditions based on foreign models, resulting in the loss of national and cultural identity and the destruction of cultural individuality. Current problems Today there is also a decline in the level of artistic culture of the population, a lack of demand for traditional decorative applied arts as a means artistic development personality, decreased interest both in artistic creativity and in art in general. All of the above leads to the loss of technologies of folk crafts and crafts, traditional forms artistic creativity, the transformation of folk art products into a type of mass souvenir products.

The author of the proposed manual tries to solve the above problems by systematizing numerous materials about decorative and applied arts. This publication is aimed at developing various categories population of artistic culture using the example of the best examples of world decorative and applied art, nurturing historical consciousness and a sense of identity with the image of traditional culture. A large number of educational information and numerous illustrations presented in the book will introduce the reader to the basics of decorative and applied art, through which in various historical periods people expressed their ideas about beauty, trying to transform the surrounding space according to the laws of harmony and beauty.

Petryakov Petr Anatolievich,

Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Pedagogy

technologies and crafts, NovSU.

1. Folk arts and crafts in the system of cultural values

Latin worddecorare translated as"decorate". This is the root of the concept"decorative" , that is"decorated" . Therefore the term"decorative arts" literally means"the ability to decorate" .

Folk arts and crafts (NDPA) are an integral part of artistic culture, which develops according to its own laws. Works created by masters of folk arts and crafts reflect the artistic traditions, world understanding, worldview and artistic experience of the people, preserve historical memory and have spiritual and material value, distinguished by beauty and usefulness.

Masters of folk arts and crafts create their works from a variety of materials. They pass on technical skills from generation to generation. Because of this, a tradition consolidated over centuries selects only the best creative achievements.

The most common types of folk arts and crafts are artistic ceramics, weaving, lace-making, embroidery, painting, wood or stone carving, forging, casting, engraving, embossing, etc. All this, for the most part, is created so that you can use in everyday life.

When decorating works of the mineral extraction tax, great importance is given to the ornament, which not only decorates the object (thing) or is its structural element, but also carries a semantic load that has ancient mythological roots. Painting a jug with patterns, decorating a cutting board with carvings, knitting a lace napkin, weaving patterns on fabric - all this requires great skill. Such ornamented products have great value, which is that to create this amazing beauty you need to put your hands on it.

How can you determine whether a given product is a work of decorative art? Sometimes they argue like this: if a vase has a beautiful shape, but it is not decorated with anything, then it is not a work of decorative art, but if you put some kind of pattern on it, it will immediately turn into a work. This is wrong. Sometimes the ornaments decorating a vase make it a tasteless fake and turn it into kitsch. Conversely, a vessel made of pure clay or wood can be so striking in its perfection that its artistic value becomes obvious.

What are the similarities and differences between works of folk and professional arts and crafts? How can you tell whether a vase or carpet is a work of folk or professional decorative art?

Sometimes, based on the method of making a thing, the share of manual labor in this process, and the mass circulation, they try to classify works of applied art as folk or professional decorative art. This is extremely difficult to do, since folk art products are sometimes created in factories, and decorative works by professional artists are sometimes created in one copy.

Today, just like a hundred years ago, a folk artist mainly performs an artistic work by hand. At the same time, the master can work either alone or in a team, as well as in organized workshops and even in factories in the centers of traditional folk arts and crafts.

As a rule, works of decorative and applied art are created by artists from art industry enterprises or workshops. They participate both in the production of decorative items produced in mass quantities, and in the creation of individual designer designs. Professional artists in their work can rely on images of world artistic culture, refract the traditions of folk art in their own way, or completely follow only their individuality and imagination.

The most important thing when determining which type of art to classify this or that thing is to determine within the framework of which artistic tradition it was created, whether the characteristics of the image-type of a particular craft and the technology of processing the material are observed.

The creations of folk craftsmen and applied artists are united by thoughtfulness, expediency and stylistic unity of all elements.

Ability to analyze means of expression the image of an artistic object in folk and decorative arts is necessary in order to feel and learn to better understand the general and special in each of them.

It is very interesting to trace how all the main artistic means of language visual arts acquire a new meaning and their own specificity in folk and decorative arts. In this regard, one of the most important is the question of the relationship between the pictorial and graphic in decorative works, that figurativeness or plasticity predominates in them. For example, in the ornaments of Khokhloma and Zhostovo, the main thing is the picturesque principle, and the ornaments of the Kubachi and Balkhar masters are basically graphic.

It should be said about the complex interaction of plastic and pictorial principles in the decorative arts. In some products, the plastic carries the beginning of the picturesque - Skopinskaya, Kargopol, Filimonovskaya, Dymkovskaya toys. In others, the picturesque carries within itself the beginning of the plastic: Zhostovo, Gorodets and Polkhov-Maidan paintings, Pavlovo Posad shawls, Vologda lace.

The synthesis of part and whole is obligatory for a folk artist, no matter how his palette expands, no matter what predominates - the pictorial or ornamental principle.

The expressiveness of line, silhouette, rhythm, color, proportions, shape, space in each type of decorative art largely depends on the materials used and the technology of their processing.

A folk craftsman or artist of decorative and applied arts strives to show in his work the best way aesthetic qualities of materials: wood, textiles, metal, ceramics, glass, paper, bone, leather, stone, etc.

Decorativeness in folk arts and crafts it is the main means of expressing beauty, at the same time it is a feature of works of other types of art (pictures 1, 2).

It is necessary to take into account that in each type of art the artistic image has its own structure, determined, on the one hand, by the peculiarities of the expression of spiritual content, and on the other hand, by technology, the nature of the material in which this content is embodied. The artistic image in folk and decorative arts has common and distinctive features.

The decorative image expresses not the individual, but the general - “specific”, “generic” (leaf, flower, tree, bird, horse, etc.). A decorative image requires artistic-imaginative thinking, a mythopoetic attitude to reality.

Therefore, in folk art it is customary to highlight image-types of products of traditional artistic crafts, which reflect the mythological and aesthetic ideas of the people. For example, the image of a bird, a horse, the tree of life, a woman, signs-symbols of the earth, water, sun can be seen in different art materials: embroidery, weaving, lace, painting on wood and metal, wood carving, ceramics, etc. The stability and traditional nature of these images largely determine the high artistic and aesthetic value of works of folk art.

At the same time, the universality of image-types in the art of different peoples of the world shows their unity, associated with the commonality of approaches to the process of aesthetic cognition of natural and social phenomena.

Images in professional decorative art also reflect the ideas of a particular people about beauty. They are also often created based on natural or geometric motifs, but here great freedom is allowed in the interpretation of images. Historical subjects or themes of modern life are actively used in works of applied art.

Now let’s look at the similarities and differences in the concepts of “artistic image”, “symbol” and “sign” using the example of works of folk decorative art. The most capacious and multifaceted concept will be “artistic image”. In some cases, a symbol is a sign endowed with the organic nature and inexhaustible ambiguity of the image. In others, a symbol is not equivalent to an artistic image, but, what is especially important, it must always have artistic value. Thus, an artistic image does not always have a symbolic meaning, and a symbol is not always figuratively expressive. A symbolic image, as a rule, does not carry any figurative and symbolic significance, although in folk art very often all signs are symbols, and sometimes even images.

Figure 3. Symbols of the sun, a sown field and vegetation on the blade of a carved spinning wheel.

For example, a bird in Gorodets painting or in Gzhel ceramics has a different imagery. If we talk about birds in general, then this will not be an image of a specific bird or even an image of a bird in the traditions of some craft, but an image close to the sign (pictures 3, 4). At the same time, a decorative image of a rooster can be a symbol of the sun. On the other hand, a series of symbols can have more than one meaning. So, not only a rooster, but also a horse can be a symbol of the sun. This symbolic-poetic system originates from signs and symbols associated with the worship of natural deities.

When analyzing the artistic merits of a particular work of folk or professional decorative art, it is necessary to pay attention to its figurative solution, taking into account the characteristics of the material, the expressiveness of form and proportions, the color scheme, the connection of the ornament with the shape of the product, the plastic, pictorial or graphic merits of the thing. It is important to note how rhythmic repetitions, compositional features post-swarming of the ornament and the thing as a whole influence its figurative solution.

If you learn to analyze an image well in any of the artistic systems, then rich opportunities will open up for identifying the interrelations of artistic and expressive means.

Folk and professional arts and crafts are interpreted as arts that serve the needs of man and at the same time satisfy his aesthetic needs, bringing beauty to life.

However, you need to be aware of the significant differences between these types of arts. Folk art, which transforms reality, is considered by modern art historians as a special type of artistic creativity, the distinctive features of which are: the collective principle and traditions, the stability of themes and images, the universality of a language understandable to all peoples of the world, the universality of spiritual values. All these features of art are determined by a holistic perception of the world.

Folk art is a holistic phenomenon, since its basis is the life and way of life of people, their ideas about the universe, work activity, rituals and holidays. Materialized in objects of folk art creative thinking people.

The results of the artistic and creative activity of a people reflect their life, views, and ideals, therefore, the works of folk art contain the experience of moral feelings, knowledge, and behavior. Unique and rich in content, experience gives folk art a unique value as a means of moral and aesthetic education of a person. This is why it constitutes such an important area social life as folk pedagogy. The versatility of folk art allows us to consider it as enormous power affecting the individual and society.

Folk art is, first of all, a huge world of spiritual experience of the people, its artistic ideas are an integral part of culture. Folk art is based on the creative activity of the people, reflecting their self-awareness and historical memory. Communication with folk art, with its moral and aesthetic ideals developed over centuries, plays a significant role educational role. The appeal of folk art to people and the impact on their intellectual, emotional and sensory spheres opens up great opportunities for the use of traditional folk arts and crafts in the education system.

The formation and development of folk artistic traditions of a particular area took place under the influence of natural-geographical, cultural and socio-economic factors. Tradition carried through centuries does not prevent the feeling of modernity from appearing. In folk art it is expressed not so much in external signs of the time, although, naturally, they also have their place, but in the ability to respond to the demands of today in a traditional form. This is reflected primarily in the perception of the world, in the idea of ​​beauty.

It is very important that folk art with its metaphor and symbolism - live creativity (Figure 5) and at the same time historical living memory , memory of the origins of culture. It brings the experience of knowing the world. The integrity of folk art as an artistic structure is the key to its understanding. Tradition in this case - creative method .

Traditional appears in folk art as a system, for which the following aspects are important: the connection between man and nature, the expression of the national, schools of folk art (national, regional, regional, school of individual crafts).

Figure 5. Image of the Sirin Bird in the paintings of the Northern Dvina.

The continuity of traditions shapes the artistic folk culture of the region and supports the high professionalism of folk craftsmanship. It is this quality that allows us to highlight the characteristics of a particular school as a creative community. Only school, as a cultural continuity determined by the existence of tradition, is capable of providing such artistic basis, which makes folk art alive in time, allows artistic crafts to develop.

The main person in the artistic craft is a folk master, a special creative personality, spiritually connected with the people, culture, nature of the region, a bearer of traditions and collective experience.

In every touch of the master’s hands on the thing he creates there lives a feeling of beauty, organic to the internal structure of popular perception. National temperament and national character are expressed in folk art. They largely determine the variety of forms of folk art.

In folk art, artistic skill, technical dexterity, working methods, and motives are passed on from master to student. The artistic system is developed collectively.

The basis of peasant art was crafts. Laconism of expressive means, economy and refinement of performance techniques characterize the work of the master. A sense of the material, knowledge of its expressive properties, processing by hand using the simplest tools lead to an artistic generalization of the form. Often a folk artist creates his works based on natural forms (Figure 6).

Figure 6. A - WITH kopkar (Permogorsk wood painting); b - Utitsa (Khokhloma painting on wood).

For creating artistic image things that matter are the material, methods and nature of its processing. The use of natural materials is one of the main traditions of folk art.

Each school had a system of proven labor techniques, technology based primarily on the properties of the material being processed. The master’s art was to transform even the properties of a material that were inconvenient for processing into artistic merits of a thing. For example, the different properties of clay determined the uniqueness of its processing techniques and the aesthetic solution of the image. Too soft and plastic white clay helped create the special elongated silhouette of the Filimonov toy.

The concept of “craftsmanship” includes the presence of creative abilities and the ability to properly organize work, observing a certain sequence of creating an artistic object: concept, development of technology, production of materials, finishing, self-esteem. The creative abilities of the master are largely determined by the ability to vary and improvise within the framework of the tradition of the school. Knowledge of the properties of the materials being processed, a high level of proficiency in tools and processing techniques are important.

Mastering the skill occurs on the basis of the main principles of folk art - repetition, variation and improvisation. For example, the study of painting, as a rule, is carried out in the following way: first, the master sits students around him and forces them to strictly repeat the elements of the ornament.

After mastering them, students have the opportunity to vary their favorite painting motifs. And only on the basis of the acquired experience do they move on to improvising based on painting and composing their own compositions. If everyone goes through the stage of repetition and variation without fail, then only the most talented students who can become real masters of their craft get to work at the level of improvisation.

Works of folk and professional decorative art decorate and transform life.

2. Decoration in space-time arts

2.1. Aesthetic essence. Decorativeness as a technique of artistic and figurative thinking

Term "decorative" Currently, it is widely used in the fine and decorative arts, in architecture and design, in the study of modern problems of art synthesis, in the theory of aesthetic organization of the environment.

However, the term “decorative” often means various concepts, to one degree or another, reflecting its essence. Some researchers identify decorativeness only with the function of decoration, recognize decorativeness as an additional property of a work of art, others generally reject decorativeness on the grounds that decorative convention allegedly overshadows the content of a work of art and complicates its understanding, while others see the active use of decorative techniques as a promising further development fine arts, in particular decorative painting.

Concept "decorative" comes from the Latin word "decor"- beauty, charm, grace, sometimes it is translated as decoration. Latin word "decorare" means - to decorate, clean, dress up. Attire, attire, decoration are denoted by another Latin word - "ornamentum".

Thus, etymologically, the concept of “decorativeness” means decoration, which is inextricably linked with the quality of the decoration itself, with beauty.

Decorativeness is a specific feature of decorative and applied art, which can be interpreted as a form of expression of beauty.

Decorativeness as a positive quality of products of decorative and applied art, as an aesthetic value, is fixed in their meaningful form. Internal organic decorativeness differs from external decorativeness, “decor” as an ornament and an additional property that does not have independent aesthetic significance due to its optional presence in a given thing.

Decorativeness can act as a constructive basis for arts and crafts products. Decorativeness is a technique of artistic and figurative thinking, the characteristic feature of which is the creation of a special compositional model. Decorativeness as a technique serves to reveal the internal consistency of a work, the proportionality and orderliness of all its details and forms and is used not only in decorative and applied arts, but also in all space-time arts.

Thus, decorativeness is not only a specific feature of decorative and applied art, inextricably linked with expressiveness, since decorative and applied art in aesthetics is classified as an “expressive type” of art, but also a technique of artistic and figurative thinking in all space-time arts, in including in decorative painting.

Attention! This is an introductory fragment of the book.

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“man-nature-culture”

"Level culture of the era,

as well as an individual

determined by the relation

to the past."

A. S. Pushkin

Folk art – the past in the present. A living tradition that invariably preserves the chain of continuity of generations, peoples, and eras. Folk art has been brought to a new level of modern problems by the century of space conquest, scientific and technological progress and environmental crisis.

Throughout human history, folk art has been an essential part of national and world culture. M. Gorky wrote: “The people are not only the force that creates all material values, they are the only and inexhaustible source of spiritual values, the first philosopher and poet in terms of time, beauty and creative genius, who created all the great poems, all the tragedies of the earth and the greatest of them - history of world culture"1.

Professional artists never stop turning to folk art, drawing ideas and inspiration from it. However, the depth of awareness of this appeal is determined by history, social changes, and spiritual needs. The spirit of ideas in art revives folk forms, folk poetics, but each time in a new way at the level of the ideological and artistic aspirations of the century.

In the same connection different attitude folk art itself is undergoing a transformation.

The era of decline in public interest in it, when it often became “despicable,” is replaced by eras of close attention, which always had its own historical reasons and which is a fact of the undiminished vitality of folk art. Having fierce opponents, it always had ardent defenders.

Hence the problem of folk art; its production presents its own history. But what was decisive in it was not so much the scientific development of the concept of the subject and the issues of its theory, but rather the view of it as part of the general problem of tradition and innovation. This made it difficult to evaluate folk art from the perspective of its own values. And if oral, musical folklore was an area of ​​study of special sciences, then visual folklore, being the subject of general art history, was studied for a long time using methods developed on the material of professional art, and remained without theory.

Its absence has become acutely felt over the past two decades, when science and the public were faced with the fact of the revival of folk art - a fact unexpected for those who believed that folk art was a page of the past that had long been turned over. Life has shown that folk art not only lives and develops, but the need for it throughout the world is growing every year. Interest in folk art is growing rapidly in connection with the problems of the countryside in the era of developed urbanism, in the aspect of general issues of spiritual culture in the modern world, nature conservation, and the human environment.

A decisive line in relation to folk art in our country was drawn by the historical resolution of the CPSU Central Committee “On Folk Art Crafts” (1974) and the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1977). However, the problems of artistic practice and scientific study have not yet received a proper solution, and primarily questions of theory.

The Resolution of the CPSU Central Committee states: “Folk decorative and applied art, which is part of Soviet socialist culture... actively influences the formation of artistic tastes, enriches professional art and expressive means of industrial aesthetics” 2.

The problem posed in this way requires the researcher to combine the artistic, cultural, historical aspects of the study of folk art, since it is established in culture not in individual-subjective, but in spiritual-value content, is formed by collective principles, since it is cognitive in the qualities of historical and spiritual, moral and national -psychological. Why and cannot be limited only to the aesthetic sphere, just as it cannot be understood in a formal analysis that does not take into account the content and dialectics of development.

Folk art is a huge world of spiritual experience of the people, artistic ideas, constantly nourishing professional and artistic culture.

However, for a long time it was incorrectly viewed as just a step on the path to a higher level - the art of individual artists. The work of the folk artist, assessed from these positions, was relegated to the role of an appendage of modern decorative and applied art. This situation brought a lot of negative things into the activities of folk arts and crafts and created flawed directions in the development of thought and practice. At the root of all mistakes was the substitution of values, which has not been eliminated to this day. This is the reason for many painful phenomena in the practice of folk art to this day.

The view of it as a relic of the past, subject to all sorts of modernizations and alterations, has become so established that it has become habitual not only for the heads of the crafts, artists who come to work there, but also for some art critics who pursue this line on the pages of the press. This explains the polemical intonations in the statement of fundamental provisions and in the theoretical formulation of questions on the pages of our book. In the course of numerous discussions that recently filled the pages of art history magazines, it was necessary to defend what, while denying, was sometimes cut off from the shoulder. It is significant that now in the discussion of the fate of folk art, the recently debated question “Is folk art possible in the age of scientific and technological revolution?” replaced by another question: “What is folk art?” The theory of its extinction found new expression in the proclamation of folk art in modern stage as amateur individual creativity. In general, this judgment connects folk art with the past; it boils down to the following three provisions. The first asserts the fusion of folk art with the art industry. Due to inertia, this attitude continues to be declared by some art critics as theoretical, while art last decade highly raised the aesthetics of man-made things and folklore in general. At the same time, interest in the spiritual and value content of folk art and its traditionalism acquires new meaning.

The second position, repeated in individual articles, comes down to equating creativity in folk crafts with the art of individual artists, while denying the local features of the first, its orientation towards tradition. This not only undermines continuity - main force development, but also breaks the collectivity of creativity, the culture of craftsmanship.

The third position, which we have already mentioned earlier, identifies folk art with the work of amateur artists. And this is essentially also its negation.

The three points noted also correspond to some negative trends in practice. The leveling of local features led to the massive creative impersonality of products created in the craft, the breakdown of cultural continuity, and the destruction of the ornamental system of folk art. This requires careful study, if only to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

In fact, most often the exact opposite happens. In pursuit of imaginary novelty and for the approval of these theses, reinforcement is sought from authorities, in the statements of V.S. Voronov, A.V. Bakushinsky fifty years ago and long-outdated ones, often dictated by the situation of the time and not related to the scientific concept of scientists in general. Without an attempt at critical comprehension, these often random statements are repeated as original ones; they are tried to be passed off as a theoretical position, which in no way advances thought or helps practice. The rather strong rooting of erroneous opinions can be explained by the fact that until the 60s, Soviet decorative art was most often represented by works of folk crafts, from which the art industry originated. All this taught us to look at folk art as a dependent form of creativity, and did not make it possible to see its true value. It artificially adapted to methods of individual creativity alien to its system.

Of course, all these circumstances do not now give us the right to assume that folk art has no place in modern culture. Meanwhile, just such a conclusion, scientifically unjustified, existed for a long time. Remaining theoretically unsubstantiated, it gave rise to many negative trends in the art of crafts, starting from easel painting in the 40s and 50s, ending with the denial of ornamentation and decorativeness in the first half of the 60s, which will be discussed specifically.

Now, everything is beginning to be classified as folk art: from works of glass and ceramics by professional artists to factory products - fabrics and porcelain. The concept of “folk art” still remains not only unclear, but even non-existent in art history practice as an aesthetic category. It is equated to the concept of “national property” in the broadest sense. You can often hear: “Is the art of crafts folk?”, “Is folk art necessary in the age of technological progress?”, “Isn’t it just the past?” And these questions are discussed on the pages of magazines, all sorts of false theories are put forward, which, as a rule, are not scientifically substantiated. However, the very fact that such questions arise is explained by the fact that there is still no theoretical position in the formulation and solution of problems of modern folk art, despite some serious works. Much that is written about folk art is not properly scientific level, is often determined by market considerations. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain the striking gap between statements in printed works and the realities of practice itself,3 between the difficulties that folk art experiences, on the one hand, and, on the other, the growing need for its works every day.

It should be noted that a flawed position in the view of folk art hinders its study and leads to unproductive arbitrary conclusions in scientific works. Many questions are posed and resolved, as before, by analogy with professional artistic art.

Actually, folk art, which our country is so rich in, is presented as an anachronism and is still not yet understood in its entirety and necessity as part of spiritual culture. One often hears or reads that the environment around a person in the technicalized world technicalizes art in its own way. In this case, the person himself is not taken into account at all. Meanwhile, the standard of thinking in the age of technicalism, producing “ready-made blocks,” brings them down not only on the viewer of exhibitions, but also on the person in his daily environment. And behind this lies the danger of the technicalization of perception itself, the entire structure of feeling, vision, which inevitably corrodes the living fabric of art, kills its spiritual trepidation, and finally destroys the humanity of the environment itself. And then there is neither one’s own nor someone else’s, neither personal nor common, in honor of which so many empty declarations are made.

In the understanding of art, what comes first is not what is expressed, but how it is done; this is often presented as an end in itself. But is it worth proving that our era, like every other in its time, introduced new rhythms, new forms, new means and even a new world of creativity into art - technical aesthetics. This is obvious and natural. However, this is not what determines the internal purpose of art, of spiritual culture in general. On the main path of their development, the comprehension of truth, truth, and beauty cannot disappear. Can an artist, if he is an artist, perceive the visual range of his surroundings without being disturbed by the movement of ideas that excites society? Consciously or subconsciously, it, one way or another, reflects existing trends in the worldview of the era.

If until recently artists and poets sought to introduce the world of technology into the world of man and even technicize his image, today, which is significant, a different desire is coming - to find the human in man himself and through him to influence the technicized world. And this poses the question of values ​​and the integrity of art, as well as culture itself, in a completely different way. It forces us to take a closer, deeper look at folk art, in its connection with nature and history, not only within an ethnic group, but also on a planetary scale.

The problem of “man and the world,” in whatever aspect it is taken in art, naturally cannot be solved detached from human essence, ultimately from that “ highest goal", which, according to Kant, has in itself the existence of man. Otherwise, this would mean taking the position of Western science fiction writers who prophesy a “planet of the apes” in the future.

As you know, one of the acute problems of the modern West is the alienation of a person, equating him with a thing. But no matter how shackled human life in the unnatural, artificial, nature, in the end, still dictates its natural laws, the laws of life itself. The connection between man and the earth cannot disappear!

In the vast expanses of our vast country, folk art lives and develops in an unusually wide variety of national, regional, regional and regional schools of folk art, in the continuity of traditions. And any attempt to see in folk art only an anachronism, alien to the modern age, the desire to prove that it is not developing and has been completely destroyed by capitalism, is refuted by life itself. In recent years, the activity of enthusiasts has expanded, discovering new talented craftsmen and new schools of folk craftsmanship.

The centers of folk art scattered throughout the country, and in many cases in Russia, testify to the great creative potential of the people. After all, each center has its own talents, its own traditions, its own artistic systems and methods, verified in the experience of many generations of folk craftsmen. And this experience creates a culture of tradition that strengthens the people’s art of professional artists. Thus, the traditional not only feeds the new, it organically fits into the context of the era. The 70s marked a particularly significant milestone in artistic culture. The role of decorative art in the organization of the environment increased, industrial aesthetics gained the widest scope, and decorative art itself was determined in its spiritual value and took a place equal to painting and sculpture.

In such a situation, folk art is also called upon to take its place in the system of modern culture, corresponding to its essence. Scientific responsibility in solving its problems must increase. Personal responsibility and general responsibility in the face of history. Only from the position of such responsibility can one approach a productive solution, first of all, to the issues of conditions and incentives for its development. Many superficial judgments, a straightforward understanding of the blurring of boundaries between city and countryside, in connection with which the supposedly natural disappearance of folk art is incorrectly put, should be subjected to fundamental criticism, since they bring irreparable harm to the living art of villages and contribute to the destruction of the high spiritual values ​​of the people.

We must not forget that the rapprochement of the village with the city is a complex, lengthy, far from unambiguous process, in which there are various kinds of excesses, accompanied by the denial of cultural heritage4.

It has long been clear that the rural worker, no matter how the mechanized forms of his work change, still retains the characteristics of labor determined by the fact itself - the cultivation of the land, all the specifics of agricultural production. “This feature of agricultural labor will become increasingly attractive and socially valuable, influencing the conditions of settlement, work and leisure of the entire population” 5 .

“Man lives by nature. This means that nature is his body, with which a person must remain in constant communication “so as not to die” 6.

“Just as humanity continuously reproduces itself in the birth and childhood of a child, so it continuously reproduces itself in the cultivation of the land, “so as not to die” 7.

And this means that the direct connection of man with the earth, with nature is always preserved, the basis for folk art always remains, which continues to carry the fullness of its spiritual content and does not at all turn into a play of shapes, lines and colors, accessible only to aesthetic admiration and intended as some think, for the free stylization of a professional artist, for “playing out”, as they like to say. Already such an understanding of the purpose of folk art puts it in the ranks of something secondary in relation to genuine art, affirms the uniqueness of the content. And any formalization of artistic qualities and means deprives creativity of a sense of life, ultimately giving rise to impersonal art, directed towards itself.

On the other hand, the mass replication of works of folk art turned into the souvenir industry is the same misunderstanding of its substantive principles.

The thesis about the merger of folk art with industry turns into a folk industry, bringing unification and standardization to folk art. The artist's model in this environment becomes decisive. In this case, the threads of continuity of folk craftsmanship are torn, and it falls catastrophically. As a result, artistic systems in the art of folk crafts are breaking down, schools of folk traditions are perishing, which suffered significant damage during the periods of dominance of the styles of easel art in the 50s and lack of decoration in the 60s, when ornamentality was placed beyond the borders of the modern. In those periods, folk art was depersonalized in its regional, national, regional characteristics, and averaged in its artistry. We witnessed how often, instead of truly living art, phenomena were put forward that were internally flawed and artistically unpromising.

In such a situation, there was a clear substitution of values ​​both in science and in practice itself, which inevitably resulted in stagnation of scientific thought and troubles for folk art. But where, in this case, are the criteria that allow us to correctly understand and manage folk art?

Where are the hidden sources of his never-ending creative power? They must be sought in folk art itself, in its connections with what is eternally valuable to humanity - with nature and culture. It is necessary to grasp historical dynamics, in other words, to understand cultural development.

It must be said that the science of folk art, due to its youth, remains a little-studied area of ​​knowledge. It is this that, first of all, can explain the spread of random and superficial judgments, points of view that currently claim to be a scientific direction, while remaining only a view that is easily changed by fashion trends.

This situation was created due to the lack of development of many fundamental problems of folk art. Until recently, in numerous discussions that filled the pages of our magazines, it was necessary to defend folk art not only as spiritual culture, but also as an independent type of artistic creativity.

It was precisely this approach to the formulation of the problem that was missing in the works of V. S. Voronov and A. V. Bakushinsky (which we will talk about in more detail later). In the 50s, A. B. Saltykov, who laid the foundations for understanding the specifics of decorative art, at the same time did not touch upon the theoretical formulation of the problems of folk art itself. At the present stage, it has turned out to be separated from its past by an impassable line. It was in this direction that scientific thought developed, wanting to see in modern folk art everything, but not what it really is. Until now, in addressing issues of theory and practice, the results of research into pre-revolutionary folk art in the works of the 60–70s by B. A. Rybakov, G. K. Wagner, V. M. Vasilenko are poorly taken into account. Thus, the question itself is: what passes for folk art? – is of deep fundamental importance and is now becoming very acute.

In this regard, the problem of integrity becomes relevant8. It is especially important to know the origins of folk art, its living springs of creativity, enriching the entire culture, in the integrity of life - in the complexes of rural life and the nature surrounding people and the cultural continuity of traditions9. They are not only different among peoples, but also different in each region. But how, in this case, can one overcome the inertia of thought that continues to rely on attitudes that have been refuted by time, such as the erasure of local features and signs of schools of folk craftsmanship? After all, this attitude still makes itself felt in fruitless calls for creativity without traditions.

How to find unity of theory and practice that is real and not imaginary? These questions remain to be answered.

If folk art is a spiritual culture, which, presumably, there is now no doubt about, if it is a living part of modern culture (many exhibitions eloquently testify to this, and in particular the All-Union Exhibition of Folk Art in 1979, the first after a 15-year break), finally, if interest in folk art is growing (this is obvious both in our country and abroad), then first of all it is necessary to recognize the characteristics of folk art as a cultural integrity and accordingly solve its scientific, artistic, creative, organizational problems.

Do we contribute to such clarification of the matter or hinder it? This question cannot but face everyone who is in one way or another connected with folk art.

In conditions of acute contradictions between the modern technical achievements of mankind and the level of its morality, when the planet Earth was under threat of destruction, the need arose to seek new contacts with nature and revive lost ones. In this environment, the eternal values ​​of culture began to sound with extraordinary force. The craving for them increases along with the craving for nature, for the earth. At the same time, the value of nature is being revived in art. Until recently, the theme of man as the conqueror of nature absorbed all other aspects of the relationship with it. But the conqueror often becomes a consumer, a squanderer of her wealth. A man, an iron robot, who is he - a guardian of nature or its gravedigger?

Many modern artists are looking for the unity of man with nature; they are moving away from the rigidly drawn path of depicting the conquering hero. In the art of the 60s and 70s, the natural principle is noticeably strengthened and, above all, in decorative and applied art with its decisive turn from utilitarian-technical things to uniquely artistic ones, to imagery and plasticity. Thus, in the work of the Shushkanovs, the connection between natural and folk principles, which had noticeably faded in the art of previous years, was found in a new unexpected form. Something similar happens in ceramics and art glass. The search for connections with folk tradition is inseparable from interest in national arts and, in general, in the culture of the past. In folklore, nature is always an exponent of Beauty and Goodness; it is merged with the moral world. Therefore, the natural acts as a criterion of human values. And this pushes the problem of folk art in the context of unlimitedly growing technical capabilities to a new level of environmental problems of the modern world.

The ecology of nature, the ecology of culture cannot but include the ecology of folk art as a part of culture, as a part of nature with which man is initially connected.

By posing the question in this way, we determine the way to solve it in the system of man - nature - culture.

Such new production the problems of folk art raise it to a level of great relevance, allow us to penetrate deeper into the content of the images, and help us understand its essence as an independent integrity. We have undertaken a theoretical understanding of the problems of the vast area of ​​folk art in order to determine its artistic nature, spiritual value and, accordingly, its place in culture.

As a part of culture, folk art is both nature itself and historical memory people, an unbreakable connection of times. Aesthetic unity and integrity of folk art is evidence of its highly moral foundations. It is from these positions, reflected in the illustrative series of our book, that folk art is examined and questions of its theory are resolved.

This is the problem of the general and the special, which determines the interaction of professional art and folk art, this is also the question of the own specificity of folk art as a special type of artistic creativity, the forms of its development and connections with nature. Finally, the main questions are about the values, essence, nature of the collective, about the content of the concepts of “folk art” and “folk master”. The study of key issues of theory will allow, according to the specifics of the subject, to deepen the methodological principles of studying folk art. It will help to understand its place in the cultural system, its enormous role - historical, moral, aesthetic - in human life, in spiritual development culture, its construction in the present for the future. The material for our book will be the folk art of many nationalities of our country, mainly over the past two decades.

So, we will consider folk art, first of all, as a world of spiritual values.

Today, many are concerned with the search for national self-identification, the spiritual bonds of the people, a common idea, and in these searches, views are usually turned to cultural peaks, fundamental ethical principles, and economic mechanisms. Meanwhile, the sought-after values ​​make their way into our lives, like grass through asphalt, with barely noticeable facts, events, and plots of everyday cultural practice. In connection with such grandiose problems as national self-identification, who will remember a small thing - a folk toy? When was the last time you saw her? And where - in the museum? At the exhibition? On grandma's dresser? Or remember how you played with it at a tender age? And what relation can this small and completely unimportant thing in your everyday life have to fundamental spiritual problems? modern man and, moreover, the whole society?

Whistles and pipes

The history of clay toys goes back thousands of years and continues to this day. And among all the variety of types of clay figurines, the whistle deserves special attention. In ancient times, ceramic sounding objects were used in rituals and had a cult purpose. The clay figurine served as a talisman; magical properties were attributed to it. It was believed that whistling could ward off evil spirits and protect oneself from evil. Wind and rain were caused by sound and whistle. With the oblivion of pagan beliefs, whistles lost their sacred function and almost everywhere turned into children's play, although the cult use of toys, including whistles, remained (until recently) along with play. In Russia, the most famous event involving the whistle is the Vyatka festival of panhandle, or whistler.

Master from Gorodets

Having taken up woodcarving professionally, Sergei Sokolov began to study the Gorodets traditions of this art. He was interested in the possibilities of Nizhny Novgorod blind carving. It is called blind because no holes were punched in the board being processed; the master formed a pattern relief on its plane using chisels. This is how, according to tradition, the stern and sides of Volga ships and the frontal board of peasant huts were decorated, where the board covers the point of contact between the roof pediment and the upper crown of the log house.

The master cut out the required outline with an electric jigsaw and painted the front side. Moreover, he applied paint (watercolor) directly to the wood without a primer, then covered it with drying oil. Later, Sergei Fedorovich began priming his things with natural drying oil and switched from watercolor to tempera, which gives a more saturated color.

Folk art in the paradigms of history and modernity

Approaches to understanding traditional folk art among art historians, ethnographers, sociologists, historians, psychologists, economists, and cultural experts differ, but only together do they allow us to get closer to understanding a phenomenon that still continues to elude analysis in its entirety 1 .

Folk arts and crafts

The use of natural materials is one of the general and fundamental traditions of folk art. It is in the material that its artistic features lie. Wood carving and painting, weaving, embroidery, lace weaving, birch bark and root processing, pottery, metal forging - with all the variety of techniques and materials, modern folk craftsmen of these ancient arts adhere to traditional elements, forms and subjects.

The Polenovsky House, the successor of which is the State Russian House of Folk Art, is 100 years old. On December 29, 1915, the grand opening in Moscow of an institution unique in the history of world culture - the Polenovsky House - took place. The fact of its creation is connected by a centuries-old tradition with the history of the development of amateurism in Russia. The House had: a hall for 300 seats with a stage for staging exemplary, demonstration folk and school performances; rooms for rehearsals, a library, set and costume workshops, and an instructional exhibition. The building was erected according to the original design of the outstanding Russian artist, great educator, academician of painting Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov.

Many methods of artistic processing of leather have been invented by man: embossing, appliqué, embroidery, painting and even metal inlay. Stands apart among them original technique sewing Kazan patterned leather shoes. This technique can be called leather mosaic, because it is according to the principle of mosaic that parts made of colored leather are combined into a complex pattern using a unique method of stitching and embroidery.

Square Theater of the East

A striking feature of the Caucasus, which could be called immortality people's memory or poetic conservatism - the ability to preserve for thousands of years what once gave birth to the people's mind or imagination. In the everyday view, folk traditions can be observed in particular preservation in some regions, in particular in the Caucasus. Much has been written about this feature of the Caucasus.

However, already at the beginning of the last century, researchers believed that “It is not so easy to isolate from a whole series of intertwined and crossed cultural influences, under the influence of which the Caucasus was, what is local, what is Assyro-Babylonian or Byzantine, or Mongol-Turkic, or Russian, or Islamic with its Arabic, Persian and Turkic refractions." Despite such complex interweavings, the concept remains commonly used "Eastern culture" , with all the richness of this concept, its only certainty, like many decades ago, is the concept "Eastern culture" approximately equivalent to the concept "non-European culture"