The image of the doll has fascinated people for centuries. Rag twists without faces protected newborn peasant children. Daring puppet theater actors could squeak out in their ringing voices on the fairgrounds what a person did not dare to say. Porcelain beauties arriving from abroad became fashion trendsetters in the provinces. A person shared fears and hopes with a doll, glorified it in works of art... It was quite possible to assume that sooner or later it would become art itself. And so it happened.
A human-like doll began to develop and live independent life, ceasing to serve rituals and even children's games. Now all over the world, as part of the “big” visual arts, the art of the author's artistic doll is developing fruitfully. The doll became an art object, an installation. Like hundreds of her sisters in literature and cinema, from Galatea to Suok, she found a soul and a non-utilitarian, impractical, but undoubted value.
Author's doll
The concept of an author's doll is still quite vague, and the terms denoting this phenomenon are only being established. In the West, for example, there is a distinction between an art doll and the so-called “dressed sculpture”. There are still a number of mandatory conditions here: first of all, the uniqueness of the product or an extremely limited edition (not exceeding one and a half dozen copies), handmade And high quality execution.
In Russia, puppetry art (in the original sense of the word) arose quite recently. The first designer dolls are considered to be the works of artist Elena Yazykova, made in 1987. But in just twenty years it has undergone rapid development and began to arouse respect and increased interest from Western colleagues (who, by the way, often note in the works of our compatriots the “mysterious Russian soul” and the lack of a European desire for pure decorativeness). Now our country is experiencing a real “doll boom” - specialized magazines are published, doll design schools, museums and galleries are actively operating, doll festivals, exhibitions, salons are always held with resounding success... And non-toy passions are raging.
From what, from what...
If only you knew what kind of rubbish... And artists don’t disdain rubbish: whatever does not become material for making an author’s doll! Some of the masters work using the “sculptural textile” technique, when a needle transforms smooth fabric into facial reliefs with complex and bizarre facial expressions. Another, using a whole arsenal of metal stands, fashions his characters from baked or self-hardening plastics: the former need to be brought to condition in a regular oven, without overcooking or leaving the material “raw”, the latter harden on their own in the air for several hours. But most of all, working with porcelain requires technical skills, craftsmanship and patience... And what about amazing wooden fantasies? And what about steampunk works with complex mechanisms worthy of Hoffmann’s pen? A " mixed media", where everything combines with everything? The sizes of the dolls vary from gigantic (comparable to human height) to tiny (such works cannot be seen properly without a magnifying glass, and to complete them you need truly jewelry equipment - there are often cases when professional jewelers undertake the creation of doll miniatures, and their masterpieces for some collectors become more expensive than gold and diamonds). But whatever the chosen technique, the problems for puppeteers are similar - you need to perfectly master the skills of a sculptor, artist, tailor, hairdresser, makeup artist... The list of professions is endless, from furniture maker to watchmaker, because no one knows in advance what will be needed for complete harmony next doll. Musical instrument? Tiny decoration? Knight armour? Bicycle, glasses, umbrella? But true craftsmanship requires making all (!) parts by hand. Not to mention the fact that the doll, as an art object, absorbs the author’s knowledge about music and literature, painting and cinema... Puppeteers make fun of themselves: “We are crazy people!” - and warn newcomers: “You still have to look for parts in garbage dumps...”
Another dimension
Each doll gallery is a special universe with its own canons of beauty. The whole variety of puppetry art is presented in the Vakhtanov Puppet Gallery by Irina Myzina in the Central House of Artists. Luxurious classic ladies, avant-garde, designer, more like art objects, are presented in the permanent exhibition. The Karina Shanshieva Gallery wonderfully combines painting and designer dolls; Unfortunately, the gallery currently does not have a permanent residence. Varvara Skripkina’s gallery in the city of white nights has its own face and indescribable St. Petersburg sophistication. A powerful puppet movement has developed on the other side of the country - the works of authors from Yekaterinburg, Perm, Novosibirsk, where original galleries and associations of artists operate, are of constant interest at exhibitions.
Going to a puppet exhibition is a discovery new world. Similar to ours exactly to the extent that dolls “are so similar to people” - that is, very, very distantly. Worlds are replaced by worlds. Here, aristocratic dolls sparkle with pearls, gold embroidery and secular indifference on their porcelain faces (it’s worth taking a look, for example, at the works of Alexandra Kukinova). And here Dima PZh’s Boschian phantasms seem to change shape, spread, evaporate and take off as soon as you turn away. The kind and bright characters of Olga Yegupets invite you to smile and take a deep breath. Characteristic dolls, dolls-characters of Elena Kunina, look intently and insist on dialogue; soft wisdom emanates from the works of Tatyana Eleva and Linda Furnish-Colman.
Baby dolls are dozing in the palm of the master. Come alive literary characters and movie characters, politicians and actors suddenly become closer and more humane in miniature. And there is no limit to the amazement before each subsequent work... Exhibitions vary greatly in scale and, to be honest, in the technical level of the works presented. Everyone gathers at some, from pros to beginners; going to others is a sign of elitism. Every year in autumn Moscow sparkles international exhibition“Doll Art”, which brings together the best representatives of the doll world. Its site features dolls and art objects from 26 countries. Author's projects, museum collections, collections from private collections are shown to the audience by the organizers of the world's largest exhibition.
And the noisy, cheerful exhibition Moscow Fair delights the viewer in the spring. “Petersburg Mirages” in Varvara Skripkina’s gallery remained in my memory for a long time - all the images of the Northern capital, from sphinxes and fishermen on the embankment to the embodied White Night. And what a fireworks display of wit greeted visitors to the exhibition “Damn it, there’s a bow on the side!” Just imagine what Ekarny Babay or Kuzka’s mother looks like and other funny abusive expressions: “Overgrow everything with cornflowers”, “Ezhkin cat”, “Blya-fly”, “Red-haired shameless”, “Very nasty louse”, “Epera ballet” , “Horse in a Coat” and others.
They've spawned entities!
Many genres - many meanings. An interior, decorative doll is often created to match the surroundings of a particular house, in its color scheme and with its character. She is both a decoration of the home, and its guardian, a kind of brownie, and an interlocutor for the owners - everyone who has dolls will tell you how their facial expressions and even their position in space change. Fans of the “scary doll” believe that art should “not caress, but excite”, seek aesthetics in death, pain and decay... It is worth looking at the best examples of the genre (performed, for example, by artists such as Julien Martinez or Repuncre), to understand that there is a truth and a beauty in these zombie girls, dead brides and bloody animals. It seems that when you see these works you become especially acutely aware of how far the designer's doll has gone from a children's toy - but that was not the case.
«... Children look at Julien's dolls with conspiratorial curiosity - they would love to take them home and play with them“, writes artist Maria Streltsova in the magazine “Puppet Master”. Don't draw the line between puppetry and acting. And is it worth trying?
Elite gift in last years began to be considered a portrait doll, by definition unique, made by a master to order for someone loved one(even stars pay tribute to fashion, for example, the lead singer of the folk group “Melnitsa” was given a miniature Helavis by fellow musicians for her thirtieth birthday). Of course, it is not always possible to capture the “zest” of a character in a doll, so the surprise can be both pleasant and depressing... However, culture moves in tortuous ways: from the amulet doll, which must certainly be faceless, so as not to jinx it, not to cause harm - to a doll with the face of your child or loved one. It seems that science fiction writers and storytellers still have a huge field of undeveloped plots ahead. There is a costume doll, a baby doll, a character doll...
They are real!
It should not be surprising that artists consider their creations endowed with reason and soul. How many stories bordering on mysticism about how a doll showed character even during the manufacturing process! It was conceived by one character and came out as another. She smiled in the morning and frowned in the evening. Doesn't want to take up a certain place in the house or look good in photographs. He doesn’t want to sell himself - or, on the contrary, he’s “eager” to fall into someone’s hands... There are hundreds of such stories. They are alive - that says it all. It is no coincidence that in the “doll passport” (and they are necessarily given to the buyer upon sale), along with the name, materials and number of copies, the “year of birth” is indicated. The only way.
Of course, as in all centuries, many artists are faced with a choice between free expression and commercial success. “Cute” and “kind” works are sold out much more readily than frightening, mystical ones that incorporate the author’s thoughts about dark sides of the universe. But this once again shows that puppetry is Art with a capital A, with all its inherent conflicts and pitfalls. This means he has a long way ahead. Whatever the popular genres, styles and images, one thing remains unchanged: the philosophical richness of this art. It is not without reason that among his admirers are not only “mere mortals,” but also many famous people, collecting dolls or creating them themselves. You can see works at exhibitions famous musicians, writers, politicians. And money from sales usually goes to charity.
And this is wonderful: the doll, even after becoming an art object and leaving the children’s room for a museum stand, continues to bring happiness to kids who really need it.
Anyone who has once entered the puppet world usually never betrays it, its strange mysteries and boundless fun. This means that puppetry has many more surprises in store for viewers, collectors, and the masters themselves.
History of puppet theaters
The history of puppet theater goes back to times distant from us. Ancient people believed in various gods, devils and sacred animals. To offer prayers to these gods, people began to make their images. These were dolls made of stone, clay, bone, wood different sizes. They danced around them, carried them on stretchers, carried them on the backs of elephants and chariots. Subsequently, through various devices, the dolls depicting the object of worship were forced to raise their arms or paws, open and close their eyes, nod their heads and bare their teeth. Gradually these spectacles became similar to modern ones theatrical performances. Legends were played out with the help of dolls, they lost folk tales and satirical scenes, in European countries in the Middle Ages, dolls depicted the creation of the world.
There were no state puppet theaters in Rus'. Traveling puppeteers gave small performances at fairs, in city courtyards, and on boulevards. To the loud sounds of a barrel organ, the puppeteer showed from behind a small screen a little story about Parsley. The life of folk puppeteers was hard and not much different from the life of ordinary beggars. After the performance, the puppeteer actor took off his hat and held it out to the audience so that those who wished could throw copper pennies into it.
Dolls similar to the Russian Petrushka were also found in other countries. They all portrayed a long-nosed, loud-mouthed bully. They wore different names, for example, in England the doll was called Punch, and in France it was Polichinelle, Pulcinella in Italy, two heroes in Germany were Kasperle and Hanswurst, in Turkey the bully was called Karagöz, and in Czechoslovakia - Kasparek.
Types of dolls
IN modern world There are puppet theaters in almost all countries. They use three types of dolls for performances:
- dolls driven by threads;
- hand puppets;
- dolls on canes.
When using string puppets, the puppeteer sits on a raised platform behind the stage and holds a wag in his hands.
Definition 1
Vaga- a special device consisting of two or three intersecting sticks with threads attached to them.
In this case, the lower ends of the threads are connected to the doll in the area of the head and back, tied to its arms, shoulders, knees and feet. A doll usually has $10-20$ threads, but sometimes the number reaches $40$ threads. When the stick, from which the threads go to the doll's knees, is swung, it begins to move its legs, walk and even dance. When the thread attached to the back is pulled, the doll bows. Puppets of this system are also called marionettes, which is not entirely true, because this is the customary name for any theatrical puppet in many countries. It would be more correct to call these dolls string dolls.
Another doll system is dolls that fit on the hand like gloves. In this case, the doll's head is put on forefinger, one hand - on the middle one, and the other hand - on thumb. Such dolls are often called parsleys in our country, which is also not entirely true, since dolls of this system are found in different countries. Their correct name is glove puppets or finger puppets.
An actor-puppeteer plays with puppets on canes from behind a screen. Such a doll is held by the central stick, which runs through the entire doll. The doll's head and shoulders are attached to the stick. The actor controls the doll's arms using thin cane sticks that are attached to the doll's elbows or hands. The sticks are invisible to the audience; they are hidden in the toy's clothing.
String puppets and finger puppets have existed for many hundreds of years in almost all countries. Until the beginning of the 20th century, dolls on canes existed only in the East, mainly in China and Indonesia. In Russia, puppets on canes first appeared with the puppeteers-artists Efimovs.
Modern puppet theaters
Note 1
State puppet theaters in Russia were created only after the revolution of 1917.$
Puppet theaters perform folk tales, as well as plays written by playwrights. Most puppet theaters play for children, but some stage shows for adults who love puppet theater as much as children.
Puppet theaters are the first step in introducing children to theater arts. They not only give joy, they teach to understand the art of theater, they form artistic taste, teach the perception of the surrounding world.
Do only children play with dolls? No matter how it is! About yours amazing creativity, which has become the main business of life, was told to our portal by an amazing master puppeteer, whose works can be found all over the world, and just a person in love with her work, Lisa Babenko. Let's give the floor to the master himself.
Talking about yourself is always a little strange. It’s very difficult not to slip into harsh officialdom like - I was born there, studied this, achieved this or didn’t achieve this... But on the other hand, everything starts with some things, from some moment in life. My current occupation comes from my childhood - why should I be surprised, I am a master puppeteer. Of course, as a child I played and sculpted, but in childhood we generally get joy and pleasure from simple things: walking, drawing, playing.
Difficulties begin when we become adults, but as a child everything is very simple, you prefer to do what you want, because children will not waste time on stupid and uninteresting activities. And this is such amazing honesty that it is difficult to allow in adulthood. Therefore many creative people, it seems to me, they are trying to catch and return this pure thrill from childhood, to find that same honesty deep within themselves. At least that's how it is for me. Therefore, if someone asks me why I do dolls at all, then, first of all, I will answer that it gives me pleasure.
What I like most is sculpting. From scratch. With your hands. Feel the material, watch how the face and body are born. Plane, stick on new pieces... And only then will everything else come - material reward for work, talent, skill, time.
I understand that even if there was no Internet and there would be no one to show my dolls to, I would still sculpt. Well, I would also draw. However, this also comes in handy in puppetry - painting faces requires a steady hand and the ability to handle color, paints, and pastels.
When I started making dolls professionally, I had to master several professions. That is, I am not just a sculptor or a person who knows how to sculpt a human figure and not only a face. I am also a makeup artist and a hair stylist. And a shoemaker. I make shoes. Also with pleasure, this is a separate zen for me. Alas and ah, the only thing I didn’t learn was sewing. I can make clothes. Easily! But working with fabric is a separate issue. That’s why I turn to masters who are good at it and help me with my work in the right way and bring my ideas to life.
Among other things, I would not like my activity to be defined as “doll craft.” I would still like my dolls to be treated like sculptures, but moveable. I don't like simplification, but I like high detail and miniature. Therefore, at one time, I chose a small format for my works, but also refused generalization and large stylization. I like to sculpt human dolls - these volumes, details, curves. It is so beautiful. How can something be left out or simplified?
I truly believe that the human body is beautiful. Beauty, in my opinion, can be different and often you need to see it and be able to show it to others.
I started, of course, by embodying my ideas about beauty and sculpting figures that, at that time, seemed the most attractive to me. This is how several doll series were born - Belle Petite (whose production, however, has already been closed), Top Model and Femme Fatale. Belle Petit is a fine young woman - short, with rounded lines, something between a teenager and an adult, mature lady.
Belle Petit doll collection
Top model - my idea of what an ideal model should look like - tall, thin-boned, graceful, with small breasts, long, beautifully shaped legs, with thin waist, sharp collarbones and protruding pelvic bones, narrow wrists and ankles.
Top model doll collection
Femme fatale is a gorgeous adult lady with beautiful shape chest, sloping shoulders, wasp waist and steep hips. She is all so smooth and exciting - the embodiment of a femme fatale in my opinion. By the way, the latter has more fans among male collectors.
Collection of Femme Fatale dolls
I have plans to embody other female types, perhaps. Not so clear-cut, but I hope I have enough patience and interest to bring all my ideas to fruition.
It took me a while to appreciate the beauty of a man’s body. Still, I’m a girl, feminine things are closer to me, dearer. In the end, I went to the mirror and looked at what was going on. For men everything is different, it’s like teaching foreign language. There are 2 in the works right now male body and there are already plans for the 3rd.
Many people think that dolls are eccentricities. I can understand this opinion, but it is still not a necessity. Not food, not clothes, rather this is what feeds our emotional needs, the same thirst for accessible beauty - extend your hand, and it is with you.
I consider my dolls to be art, but contact art. Which you can pick up, examine, bend, touch, change clothes, even change your emotion. The process of playing is also a creative act. When you play, you are a co-creator. And this is also fun. And some people just like to contemplate. Beautiful doll After all, it is also a decoration, and not only of the home, but also of thoughts.
That is why I somehow immediately became interested in working with articulated dolls. I almost didn’t do static. Well, perhaps, a few figurines - she embodied the characters from her stories about the witch girl. Perhaps they are the only ones who did not have articulated joints. I learned to sculpt from their example. I got acquainted with the material and selected tools.
And then I immediately started working on the articulated doll. I have repeated this word so many times, but I have never explained it. The main feature of articulated dolls is that they can change poses, thanks to the presence of articulated joints, and practically repeat the range of human movements. But here we need to make a reservation - this largely depends on the talent of the artist and whether he is a good engineer - whether he was able to develop good joints that allow the doll to take beautiful and natural poses. And it also largely depends on the tasks - whether the doll needs super-mobility or whether you can get by with simple, traditional solutions for making joints. For example, I have several know-how - hinged solutions, which I am proud of, when the hinge itself is practically invisible, but the doll can still squat.
In general, all my dolls can be divided into 2 main categories - basic and full-walled. When ordering basic dolls, buyers choose their own makeup, hair color, body type, face, hand gestures and foot type - heeled, pointe, or simply flat. That is, they form the doll to their liking.
With fullsets everything is a little different. These are collectible dolls with their own history. In this case, the story is born on its own or while working on the doll, and acquires details. This doll already has a character, an image. She is a complete art object, she has an outfit consisting of large quantity details, hairstyle to match the look, shoes, certificate. These dolls are one of a kind. Theoretically, they can also be undressed, but I don’t think a hand will be raised. However, even with them you can play, if desired, only very carefully and carefully.
Here, for example, is my latest collection: Mystical family. I write a piece of the novel for each character, as if I dedicate a chapter, telling his story. Despite this, all the characters interact with each other to one degree or another, so at the exhibition it was important to arrange them in a certain order, demonstrating who is who. The Count sat in a chair and held his wife's hand. The countess standing next to him hugged their daughter Annabelle, who was sitting next to her on a high pouf. important people for each other. They all seem to have gathered for a ceremonial family portrait, posing either for a photographer or an artist.
In contrast to mystical stories doll family, now I’m working more on a children’s project: I’m sculpting an articulated doll with false eyes. However, the baby will be quite in my style, but more joyful and positive in mood.
As you can see, dolls are a whole world, open not only to children, but also to adults, and capable of bringing daily life beauty, fantasy and inspiration.
Puppet Theatre- one of the varieties of puppetry of space-time art, which includes cartoon and animated film art, puppetry pop art and artistic puppet programs television. In puppet theater performances, the appearance and physical actions of characters are depicted and indicated by three-dimensional, semi-dimensional and flat puppets. Actor puppets are usually controlled and driven by people, puppeteers, and sometimes automatic mechanical or mechanical-electrical-electronic devices. There are three main types of puppet theaters: 1). Horse Puppet Theater(glove, haptic-cane), controlled from below. Actors-puppeteers in theaters of this type are usually hidden from the audience by a screen, but it also happens that they are not hidden and are visible to the audience in their entirety or half their height.2. Grassroots Puppet Theater(puppets) controlled from above using threads, rods or wires. Actors-puppeteers in theaters of this type are most often also hidden from the audience by an upper curtain or canopy. In some cases, puppeteer actors, as in horse puppet theaters, are visible to the audience in their entirety or half their height.3. Middle Puppet Theater puppets controlled at the level of actors-puppeteers. Medium dolls are three-dimensional, controlled by actors-puppeteers either from the outside or from inside the dolls large sizes, inside of which there is an actor-puppeteer. Among the middle dolls are, in particular, Shadow Theater dolls. In such theaters, the puppeteer actors are not visible to the audience, since they are behind a screen onto which shadows from flat or non-flat puppet actors are projected. IN Lately increasingly, puppet theater represents the stage interaction of actors-puppeteers with puppets (the actors “play openly,” that is, not hidden from the audience by a screen or any other object). In the 20th century, the beginning of this interaction was laid by S. V. Obraztsov in the very same pop miniature in which two characters acted: a baby named Tyapa and his father. Eat general features puppet theaters, as a compositional structure of the dramatic basis of performances: exposition, plot, climax, denouement (or final without denouement). In addition, they are widely used general genres, realistic and artistic-conventional forms, pantomimic and non-pantomimic versions of stage actions, etc., etc. The first news of the existence of puppet theater in Russia dates back to 1636, recorded by the German traveler Adam Olearius. One of the most famous puppet theaters in Russia is the State Academic Central Puppet Theater named after. S. V. Obraztsova
Puppetry is a special kind of art
Puppet theater has its own individual uniqueness. His arsenal expressive means differs in many respects from the arsenal of means of dramatic theater. A doll is not capable of revealing the multifaceted psychological structure of a person’s image. But much better than a living actor, a doll can show the most vivid, character traits man in their general manifestation. Sergei Obraztsov wrote the following about the puppet theater: “People need the puppet theater as an irreplaceable form of entertainment art. No actor can portray a human being at all, because he himself is already a human being. A doll can do this. Precisely because she is not human.”
Often, the concept of “puppet theater” combines phenomena that have little resemblance to each other, connected only by relatively similar features. On the podium international union puppeteers in Prague is kept geographic map world, on which hundreds of circles mark countries and cities where there are small and large, stationary and mobile, public and private puppet theaters. Theaters working for children and theaters dedicating their art to adults; theaters staging large performances, and groups giving pop performances. Such diverse phenomena are called puppet theater today. Performances featuring puppets of various structures and control techniques - string puppets, glove puppets, cane puppets and mechanical puppets; dolls the size of a human palm and two or three times the height of a person. Theater where puppets naturalistically copy people, and theater where people very conventionally depict various objects, or “naked” theater human hand. In some cases, puppet theater performances are similar to drama, opera or ballet theater, in others - infinitely far from everyone known species theatrical art.
This could be a performance where essential component there is a word, and a wordless pantomime performance. These are old, traditional representations that have stood for centuries in form and character, and new art, sometimes completely unusual...
The history of puppet theater, even a short one, is quite difficult to write. There is too much information on the one hand and too few documents and records on the other.
Next to a person there was always an object that he endowed with a special relationship: whether this object was a symbol of a deity, whether it personified the secret of nature, or simply depicted a person. And the comparison of a person’s life with a puppet that is pulled by a string has been common among many peoples since the most ancient times of the world. The puppet theater has long excited people both with its strange resemblance to living beings and because it constantly gave rise to philosophical reasoning: the example of the manager and the controlled was too obvious. The theme of the puppet, the threads that set it in motion, and, finally, the theme of the human will that guides this movement are constant not only in ancient but also in medieval philosophy.
Puppet theater, as well as dramatic theater, originated from religious pagan festivals and mysteries. Gradually from
Mysteries he turned into folk entertainment. So what is it folk art. Puppet theater later than other arts found its home, its workshops, professional actors-puppeteers, and its researchers.
The first mentions of puppetry are associated with festivals in Egypt.
Women walked from village to village, accompanied by a flutist, carrying small figurines in their hands, 30-40 centimeters high, and set them in motion using special ropes. (Such dolls are found both in Syria and in Latin American countries).
Performances dedicated to the lives of the gods were performed in Egypt on moving chariots. The spectators were located on both sides of the road, and each subsequent scene of the performance was shown on a chariot following (this principle was later preserved in the English medieval theater and was called “pageant”). Man could not take on the role of God. The dolls were moved by hands.
IN Ancient Greece Huge figures were made from precious metals and precious woods, which were called automata. They were set in motion only at the most solemn moments of religious action. These machines can hardly be called theater in the full sense of the word, but an element of theatricality still existed in these performances.
The Greek tradition is strengthened and immeasurably expanded in Ancient Rome. Processions with huge dolls are held here. Caricatured mechanical images amused or terrified the crowd.
In addition, in every house - in Ancient Greece, and in ancient Rome— they always had their own dolls, and sometimes even collections. They formed part of the decoration of rooms or table decoration.
On the territory of Ancient Greece, art arose, which is usually called the Bethlehem box or nativity scene. This “theater” for the first time and in a very original way tried to tell about the universe - as it was imagined by the ancients. Someone came up with the idea of depicting the world using a box that has no front wall and is partitioned in half horizontally. Human dolls were placed below, and those depicting gods were placed on top. With the help of rods threaded through slots at the bottom of the box, the dolls could be controlled - and thus the movement was born. And then they came up with sketches, whole plays - and it turned out to be a theater.
When ancient states disintegrated, and new formations were created on their territory, small boxes with simple dolls were inherited by subsequent generations. Echoes of this theater live to this day: the Romanian “Bethlehem”, the Polish “shopka”, the Ukrainian “vertep”, the Belarusian “batleyka”.