a Russian symbol
MATRYOSHKA Cristina Melo
9 Introduction 12 History 26 Style 29 Basic Characteristics 30 Number of pieces 32 Sizes 37 Shape 40 Paint and Technique 42 Themes 44 Flowers 46 Fairy Tales 48 Animals 50 Religion 52 Fine Art 56 New Themes 62 St Nicholas Market 62 Matryoshka Army 70
My Collection
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Introduction The act of making and writing a book about a subject that I like is something that excites me. It was quite easy to choose the subject that I would like to work with, this object was the ‘Russian doll also known as Matryoshka or nesting doll. The word Matryoshka is related to the Russian word “mat” meaning mother. The symbolism is obvious, as each doll has one daughter inside, and then another. Since I was little I have always had a strong link with this doll, always played with it and now I have as a decorative object in my room. I never knew the true history of Matryoshka, when it was created, where it comes from and how it became a cult object, given and bought by many people. At some point in my research I came across the complexity that Matryoshka has, the extensive range of colors, themes, sizes and shapes. However they may seem alike the matryoshkas are classified in different ways by craftsmen. I chose to focus my book on illustration since the Russian dolls are manually created in workshops throughout Russia. I had plenty of help from my friends who drew some Matryoshkas to support my book visually.
History the symbol of Russia
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Beginning Matryoshka dolls are relatively new in Russia, they are probably the most popular national souvenir. The Matryoshka doll has two other names: Russian doll and Nesting doll. The history of Matryoshka is quite contradictory among websites. This is because the authors of the websites did not necessarily have good materials on this object and because the popular and the real story of first appearance of the doll is not well known. The first Russian doll appeared in 1899 in the city of Sergiev Posad, about 50 km north from Moscow. The accepted story is that a nesting doll was brought to Russia from Japan by a Russian traveler. The first Matryoshkas were made during the same period, but is not known if it was a coincidence or the Russian doll actually has an influence from Japan. Since the first Mastryoshka, the idea was spread in a long tradition of wood- working artists and it came to be the symbol of Russia that it is today.
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Traditional servieg Posad dolls line the shelves to be sold
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The Matryoshka century To understand the origin of Matryoshkas
workshop, Children’s Education.
it helps to understand what was occurring
In the late 1890’s, a nesting doll from
in nineteenth-century Russia. During
Japan, Fukuruma, appeared at the
this period there was an intellectual
children’s education workshop. A doll
undercurrent. This undercurrent reaches
with five nested piece and shaped like a
its peak after the assassination of Tsar
cylinder, rounded off on the top.
Alexander II in 1881 in St Petersburg. It is generally accepted, although not Traditional Folk art was suffering from an
documented, that Sergei Malyutin, the
increasing industrialization. The work of
head of Abramtsevo workshop, painted
master craftsmen was being replaced by
the first russian- made matryoshka
industrial production and, in some cases,
doll. The lathe work was done by Visilii
by inexpensive imitations. The craftsmen
Zvyozdochkin , an employee of the
were being put out of work .It was at
Children’s Education workshop.
this time that people started to perceive objects of traditional peasant culture as
The first doll that was made by
works of art.
Zvyozdochkin and did not open. His collegues suggested that he follow it out
With the industrialization, the increased
and put more dolls inside. This he did,
development of the Matryoshkas was
and the first matryoshka appeared as an
the most successful of these efforts to
8-piece doll.
combine technology with folk culture.The production of these dolls was imposed by
The design features a girl in a national
aristocrats.
costume, holding various small objects in her hands. The original doll was
During this period some people
matte with wood burned outlines and
sponsored local artists and workshops.
the colours were somewhat dark, in
Anatoly, founded a Moscow toy
comparison to the matryoshka now a day.
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Matryoshka doll
Japanese doll
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An inspiration or a coincidence? Were Malyutin and Zvyodochkin insipred by a Japanese doll brought to Russia by traveler or was it just a coecidence that the japanese doll dates to the same era? This may never be conclusively determined. In either case, the matryoshka was a logical step in the progression of the russian woodworking tradition, and has gone on to create a proud tradition of its own
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After the first Matryoshka
After Sergei Malyutin and Vasilii zvyodochkin produced the first Matryoshka doll, the Children’s Education workshop produced Matryoshkas in Moscow until 1904. That year the Children’s Education workshop was transfered to Sergieve Posad, and became a production centre of Matryoshka in Russia.
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Soviet period When Josef Stalin came to power, Matryoshkas became a part of his political propaganda The soviet government affected many workshops in Russia. Private making of matryoshkas and production of other hand crafted things was forbidden in the USSR – craftsmen had to work at the factories where was no possibility either to earn enough money for their labour or to show their art abilities. Artists no longer had freedom to paint what they wanted. They were told what to paint. After the Second World War some workshops were open all over the country. Even when there was not much room for creativity, each doll was handmade, and therefore no two were identical. From 1930 to 1990 the majority of dolls from each of the Matryoshka producing cities was very similar in shape and color.
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Matryoshkas of the sovietic leaders
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Style
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Matryoshka Basic Characteristics • Matryoshka dolls have a face at the top and the stomach is in the middle • Most but not all have eye lashes • In almost all Matryoshka they have red, rosy cheeks • The finest dolls usually have a medallion • Traditional Matryoshka have aprons • Most of them have a shawl around their head, typically from Russia.
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Number of pieces The most important characteristic in classifying Nesting dolls is the number of pieces. Some Matryoshka are made of just one piece, the smallest number of pieces is three and with the industrialization five piece dolls became the standard. The one notable exception is Semyonova doll, which has six pieces. After the Soviet Union the most common sizes made beyond the standard 5 piece were 7 piece, 10 piece, and 15 piece. Any doll with more than 20 pieces is expesive. The largest finished doll is seventy - two piece made in a Semyonov factory.
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Sizes Usually large nesting dolls are more expensive than small ones and artists place an inordinate importance on the size of a doll. They created different names to classify the different types of Matryoshka.The small dolls only 3 or 4 inches* tall are called Minimats, and the very small ones are called Micromats. The Semyonov dolls are 6 pieces and only about five inches tall whereas Servieg Posad and Maidan dolls are 5 pieces and usually about six inches tall.
* 3-4 inches > 7 to 10 centimeter
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Though working drawings are done for new designers once design has been turned, the drawings are seldom used for reference.
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style and themes
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Shape The majority of nesting dolls are designed like a human body with the arms close to the body. They are two types of Matryoshkas. The ones from the first workshops were a little wider in the stomach and the ones from Semyonov, were a little taller and thinner. The earliest Matryoshka had rounded corners and some were bottle shaped. Several lathe operators and artists have revived another traditional symbolic shape: the egg. Eggs on stands, or with strings so that they can be hung, are popular item in Russia. Recently, other shape have appeared.One that has become relatively common.They are called “potbelly� these dolls that are almost wide as they are tall.
Babuska doll in Lenin Stadium during the closing ceremony of the 1980 olympics
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Paint and Technique Matryoshka are traditionally painted with gouache or aniline paints. These are opaque and generally cover up discoloration or minor defects in the wood. For different shapes and themes the artist opted for different types of paint. Some use transparent watercolor paints that allows the grain of the wood to be seen. They are finished with matte, matte lacquer or no lacquer at all. Unlacquered dolls are usually painted with tempera or acrylic. Wood burning is another technique used in some of the earliest Matryoshka dolls, but was rarely used in the soviet factories. Now a days the finest dolls are burned and painted. A technique also seen in the finest matryoshkas is the “potal� technique, this is where a gold or silver sheen used to highlight the medallion of the face. Not all special techniques are just used just for expensive dolls, one decorative technique used is the application of rye straw, which is dyed to different colors, dried, splayed and cut by hand.
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Themes
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Flowers Flowers are the most common theme that artists choose to paint. The dolls that don’t have flowers are the festive, political and religious subjects. The most common flower painted on these dolls is a stylized rose. As well as daises, lilies of the valley and poppies. The roses are made up simply with a series of flourishes. The roses painted in factories are more developed but still very simple. The most detailed flowers are those found in the more expensive dolls.
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Fairy Tales
Fairytale Matryoshka are usually attributed to specific artists. One of the most important styles in fairy tales is in Palekh art, basically this style consists of painting fine work on a black background. You can find 3 Russian authors of fairy tales. The best known is Alexander Pushkin, and there is also Pyotr Ershov and Pavel Bazhov. Many dolls were painted with their fairy tales. Some stories that we are familiar with are also painted on Matryoshka, as Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood.
Alice in the wonderland, M.Drozdova
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Animals Animals frequently appeared in various ways on Nesting dolls. The most interesting dolls with animals are the ones were the face of the animal is where the face of the doll would be in a traditional doll. The most common Matryoshka with dolls diplays cats, dogs and horses. Each piece of the nesting doll shows a different breed of the animal.
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Animals of the forest, Efremov
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Religion There is no record of religious subjects on early Matrioshka perhaps this is because, before 1917, revolution, Russian Orthodox Christians knew that copying such works was inappropriate. Many religious dolls are exquisite these dolls generally feature, Madonna and child on the outside piece, Jesus on the second piece and then series of saints on the last three pieces. The luminescence in this dolls is acquired by using a layer of foil under the paint just enough so that the paint acquires a metallic sheen.
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Reproduction of fine art Many fine art artists have produced classic paintings on matryoshka dolls. Generally these matryoshka dolls reproduce works of Russian artists rather than western European or other artists around the world.
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The art of Vasnetsov, Reproductions of this 19th-century artist’s most famous works including the three Bogatyrs, Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf and Alyonushka
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New Markets In early 1990 Russia began the transition to a market economy, Matryoshka were export to foreign countries for the first time. In 1990 the tourism increased, that made that makers and sellers of Matryoshka doll quickly responded to the tastes and interests of foreign buyers. Matryoshka begun at this point to be focused in American culture, first depicting American subjects, and secondly appearing in American film and television. With this, America presidents, American teams as NFL, NBA and NHL began to be painted, especially to be sold to foreign. The most popular subjects are cartoons, characters from Disney and Wanner Bros. Among cartoon character dolls the most popular one is Winnie the pooh. Almost every aspect of American pop culture is represented on matrioshki, celebrities from Elvis to Madonna, Marilyn Monroe to Britney Spears.
St. Nicholas Market
St Nicholas Market, Bristol
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Matryoshka in St Nicholas Market There is a shop in St Nicholas’ Market, Bristol, where there are Matryoshkas for sale. Although Matryoshka is the main attraction in his little shop, he also sells decorated boxes. Matryoshka’s vary in price from £7.50 to £20, depending on size. The smallest ones are the most popular. Richard, the owner, is from Hungary, and doesn’t sell Russian dolls, but Matryoshkas from Hungary. He finds that people buy his Matryoshkas for decoration, and says he sells the most at Christmas time.
Matryoshka Army
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Jedi and Iria Matryoshka Army A few months ago I had the opportunity to meet Ged, who did a Matryoshka army for Bristol Design Festival last year. I spoke with him about doing a book and he told me some of his experiences with Matryoshkas. He did the Matryoshka Army with his friend Iria, over the next few pages we can see their work.
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“ Matryoshka Army was a collaborative project with Iria Prol. We saw that Bristol Design Festival was asking for people to put together exhibitions so we went for it. We asked Bristol’s artists/ designers/ street artists to submit examples of their work to get involved and in the end went with 26 that we thought the most appropriate. We then ordered all the russian dolls from a man in Wales, packaged them and got them out to the artists. The Exhibition ran in the Bristol Design Festival 2009 and lasted for about 2 weeks. The aim of the project was to have a customisable object and to ask the artists to work on a product which was new to many who had only worked in 2D before. I think a few of them sold for a decent amount but I am pretty sure we didn’t cover our costs! In the end it was also a lot about the challenge of organising an exhibition and meeting the artists. It was a great learning experience and some brilliant work was produced. There are some nice images on Iria’s website and also on the blog (http://matryoshkaarmy.blogspot.com/)”
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Jedi Matryoshka Army
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Iria Matryoshka Army
My Matryoshka
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Reference Internet: www.wikipedia.com www.google.co.uk Books: Ertl R. and Hibberd R. (2003), The Art of the Russian Matryoshka, Colorado : Vernissage Illustrations: Ana Calheiros Soalheiro Jessica Warby Alice Young Cristina Melo Liz Ibbet Photography: Cristina Melo