Dymkovo toy cat. Dymkovo toy

13.09.2019

Dymkovo craft is a unique phenomenon of Russian folk art that has come to us from time immemorial. It is believed that it arose in the 15th – 16th centuries in the Dymkovo settlement on the low right bank of the Vyatka River near the town of Khlynov-Vyatka.

NHP "Dymkovo", Union of Artists of Russia, CC BY-SA 3.0

Whole families made toys in the Dymkovo settlement. This usually happened during the period when field work was completed, from late autumn to early spring.

They dug and kneaded clay, manually pounded and rubbed lump chalk with paint grinders, molded, dried and burned. And then they painted.

Guide to Russian Crafts, CC BY-SA 3.0

The toys were whitewashed with chalk diluted with skimmed cow's milk, painted with egg dyes, and decorated with large spots of golden leaf.

"Whistler"

Holiday tradition

The fair "" was a continuation of the annual commemoration of the residents of Khlynov and Veliky Ustyug, who died during the sad battle, which went down in the history of the city as the Khlynov massacre, when "I did not know my own people."

In memory of this event, a memorial cross was erected near the Razderikhinsky ravine, and then a chapel. After that, a riotous merry holiday began, which lasted for three days, where Vyatka residents, young and old, whistled into clay whistles.

Memories of old-timers

The oldest craftswoman of the Dymkovo toys E.I. Penkina recalled her childhood this way:

“… All the townspeople went to Svistunya with their children - for three days the guys whistled whistles, pipes at home, on the street - and received all kinds of toys for the whole year. Father and mother used to sell their clay toys too - they would give us money for sweets - sweets, gingerbread, and the gingerbread cookies were special - they were brought from Arkhangelsk - mostly from black dough with white sugar, curly ... ”.

Now the holiday has lost its original form. An idea of \u200b\u200bit is given to us by the creative compositions of Dymkovo craftswomen of different generations, made during the XX and early XXI centuries.

The press wrote in 1939:

"The colorful multicolored images of people, animals and birds stand out clearly on the white surface of the walls, retaining both in colors and in forms all the expressiveness of primitiveness inherent in Dymkovo toys." This is how the Dymkovo relief was born, which firmly entered the arsenal of Dymkovo craftswomen of the second half of the twentieth century.

Used materials

The article uses photographs from the Tsaritsinsky Museum of folk applied art of the peoples of the USSR

Part of the information is taken with permission from the site: dymkatoy.ru - Kirov city branch of the All-Russian creative public organization "Union of Artists of Russia" - Folk art craft "Dymkovo toy"

The Dymkovo toy is a unique phenomenon in Russian art. This is perhaps the most famous and popular among folk crafts. His glory has long crossed the borders of our country. For many decades, not a single exhibition of folk art has been without cheerful, elegant Dymkovo figurines. Much has been written about the Dymkovo toy in general works on folk art, special articles and essays, and popular books. However, it cannot be said that everything about this craft is known and we know well the entire path of its development.

The artistic evolution of Dymkovo toys as a whole has not yet been studied, sometimes the peculiarities of its expressive means are determined incorrectly, traditions are reduced to formal moments. The names of some masters have been forgotten, and the creative contribution to the common cause of even well-known ones has not been revealed. Many outstanding works that museums possess have not been published. All this is of interest not only for the history of folk art in general, but is important, first of all, for the craft itself. There are many difficulties and difficulties in his modern life. To move on, you need to know well the path traveled, take into account its experience, miscalculations and mistakes, achievements and victories.

From the history of Dymkovo toys in the 19th century, Vyatka was first mentioned in chronicles in 1374. This date is considered to be the time of the foundation of the city. It was founded on the site of a Russian settlement that existed in the XIV century by one of the Ushkuin detachments who went on a campaign to the Volga Bulgaria. The detachment consisted of different people: Novgorodians, Dvinyans, Ustyuzhanians. In the 15th century, Vyatka was a feudal possession: it was part of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality, it was the inheritance of the Galician (Kostroma) prince, and then the Moscow prince Vasily I took possession of it. - the Khlynov fortress, named after the Khlynovice river. Feudal wars more than once led to the siege of the city of Khlynov, but he staunchly defended himself and only in 1489 was surrendered to Ivan III without a fight and annexed to Moscow.

Unknown master. Walking gentleman. End of the 19th century

At the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century, the population of Khlynov began to replenish with immigrants from the Northern Dvina and especially from Veliky Ustyug. The latter founded at this time on the low right bank of the Vyatka Dymkovskaya Sloboda, which repeated the name of the settlement in Veliky Ustyug, and the location flooded during the flooding of the river, and the church in the name of the revered in the northern city of Prokoshnia, and, possibly, the occupation of the main population by pottery ... In the 16th-17th centuries, trade routes went through Khlynov from the north to Moscow, the Volga region, and Great Perm. By 1678, the city already had five thousand inhabitants, and crafts were developing.

A.A. Mezrina. Walking gentleman. 1910s

In the 18th century, the number of artisans increased significantly. At the end of the 18th century, there were four hundred and fifty-seven artisans in Khlynov, about twenty types of craft. The inhabitants of the Dymkovo settlement at that time were engaged in pottery.

Unknown master. Duck whistles. End, XIX century

“The Dymkovo settlement across the Vyatka River, on the pasture land, which, in the former under the direction of Shuvalov, is a land surveyor, which in the spring time is all drowned; after the confluence of spring waters into its borders, it is surrounded by green meadows, close to which, on the side of the noon, the Vyatka canal river facilitates the old current; according to its ancient structure, it does not have regular streets;, - says the old manuscript.

Unknown mister. Whistle skates. The beginning of the XX century.

In 1780, there were eight hundred and sixty-five wooden houses in Khlynov and only six stone ones. That year, in connection with the provincial reform and the assignment of the status of a county and provincial city, Khlynov was returned to his old name - Vyatka. The city was provincial, the population was illiterate. Only in 1786 was the first secular school opened. Vyatka remained such a dark, half-asleep bearish corner throughout the 19th century. It is no coincidence that it became a place of political exile, which was served here by A.I. Herzen, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, V.G. Korolenko and many other talented representatives of Russian culture.

A.A. Mezrina (?). Couple on a walk. Lady under an umbrella. The last third of the 19th century.

A. A. Mezrina (?) A couple for a walk. The last third of the 19th century.

A. A. Mezrina (?). Lady under an umbrella. The last third of the 19th century.

ME Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote about Vyatka: “Entering this city, you seem to feel that your career has ended here, that you can no longer demand anything from life, that you can only live in the past and digest your memories. There is not even a road further from this city, as if the end of the world is here. " The apt popular word reflected the spirit of local self-government in the proverb: "We have our own rules on Vyatka." But the exile gave rise to the forces of internal resistance, and the difficult living conditions, bureaucracy and arbitrariness of the bureaucracy awakened in the people inventiveness, a spirit of disobedience and the will to create. “We are Vyachki - we are not afraid of hvachki: seven are not afraid of one, but one-on-one, and we will give our little bags,” the Vyatka peasant laughed at himself.

A. A. Mezrina (?). Two ladies. The last to warm the XIX century.

The talent, sharpness and ingenuity of the Vyatka peasants made a significant contribution to the development of domestic technology, science and culture. The harsh climate, low soil fertility and land scarcity forced the population of the region to engage in handicrafts in addition to agriculture.

In the 19th century, the Vyatka uyezd ranked first in the province for the development of local domestic peasant industry. Here were widely developed not only various crafts, but many types of folk art: weaving, lace-making, pottery, jewelry; but especially various types of artistic woodworking - from carved and painted household utensils to house paintings, for which Vyatka migrant painters became famous throughout the North and the Urals; from the creation of beautifully textured objects from burl growths to wicker and carved furniture.

Among these types of local folk art, a special role was played by the Dymkovo clay toy. Some historians of the Vyatka Territory believe that the production of toys in Dymkovskaya Sloboda probably appeared only at the beginning of the 19th century. It is unlikely that one can agree with this, although no written evidence for a more accurate date of their occurrence has been found. At the same time, the origin and history of Dymkovo toys are inseparable from the local holiday - Svistoplyaska. It was to her that the production and mass sale of clay toys and whistles was timed.

Unknown master. Baby in the tub. Child and dog. The beginning of the XX century.

Be that as it may, but Svistoplyaska, according to the fair comment of the author of the description of the holiday in the "St. Petersburg Vedomosti" of 1856, is really "the only holiday in the world in its originality and name". It is surprising that so far it has not attracted the attention of ethnographers. Throughout the 19th century, local newspapers published descriptions of Swistoplyaska. They allow us to imagine its essence and the changes that took place in the celebration of the holiday during this century. In the old days (until the beginning of the 19th century), the holiday began with a memorial service for the killed and the dead, held in a chapel erected on a high slope of the Razderikhinsky ravine. Then there was a walk and entertainment: throwing clay balls from a slope into a ditch, fistfights, whistling, dancing, reflected in the name of the holiday. All this was accompanied by the sale of sweets and especially clay dolls "in honor of the widows who remained after the battle."

Unknown master. Nanny with two children. End of the 19th century

In the middle of the 19th century, the authors of the notes complain about the "displacement of ancient rituals by modern life", the reduction of the Swistoplyaska program, the increasing role of children as its participants and the reduction of the entire ritual after the traditional funeral service mainly to the sale of toys, without which, probably, the holiday itself would cease to exist. Since 1861, they stopped rolling clay balls and arrange playful fights. Since 1888, the holiday has changed its name - it is no longer Swistoplyaska, but Whistler, which testifies to the transformation of a complex ancient rite into an entertainment fair. According to the recollections of the oldest craftswoman Z. V. Penkina, the last Whistle took place at the end of the 1920s.

Unknown master. Lady. Young lady. End of the 19th century

Modern research makes it possible to classify the Whistle Dance as a calendar holidays of the spring-summer cycle and to note in it the essential features of these rituals of the most ancient origin. The dance was performed annually on the fourth Saturday after Easter. Already this confinement to certain days, usually in the month of April-May, puts it in a number of traditional folk rituals associated in their origins with the ancient cult of the earth, the renewal and rebirth of nature after winter and its awakening from spring to summer.

Unknown master. Young lady. End of the 19th century

Despite the confinement to the Christian calendar, all the main before and after - Easter folk rituals (carnival - Easter - seven - trinity) - researchers somehow associate with the solstice and the cycles of seasonal agricultural work during the transition from spring to summer, with magical ones at their core rituals aimed at improving the fertility of the earth. Often these rituals were combined with the commemoration of the dead, and the holiday itself was held at a church or chapel, as was the case at Svistoplyaska. Ethnographers believe that this may mean a genetic link between the calendar rite and the cult of ancestors. The antiquity of the rite is also seen in the fact that after the commemoration, noisy fun with songs and dances usually began. The combination of grief and fun, even revelry, did not evoke condemnation. but it was taken for granted: it was thought to paralyze death and establish life.

Unknown master. A woman milks a cow. The beginning of the XX century.

The magical act of casting a fertility spell during the spring-summer rituals was laughter - the recreation of life, whistling - a means of scaring away the evil inclination, and especially the rolling of eggs. The egg was a symbol of the birth of a new life. His contact with the ground was supposed to awaken the earth from winter sleep, to fertilize it. Among the Easter games, rolling eggs on the ground from a hill was especially popular. It can be assumed that rolling clay balls on Svistoplyaska was a late modification of these ancient actions. L. A. Dinces associated it with the remnants of the cult of the sun. It is known that many calendar rituals were carried out "near the water", which had a purifying significance. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Whistle Dance was held on the banks of the Vyatka River. In 1824, the Alexander Garden was laid out here, and the holiday was held near it, but in the old place. Finally, it is possible that in the mass creation of clay dolls for the Swistoplaska holiday and the predominance of female characters among them, especially nurses with children, a distant echo of the ancient pagan cults of fertility has also been preserved, as L.A. Dintses also wrote about.

Unknown master. On the stove. The beginning of the XX century

Ethnographers note that in the 19th century, rituals were already severely destroyed. The rituals that were grouped around major holidays and performed collectively remained longer. This happened due to the fact that, with the loss of ritual meaning, they began to be perceived as entertainment, and their transformed and rethought ancient elements, combined with new ones, diversified the holiday and gave each of them its own special flavor. In some rituals, over time, more and more children participated, who perceived them as a game, which can also be seen in the example of Whistle Dance. Whistle is a local Vyatka holiday. However, a well-known analogy to it can be seen in the Krakow Renkavka, which is still held on Easter Tuesday on the banks of the Vistula, supposedly at the grave of Krakus, the legendary founder of the city, and is accompanied by throwing eggs, riding children on carousels, selling and buying toys. Thus, summing up all the features of the Vyatka Svistoplyaska - Svistunya, it seems possible to assert that this holiday is ancient in origin. By the 19th century, it had already strongly transformed. In it, layers of different times are obvious, which were reflected both in the nature of the holiday itself, and, apparently, in the clay toys that accompanied it.

A.A. Mezrina. Babysitting with children. The beginning of the XX century.

The earliest toys preserved in museums can be dated back to the last decades of the 19th - early 20th century. But the absence of earlier things can, to a certain extent, compensate for information from the local press. They are quite numerous and make it possible to imagine the state of the craft throughout the entire 19th century: the nature of toys, their plots, cost, size of production, correlation with other types of local products, in particular, gypsum, which gradually supplanted clay. The very first mention of Dymkovo toys is contained in the above-mentioned notes of Major General N. 3. Khitrovo. He kept a magazine, where he described the legendary battle between the Ustyuzhans and the Vyatchansk and the traditional commemoration holiday. In 1811 he reported: “Today, this day, the whole morning is devoted to prayer, and the rest of this memorable day is walking and amusement. The people gather with small whistles and whistle all day, walking along the streets and standing on the rampart, throwing balls of clay into the ditch, where the city children converge to collect them; it often happens that the balls hit their heads and break through until they bleed; but that doesn't keep them from continuing their fun. In honor of the widows who remained after the battle, clay dolls, painted with different colors and gilded, are sold in those places. This holiday is called in this land Swistoplaska "... From this passage, we can conclude that there are three types of toys that participated in the Whistle: whistles, clay balls and dolls. Judging by the description, the ritual of the holiday was far from new, and the participation of clay toys in it also testifies to a developed production rather than its initial stage. One might think that in 1811 the production of clay toys in Dymkovo was already quite well established.

A.A. Mezrina. Nanny with two children. Water carrier. Late 19th - early 20th century

The toys had a certain established assortment, differed in their role in the ritual of the holiday, in plasticity and painting: these are balls, individual figures and groups, painted with paints and with the use of gold leaf, cheap and more expensive. The seasonality of practicing clay toys, their export outside the Vyatka province and certain incomes of craftsmen from this craft are noted. The description of toys evokes analogies with works of a later time, known from museum collections: the similarity of a bear and a pig and ornamentation with "flies" or stripes testify to this. Finally, by the middle of the 19th century, and not by the end of it, as they often write, the appearance of plaster toys and figurines, which constituted a serious competitor to the Dymkovo clay products, was related.

A. I. Mezrina. A woman milks a cow. The beginning of the XX century.

In 1861, "Vyatskiye Gubernskiye Vedomosti" testified that the Swistoplyaska program, which ran from May 20 to May 22, was declining, even the rolling of balls stopped with the installation of a paved descent to the river in the ravine. “The trade in dolls, toys and treats on the square in front of the Alexander Garden remains almost the only reason for a significant gathering of people who come here mostly with children to buy them the most interesting goods for them. In the current Swistoplyaska, we counted 20 booths with nuts, gingerbread and other sweets and 10 tables with similar goods, 3 booths with various kinds of children's toys, alabaster dolls, figurines and even groups, 42 tables with wooden, paper, embroidered and mostly clay dolls and toys, 5 tables with clay balls and 6 with birch bark pipes. " Further, the author notes that “no improvements and changes in the figures were noticed, except for the extraordinary expansion of the skirts of the clay ladies - in the taste of our time. Products of this kind are sold to the townspeople for money, and the villagers are exchanged more for eggs; the questions about the price of the trader are answered: two testicles, five testicles, etc. " Thus, for the first time, a detailed description of booths with various goods is given, among which clay Dymkovo ones still dominate, although alabaster figurines and figurines are stepping on them more and more actively. In 1862, Svistoplyaska had twenty-two booths with nuts, gingerbread and sweets, three booths with children's toys of various kinds, with alabaster dolls and figurines, thirty-eight tables with wooden, paper, embroidered and mostly clay dolls and toys, five tables with clay balls and four with birch bark pipes. In 1865, in the list of the number of artisans in Vyatka, the masters of clay toys were already included in the total number with cast alabaster figures. Fifty women and two men are mentioned as such "puppeteers". The latter have never been engaged in sculpting clay toys, but only in casting from alabaster.

Unknown master. Lady. Young lady, End of the XIX century.

Unknown master. Rider. End of the 19th century

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries

The known information about the Dymkovo toy can be correlated with original works dated only to the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. The fragility of clay and a rather late interest in collecting clay folk plastic, which manifested itself mainly in the 1900-1910s, led to the fact that Dymkovo toys created not earlier than the last decade of the 19th century are kept in museum collections.
However, even the earliest of them are far from homogeneous in their composition and origin. And if you follow their "layer-by-layer" analysis, then the most ancient "layers", probably, should include balls or "balls", which "from time immemorial" were rolled on Svistoplyaska. Two copies of such balls have been preserved in museums. They are quite consistent with the description given above from the St. Petersburg Gazette of 1856. Relatively small in diameter (6-10 cm), hollow inside, with rolling peas that create a rattle sound, they are beautiful in color combinations. Rows of white, red and lilac (in another case - white, blue and brown) spots-peas are always applied on a black background, which gives them a shade of gloomy severity. One can imagine that this peculiar kind of Dymkovo toys brought its own unique note to the general colorful, noisy atmosphere of Svistoplyaska. Over time, with the departure from the festive ritual of playful fights and rolling balls along the Razderikhinsky descent to the Vyatka River, the balls ceased to exist.

Probably, whistles, especially images of animals and birds, also make up the ancient layer of Dymkovo toys.
It is interesting to note that the ethnographers call domestic animals the carriers of fertility in the minds of ancient farmers: a bull, a goat, a pig, a horse and others. Among the old Dymkovo toys there are all these characters, and they are always whistles. Their constant form in the form of a small figurine with the most characteristic features of a bird or animal in front and a conical end - a whistle from behind, perfect and laconic plastic, combining figurative expressiveness with functionality, already in themselves testify to the fact that such works of the late 19th century are a traditional type of toy, worked out by more than one generation of craftsmen. The same is evidenced by the uniformity of the plastic solutions of these whistles by different authors, the peculiarities of the handwriting of which are manifested not so much in the plastic as in the details of the painting. Only by the length of the horse's muzzle, the whistle-cone, the bend of the horns of a cow or ram, the pattern of the eyes and the color features of the painting, one can try to classify these toys. But since they were made in large batches and they were also purchased by "factories", then in museum collections they represent fairly uniform series, made in certain color variations.

M. A. Laletina. Babysitting with children. The beginning of the XX century.

Among the whistles, figures of ducks and lionfish take the first place. In the collection of the State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR, one of them has an inscription: Vyatka province. 1909 In terms of plasticity, "lionfish" differ from simple wefts only in horizontal rows of frills-wings, as if two aprons with a molded frill are worn - in front and in the back. For some authors, the head of a duck with a raised wide beak looks like a proudly raised human head in a bonnet. The streamlined, smooth and compact plastic of the whistle duck corresponds to the painting, in which you can see a certain system of applying color stripes and rows of peas. First, a wide strip is made from the back through the neck and head along the chest, then narrower ones from the chest on the sides, in accordance with the shape of the cone, and at the end they are crossed by transverse stripes, forming a checkered pattern. Yellow-orange, lilac-gray, blue-green-yellow whistles demonstrate a subtle sense of color by their authors, who owned a fairly wide palette.

A.A. Mezrina. Deer. Cow. Ram. Hare. The beginning of the XX century.

Numerous among the whistles and figures of horses - one-headed or two-headed. Particularly expressive are the two-headed ones, unique among the clay toys of all known centers in terms of plastic solution, its peculiar persuasiveness with all the obviousness of artistic fiction. Dymkovo "two-headed" - a vivid example of the organic fusion of the real and the fantastic, embodied in a perfect artistic form, which is characteristic of the best achievements of folklore in all its forms. Their silhouette, with a greater or lesser inclination of the heads to the sides, preserves the contour of the cone, which, expanding forward and upward, creates a stable and plastically completed shape of the toy. Even in the arrangement of the holes for the whistle on the side and the whistle in the tail of the horse, there is a certain rhythm, due not only to the need to extract sounds, but also to a sense of harmony.

E. A. Koshkina. Babysitting with children. The beginning of the XX century.

For painting whistle-skates, protozoa are also characteristic, usually vertical rows of multi-colored peas or alternating stripes and cells with harmonious or contrasting color combinations. Sometimes a circle is placed in a ring on the horse's chest - the "sun", drawn with oblique lines or direct rays emanating from it. This motive brings Dymkovo toys closer to similar Kargopol, Filimonov and others.

E. A. Koshkina. Ladies. The beginning of the XX century.

Compared to ducks and skates, images of other birds and animals (goats, rams, cows, and especially pigs) are represented in whistles by a significantly smaller number of works. Cows, goats and rams are similar in plasticity to horses, only in the position of the horns and the pattern of the muzzle they show similarities with their prototypes. They are also laconic in the fusion of the shape of the conical whistle with the plastic solution of the image, in the accuracy and accuracy of conveying the peculiar characters of animals. They are also similar to skates in painting: as a rule, they are decorated with vertical rows of black dots or small colored peas.

A.A. Mezrina. Dancing couple. 1910s

Only two varieties of Dymkovo whistles convey human images: a rider (on a one-headed or two-headed horse) and the so-called "walking cavalier". Perhaps it was their "Vyatskiye gubernskiye vedomosti" that was called those "whistlers" who were very popular during the Whistle Dance. Compositionally, both toys also organically merged with the shape of the whistle, their artistic solution is bright and expressive. For example, the presence of a whistle for a “walking gentleman” lengthens the figure, gives it stability and a slight backward tilt, contributing to the impression of measured movement and the lordly importance of the character. Always depicted in a long coat with a shawl collar and a top hat, the gentleman conveys the style of a provincial street dandy. The image of the whistle rider, using the expression of VS Voronov, is "the transformation of fantasy into some convincing reality and genuine realism into fabulousness." Toy playfulness is combined in it with the liveliness of the transfer of a dashingly galloping horse and a soldier firmly sitting on it. The plastic combination of two figures into one, ignoring the details and identifying what should enhance the content of the image (the proudly thrown head and steep neck of the horse, the dashing pose of the rider) - everything allows one to see the image expressive and reliable behind the external convention. This authenticity is also helped by the identical drawing of the eyes of a horse and a man (with pupils and eyebrows), which contributes to the unification into a single living character.

L.P. Mezrina. Babysitting with children. The beginning of the XX century.

The images of the whistle rider and the "walking cavalier" with their inherent rounded plastic forms, squat proportions, puppet importance and seriousness are among the most striking and distinctive in the assortment of Dymkovo toys. But if the plot of the rider-whistle is typical for almost all centers of the folk clay toys of the 19th century, then the “walking cavalier” and the similar “walking lady” that appeared later are the work of hands and imaginations only of Dymkovo craftswomen. They liked both toys themselves. Each sculpted them in large numbers, varying the position of the hands, the color of clothing (for riders - certainly with epaulets on their shoulders), rings, cages and peas on the whistles and bodies of horses, the height and shape of a hat, always famously worn, sometimes with a crease, sometimes with zeros, then cocked hats.

A.A. Mezrina. Lady with an umbrella. The beginning of the XX century.

The images of ladies, ladies and military men are no exception in Dymkovo plastic. They are also known in other centers for the production of Russian clay toys - the settlement Bolshie Gonchary near Tula, the villages of Romanovo near Lipetsk, Filimonovo in the Tula and Abashevo provinces of the Penza provinces. But it is noteworthy that in rural peasant industries, which were the majority of the centers of toy production in central Russia, human figures are always endowed with whistles, at least in the form of a bird held under the arm of a lady or a soldier. In the settlements Bolshie Gonchary near Tula and Dymkovo in Vyatka, with the exception of the whistle rider and the "walking cavalier", human figures have never been whistles. The explanation for this fact, in our opinion, must be sought in the fact that in both suburban provincial settlements they followed fashion more and were guided by the achievements of small porcelain plastics. And the creation of such clay toys was supposed to compensate for the shortage of similar porcelain figurines.

A. I. Mezrina. Babysitting with children. The beginning of the XX century.

Many researchers wrote about the influence of porcelain sculpture on the Dymkovo toy. The acquaintance of the Dymkovo craftswomen with this production is confirmed by the above information from the local press. The influence of porcelain figurines on a folk toy in the 19th century was felt almost everywhere. It has not yet been sufficiently studied in concrete manifestations. But the Dymkovo craftswomen were not alone in this. Achievements of porcelain production were somehow perceived by Tula, Lipetsk, Bogorodsk and other masters. His influence was reflected in the mass production of such figurines, in the change in the function of the toy, which became not so much a subject of play as decoration of window sills, dressers and slides with dishes, which was also ubiquitous. It also affected the subjects that attracted the attention of folk craftsmen to the world of masters and street types; in the compositions of figurines, often standing on base-stands, like porcelain figurines, and even in the whitewashing of Dymkovo toys before painting, which clearly imitated the whiteness of porcelain.

A. I. Mezrina. Nanny. Young lady with an umbrella. The beginning of the XX century.

Some typical compositions of Dymkovo toys have direct analogies in porcelain sculpture of the 19th century: a hunter in a boat with a dog, a lady with dogs, a water carrier, and the plot of milking a cow is known in Gzhel majolica as early as the end of the 18th century. But for all the indisputability of the effects of porcelain sculpture, Dymkovo masters did not just imitate it and did not mechanically translate samples of fashionable sculpture from noble porcelain into coarse clay, but created an original and unique art with its own artistic system, bright and powerful, the talent of many generations that showed the world unique folk craft. The artistic features of Dymkovo toys at the turn of the century reflect the truly folk character of this art, which managed to master outside influences and subordinate them to the people's perception of the world and aesthetic norms.

A. I. Mezrina. Lady with a child, Early XX century

The plastic basis for all the female figurines was a mortar-bell, a stable base and at the same time a fluffy skirt. This universal technique in a clay toy, not only in many regions, but also among different peoples in the Dymkovo craft, acquired only its characteristic features. The Dymkovo mortar is squat and wide at the base. The initial stage of its sculpting, indeed, reveals a resemblance to a bell. But at the same time, each craftswoman has the ability to vary the steepness, depth, height of the mortar, thereby introducing nuances into the character's appearance. The inside of the mortar is also processed in different ways: some authors have it in the form of a hemisphere-dome, while others have a shallow cone that goes deep into the depths.

A. I. Mezrina. Babysitting with children. Young lady with an umbrella. The beginning of the XX century.

A ball-head with a torso is adhered to the mortar, and hands rolled into balls and other stucco details of clothing are attached to the whole composition. Together with the head, a pimple-tubercle of the nose is molded, barely protruding on a flat face, but giving all Dymkovo toys an essential feature.

The main “tool” of the craftswoman is her hands, feeling, touching the material, dexterous movements of her fingers giving birth to small figures from a lump of clay. The only help for the hands is wet rags to smooth the seams.

Dried for three to five days at home, the toys were fired for three to four hours in a Russian stove. Then the cooled figures were whitewashed with chalk diluted in skim milk, and painted with paints rubbed on egg yolk. For painting, homemade brushes made of rags and sticks were used to guide the eyes and eyebrows.

A.A. Mearin. Lady. Nanny. 1920s

The State Museum of Ethnography of the USSR has copies of toys that correspond to different stages of work on them. Some are fired, where the red clay that has become dark brown after firing, as it were, exposes the plastic. In such specimens, one can appreciate the sculptural gift of Dymkovo craftswomen, under whose dexterous fingers confidently and concisely sculpted figures were born from clay, smoothed, elastic, striking with smooth lines, proportionality, strict selection of the most necessary details. So, only the position of the horns, sharply protruding or elastically bent back, decides the image of a cow or a goat-whistle. Other examples of toys are whitewashed, but so far without painting. Thanks to the white color, the purity and melodiousness of lines, smooth transitions of volumes, the absence of any kind of seams, joints are even more revealed in them. In plastic terms, the figure is monolithic and laconic. Everything in it is so organic and complete that it is impossible to add or remove something. For painting with a few colors of muted shades, it seems a natural and necessary addition to her appearance and outfit, in toys of the period under consideration, which does not go beyond the limits of artistic similarity to the real one and is so far devoid of self-sufficient flowery and decorativeness.

A.A. Mezrina. Dancing couple. 1910-1920s

Denshin lists paints that were used by Dymkovo craftswomen at the beginning of the 20th century: red - red lead, fuchsin; yellow - crowns, green - crowns and Paul-Veronese. blue - blue and ultramarine, black - soot. Each toy girl had her own recipes for their breeding. The coloring of the figures also had their own sequence. First, the hair was dyed black, the eyebrows and eyes were applied with a stick, the other splinter - three red or orange spots - the mouth and cheeks. Then the hat was painted, and the painting was completed with ornamentation of the skirt. Pieces of gold leaf or gold leaf (imitating gold of the thinnest leaves made of copper and zinc alloy) were glued on top of the paint to enhance the shine and flamboyance.

A.A. Mezrina. Horse rider. Goat rider. 1910-1920s

As befits handicrafts intended for sale, the presence of a certain assortment is noticeable in the Dymkovo toys of this time. Female figurines differ not only in plots, type, but also in size, character and set of details, degree of complexity. Smaller and simpler cost less, they were made in large batches. More complicated and larger - toys are more individual, in the collections of museums they are found in single copies.

A.A. Mezrina. Couple in the boat. 1920s

Dymkovo figurines exist in three sizes: about fifteen to eighteen centimeters in height, ten to twelve centimeters and the smallest - eight to nine centimeters. But the craftswomen did not strictly adhere to these standards and sometimes worked in two or even one of them. It should be noted that all toys of the 19th - early 20th centuries are rather miniature, and the difference in size at this time did not significantly affect the figurative transformation of the characters.

A.A. Mezrina. Musicians. 1920s

Summing up the development of Dymkovo toys in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it should be noted that already at that time it was not a toy in the proper sense of the word. As can be seen from the analyzed works, it was small decorative plastic. Therefore, they were called "toys" and are still called conventionally, according to tradition. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Dymkovo plastic arts developed as a folk art craft, which was engaged seasonally or permanently by many residents of the Dymkovo settlement. In the works of this time, there are layers of different origins, but they existed at the same time and were enriched with living observations by modern masters of life.

A.A. Mezrina. Bear. Bear on the tree. Lions. 1920s

A certain type of people, especially female characters, images of animals and birds, methods of their embodiment in plastic and painting speak of a fully developed system of local art, the originality of its expressive means. Toys of this time are characterized by small sizes, a comparative thin layer of clay dough, various plastic and artistic complexity depending on the assortment, a variety of options for the embodiment of a small number of characters, a variety and thoroughness of detailing. In painting and painting - muted combinations of colors, modesty of the simplest patterned decorations, lack of self-sufficient decorativeness.

A.A. Mezrina. Kindergarten for a walk. 1935

A.A. Mezrina. Pig. 1935

A.A. Mezrina. Reading the collective farm charter. 1935

A.A. Mezrina. Ladies. 1910-1920s

E, A. Koshkina. Pig. 1930s

E. A. Koshkina. At the well. 1936. Water carrier. 1936-1937 g.

E. A. Koshkina. Cow. 1930s

E. A. Koshkina. Toy saleswoman (Whistler). 1930s

E. A. Koshkina. Peasant woman. 1930s

E. A. Koshkina. Gypsy woman with children. Lady with an umbrella. 1930s

E. A. Koshkina. Goose. 1935-1936. Turkey. Late 1930s Turkey. 1949

E. A. Koshkina. A lion. Dog with a bird. Late 1980s

E. A. Koshkina. The shepherd grazes the cows. 1930s

E. A. Koshkina. Football player and drummer. Late 1930s

E. A. Koshkina. Ivan Tsarevich and the Firebird. 1940s

E. I. Penkina (modeling). E. I. Koss (painting). And at work. 1945

E. A. Koshkina. Decorative tiles. Late 1930s - early 1940s

EI Penkina. Couple for a walk. 1930s

E. I. Penkina. Samoyed on a deer. 1930s

E. I. Penkina. Nanny with a child. 1930s

E. I. Penkina. Lady with an umbrella .. 1937

E. I. Penkina. Nanny with a child. 1937

E. I. Penkina. Lady. 1930s

E. I. Penkina. A mare with a foal. 1938

E.P. Penkina. The cow. Dog. Second half of the 1930s

E. I. Penkina. Hussar on horseback. 1930s

E. I. Penkina. Rider. Horsewoman. 1936-1937

E. I. Penkina. Princess on a Gray Wolf. 1930s

E. I. Penkina. Rooster. 1930s

E. I. Penkina (modeling). L. I. Nikulina (painting). Milkmaid and cow. 1940s

E.P. Penkina (modeling). E. I. Koss (painting). Ushkuyniki. 1942

E. I. Penkina (modeling). L.N. Nikulina (painting). Balalaika player on fish. 1944

E. I. Penkina (modeling). E. I. Koss (painting). Toy saleswoman. 1944

E. I. Penkina (modeling). E. I. Koss (painting). The wrangler. 1935

E. I. Penkina (modeling). E. I. Koss (painting). Couple on a walk. 1940s

E. I. Penkina (modeling). L.N. Nikulina (painting). Trainer with a lion. 1940s

M. A. Laletina. Nanny. Lady. 1941

M. A. Laletina. Ladies. 1941

M. A. Laletina. Duck with ducklings. Piglet. Duck. "Lion duck". 1941

M. A. Laletina. Nurses with children. 1941

M. A. Laletina. Whistles. 1941

M. A. Laletina. Horsemen. 1941

M.A.Vorozhtsova. Hunter's rest. 1941

M.A.Vorozhtsova. Turnip, 1940

M.A.Vorozhtsova (modeling). K. I. Koss (painting). Cock. 1942

M.A.Vorozhtsova. Rider on a hare. 1940

Dymkovo toy - clay sculpture, a separate art form. It is characterized by a certain whitening and bright painting.

Clay for manufacturing was traditionally mined in the Dymkovo settlement, which is on the low-lying bank of the Vyatka River near the city of Kirov. The collected red clay in the settlement used to be chopped up with a shovel, mixed with fine river sand - there is a huge river beach nearby. So, after mixing, the clay was turned over many times, moistened with water. In the old days, they generally kneaded with their feet.

Now the craftswoman does not dig clay or knead it. The preparation of the material is carried out by machine, at one of the ceramic plants. Clay comes to the workshops in finished form - plastic packaging briquettes of 10 kilograms.

Modeling toys.

Each toy from a piece of clay to a finished sculpture performed by one master... If earlier a craftswoman spent a lot of time on preparing clay and whitewashing, now more attention is paid to the process of modeling and painting toys.

Pieces of clay are separated and rolled into balls. Separate parts of the toy are made from the balls. The Dymkovo toy differs in that it is made not from one piece of clay, but from several. A ball of clay is rolled into a pancake, a cone is made from a pancake - the lady's skirt is ready. It is hollow inside with walls 4-6 mm thick. The walls of the cone are leveled by twirling the workpiece in the hands. Then, moistening with water, attach the handles, sausages, a ball of the head. All from small pieces of clay.

All the basic elements of the toy are made first. All joints are smoothed with a damp cloth. It turns out like a single whole. Then they decorate the toy with details - kokoshnik, muff, handbag, dog, pigtails, hat, etc.

Drying and firing.

The molded workpiece is dried for 3-5 days, sometimes longer, in the air.

In the old days a toy burned in Russian ovens... They put it directly on the wood, or on an iron baking sheet.

The clay begins to heat up and soon becomes as if transparent - it glows with an even red color in the fire. This was the end of the firing process, and the toys slowly cooled down in the extinguished oven.

Now toys are fired in muffle furnaces at temperatures over 1000 degrees. This high temperature gives the clay even greater strength. The ovens are quite large, toys are loaded into them in batches. Again, the craftswomen do not take away precious time for non-creative processes.

Whitewashing and painting toys.

After the oven, the workpiece is brownish-red. For whitewashing in the old days, they used a solution of chalk in milk - they dipped the whole toy. Milk on the surface turns sour and forms strong, bright film of goat glue... Whitewashing is a characteristic feature of the Dymkovo toy.

Now whitening is done with tempera whitewash, which is applied with a brush.

The final part of the process is painting.

First, let's talk about the old traditional way of painting:
Dry paints were ground with an egg, peroxidized kvass or vinegar was added. The color scheme was not rich, only the basic tones. Compositions from soot to fuchsin and chromium were used. These paints seemed to give the workpiece part of their color and sounded muted. In the 20th century, gouache was used, also diluted on an egg. Now they use bright acrylic paints - very resistant.

The brushes are mostly soft and of different sizes. Thin brushes allow the craftswoman to add small details to the plot - this is not always good, as it leads to an oversaturation of the plot.

Pieces of gold leaf or gold leaf are glued on top of the paint - a mixture of zinc and copper. They shine and give together with bright colors the dazzling charm of the Dymkovo toy.

"Dymkovo Toy" is one of the oldest toys in Russia, born in the Kirov region, in the village of Dymkovo more than 400 years ago. Until now, toy masters are devoted to their traditions. "Dymkovo toy" is very valuable for children as it conveys the traditions of their ancestors and is environmentally friendly.
Among the crafts of making clay toys, which are actively developing today, one of the prominent places is occupied by Dymkovsky, because the first craftswomen lived in the Zarechenskaya Dymkovskaya Sloboda, which is located on the right bank of the Vyatka, opposite the city of Kirov. In Dymkovo, wonderful craftswomen who make world-famous Dymkovo painted clay toys still live. Their creativity goes back to ancient times, but the written history of Dymkovo toys spans only a little more than a century and a half.For the first time, the Vyatka, brightly colored toy "whistle" is mentioned in the description of the holiday "Whistler" in Vyatka in 1811. On this day, in the morning, in a dilapidated chapel at the city gates, residents of the city commemorated their ancestors, and in the afternoon, walking along the streets, they whistled small whistles. Whistler dolls made of clay, painted with bright colors, were sold here, on the street. Red-cheeked Dymkovo "nurses", "water-carriers", "ladies" are full of amusing importance and dignity, and ram-whistles in panties, daring riders are cheerful and perky. These adorable figurines have long outgrown the frames of toys for children, as souvenirs they are taken to all countries of the world, and in our home they are used as a funny sculptural decoration.

Features of the clay toys from Dymkovo

Haze is a truly unique toy, because each toy is unique and unique in its own way. Each has its own pattern and ornament. “Usually a toy consists of several parts. Red clay provides an opportunity to "glue" all the details together without seams. "- says Oksana Romanova, teacher of sculpture and painting Dymka at the Academy of Ceramics Amphora.

The finished toy is left to dry for 5-7 days, and then it is placed in an oven and fired at a temperature of 900 degrees Celsius. Then whitening is applied. No one knows exactly when or who first came up with a white coat for haze. Its predecessors - clay balls and whistles - were either black (they are resinous) or red, the color of clay. Some believe that the bleaching of toys began in the early 19th century, when porcelain was in vogue among the elite. “Peasants, seeing porcelain in their masters' homes, adopted a white background that was made from powdered chalk that had been diluted in milk. The toy was dipped in the mixture and then allowed to dry. When it dried out, the milk spoiled, allowing the primer to adhere very well, ”explained Romanova. People were also very creative in making flowers: using egg yolk, protein and kvass. Despite the limited resources of the peasant, the range of colors was wide and bright. Pale shades are never used in making Haze, and the patterns are often straightforward. The first masters did not have special tools, and sometimes they did not even have brushes.

Images onDymkovskytoys

Dymkovo toy masters were inspired by objects from life. “They fashioned everything that they saw around: animals, scenes from peasant life, fishermen, women with kokoshniks, beautiful ladies and handsome gentlemen whom they saw at fairs,” said Romanova.In Soviet times, the masters of Dymka presented topics related to scientific and space achievements; for example, a man and a woman in spacesuits standing under an apple tree, such as Adam and Eve, are very popular with Haze collectors. It is believed that these characters represent Gagarin and Tereshkova.Funny and stupid events from the lives of the masters themselves also penetrated the art form. Zoya Penkina, the hereditary master of Dymka, was inspired by the Moscow metro and created a composition with an agitated woman who gets stuck in a turnstile and is greeted by an old man who helped her out.A toy from Dymkovo in its traditional form could have disappeared 100 years ago, but it was saved from oblivion by Anna Mezrina, the only Dymka master who sculpted toys according to tradition, as well as an artist from the city of Vyatka, Alexey Denshin. He popularized the craft, published albums, organized national and international exhibitions, organized workshops and supplied the craftsmen with all the necessary tools.

Dymkovo toy today

Later, the Kirov Union of Artists created an Artistic Council to evaluate the use of traditional canons in the manufacture of Haze. Toys that were not prepared according to tradition were immediately destroyed with a hammer. This method prevented the emergence of a new branch of the unconventional "Dymkovo toys".At first, the production of Haze was taught in families, and knowledge was passed from mother to daughter. But by the 60s, philosophy had become less rigid, and students could not be taken from relatives. Future masters had to pass an exam in painting, drawing and composition and pass a unique test: a simple figure was put in front of the students, from which they had to make an exact copy. They copied these common toys until they were perfect and then created their own shapes. A long time ago, many people wanted to become masters of Haze, but today there are only 7 to 15 people in the school.

The largest collection of "Dymkovo toys"can be found in the museum and "Dymkovo toys" and in the Art Museum of Vyatka Vasnetsov.

Technique for making Dymkovo toys

Technique for making Dymkovo sculpture toys uncomplicated. The toy is molded from pre-prepared red oily clay, to which a small amount of clean river sand is added. Crumpled clay is placed on a pine or spruce board and modeling is started. They begin to sculpt from the main, massive part - the body of animals, and the lady from the mortar - from a wide skirt, for which they roll out a pancake from clay and roll it into a cone. The rest, smaller parts are attached to the main part, and the holes are pierced with sticks (piercing pins). After that, the toy is polished with a wet finger, then dried in the air, but not in the sun. Small toys dry out in two days, and large ones in a week or even two. After drying, the toy is fired in an electric muffle furnace at temperatures up to 900 ° C, the fired small toys are immersed several times in a solution of ground and sifted chalk in skim milk, large ones are covered twice with the same solution. This solution forms a strong snow-white "casein" soil on the clay surface of the toy. Then the toy is painted with tempera (pounded on egg yolk), and sometimes with aniline or gouache paints. The pattern of Dymkovo toys is peculiar and consists of bright round spots, circles, small peas, cells, stripes, etc. To enhance the decorative effect, sometimes small squares and other figures made of gold and silver leaf are glued to them.

Dymkovo toys are similar to each other, but two identical figures cannot be found. In addition, each craftswoman works in her own individual manner. Dymkovo toys are also distinguished by the impeccable correspondence of the painting to the shape of the product. Along with archaic, fabulous images of deer, double-headed horses, birds, the assortment of toys now includes images of bears and domestic animals presented in unusual situations. For example, a musician bear playing a balalaika, a goat dressed in funny pants - all this enhances the feeling of the toy's festivity.

Interest in the genre of everyday life, transmitted in a rather peculiar way, manifested itself in the expansion of the subject of Dymkovo toys. From the urban life of the last century, horsemen, ladies and gentlemen, nannies and nurses appear in the toy. The very simplified poses, the movements of the characters, the appropriate clothing preserve the conventionality that comes from the old toy, but very accurately convey the type.

Genre scenes, representing multi-figured compositions, depict the current life of the city and village: festivities and tea drinking, a circus performance and a company walk in a boat. All this is close to traditional motives, which makes the toys convincing and shows a peculiar connection between the origins of the Dymkovo craft and modern searches. Currently, Dymkovo toys are made mainly in the workshops of the Kirov House of Artists, some artists work in their own Dymkovo.

Dymkovo toy. Story.

Dymkovo craft is a unique phenomenon of Russian folk art that has come to us from time immemorial. It is believed that it arose in the 15th-16th centuries in the Dymkovo settlement on the low right bank of the Vyatka River near the town of Khlynov-Vyatka. It was there that the hereditary tradition of making clay toys along the female line, passed from mother to daughter, developed and developed. Gradually, dynasties of Dymkovo toy masters emerged: Nikulins, Penkins, Koshkins ... Each of them had its own characteristics of products in shape and proportions, colors and ornaments. Here, in the settlement, in the 19th century, from 30 to 50 families of toy girls lived and worked.

In the past, whole families made toys in the Dymkovo settlement, dug and kneaded clay, manually pounded and rubbed lump chalk with paint grinders, molded, dried and burned from autumn to spring. Closer to the beginning of the Whistler-Whistle-Dance Fair, which took place on the fourth Saturday after Easter, the toys were whitewashed with chalk diluted in skimmed cow's milk, painted with egg dyes, and decorated with large spots of golden leaf. And then on boats they brought bright original goods to the city of Vyatka for a holiday, delighting children and adults with their art. The fair was a continuation of the annual commemoration of the residents of Khlynov and Veliky Ustyug, who died during the sad battle, which went down in the history of the city as the Khlynov massacre, when "I did not know my own people." In memory of this event, a memorial cross was erected near the Razderikhinsky ravine, and then a chapel. After that, a riotous merry holiday began, which lasted for three days, where Vyatka residents, young and old, whistled into clay whistles.

Here is how General Khitrovo, who saw this holiday in 1811, describes: “The inhabitants of the city of Vyatka gather in crowds this day to a small wooden chapel, where they sing requiem for the repose of the souls of their compatriots and relatives who were killed that day ... All morning is devoted to prayer, and the rest this remarkable day - a walk and amusement. The people gather with small whistles and whistle all day, walking through the streets, and, standing on the rampart, throws clay balls into the ditch. In honor of the widows who remained after the battle, clay dolls, painted with paints and gilded, are sold in those places. This holiday is called "whistle dance" in this region.

As an eyewitness, the Vyatka writer V.V. Lebedev wrote in Vyatskiye Zapiski: “When you get to the square and walk among the whistling crowd, it seems that you are walking through the air. They all have laughing and some kind of cocky faces. Walking people carefully hold in front of their faces a small clay toy, costing three or five kopecks, depicting a two-headed animal or ram with gold spots on the sides. In the tail of this ram and whistle ... ".

The oldest craftswoman of the Dymkovo toys E.I. Penkina recalled her childhood this way: “... All the townspeople went to Svistunya with their children - for three days the guys whistled whistles, pipes at home, on the street - and received all kinds of toys for a whole year. Father and mother used to sell their clay toys too - they would give us money for sweets - sweets, gingerbread, and the gingerbread cookies were special - they were brought from Arkhangelsk - mostly from black dough with white sugar, curly ... ”. Unfortunately, now this holiday, which existed until the 1920s, has been lost, but the creative compositions of Dymkovo craftswomen of different generations, made during the 20th and early 21st centuries, give us an idea of \u200b\u200bit.

It is known that the Dymkovo toy, which has ancient roots, is mentioned in chronicles in the 15th-16th centuries. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, it was a single independent figurine of people, animals, birds, whistles, carrying ancient images - people's ideas about the world.

It was then, a hundred years ago, that a serious threat arose to the existence of the old Dymkovo craft. The manufacture of Dymkovo toys was gradually declining, "did not feed", as before, and many craftswomen from hereditary families stopped working, left in search of another craft. In the settlement of Dymkovo itself, in contrast to the clay toy, workshops for the manufacture of plaster products flourished, which were in great demand among the local population and at fairs in other large cities. Some of the craftswomen worked part-time "on plaster casts" by painting them. Only one craftswoman continued to sculpt toys from clay in the old fashioned way. It was Anna Afanasyevna Mezrina (1853-1938), whose work became a connecting thread between the past and the future of the Dymkovo craft, a classic for modern craftswomen.

A. I. Denshin and craftswoman E. A. Koshkina

A.I. Denshin Sketch toys for the album

AI Denshin's interest in folk art arose after attending Sunday courses in drawing and painting, organized on the initiative of the zemstvo in 1908 at the Vyatka Technical School. Drawing teacher I.F.Fedorov, a graduate of the Stroganov School of Applied Arts in Moscow, captivated his students with endless conversations about Russian art and Russian artists, about folk art and craftsmen. He gave the first foundations of knowledge on the history of styles of Russian art and folk art, especially Vyatka, samples of which he collected and collected. This love for folk art, instilled in them, poured out in A.I. Denyshin's serious work "on collecting and sketching samples of Vyatka folk art products" throughout his life, which he combined with a passion for painting. After the 1917 revolution A.I. Denshin was actively involved in the study and promotion of the Dymkovo fishery. Fearing his death and trying to draw the attention of the new authorities to this problem, the artist creates hand-made albums "Vyatka clay toy in drawings" (1917), "Vyatka clay toy. Elegant Dolls ”(1919),“ Vyatka Old Clay Toys ”(1926), published in Vyatka and Moscow in small editions, immediately becoming a bibliographic rarity. A valuable part of the publications were not only textual materials on the history of the craft, but most of all were attracted by the sketches of Dymkovo toys, made by the artist on lithographic stones, followed by painting by hand with egg paints, exactly copied from the originals. They later became an irreplaceable material for the study of the traditions of the craft by craftswomen of all generations.

In addition, the artist also collected and took the first collections of Dymkovo toys to museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This is how the general public learned about the Vyatka Dymkovo fishery. This activity soon bore fruit. The craft survived in the most difficult times, and the oldest craftswoman A.A.Mezrina was even given a personal pension in 1934. In the 1930s, the popularity of Dymkovo toys increased (publications, orders from Moscow museums for toy collections, participation in World Exhibitions in Paris and New York). Denshin attracted back into the craft not only old experienced craftswomen (E. A. Koshkina (1871-1953), E. I. Penkin (1882-1948)), but also interested young people in this art.

The oldest craftswomen and the generation of the 50s

Z.F. at work.
1960s

In the 1940s, Elizaveta Ivanovna Penkina actively developed a fairy-tale theme (since 1938, craftswomen LN Nikulina (1906-1961) and EI Koss-Denshina (1901-1979) helped her in painting). A significant role here was played by the 100th anniversary of A.S. Pushkin, who suggested to folk masters of various crafts fabulous images that are close to every Russian person. Thus, EI Penkina's compositions "At Lukomorye", "Baba-Yaga" appeared, where a fabulous hut on chicken legs arose. In 1939, a team of craftswomen consisting of E.A. Koshkina, E.I. Penkina, O. I. Konovalova and Z. F. Bezdenezhnykh under the leadership of A.I. Denshina took part in the decoration of the hall of the Kirov region in the Leningrad-North-East pavilion at the opening of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow.

The press in those years wrote: "The colorful variety of images of people, animals and birds stands out clearly on the white surface of the walls, retaining both in colors and in forms all the expressiveness of primitiveness inherent in Dymkovo toys." This is how the Dymkovo relief was born, which firmly entered the arsenal of the Dymkovo craftswomen of the second half of the twentieth century.The outbreak of the Great Patriotic War dealt a big blow to the reviving Dymkovo industry. The craftswomen were left without work. At first it seemed that in such a difficult time for the whole country, clay toys were not needed. But soon the optimistic Dymkovo toy began to enjoy success again, there was a great demand for it. In 1942, toy production was resumed. Alexey Denshin wrote in the newspaper: “The Dymkovo toy was then proof of the invincibility of the Russian folk spirit, manifested in the field of folk art. Just like a cheerful, warlike song that lifts the spirit of a soldier in a great struggle against a bloodthirsty enemy, so the Dymkovo toy these days played the role of some kind of bright, cheerful factor in the immortality of the creative forces of the people, their genius.In 1943, it was decided to resume his apprenticeship. And in February 1944, the presidium of the All-Union Cooperative Partnership “Artist” decided: “To indicate to the board of the Kirov partnership that the main type of production of the Partnership is Dymkovo stucco toys as products of folk art, intended for export. The partnership is obliged to focus all its attention on the quality of toys, on the development of artistic and creative initiative among toy masters to create original samples and on the further involvement of new personnel in this type of creativity. "After the Victory over fascism, reborn from the ashes, the country again turned to the joyful creativity of the Dymkovo craftswomen. Finances were allocated to improve their working conditions, to train young people. But organizational difficulties did not in any way allow solving this problem on the ground. In addition, the older generation of craftswomen (E. I. Penkina, E. A. Koshkina) and A. I. Denshin die. In 1955, labor agreements were concluded for the training of young craftswomen. In 1956, eight craftswomen of the Dymkovo toys were already working, among whom were the young E.Z.Koshkina (1914-1993) and Z.V. Penkina (1897-1988), the daughter-in-law of E.A.Koshkina and E.I.Penkina. Their names will soon become famous.Since the late 1950s, a revival of artistic crafts began in the country, an interest in ancient national roots was shown, the problem of traditions and their development was investigated. The Dymkovo craftswomen begin their creative take-off, the search for new solutions. The demand for a toy has increased, it began to be divided into two categories: more traditional ("mass") and exhibition. The last group of products was often made for numerous art exhibitions - regional, zonal, republican, all-Union, international and even personal. Publications in the capital and local press, the attention of specialists, museum workers make the names of the craftswomen famous.In 1955, well-known craftswomen E. A. Smirnova, Z. I. Kazakova, A. V. Kuzminykh came to the craft as pupils in the future. In 1958 ZV Penkina and EZ Koshkina also accepted for their joint training with Z.F. Bezdenezhnykh and L.N. Nikulina one more "star" group of students: L. S. Falaleeva, L. A. Ivanova, A. P. Pechenkin, A. F. Popyvanov, V. P. Plemyannikova, N. P. Trukhin , A. I. Vorozhtsov, N. N. Sukhanov, G. I. Baranov.

About the work of the Laureates

She prefers traditional subjects (animals, birds, ladies, nannies, peasants), in the image of which she always looks for characteristic features from life, interpreting in her own way. Creating her compositions, E.Z.Koshkina used a laconic language, discarding unnecessary details - ornaments, striving for symmetry, balance, carefully finishing each toy in modeling and ornamentation. The color scheme typical for Koshkina is also calm and slightly whitened. Monumentality with an average size, frontality and symmetry are inherent in the craftswoman's toy. In 1961, Zoya Vasilyevna Penkina had her true masterpiece - the figure "Mother of many children." Here the traditional theme of motherhood in the clay toy was developed. We see the image of a nurse-nurse in a high kokoshnik, in a sweater with puffy sleeves, to the base-skirt of which are attached children's figures "small, small, less." In her arms she holds two more swaddled babies. Monumentality and tranquility fill this composition with its amazing rhythm in the placement of figures, the ratio of masses, as well as in the repeated repetition of rounded lines formed by the heads of children at the edge of the kokoshnik and apron. The 1960s-1970s were the heyday of Z. V. Penkina's talent. She boldly took on many new topics, developed from options. Zoya Vasilievna worked a lot, quickly, "talking" in modeling with her hands and at the same time commenting out loud on her compositions. Penkina's cheerful, naive character, her feelings were reflected in the vibrant, quivering clay, leaving traces of the craftswoman's fingers. In her work, the fairy-tale theme continues to develop, begun by her mother-in-law E.I. Penkina. The craftswoman became the author of a number of multi-figure compositions and compositions-sets from 4 to 80 pieces, united by a common plot. Such are the compositions "Teremok", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Mitten", "Goat and Seven Kids", "Geese-Swans". Particularly distinguished by their design are "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", "Ruslan and Lyudmila" and "The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda", inspired by the images of her beloved great poet Alexander Pushkin. In addition to the main characters and showing the main events, a golden-domed city appears here, resembling the domes of the St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Designed for a circular walk, it surprises with a variety of shapes, stucco details and ornaments on a white background. The abundant use of gold leaf enhances the sense of fabulousness. For the first time, an architectural motif of such a large size has appeared, which is part of a large composition and at the same time can exist independently.

Olga Ivanovna Konovalova (1886-1979) - hereditary craftswoman, daughter of A.A.Mezrina.

She took over from her mother the main circle of traditional images of ladies, riders, couples, birds. The craftswoman especially loved to convey a variety of character in sculpting animals (deer, cows, hares, bears), whistles. Among the plot everyday and fairy-tale compositions, one can single out "Riding a Boat", "Wedding of Animals", "Riding from the Mountain", "Turnip", "Old Man with a Basket". She was the first to start sculpting "Little Lady on Legs." OI Konovalova's Dymkovo toy is characterized by small size, a desire to convey movement in plastic, and a variety of ornament. Ekaterina Iosifovna Koss-Denshina (1902-1979), the wife of A.I.Denshin, began working independently in the 1940s. Her creative searches brought a lot of new things to the development of Dymkovo craft. The craftswoman has created many plots and compositions that have already become traditional. While working on the toy, I thought over the image from the point of view of modeling and painting. She is the author of many ornaments from traditional elements: circles and dots, straight and wavy lines, a cage. In addition, after the death of her husband in 1948, E. I. Koss-Denshina, for many years, was, in fact, the artistic direction of the craft. The creative path of the oldest craftswomen, the works created by them, stored in museums, and their whole complex, but interesting life, are a very valuable and important stage in the preservation and development of the traditions of Dymkovo craft. Each of them is a legend that cannot be forgotten due to the importance of their contribution to the common cause. A modern craftswoman, mastering the ancient craft, will never pass by their creativity, but will definitely look into the face of each toy. Only then can you understand the essence of Dymkovo's toy if you treat with deep respect the past, the fate and creations of each predecessor. And so it will always be, as long as this ancient Vyatka craft is alive.