In our century of rapid progress and high speeds, the development of electronics and high-speed Internet, an increasing number of citizens need a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The desire for self-determination as a nation directs thoughts to the study of the customs and foundations of our ancestors. The desire for realization in doing something raises the popularity of handmade products. Returning to the origins, we turn to folk crafts. One of the amazing objects of the original Russian traditions is the Tagil tray.
Historical background
More than three hundred years has been the history of this craft. It goes back to the villages and villages of the Urals. When the first iron tray decorated with painting appeared, it was impossible to say. Somewhere in the depths of centuries, the names of the masters who gave rise to the real art, the craft that glorified Great Russia were lost.
The official history of the Tagil tray begins with the steel mills of the Demidov family. In the middle of the XVIII century, these industrialists began casting steel in Nizhny Tagil (1725), Nevyansk and Vyisk (1722). By the 70s of the same century, according to the annals, the craft was expanding and forming separate professions: a blacksmith, varnisher, and chainsman.
The whole XVIII century of development of the craft is the age of the artists Khudoyarov. Iconographers of several generations, the brothers Vavila and Fedor, transferred the key techniques of painting, varnishing and decoration of icons to decorate household items, trays, chests, dishes. It is to these masters that the Tagil tray is obliged to the “tsar” painting technique - the golden base is generously filled with a colored background. After solidification with a thin tool, the top layer is removed to gold, getting unusual patterns. The artists are also credited with the invention of “crystal varnish”, which is unusually transparent and heat-resistant. Painted on the orders of Demidov trays and utensils, went to the palaces of the two capitals of Russia.
The heyday of fishing
The end of the XVIII - the beginning of the XIX century - the heyday of fishing. It is called the century of the Demidov schools, which we will talk about a little later. The Demidovs transferred the individual family craft into a professional, industrial channel. The convoys painted boxes, chestnuts, trays, chests and other household items made in the "mountain city", as they called Nizhnetagilsk, went to the Irbit and Makaryevskaya fairs, and from there to Nizhny Novgorod, Central Asia and Europe. It was the Golden Age of fishing.
Decline and rebirth
From the middle of the XIX century, with the onset of the era of industrialization, the decline in folk crafts and almost all handicrafts began. The accelerating pace of life forced us to abandon delicate handmade work, replacing it with simplified, extremely stylized forms. Hand forging gives way to industrial, exquisite original details replace the stencil.
By the 20s of the XX century, the life of fishing was preserved in a few artels of masters, such as “Proletarian” and “Red Dawn”. Skillful handmade trays were unclaimed in Soviet Russia, so they are sent to the Middle East and China.
The only island of the Tagil tray industry remains the workshop at the Nizhny Tagil enamelware factory.
From the 90s of the last century, from the era of perestroika and the development of small business, a slow and steady rise in forgotten fishing begins. The revival of the unique hand-painted painting gave rise to artels and cooperatives of craftsmen.
School of painters Demidov
It is necessary to tell about the Demidov school separately, because it was she who gave us the dynasties of such masters as the Dubasnikovs, Chausovs, Kaygorodovs and Perezolovs.
Merchants Demidovs well understood that the main thing in the field was personnel. It was with the aim of educating and training professional personnel that they founded a school in 1806, where they invited V. I. Albychev, a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts, to teach the basics of painting.
For four years only boys studied at the school, starting at age 12. But production still lacked personnel. Then they began to take girls and women to school. Interestingly, the Demidovs, as an incentive for the desire to learn to "write strongly", provided for the promotion of women in the form of handkerchiefs. Gradually, the creation of painted trays passes into women's hands, which is the case today.
The school had a tremendous impact on the development of industry as a direction in the visual arts. Tagil painting of trays is gradually growing in its traditions.
Soon, an authentic Tagil rose begins to “blossom” on products - a symbolic flower that for many years has become the personification of the craft.
Tagil tray is a tray-paintings, with expressive, honed details and pure painting, revealing mythological and historical storylines.
Gradually, painting develops on a multifaceted riveted form. Figured sheet iron, cobweb patterns and the finest elements created by the hands of blacksmiths, became the basis for artistic painting. So the Tagil tray was created.
A special Tagil painting — the double-brushstroke technique — developed. Then the main directions in the plot lines were formed.
The secret of varnish
The secret of the varnish of the Khudoyarov dynasty lies in the proportions of digging, hemp oil and coniferous turpentine dissolved in turpentine. Unlike eastern cold varnishing, the method of fast hot (at a temperature of 300 degrees) varnishing was used. The composition was added lead and manganese oxide - the varnish became transparent and refreshed the paint. His secret has not been guessed.
What is a tagil tray?
Trays were made and continue to be made in workshops. Technology is changing, but even today, manual creative work is the basis of fishing.
The shape of the tray is made by stamping and coated twice with primer and then black enamel. After drying, the workpiece passes into the hands of the artist, then the ornamental painter. After painting, the product is varnished.
Modern craft
They create works of art in the Nizhny Tagil center of crafts and crafts. Trademarks are legally protected by patents. Tagil tray invariably arouses the interest of foreign masters and collectors. Masters take part in exhibitions and auctions in Russia and far beyond its borders. The museums of Nizhny Tagil and Yekaterinburg are proud of the rich collection of Tagil trays that were exhibited in the USA, France, Poland and other countries.
What is a Tagil tray, today they know far beyond the borders of our homeland. The works of the masters of Khudoyarov and Dubasnikovs are the pearls of the expositions of domestic museums and private collections. Tagil items were presented as gifts to princes and monarchs. Original Tagil "lacquer" painting is a unique example of folk craft, which has survived to this day and continues to amaze and delight connoisseurs of original art.