#palekh

[flagwars]

Which flag is better: Palekh, Russia (Second Place Flag Wars 2) or Guatemala - Forest of Quetzal by /u/bmoxey (r/Vexillology Contest Flag Wars)?

Palekh

Guatemala - Forest of Quetzal

Voting ended onJan 7

2025 Tournament Winner Flag Wars: Finals

[agblend13]

"Polina The Pear" is my newest sculpture, currently in What The Folk, a group exhibition celebrating contemporary folk art! 🍐

The path to inspiration started a few months ago while sketching matryoshka and thinking they looked like funny little gourds. What would it be like to harvest them from the wild? I took the idea further, drawing a variety of growing things with decorated skins and sweet faces. When the opportunity for this show came up, I felt my little apple and pear were perfect candidates for sculpture.

The painted surface is inspired by intricate miniatures known as palekh which depict colorful scenes from myths and folk tales on small black lacquered boxes, brooches, and trinkets. The painting on Polina's stylized head scarf tells the tale of how she was turned into a pear, after inadvertently angering an imp which lived in the pear tree.

On the branch she hangs, waiting for the kind bird, brave doll, or hapless fool that will bring about her deliverance.

💚 Anka

Acrylic painting on paper clay, 3x4", 2025. Available online through Poetic Tiger Gallery

[sovietpostcards]

The Firebird. Vintage wooden box made in Palekh, painted by N. Vanilkova (USSR, 1976).

[russianfolklore]

Palekh painting on a small box with illustration of "Morozko" tale.

Palekh miniature is a Russian folk handicraft of a miniature painting, which is done with tempera paints on varnished articles made of papier-mâché (including the creation of small boxes, cigarette cases, and powder cases).

Morozko (Grandfather Frost) is a spirit of frost or sometimes a wizard of winter. Since the 19th century this character has changed, and now he is a symbol of the New Year holiday. Morozko is similar to Santa Claus in his modern role in russian culture.

[marlocandeea]

Russian lacquers (Palekh, Fedoskino)

[vintagebarvinok]

[uwmspeccoll]

Decorative Sunday

This Sunday we have some fabulous decorative elements from a 1985 edition of Slovo o polku Igoreve, or, The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, published by Aurora Art Publishers of Leningrad (St. Petersburg). The text of the tale is presented three times, first in imitation of the Old Russian unicial manuscript hand, then in Old Russian with a modern Cyrillic typeface, and finally an English translation by scholar of Russian and Slavonic studies and philologist, Dennis Ward. The Old Russian unicials are the work of the illustrator, Ivan Golikov, one of the founders of the Russian icon-painting style known as Palekh. Golikov spent an entire year between 1932 and 1933 working on the illustrations, the text, and ornamental tailpieces, and the decorated initials, originally for inclusion in a 1934 publication of the tale for the Soviet Academia publishing house.

The Tale of Igor’s Campaign (Old East Slavic: Слово о пълкѹ Игоревѣ) is an epic poem attributed to the late twelfth century recounting the defeat of Prince Igor Svyatoslavich the Brave of the Rurik Dynasty at the River Kayala at the hands of the Cumans. While there is some scholarly debate over the legitimacy of it’s medieval origins, the current consensus supports its authenticity, and it is considered the most celebrated epic of the Kievan Rus’ period. Only one manuscript of the tale, purportedly dated to the fifteenth century, has ever been located. It was found in a cathedral library in 1795 and sold to statesman, historian, and noted collector Aleksei Musin-Pushkin. It is assumed to have been lost with the rest of Musin-Pushkin’s extensive library during the Great Moscow Fire of 1812. Luckily, Aleksei had prepared a transcription from the Old East Slavic into modern Russian for Catherine the Great shortly after acquiring the manuscript, and the paleographers who helped him prepare the work had kept their own copies of passages from the original manuscript. These surviving texts form the basis for contemporary scholarship on the epic.

Our copy of Slovo o polku Igoreve is a gift of Michael J. Mikoś, professor of foreign languages and literature at UW-Milwaukee, specializing in Polish language, literature, and culture. 

Check out more Decorative Sunday posts here!

-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[mastomysowner]

Mouse and bee