Historic craft of lacquer painting survives in village factory

(15 Feb 2020) LEAD IN:
The historic craft of lacquer painting is celebrated in the place of its birth.
Fedoskino village near Moscow is often referred to as the motherland of Russian lacquer painting.

STORY-LINE:
Russian scenes of snowy landscapes and fairytales decorate traditional lacquer boxes.
It's a skill that dates back 200 years and has changed little since then.
This is the only factory in Russia that still makes lacquer boxes in the Fedoskino tradiiton, which is distinct from other schools of miniature lacquer painting.  
Special cardboard is used for manufacturing boxes, utilising a technique similar to papier mache as the factory's chief artist, Sergey Sidorov explains
"Layer after layer, depending on how thick the box needs to be, here the edge is torn off, and the next layer is applied."
The boxes are then soaked in oil and burned in furnaces, which makes them hard and light at the same time.
Almost all processes are done by hand, including painting and polishing.
The uniqueness of the Fedoskino technique involves painting in layers, where the layer of paint is covered by the layer of lacquer, then additional layers of plaint and lacquer are applied until the decoration is complete.
"First the work is getting primed, then the drawing is transferred onto the box as a contour, then the first layer of paint is applied, that is the main colour spots, then, with each next layer, more detailed painting is applied, that's it, then the third layer is where glaze is applied," explains factory artist Natalya Kovaleva.
With each layer, the painting gets more detailed.
Such technique gives the products depth and a three-dimensional effect.
The factory was set up in 1795 and during the reign of Czar Paul I, it used to make visors for army caps.
The papier-mache technique was a quick and cheap way of making visors, compared to an expensive and lengthy process of making them of leather.
Later in the 19th century, it was discovered that the same technique could be used for making boxes – first snuffboxes and then boxes with painting applied on top.
"All the items we make are unique because the technology we are using is not used anywhere in the world anymore, it's only here in Fedoskino village that it is preserved. So, the things are valuable, apart from that the things are hand-made, almost all the production cycle is done by hand with very minimal mechanical content," says factory Director Aleksey Averyanov.
The factory flourished during the Soviet period explains Sidorov.
"During our hey day, we painted portraits of presidents, kings, so not a single government delegation would do without us."
During that time over 500 workers produced more than 55,000 boxes annually.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the factory became much smaller, and nowadays 60 workers produce around 500 items per year.
Former worker Antonina Koropaeva recalls better times :
"Somehow Fedoskino is a bit forgotten while it is the beginning of lacquer painting in Russia, there were a lot of artists here, many painters with the title People's Artist. There were many people who were good and quick at painting, we were delivering plans, now you can paint a little and that is, before we used to work very hard, it was great."
The factory has a museum attached to it.
Visitors can see original 19th-century pieces still being replicated by modern artists.
"It is very surprising, and impressive, that at the end of the 19th century such masters already existed. It's beautiful. We will continue looking," says visitor Olga Antipova.

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