Folk Art

Folk Art

Bronze Horseman imports books that publish collections of lacquer boxes, painted trays, wooden toys, embroidered costume, lace, painted furniture and utensils (e.g., distaffs), popular prints, and other forms of Russian folk art. In such a large country, independent regional forms naturally arose and are still being studied. Scholars at Russian museums publish their research on folk art for its own aesthetic interest and for its relation to other branches of art such as icon-painting and the Russian avant-garde of the early twentieth century. Natalia Goncharova thought that Russian folk painting was akin to forms of cubism, which to others seemed a discovery of Picasso and Braque, and Kandinsky living abroad would write to his friends in Russia imploring them to send him lubki, popular prints characterized by a naïve folk style of forceful bold colors and simplified images. Another form of folk art, shop signs, is the theme of a beautifully illustrated monograph, Russian Painted Shop Signs and Avant-Garde Artists.