An anthology of Russian popular print: from “funny” pictures to educational illustrations. Russian fine lubok Works of the Pechersk Center

Here you will find personified a dogma, a prayer, a getya (legend), a moral teaching, a parable, a fairy tale, a proverb, a song, in a word, everything that suits the spirit, disposition and taste of our common people. THEM. Snegirev

There are words whose meaning is lost or distorted irrevocably over time. In Pushkin’s time, the square was called a “rings,” a “sinyavka” was called not a drinking woman, but a teacher in a girls’ gymnasium, scores were settled not in a fight, but in a shop with the help of a mechanical device - an abacus. The word “lubok” has also changed its meaning – now it means a rough, tacky, vulgar craft. And once upon a time, hand-printed sheets of cliches carved on linden boards were folk literature.

Lubok "Battle of Baba Yaga with a crocodile"

Before the reforms of Peter the Great, books in Rus' remained an expensive hobby. The Book Chamber in Moscow published Gospels, lives of saints, military manuals, medical and historical treatises, and spiritual literature. The cost of one book reached 5–6 rubles (for comparison: a duck cost 3 kopecks, and a pound of honey cost 41 kopecks). Educated person in his life he could read 50–100 books, but as a rule he limited himself to the Psalter and Domostroy. However, there were more literate people than rich people - “Azbuka” cost one kopeck and sold no worse than hare pies. The first issue (2,900 pieces) sold out within a year - and no wonder. The ability to read and write provided a person with a piece of bread; merchants and officials from numerous orders were literate. It was they who turned out to be consumers of an exotic product - colorfully painted “Fryazh sheets” that came to Russia from neighboring Poland.

The first “nianhua” - printed pictures with religious or moral content appeared in the 8th century in China - with their help, the teachings of the Buddha were conveyed to the illiterate people. The manufacturing technology has not changed much over the centuries - a design was cut out on a board, wooden, stone or metal, a black print was made from it, which was then more or less carefully painted by hand with bright colors.

In the 15th century, with ubiquitous traders, lubok reached Europe and in a matter of decades gained enormous popularity. “Disgraceful pictures” with obscene captions and scenes from the Bible with instructive texts were in equally good demand. Preachers and rebels of all stripes immediately appreciated the broad possibilities of popular propaganda, printing caricatures of the Pope and his minions, calls for rebellion and short theses of new teachings.

Lubok turned out to be ideal for mass production of icons and pictures spiritual content, accessible even to poor people. Russian printers and craftsmen willingly adopted new technologies. The oldest printed popular print from the 17th century found is “Archangel Michael - Voivode” heavenly powers" Copies of famous Vladimir and Suzdal icons and parable images were popular. Here he prays, Ham sows wheat, Japheth has power, Death rules over everyone.».

Lubok "Archangel Michael - Governor of the Heavenly Forces"

The passion for colorful pictures quickly became widespread - they were eagerly bought up by merchants, boyars, officials, and townspeople. Young Peter I had more than 100 popular prints, from which clerk Zotov taught the future autocrat to read. Following spiritual popular prints, secular ones quickly appeared. At best - Ilya Muromtsy, defeating enemies, heroes Eruslan Lazarevich and wise birds Alkonost. At worst, there are adaptations of Parsley's jokes and obscene pictures - the jester Farnos defends himself from mosquitoes by emitting gases, Paramoshka (one of the frequent heroes of popular prints) rides over Moscow on an object that is absolutely not intended for flying, and so on.

By the middle of the 17th century, European borrowings either disappeared from plots and graphics or were adapted to local realities. Russian popular print has found its artistic language, recognizable style, compositional uniformity. Art critics of the 19th century called it primitive - but it was just as primitive rock paintings Paleolithic The artist of the popular print did not set himself the task of accurately reproducing proportions or achieving portrait resemblance. He needed to create a graphic cry, an emotional message that everyone could understand. So that, looking at the picture, the viewer immediately laughs or bursts into tears, begins to pray, repent or wonder “who lives well in Rus'.” Yuri Lotman compared the Russian popular print with the space of a theater, a public nativity scene - it is not without reason that artists used not only the subjects of Petrushka, but also rich, imaginative heavenly verse. " This bird of paradise, Alkonost, resides near paradise, and once hangs out on the Euphrates River, but when it emits a certain voice, then it does not even feel itself, but who... proclaims joy to them».

Very fast folk print gained topicality by responding to political, military and religious events with the speed of the media, shining the “searchlight of perestroika” on the problems of society. Vivid pictures with malicious captions they exposed drunkards and admirers gambling, tobacco smokers and lovers of dressing up, old husbands taking young wives, they mocked the boyars who were forced to cut their beards, and with the help of allegories, they mocked the Tsar-Father himself. And nimble peddlers carrying bast boxes over their shoulders delivered funny pictures to the most remote corners of Russia.

In 1674, Patriarch Joachim prohibited the purchase of “sheets of heretics, Luthers and Calvins” and the making of paper prints of revered icons. This did not cripple the popular print trade; on the contrary, not only printed, but also drawn popular prints with spiritual and frankly destructive content began to appear. The schismatics, following the example of the Lutherans, conveyed their ideas to their fellow believers, including with the help of popular pictures. Unnamed artists embodied people's dreams, picked up “fashion trends” as modern journalists would put it. They managed the most meager visual means to embody the poetry of Russian epics and fairy tales, longing for the mythical “city of Jerusalem,” the hopelessness of death and hope for eternal life.

Tsar Peter I, a practical man, could not ignore such a means of influencing his subjects. In 1721, a decree was issued prohibiting the sale of popular prints that were not printed in state printing houses. In the amusing pictures, elegant ladies in dresses with flip-flops and gentlemen in powdered wigs and European-style camisoles immediately appeared. Paper portraits of crowned heads began to enjoy enormous popularity... however, they were made so carelessly that in 1744 depicting the imperial family on popular prints was also banned.

TO mid-18th century century, the high society of Russian society finally became completely literate. Available books, newspapers and almanacs appeared, the habit of reading - even the dream book of the Lenormand maiden or "The Russian Invalid" - appealed to aging ladies and retired officers. From palaces and towers, lubok finally moved to merchant storehouses, craft workshops and peasant huts, becoming entertainment for the common people. The technique of making pictures has improved; instead of using rough wooden boards, craftsmen have learned to make prints from finely cut copper engravings.

Moral popular prints, adaptations of ancient manuscripts, and reprints of particularly topical or sensational newspaper articles about catching a whale in the White Sea or the arrival of a Persian elephant in St. Petersburg became popular. During the War of 1812, Russian-Turkish and Russian-Japanese war Evil caricatures of the invaders sold like hot cakes. The demand for popular prints is best demonstrated by numbers: in 1893, 4,491,300 copies were printed in Russia.

At the beginning of the 20th century, lubok from folk art finally became original, designed for poorly educated and illiterate villagers. Booksellers made millions from sugary pictures in a pseudo-folk style, simplified adaptations of popular fiction and Russian epics (there was no mention of copyright for texts at that time). Peasant artels earned decent money by coloring pictures “on the noses.” Lubok became profitable business– and practically lost its originality folk culture. It is no wonder that the venerable artists from the Academy wrinkled their aristocratic noses in disgust at one glance at the battle of Eruslan Lazarevich with Tsar Polkan or the funeral of a cat (the most enduring popular print plot).

It seemed that colorful pictures were immortal, but the revolution and the subsequent elimination of illiteracy killed popular prints without resorting to censorship. Party literature took the place of spiritual and amusing literature, and pictures cut out from magazines took the place of icons and portraits of kings. Traces of graphic boldness, loud and bright popular satire can be seen in the posters of the 20s and the work of Soviet caricaturists, in illustrations for Afanasyev’s fairy tales and Russian epics. The mice buried the cat... but his death was imaginary.

Modern popular print is Rublev’s angel on a box of chocolates, a kokoshnik and a miniskirt at a fashion show, an army of “Valentines” instead of a moment of love, “Orthodox” conspiracies against damage and the evil eye. Mass culture, designed for an uneducated, inattentive consumer seeking bright emotions, simplified to the limit, blatant vulgarity.

– Russian folk pictures self made, representing a rich and expressive layer of history, culture and art Russian state. These once popular images, characterized by their simplicity and accessibility, speak eloquently about life and worldview ordinary people of the past.

Lubok appeared in Rus' in the 16th century. Scientists are still arguing about the origin of the name “lubok”. Some say that it comes from the word “lub,” the old Russian name for the linden tree, on the boards of which pictures were carved. Others claim that it is connected with the bast boxes in which they were carried. And the Moscow legend says that it all started with Lubyanka, the street where the masters of popular print art lived.

The drawings were drawn on specially sawn boards and were called “Fryazh sheets”, then “amusing sheets” and “simple sheets”. Initially, they were dominated by religious subjects, after which lubok became a convenient and inexpensive way to disseminate information, stories of a moral and instructive nature, and propaganda. As time passed, the splint technique changed. In the 19th century, wood gave way to metal and the work became more elegant. The subjects were the lives of saints, epics and songs, fables and portraits of the imperial family, scenes from the life of peasants, fairy tales and novels, knowledge about distant countries and historical events.

Expensive popular prints decorated the royal chambers and boyars' towers. Ordinary people bought inexpensive (priced from half a penny) black and white popular prints at fairs, giving preference comic drawings. Many representatives of high society refused to call the creations of self-taught folk artists art. But these days, Russian folk popular prints adorn the collections of major museums.

For New York public library the most “fruitful” period for collecting large and rare books with engravings from of Eastern Europe fell in the decade from 1925 to 1935. Then the Soviet government nationalized and sold abroad the contents of the imperial palace libraries. The New York Public Library alone contains items from nine imperial libraries, as well as publications that belonged to 30 members of the imperial family. The library acquired them on the spot (and at a good price), sending Yarmolinsky Abraham Tsalevich (1890-1975), curator of the Slavic department from 1917 to 1955, to replenish the book collections. He came to Soviet Russia in 1923, and in 1924 returned to the States. Valuable exhibits from the collection of the imperial palace libraries were also acquired by the Library of Congress and Harvard University. Second-hand book dealer Hans Kraus wrote:

« These [Russian palace] collections, so little known and highly valued in the West, contained incredible materials. Such rare Eastern European works have never been seen in this hemisphere. Book collectors diligently served the kings and queens. In addition to purchased books, their collections were replenished with numerous publications received as gifts, printed on special paper, with luxurious bindings, in silk or morocco, and with the imperial coat of arms.("The Saga of the Rare Book", 1978, pp. 90-91.)

A significant part of the lubok library collection is also occupied by works from the collection of an outstanding cultural figure Russian Empire, Dmitry Alexandrovich Rovinsky (1824-1895). He was an extremely multifaceted personality. Privy Councilor, lawyer and judicial reformer loved art with all his heart. Through his own efforts, he bought materials and published illustrated books, including “Russian folk paintings", "Russian engravers and their works", "Dictionary of Russian engraved portraits", "Reliable portraits of Moscow sovereigns", "Materials for Russian iconography" and other collections. Having spent most of his fortune, Rovinsky collected one of the best private collections of Russian and Western European graphics. After his death, the exhibits were dispersed to various museums, libraries and other cultural institutions in Russia. In the West, a remarkable series of volumes has been preserved, which he published often in extremely small editions.

On the website of the New York Public Library, where the album is published "Russian folk popular print of the 1860s-1870s", almost 200 images are presented, we have selected 87 of the most interesting.

Accident, 1867.

New song, 1870.

The industrious bear, 1868.

Sea sirens, 1866.

How merchant women walk, 1870.

This is how Yaroslavl residents work in Moscow and have fun with beauties, 1870.

Funeral of a cat by rats and mice, 1866.

The Slanderer and the Snake, 1869.

The Little Humpbacked Horse, 1870.

Flew down the drain, 1872.

In Maryina Roshcha, 1868.

There is no place in St. Petersburg, he goes to the village to deceive fools, 1870.

The most remarkable of the giants, walkers and freaks, Serpo Didlo, 1866.

Jewish karchma, 1868.

Big nose fight with severe frost, 1870.

Kashchei and his desire, 1867.

Napraslina, 1867.

A tall tale in the faces, 1868.

The Newest Card Oracle, 1868.

Reforging the old into the young, 1871.

Brave warrior Anika, 1868.

Strong and brave warrior Anika, 1865.

The strong and brave Bova Korolevich defeats the hero Polkan, 1867.

Strong and glorious brave warrior Anika, 1868.

The glorious strong and brave Bova Korolevich defeats the hero Polkan, 1868.

Glorious strong and brave knight Eruslan Lazarevich, 1868.

Strong brave hero Ilya Muromets, 1868.

The strong mighty Bova Korolevich defeats the hero Polkan, Eruslan Lazarevich defeats the three-headed serpent, 1867.

Strong, glorious, brave hero Ivan Tsarevich 1868.

Peasant and Death, 1868.

Predatory wolves attacking travelers, 1868.

How a lioness raised the king's son, 1868.

Reproach of the headman with the mayor, 1870.

Truth and lies, 1871.

Crinoline, 1866.

Smoking a cigar, 1867.

Fishing on a lake, 1870.

The Massacre of Mamayev on the Kulikovo Field in 1380, 1868.

Husband amusing his wife, 1868.

Briber-usurer, 1870.

British attack on the Solovetsky Monastery, 1868.

Crossing of Russian troops across the Danube on March 11, 1854, 1869.

Song "Why are you sleeping little man", 1871.

A song about how a wife drank beer and forgot to feed her husband, 1866.

Song "Return to the homeland of a wasted innkeeper from St. Petersburg", 1870.

Presentation of bread and salt to the sovereign in Moscow, 1865.

Near Odessa April 10, 1854, 1864.

Thrifty Housekeeping, 1870.

Raek, 1970.

Romance, 1867.

Russian peasant wedding, 1865.

Shamil Iman of Chechnya and Dagestan, 1870.

The tale of how a craftsman fooled the devil, 1867.

Miser, 1866.

Stages of the Human Age, 1866.

Baiting a snake and a tiger, 1868.

Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, 1868.

Come on, Mishenka Ivanovich, 1867.

Nonsense for people's amusement. How animals and birds bury a hunter, 1865.

Village, 1970.

General Toptygin, 1868.

Ah, lady, 1870.

English milord, brave knight Guak, brave knight Francil Ventsyan, hero Bova Korolevich, hero Eruslan Lazarevich, 1861.

His Imperial Highness the heir Tsarevich Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich and Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna, 1871.

Mountain landscape, 1870.

Charlemagne and the snake, 1870.

The Turkish troika is in a hurry to report to the Turkish Sultan about the occupation of Kars Russian troops, 1870

Life for Tsar Ivan Susanin, 1866.

Daniel the long giant, 1868.

Katenka, 1867.

A woman beat a man, 1867.

A woman beat a man, 1867.

Our fellow is flattered by money, 1867.

Song "I'm a good gypsy...", 1867.

Song "Girls walked along the shore...", 1867.

Song "A man plowed the arable land", 1867.

Little Russian song, 1868.

For Vladimir cranberries, peddler balyasnik, 1867.

Farewell, 1867.

Dowry painting, 1867.

Russian song "Don't scold me, dear...", 1867.

Russian village song "Father Gave Me Away", 1867.

"Elephant and Pug", 1867.

Gypsy, 1867.

Railway. The downer's story about railway, 1868.

I saw it online today popular prints, colored by local spots with a predominance purple, and for some reason they turned out to be in tune with my mood. Although previously I was completely indifferent to lubok (a folk picture intended for reproduction and mass distribution). Surprised by this change in taste, I decided to refresh my memory about this form of art.

The mice buried the cat. Splint

In Russia, lubok was widespread in the 17th - early 20th centuries, giving rise to mass popular print literature, which served social function- introduced the poorest, least educated segments of the population to reading.

The reference books report that lubok received its name from bast (the upper hard wood of the linden tree), which was used in the 17th century as an engraving base for boards when printing pictures. IN XVIII century the bast was replaced by copper boards; in the 19th-20th - pictures were printed using typographic methods, but the name “popular prints” was retained for them.

Regarding the lubok, I remembered the words of whose lectures on Russian art we listened to at the Surikov Institute: “Wooden church sculpture correlates with the works of Rastrelli in the same way as the lubok with Dutch engravings, because they represent different paths in art.” Lubok opposed Peter's civil engraving, which Peter I actively propagated. As historian I.E. wrote Zabelin, Russian folk life Under Peter, only the outside was filled with various German “scenery,” but the inside remained the same as before.

Nikolai Nikolaevich said: “In general, lubok was a defense of the Russian people’s worldview. If Peter I introduced exact sciences, then in lubok he defended, as we would now say, a poetic idea, a fairy tale. If Schonebeck's engravings were signed, in general, in the language of newspapers and official documents, then in popular prints we find tales, epics, songs, as well as jokes and sayings. If in Peter’s engravings everything was absolutely serious, because they were, first of all, documents, then in the popular print there is a lot of laughter and irony. And finally, if Peter the Great’s engraving was always done on copper, it was pure graphics, for which some artists valued itXXcenturies and relied on it as pure graphics (Mir Iskussniki, for example) ... then lubok cannot be called graphics - it is completely special, not only graphic image" Russian popular prints were painted in bright colors.

In popular art there were different genres. For example, popular prints on church themes (scenes from the Holy Scriptures, hagiographic literature, spiritual parables) became widespread. There were poetic and fairy-tale popular prints that illustrated epics. Among the pictures were landscape ones - depicting nature, memorable places; there were popular cards. There were genre popular prints, pictures, with an invented plot, and psychological ones - with dates, weddings, conspiracies. There were popular prints, ritual and calendar. Finally, there were popular bestiaries, which showed animals and birds.

IN different options From this popular print, Ravinsky found various inscriptions of a farcical nature. For example, one of them below shows a mouse with a straw in its teeth, sitting astride another mouse, which is carrying a barrel of wine. Above them is the inscription: “The mouse is pulling tobacco.” Meaning. This also refers to the trade in vodka, which was at first private and then turned into a state monopoly.

The famous popular print, which was called “How they caught a whale in the White Sea,” can also be called a chronicle. The story underlying it was not invented, but borrowed from the newspaper Moskovskie Vedomosti, which reported that on such and such a date, day and year a whale swam into the White Sea and was caught in nets.

The church popular print continued to live inXIXcentury. Different layers can be distinguished in it. There was, for example, a deep layer of Old Believer church popular print art. The Old Believers preserved church tradition in a popular print.

Popular prints appeared in Rus' in the middle of the 17th century. At first they were called “Fryazhsky pictures”, later “amusing sheets”, and then “common people’s pictures” or “simple people”. And only from the second half of the 19th century they began to be called “Lubki”. Huge contribution Dmitry Rovinsky contributed to the collection of pictures, publishing the collection “Russian Folk Pictures”. This review contains 20 popular prints from this collection, which you can look at endlessly, discovering a lot of interesting, new and interesting things.

Tempora mutantur (times are changing) says Latin proverb. Even in the first half of the 20th century, everything popular was considered unworthy of the attention of intelligent and enlightened people, and scientists themselves considered it humiliating to be interested in, for example, popular prints. In 1824, the famous archaeologist Snegirev, who wrote an article about popular prints and intended to read it at a meeting of the “Society of Lovers of Russian Literature,” was concerned that “some of the members doubt whether it is possible to allow the Society to discuss such a vulgar, commonplace subject.”

Not only that, back in the 1840s Belinsky had to vigorously defend Dahl from aristocrats who condemned the writer for his love for the common people. "A man is a man, and that’s enough, says Belinsky, for people to be interested in him just like any other gentleman. The man is our brother in Christ, and this is enough for us to study his life and his way of life, with a view to improving them. If a man is not learned, not educated, it is not his fault"- wrote Belinsky.

But even at that time there were happy exceptions - individuals who were able to perform real heroic feats despite social taboos. An example of such a feat is Rovinsky’s work “Russian Folk Pictures”.

"Russian folk pictures"- these are three volumes of atlas and five volumes of text. Each text is accompanied by a bright popular print. The first volume of the atlas contains “Fairy tales and funny sheets”, the second - “Historical sheets”, the third - “Spiritual sheets”. The atlas, in order to avoid censorship, was published in only 250 copies. Text volumes - an appendix to the atlas. The first three contain a description of the pictures collected in the atlas. It should be noted that each description was made in great detail, observing the spelling of the original, indicating later samples, indicating the size of the picture and the method of engraving. In total, the book contains about 8,000 pictures.

The fourth volume is valuable material for various references that may be required in the work. The fourth volume of the text "contains notes on the descriptions printed in the first three books, and some additions about the pictures newly acquired by me,- said Rovinsky, -after the first three books were printed" The second half of this volume is an alphabetical index to the entire publication.

The fifth volume is divided into five chapters:
. Chapter 1. Folk pictures carved on wood. Chalcography.
. Chapter 2. Where did our engravers borrow translations (originals) for their pictures. Poshib, or style, of drawing and composition in folk pictures. Vintage coloring book folk pictures was very thorough. Notes on folk pictures in the West and among Eastern peoples, in India, Japan, China and Java. Folk pictures engraved in black style.
. Chapter 3. Selling folk pictures. Their purpose and use. Supervision over the production of folk pictures and their censorship. Censorship of royal portraits.
. Chapter 4. Woman (according to the Bee's views). Marriage.
. Chapter 5. Teaching in the old days.
. Chapter 6. Calendars and almanacs.
. Chapter 7. Easy reading.
. Chapter 8. Legends.
. Chapter 9. Folk entertainment. Drunkenness. Diseases and medicines against them.
. Chapter 10. Music and dance. Theater performances in Russia.
. Chapter 11. Buffoonery and jesters.
. Chapter 12. Jester sheets on foreigners. Caricatures of the French in 1812.
. Chapter 13. People's pilgrimage.
. Chapter 14. Pictures published by order of the government.

Even such a brief table of contents indicates the endless variety of content of the folk picture. The popular print replaced for the people a newspaper, a magazine, a story, a novel, a cartoon publication - everything that the intelligentsia should have given them, looking at them as one of their smaller brothers.

Folk pictures began to be called popular prints at the beginning of the 20th century. Scientists interpret this name differently. Some believe that this is a derivative of the word “lubochny”, on which the first pictures were cut, others talk about popular print boxes in which pictures were placed for sale, and, according to Rovinsky, the word lubok referred to everything that was made fragile, poorly, on a quick fix.

In the West, engraved pictures appeared back in the 12th century, and they were the cheapest way to convey to the people images of saints, the Bible and the Apocalypse in pictures. In Russia, engraving began at the same time as book printing: already the first printed book, “The Apostle,” which was published in 1564, was accompanied by the first engraving - an image of the Evangelist Luke on wood. Popular prints began to appear as separate sheets only in the 17th century. This initiative was supported by Peter I himself, who ordered craftsmen from abroad and paid them salaries from the treasury. This practice stopped only in 1827.

In the second half of the 18th century, silversmiths in the village of Izmailovo were engaged in cutting boards for folk pictures. They cut pictures on wood or copper, and the pictures were printed at Akhmetyev’s figure factory in Moscow, near Spas in Spassky. Printers also worked in the Kovrov district, in the Vladimir province, in the village of Bogdanovka, as well as in the Pochaev, Kiev and Solovetsky monasteries.

Treating Napoleon in Russia.

You could buy popular prints in Moscow in the gaps near Nikolskaya Street, near the Grebnevskaya Church Mother of God, at the Trinity of Leaves, at the Novgorod courtyard and mainly at the Spassky Gate. Quite often they were bought instead of wooden images, and also for teaching children.

At first, the pictures were not subject to censorship, but since 1674, decrees appeared banning such pictures. But folk pictures were still published and sold, not wanting to know about any prohibitions or decrees. In 1850, according to the Highest Order, “the Moscow Governor-General Count Zakrevsky ordered the manufacturers of folk pictures to destroy all boards that did not have censorship permission, and henceforth not to print them without it. In fulfillment of this order, the factory owners collected all the old copper boards, chopped them into pieces with the participation of the police and sold them for scrap to the bell row. This is how uncensored folk jokes ceased to exist.”

Lubok is, in fact, an engraving printed from a wooden base, and later from a metal one. The origin of lubok comes from China, from where it later reached Europe. Of course, in each country this type of art had its own name and characteristics.

Where the name “lubok” came from is not known for certain. There are many versions: they remember the linden (bast) boards on which the first pictures were cut out, and the bast boxes of traders who sold bast prints at fairs, and Muscovites are completely sure that the bast prints came from the Lubyanka. Nevertheless, lubok is the most popular art of the Russian people from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

At first, black and white and “elite”, which served to decorate royal and boyar chambers, later Russian popular prints became widespread and colorful. The black and white print was painted by women, and they used hare's feet instead of brushes. These “coloring books” were often clumsy and sloppy, but among them there are also real small masterpieces with harmoniously selected colors.

The subjects of the popular print were distinguished by a rich variety: this and folk epic, and fairy tales, and moral teachings, these are “notes” on history, law and medicine, these are religious topics - and everything is well seasoned with humorous captions telling about the morals of their time. For the people, these were both news sheets and educational sources. Lubki often traveled vast distances, passing from hand to hand.

Popular prints were printed on cheap paper by self-taught people, and they were wildly popular among the peasants. Although the highest nobility did not recognize popular art as an art and no one was specifically concerned with preserving these drawings for posterity, moreover, the authorities and the church elite tried every now and then to ban it. This popular print is now considered a real treasure trove that has preserved the history of Rus' and folk humor, nurtured true caricature talents and become the source book illustration. And, of course, the popular print is the direct ancestor of modern comics.