Life scenario

The meaning of an obsolete word.

home What is "Lubok"? How to spell this word correctly. Concept and interpretation. Splint Splint folk picture, a work of graphics (mostly printed), characterized by a clear image and intended for mass distribution. The lubok is characterized by simplicity of technique and laconicism. visual arts(a rough touch, usually bright coloring), often designed for a decorative effect, a tendency towards an expanded narrative (series of popular prints, popular print books), often complementary images and explanatory inscriptions. Lubok, performed, as a rule, by master craftsmen, is a type of folk art, but popular graphics usually include works of professional graphics that borrow individual popular folklore techniques. The oldest popular prints appeared in China and were originally made by hand, and from the 8th century. - in wood engraving. European lubok, made using the woodcut technique, has been known since the 15th century. Since the 17th century Lubok using the technique of copper engraving spread, and from the 19th century. - lithographs. The formation of the European popular print is associated with such types of late medieval mass visual products as paper icons distributed at fairs and places of pilgrimage. Religious images in popular prints acquired a shade of visual and moralizing entertainment. During the years of social revolutionary movements, lubok was used as a journalistic weapon - “flying sheets” from the time of the Reformation and the Peasant War in Germany 1524-26, lubok from the Great french revolution. The Russian lubok of the 18th century is unique, distinguished by its decorative unity of composition and coloring, and its independence from the techniques of professional graphics. In the 19th century The images of lubok were increasingly turned to by masters of professional art or those who directly imitated it (in Russia, for example, A. G. Venetsianov, I. I. Terebenev, I. A. Ivanov - the authors of colored etchings dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812), or inspired by individual his techniques and themes (F. Goya, O. Daumier, G. Courbet). Oriental popular prints (Chinese, Indian), which initially often had a magical meaning, are distinguished by their bright colors. A deliberate appeal to the forms of the popular print (see Primitivism) manifested itself in late XIX-XX centuries in the works of many artists; A. Derain, R. Dufy, P. Picasso, masters of the "Bridge" association in Germany and so on. In Soviet art, lubok techniques were creatively used by V.V. Mayakovsky and others to create posters and propaganda pictures, as well as by T.A. Mavrina to illustrate children's books. "Jung-hoi, cutting the demon." Woodcut, coloring. China. 19th century "The hunter stabs the bear, but the dogs gnaw." Woodcut, coloring. Russia. 1st half 18th century Literature: D. A. Rovinsky, Russian folk pictures, vol. 1-5 (text), vol. 1-4 (atlas), St. Petersburg, 1881; V. M. Alekseev, Chinese folk picture, M., 1966; (Yu. Ovsyannikov), Lubok. (Album), M., 1968; O. Baldina, Russian folk pictures, M., 1972; Duchartre P.-L., Saulnier R., L "imagerie populaire, P., 1926. (Source: “Popular art encyclopedia.” Edited by Polevoy V.M.; M.: Publishing House " Soviet encyclopedia", 1986.) popular picture, a work of graphics (mostly printed), characterized by simplicity and clarity of the image and intended for mass distribution. The term appeared in the early 19th century. Russian word“Lubok” probably comes from “lub” - the top layer of wood; Large boxes were made from it, in which folk pictures were distributed. Bast was also the name given to linden, which served as material for printing boards. The oldest popular prints appeared in China. In Europe, folk pictures have been known since the 15th century, in Russia - since the 18th century. The first European and Russian lubok were paper icons sold at fairs and places of pilgrimage. “Yaga Baba is going to fight with Corcodile.” Splint. Woodcut, watercolor. Beginning 18th century "Jester Farnos, Red Nose." Splint. Woodcut, watercolor. 18th century "Cat Kazansky" Splint. Woodcut, watercolor. 18th century The heyday of Russian popular print was 18 - beginning. 19th century Lubki were created mainly in Moscow and, possibly, in the North and the Volga region. At first, folk pictures were engraved using the woodcut technique, from the end of the 18th century. Engravings were often made on copper. The first copper splints were made by professional engravers from St. Petersburg - A.F. and I.F. Zubov, as well as Moscow silversmiths from the royal village of Izmailovo. Black and white prints were hand-colored with bright, “sunny” colors – red, orange, yellow, which “flashed” even more strongly against the background of dark purple and dense green. Folk pictures brought a sense of celebration into the house, at the same time teaching and amusing. Favorite popular print subjects are hunts, feasts, fist fights, walks with beauties, the fun of jesters and buffoons, the fabulous adventures of Bova Korolevich and Eruslan Lazarevich and various “diva” (a sea monster-whale found in the White Sea, a comet, a “strong beast elephant” ). The language of allegory and grotesque is also often used in popular prints; they can serve as an instrument of acute political satire : so, Peter I turns into them either into a cat (“Cat of Kazan”), which can be buried (“Mice bury a cat,” late 17th-early 18th centuries), then into a funny monster - a crocodile, and his wife Catherine I – in Baba Yaga (“Yaga Baba goes to fight with a corcodile”, early 18th century). Professional artists turned to the biting visual language of folk pictures, creating patriotic leaflets during Patriotic War 1812 (A.G. Venetsianov, I.I. Terebenev and others). The image in the popular prints is complemented by text, which is often a dialogue between characters in the spirit of the mischievous jokes of buffoons or performances of a folk square theater., captured in popular prints, enriched the work of P. A. Fedotov, L. I. Solomatkin, and partly V. G. Perov. At the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. many artists, especially participants artistic association“Jack of Diamonds” sought to revive the naive charm of popular print. In the 20th century visual techniques of folk painting were creatively used by V.V. Mayakovsky and D.S. Moor to create posters and propaganda pictures, as well as by T.A. Mavrina and other illustrators of children's books.(

Russian popular prints are creations of nameless folk craftsmen. Lubok view visual arts, which is characterized by clarity and capacity of the image. Lubki are very popular in Russia. Lubok - (folk picture) - a type of graphics, an image with a caption, characterized by the simplicity and accessibility of images. Lubok is also called a folk (folklore) picture and is associated with painted graphic image, replicated in printed form.

Lubok is originally a sheet art edition with a primitive picture and signature designed for undemanding tastes. Lubok - This term has other meanings, see Lubok (meanings). This is the so-called a folklore picture with a signature, a very special type of graphic art, characterized by simplicity of execution and laconicism.

Then the so-called “Fryazhsky sheets”, and later small paper pictures began to be called simply lubok (popular folk picture). Lubok, along with other goals, was called upon to perform an educational function, introducing illiterate sections of the population to reading. Russian lubok differs from others in its consistency of composition, and, for example, Chinese or Indian lubok sheets - in their bright colors.

Foreigners brought popular prints to give as gifts. And all this was done with pictures. Secondly, lubok served as decoration. Russian craftsmen gave the popular print a joyful character. Traders walked around fairs with such bast baskets, selling funny pictures. The first popular prints were in the form of paper icons, biblical pictures, and described the lives of saints. Luboks were also used for serious purposes. For example, in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, a popular print about Ilya-Muromets served as a call to fight against enemies.

If in the 18th century the boards from which popular prints were printed were wooden, then in the 19th century they became metal, and therefore it became possible to make linear drawings more subtle and elegant. The technique of making hand-drawn popular prints is unique. Often the splint had a decorative purpose. Often the popular print contains explanatory inscriptions and additional (explanatory, complementary) images to the main one.

Eastern lubok (China, India) is distinguished by its bright colors. The popular print was made in the following way: the artist applied pencil drawing on a linden board (lube), then using this drawing, using a knife, I made indentations in those places that should remain white. Lubok (not to be confused with pubis) is an art form that was very popular in pre-revolutionary, that is, imperial Russia.

Black and white prints were painted with hare's feet by women near Moscow and Vladimir. If possible, please send me versions of Russian lubok, preferably on the topic of drinking with maximum resolution for preparing an article on the history of mead making in Rus'. Thank you in advance, editors. In the 18th century bast replaced copper boards in the 19th and 20th centuries. These pictures were already produced using the printing method, but their name “popular prints” was retained for them. This type of simple and crude art for mass consumption became widespread in Russia in the 17th – early 20th centuries, even giving rise to popular popular literature.

At the beginning of the 20th century. Russian popular print, which came to the attention of young avant-garde artists M. F. Larionov, N. S. Goncharova and others, influenced the formation of their individual style to varying degrees.

Lubki have always been affordable even for the most insolvent buyers; they were distinguished by the intelligibility of texts and visuals, the brightness of colors and the complementarity of images and explanations. As a genre combining graphics and literary elements, lubok were not a purely Russian phenomenon. Thematically, all the popular prints they created had a religious content, but biblical heroes were often depicted on them in Russian folk clothing (like Cain plowing the land on Vasily Koren’s popular print).

Immediately remembered bright pictures“Kazan Cat”, “Goat with a Bear” and, well, maybe “Red Nose Farnos”. Nothing else especially comes to mind. The question of the origin of the name “lubok” remains open.

Mostly popular prints were made in the suburbs of Moscow. Well, that's what the sources say. Alas, as I already said, in the 19th century there began a decline in interest in these pictures, which previously served to decorate the houses of both the nobility and commoners. Books and oil paintings came into fashion. Short-lived paper pictures have disappeared from the scene. No matter how sad they remain, mainly in the private collections of true connoisseurs of folk art, on the other hand, and for this we thank you very much.

Who and why called them “popular prints” is not known. We can see evidence that lubok were popular in Moscow even now. By the end of the century, popular prints had exhausted themselves - new pictures appeared, produced in factories. Such popular prints were often distributed among the people for free. From the 17th century popular prints were ubiquitous in Europe. Sometimes there were texts on popular prints. Obviously, this was the case, but it is not clear why the pictures stubbornly continued to be called popular prints.

What is lubok? Why and how was it made? What does it have in common with the deck of a ship? And why did the authorities ban it? The answers are in the article!

News various kinds have become an integral part of life modern man. And it doesn’t matter where we get them from: from the Internet, from newspapers or on television. It is important for us that the information is fresh, varied and constant. And if you think that our ancestors managed without this, then you are very mistaken. In the old days, they also had their own media. And they, too, were wildly popular. And some of them were also prohibited. And they also advertised something, scolded someone, suggested something. So what did the editors of that time produce?

In the old days, there was one type of media, and it was popular print. Lubok, also known as a popular sheet or picture, is a stylized image printed on paper with comments. And since it reflects the creativity of the people rather than of professionals, it was distinguished by its simplicity, conciseness and intelligibility.

Short story

The first popular prints (nianhua) appeared in China. Moreover, at first, each sheet was drawn by hand, and only after the 8th century did the Chinese learn to make prints. From the Middle Kingdom, popular print art spread to India and Arab countries. Like everyone else oriental painting, Asian popular prints were distinguished by their richness of colors and abundance of elements.

IN European countries lubok has been known since the 15th century. At first the images were black and white, and resembled unsightly children's coloring books; They gained color a little later. European popular prints were distinguished by a variety of subjects and were similar to modern newspapers and magazines: in major cities there were editorial factories (which later turned into printing houses) and shops selling them.

In some countries, lubok existed until the 19th century. They were replaced by ordinary printed newspapers and comics.

Popular prints

In the East, pictures had predominantly religious and philosophical content, but as soon as lubok came to Europe, their themes expanded significantly. Fairy tales or epics, historical and legal (images of trials filled with satire and morality) appeared. As well as pictures depicting saints (like modern calendars), horsemen and folk heroes. Jokers - humorous popular prints with caricatures, satire, jokes, toasts and fables - had a special place and great popularity.

In addition, in Europe, some large firms and enterprises ordered advertising prints telling about their products or services. Very often, lubok were used by the government and the church as propaganda or agitation. In general, popular prints used to play the same role as modern newspapers and leaflets.

Lubki in Russia

Lubok came to Russia from Europe in the 16th century and it was then called “Fryazhsky leaf”. At first, only imported pictures were on sale, but from the end of the 17th century, the Moscow Court Printing House learned how to produce them independently. Based on the method of production, they received their new name - lubok. But more on that below.

Despite the availability of domestic products for sale, imported jokers were very popular. Orthodox Church they were outraged by their “immorality and obscenity,” and it came to a ban on the sale of “sheets of heretics.” The ban was introduced in 1674, and in 1721, at the insistence of the church, censorship was introduced on domestic popular prints. The so-called Izugraphic Chamber monitored the morality of the pictures.

But, fortunately, printing houses that knew how to bypass censorship flourished. Otherwise, we would not have wonderful popular prints demonstrating the folk customs of past times.

Making splints

In Russia, manufacturers of popular prints were called “Fryazh carving masters.” The very process of drawing and coloring a drawing is a sign.

The work consisted of the following: the artist (banner) drew an image on the board, and the engraver cut it out, that is, made a print. Then the copyist would put on it dark paint and made an imprint on paper - the result was a simple picture. These sheets were handed over to the artels involved in coloring. As a rule, children and women worked in them. Professional workers Such cartels were called flowerers. But with the advent of new, more advanced methods of drawing (lithography and engraving), such artels were disbanded.

So why did the printed pictures get such a name - lubok? Answer: the design for the imprint was applied to a linden board obtained by a special sawing method from the lower part of the tree bark. Such boards were called bast. They were used to make roofs of houses and decks of ships, and the bast obtained from young trees was good for bast.

This is the history of lubok - a special type of folk art, the predecessor of newspapers, magazines and now popular comics.

In contact with

Originally a type of folk art. It was made using the techniques of woodcuts, copper engravings, lithographs and was supplemented with hand coloring.

Popular prints are characterized by simplicity of technique and laconism of graphic means (rough strokes, bright colors). Often the popular print contains a detailed narrative with explanatory inscriptions and additional (explanatory, complementary) images to the main one.

Story

The most ancient popular prints are known in China. Until the 8th century, they were drawn by hand. Starting from the 8th century, the first popular prints made in wood engraving are known. Lubok appeared in Europe in the 15th century. Early European popular prints are characterized by the woodcut technique. Copper engraving and lithography are added later.

Due to its intelligibility and focus on the “broad masses,” the popular print was used as a means of propaganda (for example, “flying leaflets” during the Peasant War and the Reformation in Germany, popular prints during the French Revolution).

In Germany, factories for the production of pictures were located in Cologne, Munich, Neuruppin; in France - in the city of Troyes. In Europe, books and pictures with obscene content are widespread, for example, “Tableau de l'amur conjual” (Picture of Married Love). “Seductive and immoral pictures” were imported to Russia from France and Holland.

Russian lubok of the 18th century is distinguished by its consistent composition.

Eastern lubok (China, India) is distinguished by its bright colors.

At the end of the 19th century, lubok was revived in the form of comics.

In Russia

Story

In Russia in the 16th century - early 17th century, prints were sold that were called “Fryazhsky sheets” or “German amusing sheets”.

IN late XVI In the 1st century, a Fryazhian printing press was installed in the Upper (Court) printing house for printing Fryazhian sheets. In 1680, craftsman Afanasy Zverev cut “all sorts of Fryazhian cuttings” on copper boards for the Tsar.

German amusing sheets were sold in Vegetable Row, and later on Spassky Bridge.

Censorship and bans

Moscow Patriarch Joachim in 1674 forbade “the purchase of sheets that were printed by German heretics, Luthers and Calvins, in their damned opinion.” The faces of revered saints were to be written on a board, and printed images were intended for “beauty.”

A decree of March 20, 1721 prohibited the sale “on Spassky Bridge and in other places of Moscow of works composed different ranks by people... prints (sheets) printed arbitrarily, except by the printing house.” The Izugraphic Chamber was created in Moscow.

The Chamber issued permission to print popular prints “unwillingly, except for the printing house.” Over time, this decree was no longer enforced. A large number of low-quality images of Saints have appeared.

Therefore, by decree of October 18, 1744, it was ordered to “preliminarily submit the drawings to the diocesan bishops for approval.”

The decree of January 21, 1723 demanded that “Imperial persons should be skillfully painted with evidence of good skill by painters with all danger and diligent care.” Therefore, in popular prints there are no images of reigning persons.

In 1822, police censorship was introduced for the printing of popular prints. Some popular prints were banned and the boards were destroyed. In 1826, by censorship regulations, all prints (and not just popular prints) were subject to review by censorship.

Subjects of the paintings

Initially, the subjects for popular prints were handwritten tales, life books, “fatherly writings,” oral tales, articles from translated newspapers (for example, “Chimes”), etc.

The plots and drawings were borrowed from foreign Almanacs and Calendars. IN early XIX centuries, plots are borrowed from the novels and stories of Goethe, Radcliffe, Cotten, Chateaubriand and other writers.

At the end of the 19th century, pictures on themes from the Holy Scriptures and portraits of the imperial family predominated, followed by genre pictures, most often of a moral and instructive nature (about the disastrous consequences of gluttony, drunkenness, and greed).

Front editions of “Eruslan Lazarevich” and other fairy tales, images in faces folk songs(“The boyars were traveling from Nova Gorod”, “The wife beat her husband”), women’s heads with absurd inscriptions, images of cities ( Jerusalem - the navel of the earth).

Production of splints

Engravers were called “Fryazhian carving masters” (in contrast to Russian “ordinary” woodcarvers). In Moscow at the end of the 16th century, the first engraver was supposedly Andronik Timofeev Nevezha.

Signing was called drawing and painting. Around the 16th (or 17th) century, marking was divided into marking and engraving. The flag bearer drew the design, and the engraver cut it out on a board or metal.

Copying boards was called translation. The boards were initially linden, then maple, pear and palm.

The lubok was made in the following way: the artist drew a pencil drawing on a linden board (lubok), then, using this drawing, used a knife to make indentations in those places that should remain white. A board smeared with paint under a press left black outlines of the picture on the paper.

Printed in this way on cheap gray paper were called simple paintings. The simpletons were taken to special artels. In the 19th century, in villages near Moscow and Vladimir, there were special artels that were engaged in coloring popular prints. Women and children were busy painting popular prints.

Later, a more advanced way to produce popular prints appeared, and engravers appeared. Using a thin cutter on copper plates, they engraved the design with hatching, with all the small details, which was impossible to do on a linden board.

One of the first Russian figure factories arose in Moscow in mid-18th century century. The factory belonged to the merchants Akhmetyev. There were 20 machines at the factory.

Prostovikov, that is, the cheapest pictures, costing ½ kopeck a piece, were printed and colored in the Moscow district about 4 million annually. Highest price popular prints was 25 kopecks.

Popularity

Lubki fell in love with everyone in Russia right away, without exception. They could be found in the royal chambers, in the slaves' hut, at the inn, in monasteries.

There are documents showing that Patriarch Nikon had two hundred and seventy of them, most of them, however, still from Fryazh. And they had already bought a lot of domestic ones for Tsarevich Peter; there were about a hundred of them in his rooms. There are two reasons for such a rapid and widespread popularity of seemingly simple pictures.

Firstly, lubok replaced books inaccessible to the common man: textbooks, starting with the alphabet and arithmetic and ending with cosmography (astronomy), fiction- in lubok, a series of sequential pictures, as in the stamps of hagiographic icons, with extensive captions, epics and stories were retold or published.

Adventure translated novels about Bova Korolevich and Eruslan Lazarevich, fairy tales, songs, proverbs. There were lubki, like newsletters and newspapers, reporting on the most important state events, wars, and life in other countries.

There were interpreters of the Holy Scriptures, depicting the largest monasteries and cities. There were popular therapeutic books about all sorts of things folk beliefs and signs. There were the worst satyrs.

Photo gallery

Helpful information

Splint
popular print
popular print sheet
funny sheet
simpleton

origin of name

The name comes from specially cut boards called lube (deck). On them back in the 15th century. wrote plans, drawings, drawings. Then the so-called “Fryazh sheets” appeared, and later small paper pictures began to be called simply lubok (popular folk picture).

In Russia

In Russia, folk pictures became widespread in the 17th-20th centuries. They were cheap (even low-income people could buy them) and often served as decoration. Popular sheets performed the social and entertainment role of a newspaper or primer. They are the prototype of modern calendars, posters, comics and placards. In the 17th century, painted bast boxes became widespread.

Types of splints

• Spiritual and religious - In the Byzantine style. Icon type images. Lives of saints, parables, moral teachings, songs, etc.
• Philosophical.
• Legal - depictions of trials and legal actions. The following subjects were often encountered: “Shemyakin trial” and “Ruff Ershovich Shchetinnikov”.
• Historical - “Touching stories” from chronicles. Image historical events, battles, cities. Topographic maps.
• Fairy tales - magical tales, heroic tales, “Tales of Daring People”, everyday tales.
• Holidays - images of saints.
• Cavalry - popular prints with images of horsemen.
• Joker - funny popular prints, satires, caricatures, fables.

Coloring method

The artel workers accepted orders from popular publishers to color hundreds of thousands of copies. One person painted up to one thousand popular prints per week - they paid one ruble for such work. The profession was called florist. The profession disappeared after the advent of lithographic machines.

Advantages of a printed picture

The first to realize the benefits of a printed image in Moscow were the same regulars of the Spassky Bridge, or Spassky Sacrum, as this place was more often called then. The book trade flourished there even before lubok - the main trade in Russia was in this area. But only the books that sold were mostly handwritten and very often of the most poisonous nature, such as the satirical “Sava’s Priest - Great Glory” and “Service to the Tavern.” The writers themselves and their friends - artists from the same common people - drew pictures and illustrations for these books, or sewed them into the pages, or sold them separately. But how much can you draw by hand?!

Manufacturing

It was these writers and artists who drew attention to popular prints, which were brought by foreigners, first as a gift to the Moscow Tsar and boyars, and then for wide sale. It turned out that making them is not so difficult, and many thousands of pictures can be printed from one board, and even with text cut out in the same way next to the drawing. One of the foreigners or Belarusians, apparently, built the first machine in Moscow and brought ready-made boards for a sample.

I.D. Sytin

In the second half of the 19th century, one of the largest producers and distributors of printed popular prints was I. D. Sytin. In 1882, the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition took place in Moscow, at which Sytin’s products were awarded a silver medal. I. D. Sytin collected boards from which popular prints were printed for about 20 years. The collection, worth several tens of thousands of rubles, was destroyed during a fire in Sytin's printing house during the 1905 Revolution.

Formation of style

The still young Russian popular print, of course, borrowed from other arts, and first of all from book miniature, a lot, and therefore, artistically, it soon became a kind of alloy, a synthesis of all the best that Russian art had developed over the previous centuries of its existence.

But just to what extent did the popular printmakers sharpen and exaggerate all the forms, to what extent did they intensify the contrast and heat up the colors, heat up to such an extent that each leaf literally burns, splashes with cheerful multicolor.

In our time

IN modern world the style of the popular print has not been forgotten. It is widely used in illustrations, theatrical scenery, paintings and interior decorations. Dishes, posters, and calendars are produced.

The popular print is also reflected in modern fashion. At the 22nd “Textile Salon” in Ivanovo, the collection of Yegor Zaitsev, “iVANOVO. Splint".

ubok - a folk picture, a type of graphics, an image with a caption, characterized by the simplicity and accessibility of the images. Originally a type of folk art. It was made using the techniques of woodcuts, copper engravings, lithographs and was supplemented with hand coloring.

Farnos - red nose. 17th century

From the middle of the 17th century, printed pictures called “Fryazhskie” (foreign) first appeared in Rus'. Then these pictures were called “amusing sheets”; in the second half of the 19th century they began to be called lubok. The manufacturing method was invented in China in the 8th century. The drawing was made on paper, then it was transferred to a smooth board and with special cutters they deepened the places that should remain white. The entire image consisted of walls. The work was difficult, one small mistake - and I had to start all over again. Then the board was clamped in a printing press, similar to a press, and black paint was applied to the walls with a special roller. A sheet of paper was carefully placed on top and pressed down. The print was ready. All that remains is to dry and paint. Luboks were made different sizes. Splint technology moved from China to Western Europe in the 15th century. And in the middle of the 17th century to Russia. Foreigners brought popular prints to give as gifts. And one of the foreigners made a machine for display. Lubki are very popular in Russia. Firstly, they retold history, geography, printed literary works, ABCs, arithmetic textbooks, Holy Scripture. And all this was done with pictures. Sometimes many pictures were arranged in tiers. Sometimes there were texts on popular prints. Secondly, lubok served as decoration. Russian craftsmen gave the popular print a joyful character.

“Mice bury a cat”, 1760

XVII-XVIII centuries - this is the era of the reforms of Peter I, which not everyone liked. The secular popular print was an outright tool political struggle. Opponents of the reforms of Peter I print popular prints depicting a cat with red, staring eyes, this is how they painted the portrait of Peter I. “The Kazan Cat.” The popular print “Mice are burying a cat” appeared after the death of the emperor. What was fundamentally new in popular print was laughter. This distinguishes it from the official art XVIII century. The main task of the popular print is to decorate the house. There were also satirical popular prints. Peter I issued decrees banning satirical popular prints. But only after the death of the emperor did lubok lose its political edge. It acquired a fairy-tale-decorative character. Bogatyrs, stage show actors, jesters, real and fantastic animals, and birds appeared. The heroes of the pictures became fairy tale characters: jesters Savoska and Paramoshka, Foma and Erema, Ivan Tsarevich, Bova the Prince, Ilya Muromets. The lubok became more colorful, because it decorated the huts of the peasants. The pictures were freely colored. The color was applied randomly in decorative spots. At first the color is red, the brightest and densest (gouache or tempera). Other colors are more transparent.

What colors were loved in Rus'?

(Red, crimson, blue, green, yellow, sometimes black). They painted it so that the combination was sharp. High quality The drawing indicated that at first the popular prints were painted by professional artists who, under Peter I, were left without work. And only then gingerbread board carvers and other city artisans joined. Subjects of wall paintings and tiles (what is a tile?) “moved” into engraving when folk architectural creativity was suspended, and the love for wall paintings and wood carvings had not yet dried up. There was a whole series of portraits, or rather images of epic and literary characters: Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich, Nightingale the Robber, faces of brave knights and their princesses. Such portraits were popular among the people. And the reason was their artistic qualities. Drawn brightly, festively, Pleasant faces, slender figures, beautiful clothes. Popular portraits embodied deeply folk aesthetic ideals and embodied an understanding of human dignity and beauty. Lubok cultivated people's artistic taste. And he borrowed all the best from other arts.

Kazan cat, Astrakhan mind, Siberian mind (XVIII century)

How were splints made?

The engraver made the basis for the picture - a board - and gave it to the breeder. He bought boards ready for prints, and sent the prints for coloring. Near Moscow, in the village of Izmailovo, there lived popular printmakers who made engravings on wood and copper. Women and children were busy painting popular prints.

How were the paints made, from what materials?

Sandalwood was boiled with the addition of alum, and a crimson dye was obtained. The emphasis was on bright red or cherry color. Lapis lazuli was used for blue paint. They made paints from leaves and tree bark.

Each craftswoman painted in her own way. But everyone learned from each other, and used the best techniques in their work. Any topic was covered in popular print with the utmost depth and breadth. For example, at four full sheets told about our Earth. Where and what peoples live. Lots of text and lots of pictures. Lubki were about individual cities, about various events. For example, a whale was caught in the White Sea, and large sheet a whale is drawn. Or how a man chooses a bride, or fashionable outfits, or "ABC".

Lubok - this name possibly comes from Lubyanka Square, where bast products were traded. At the corner of Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, the Church of the Assumption in Printers has been preserved. In the old days, masters of printing - printers - lived around the church. Not far away is another church, “Trinity in Sheets”. Near her fence holidays They sold entertaining and bright pictures.

Or maybe this name comes from the word “bast” - bast, i.e. wood. The drawings were carved on wooden boards. These pictures were sold and distributed throughout the land of Russian ofeni (peddlers), who stored their goods in bast boxes. They treasured the popular prints very much. Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” tells how a peasant’s hut was on fire, and the first thing he took away were pictures. There was never any grief or crying in the popular print. He only pleased and amused, and sometimes denounced, but he did it with great humor and dignity. Lubok instilled in people faith in themselves, in their strength. The peddlers of popular prints - ophens - were expected everywhere. They brought pictures with letters to the kids, pictures with fashionable clothes about love to the girls, and something political to the men. Ofenya will show such a picture and tell you what new has happened in the country. It was for these pictures that both the photographers and the publishers got it.

In the 19th century, Moscow was the main supplier of popular prints. So the police officers of other cities wrote to their superiors in Moscow about political lubok.
One of the largest and most famous producers and distributors of printed popular prints in Russia was I. D. Sytin.
Sytin's first popular prints were called:
Peter the Great raises a healthy cup for his teachers;
how Suvorov plays grandmas with the village children;
how our Slavic ancestors were baptized in the Dnieper and overthrew the idol of Perun.
Sytin began to involve in the production of popular prints professional artists. For signatures on popular prints they used folk songs, poetry famous poets. In 1882, an art exhibition took place in Moscow, where Sytin's popular prints received a diploma and a bronze medal of the exhibition.

I. D. Sytin collected boards from which popular prints were printed for about 20 years. The collection, worth several tens of thousands of rubles, was destroyed during a fire in Sytin's printing house during the 1905 Revolution.

In the old days in life common man there was a lot of grief. However, the art of the people is extremely cheerful. The life of folk art has much in common with the life of nature. Like nature, it selects only the best and polishes it over centuries, creating truly perfect technology, shape, ornament and color.

I offer you popular prints of the contemporary artist and teacher Marina Rusanova. A series of pictures in the style of popular prints on the theme of Russians folk proverbs The artist was very successful. G. Courbet once said:
True artists are those who begin where their predecessors left off.
Good luck to Marina in this type of graphics and success in her work in cinema.