Edges and shadows: from the history of domestic glassmaking

The museum-reserve "Tsaritsyno" shows the rich heritage of Russian glass artists - from artisanal manufacturers to the masters of the Gusevsky Crystal Factory named after. Akim Maltsov, more than 200 items created using cutting and engraving techniques.

The exhibition “On the Verge. The Art of Cutting and Engraving Glass. It is dedicated to the complex and sometimes dramatic history of Russian industrial glassmaking in the 20th century. The exposition contains more than 200 items created using cutting and engraving techniques. Many exhibits are presented to the public for the first time.

“The collection of Soviet glass is one of the most significant in our collection,” says Alexandra Gerasimova (Stepina), Candidate of Art History, co-curator of the exhibition. - Here are the works of different republics, different schools and eras. The theme of cutting and engraving was chosen because these two techniques best reveal the main properties of glass - transparency and luminosity, but they reveal it in their own way. If faceting makes the light “play” inside the object, then engraving, on the contrary, works with a shadow, this is a line that shades the surface of the glass, the glass becomes the background of the artwork.” To highlight the features of each technique, Maya Frolova, the architect of the exhibition, created radius showcases with rounded corners and multi-point lighting for each item.

The history of glass in Russia is non-linear and tragic: in each new era, it began from scratch, with the revival of closed industries and the restoration of the continuity of schools. After the revolution, large factories that represented glass at the World Exhibitions were actually destroyed or repurposed for the production of cheap mass products. However, even it was not enough to meet all the needs of a vast country. In the 1930s, the plight of the industry attracted the attention of the authorities and restoration began: the glass industry department Glavsteklo was created, and the construction of factories was launched. For example, an experimental workshop was opened on the basis of the Demino Mirror Factory in Leningrad under the guidance of sculptor Vera Mukhina. The rapid recovery of the industry was interrupted by the Great Patriotic War. After 1945, the history of glass production actually began anew.

Mikhail Kyzlo. Decorative set "Mangazeya". Dyatkovo crystal factory. RSFSR. 1978.

Photo: Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

Presenting the history of the development of Soviet art glass in the field of cutting and engraving, the curators talk both about the artistic and stylistic features of the two leading schools - Moscow and Leningrad, and about the gradual formation of the styles of each plant in the 20th century. “The period of formation of the own style of Soviet glass was determined by the Leningrad school, represented by the Leningrad Art Glass Factory (LZKhS). It was his masters who stood at the origins of the process of bringing art into everyday life. At the exhibition you can see samples from the LZKhS assortment cabinet, transferred to the museum in 1984. In addition to serial samples, here are copyrights, which were created specifically for all-Union and international exhibitions, as well as by special order from various ministries and departments. Such things include, for example, the works of Adolf Ostroumov, Aknuni Astvatsaturyan and Natalia Goncharova, ”recalls Alexander Gerasimov.

Natalya Goncharova. Decorative composition "Appassionata". Leningrad plant of art glass. RSFSR. Late 1970s

Photo: Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

Since the late 1940s, the work of Soviet glaziers began to receive well-deserved recognition from foreign colleagues. Our artists had the opportunity to train in Venice, in Bohemia; in the 1970s, foreign masters were already coming to us. It was a creative and technical exchange. At international exhibitions, in particular at the Expo in Brussels, in Montreal, Soviet glass masters were highly appreciated. The high quality of Soviet glass is also evidenced by the fact that its export has traditionally been a significant source of income for the country. The production of crystal for foreign countries was mainly carried out by LZKhS, export lines were at the Dyatkovo and Gusevsky factories.

Late Soviet glass is a little-known phenomenon even for those who are interested in the subject. Meanwhile, the works of this particular period are of the greatest interest at the exhibition in Tsaritsyno. According to curators, the heyday of Soviet glassmaking came in the 1970s and 1980s. Here the championship was intercepted by the Moscow school - due to the fact that several production centers stood behind it, in particular the Dyatkovo Crystal Plant, the Gusevsky Crystal Plant named after. Akima Maltsova, "Red Giant" and others. The Moscow school has always been distinguished by its multicoloredness, picturesqueness, and freedom. The masters of the capital never departed from the form, guided primarily by artistic principles. At the same time, each enterprise had its own style, recognizable features. For example, the Maltsov artists managed to turn decorative elements into expressive artistic elements. In this sense, the works of Myrona Grabar and Ivan Machnev presented at the exhibition are especially interesting.

“The crisis in the glass industry of the late 1980s is not directly related to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was laid earlier, when a decision was made to reduce the cost of production as much as possible, mass circulation, and the use of pressed crystal. At that time, simple cheap products flooded the market, and the high art of glassmaking turned out to be unclaimed,” notes Alexandra Gerasimova.

Vladimir Kasatkin. Dish "Midnight". Gusevsky crystal factory. RSFSR. Late 1970s

Photo: Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

Each room "On the Edge" is dedicated to a particular period in the history of the development of Soviet glassmaking and the biography of artists. The first section of the exhibition tells about the art of engraving - works by artists of the Moscow and Leningrad schools are exhibited here. Among the most valuable exhibits is the Nika dish by Adolf Kurilov, who worked at Gus-Khrustalny for almost 40 years, as well as the Song of the First composition by Yuri Byakov, an artist at the Leningrad Art Glass Factory. In a separate room, works by artists working today are presented. For example, "Angel" by Elena Lavrishcheva and Vladimir Makovetsky, consisting of five blocks of optical glass mounted on a slowly rotating black glass disk.

The second section of the exhibition is devoted to cutting technique. Here you can see a composition of colored crystal "Colonnade" by Myrona Grabar, who worked at the Dyatkovo Crystal Factory, and a vase "Elk" by Antonina Abramova, made at the Crystal Factory named after. F. Dzerzhinsky in Belarusian Borisov. Next to them are the works of modern masters of the Gusevsky Crystal Factory named after. Akima Maltsova

State Historical, Architectural and Landscape Museum-Reserve "Tsaritsyno"

“On the edge. The art of cutting and engraving glass. History of industrial glassmaking in Russia»

Until August 25, 2024

REFERENCE

Glass in the Tsaritsyno collection

Glass objects created by craftsmen in different Soviet republics make up a significant part of the collection of the Tsaritsyno museum complex, founded in 1984 as the Museum of Decorative and Applied Art of the Peoples of the USSR. Today, the Tsaritsyno funds contain more than 4 thousand exhibits - the work of glaziers from Borisov, Gusev, Dyatkovo, Leningrad and other factories. In 2022, the Museum-Reserve released the first part of Artistic Glass of the 20th – Early 21st Century, which became a continuation of its multi-volume general catalogue. The book contains 454 works by 82 authors of the Soviet glass school. The second part will be released in 2023.

Source: https://www.theartnewspaper.ru/