 The
North of the Nizhni Novgorod province is a beautiful land. The
lush green of the flood plain meadows 'stretches along the low
left bank of the Volga bordered with boundless dense forests.
The forests extend to the Kostroma and Vyatka provinces and
are crisscrossed with winding clear-water streams Linda, Uzola,
Kerzhenets and the navigable Vetluga river, a major Volga tributary.
Villages and small hamlets are hiding in the forests or lurking
near the streams. The lands beyond the Volga made a major contribution
to the Russian history, it is a country of many legends. This
is the land that was ravaged by the invading Mongol hordes of
Batu Khan passing through it on their conquest of Europe more
than seven centuries back. This is where the lake Svetloyar
is whose lear waters are still preserving the legendary town
of 'Kitezh the citizens of which refused to surrender to the
evil force and were redeemed by the Providence as the town was
hidden on the bottom of the lake. The deep forests around the
ancient town of Semenov gave shelter to the Old Believers hermits
hiding from the persecution of the official Moscow Orthodox
Church and preserving ancient Russian cultural customs that
had gradually expired elsewhere in Russia. Another ancient town
on the Volga is Gorodets, one of the major strongholds of the
Suzdal Principality of medieval Russia which grew to become
a major Volga navigation hub and a center of crafts and trading.
The Makariev Zheltovodskii (Yellow Water) Monastery on the Volga
downstream from Gorodets for two centuries was the site of the
"principal market-place of Russia", the famed Makariev
Fair. The folk arts and folklore flourished
in the Trans-Volga area of the Nizhni Novgorod province. No
other territory in Russia could equal it in the number and
originality of the folk arts and crafts that had sprang to
life and were developed in the local communities. Even today
in the villages beyond the Volga one can see wooden houses
richly decorated with wood carvings depicting amiable lions
guarding the homesteads and sly pixies hiding in intricately
twisting tree branches. The collections at the best Russian
museums include among the highly-valued treasures the wooden
distaffs from Gorodets, on which the anonymous peasant artists
depicted cheerful scenes of folk festivals and feasts. The
inimitable skills and meticulous diligence of the Volga craftsmen
were evidenced by the intricately carved boards for shaping
gingerbread and for calico printing, the painted wooden matryoshka
dolls (series of hollow dolls of diminishing size, one inside
the other), the exquisite woven tapestries, or tambour and
golden lace embroideries.
The Khokhloma painting on wooden articles is,
perhaps, the one type of Nizhni Novgorod folk craft that became
most popular in Russia and foreign countries. The Khokhloma
handicraft became known as early as the 18th century. For
instance, the geographer Evdokim Zyablovsky wrote after his
journey to the Nizhni Novgorod province in 1790s that the
inhabitants of the Trans-Volga area complained about the lack
of arable land. He noted, though, that they had mastered many
wood-working skills. He wrote, "Local woodland is another
source of community welfare. The abundance of wood allows
some villagers to manufacture by turning various dishes, cups,
plates, and other similar wooden articles", which are
then "varnished and decorated all over with golden ornaments
and bright flowery patterns". The geographer concluded,
"The articles are light in weight, solid, and well proportioned
and the black and yellow varnishes they brew from the linseed
oil are very strong and clear".
The handicraft of manufacturing wooden utensils
with peculiar decorative painting imitating gilding received
the appellation of Khokhloma art from one of the villages
where it originally had been practiced in ancient times and
which grew to become a trading post to which the local craftsmen
brought their wares for sale starting from the 18th century.
Customers highly valued the light and strong Khokhloma cups,
dishes, and other household utensils, which were handy for
the household chores and beautiful to look at. Their classic
time-tested shapes, exquisite flower and plant ornaments painted
in festive yet serene colors and combinations of a deep black
background, the cinnabar vermilion, and the gilding glittering
under a varnish layer made the wooden utensils in modest village
kitchens look like precious-metal plates and dishes in noblemen's
houses.
The lush "grass-leaves" decorative
ornaments and their peculiar color scheme suggest that the
Khokhloma art is rooted in the ancient Russian decorative
culture while the imitation of gilt ornaments on wood dates
back to the medieval handicraft skills. The painting technique
has been somewhat upgraded but remains essentially the same
as in the ancient time. The gilding effect is produced by
means of the following process. The walls of the wooden containers
are first primed with clay in water, impregnated with boiled
linseed oil, and dusted with aluminum powder (tin powder was
used in the 18th — 19th centuries). The silvery-looking surface
is painted over, the article is varnished and heated in a
special oven. The varnish acquires a yellowish tint with heating
and the silvery ornaments under the amber-colored varnish
layer look gilded.
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