Lubok style. Russian popular prints. Sheet made in Gorodets
Publications in the Traditions section
Lubok art in pre-revolutionary Russia
Lubki appeared in Russia in the 17th century and quickly became popular with peasants and urban classes due to the variety of topics. They replaced icons, books and newspapers and even decorated the interior. Read how popular prints conquered the publishing market and sheets on which topics buyers especially liked.
The art of popular print originated in China. In Russia, paper icons, which were massively sold at fairs and in monasteries, are considered the forerunner of this genre. The first religious luboks were printed at the beginning of the 17th century in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Over time, simple and understandable scenes from worldly life were added to the spiritual plots: such pictures were eagerly sold out.
In the 17th century, luboks were called "fryazhsky", or German, amusing sheets; many pictures repeated stories that were popular in Europe. Initially, in Moscow, they decorated the interiors of the courtiers and the nobility, and then the townspeople began to buy sheets. Soon the production of pictures was supervised.
Representatives of the church made sure that there was no heresy in religious luboks, and officials - that the image of royal persons came out fine. But prescriptions and decrees were carried out reluctantly: sheets of very free content were often sold at fairs.
Already at the beginning of the 18th century, luboks went out of fashion among the nobility, and the townspeople, artisans and merchants were still willingly buying them up. In 1721, the government took up folk art: the free sale of pictures, as a powerful means of propaganda, was banned. They could be replicated only in printing houses and only with special permission.
In the 19th century, peasants fell in love with popular prints: pictures adorned the walls of almost every village hut. The nobility and professional artists considered this genre to be low-grade folk art, but at the same time, the print runs of luboks numbered in the thousands.
Lubok pictures for lovers and researchers of Russian antiquity are of great interest: they vividly reflect the spirit of the people, serve as a precious tool for studying their way of life and customs, give an idea of what they enjoyed in terms of art, introduce them to their beliefs, views and prejudices , with everything that occupied and amused him, in which his wit was reflected.
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
In the most remote corners of the country and small villages, wandering merchants - peddlers, or, as they were also called, ofeni, traded pictures. Along with haberdashery and other goods, they sold popular prints and calendars, which they bought in bulk from Moscow workshops.
Pictures were originally printed from lime boards. According to one version, it was from the linden, called bast in the old days, that the word "lubok" appeared. They were made in several stages: first, a self-taught artist applied a drawing to a board, then cut it out with special tools, and then covered the material with paint. The indentations during printing remained white, under pressure only protruding areas that were stained passed onto the paper. The first luboks were black and white, they were printed on inexpensive gray material.
But already in the 17th century, printing workshops appeared. A century later, Emperor Peter I founded an engraving chamber in Moscow, the best artists who studied in Europe worked there. Wooden boards were replaced by copper plates: a pattern was also applied to the metal, scratched with special tools, covered with paint and prints were made. The updated technology made it possible to achieve thin and smooth lines and add small details to the splint.
Printed blanks were taken to artels in villages near Moscow, where they were painted for a small fee by women and children using only four colors. The work was often sloppy, but buyers valued the bright pictures for their humor rather than the quality of the workmanship. In the 19th century, factories appeared that massively printed sheets. A new technology has reduced the cost of production - printing from a flat surface of a stone. There was a high demand for popular prints: publishers produced hundreds of thousands of copies by the end of the 19th century, which brought them a good income.
Popular topics: from moralizing to Pushkin's retelling
Pictures for peasants became a source of news and knowledge: they were cheap and replaced newspapers. Their meaning was clear even to the illiterate, although the pictures were accompanied by instructive or humorous text.
Morality, religiosity, family values. Wealthy merchants bought moralizing and educational sheets about virtues and family life, and popular prints about dissolute children who went to the city and squandered money there were popular among the peasants. The pictures condemned drunkenness, wild life, adultery, and praised the traditional values and heroism of Russian soldiers.
Peasants and townspeople willingly bought luboks on religious themes, biblical legends, lives of saints, calendars of church holidays and copies of icons. Masters copied church frescoes and drawings from books - such pictures served as a cheap version of expensive icons. In luboks based on the gospel parables, the layman was reminded of the norms of morality and sins that lie in wait at every step. Pictures with captions were popular: from which disease or misfortune which of the saints should be prayed for, as well as luboks with texts of prayers and calendars with the main religious holidays.
Politics and history. With the help of pictures, the peasants received information about the events in the country and major military battles. For example, victorious battles of the Russian-Turkish wars of the 18th century were depicted in luboks. The texts for the sheets were taken from the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper, but the authors of the pictures rewrote them to make the language understandable for semi-literate readers, and supplemented them with stories and legends, often exaggerating the combat losses of enemy troops to fantastic proportions.
Often the authors distorted both the text and the plot of a literary work, freely interpreted the characters of the characters and their actions. Educated readers regarded luboks as shoddy art, but the pictures still came out in large numbers and brought in impressive revenues to publishers.
They saw in luboks a complete lack of perspective, coloring similar to painting or smearing, vulgarity and rudeness in expressions, lofty and majestic, turned into exaggerated and monstrous, funny and funny into low-comic and joker, but did not notice the meaning and spirit in the content itself. , ideas in images.
Historian, researcher of Russian lubok Ivan Snegirev. From the book “Lubovye pictures of the Russian people in the Moscow world”
Luboks were popular in Russia until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1918, when the printing business became state-owned, they stopped publishing. However, the genre manifested itself in one way or another in the work of the avant-garde artists. Many artists of the 1920s used the artistic style and folklore techniques of the lubok, which manifested itself, for example, in the famous posters "Windows of ROSTA".
Today I saw popular prints on the net, painted with local spots with a predominance of purple, and for some reason they turned out to be in tune with my mood. Although earlier, she was completely indifferent to the popular print (a folk picture intended for replication and mass distribution). Surprised by such a change in taste, I decided to refresh my memory of information about this art form.
The mice buried the cat. Splint
In Russia, lubok was widespread in the 17th - early 20th centuries, giving rise to mass popular lubok literature, which performed a social function - it introduced the poorest, poorly educated sections of the population to reading.
The reference books say that the lubok got its name from the bast (the upper hard wood of the linden), which was used in the 17th century as an engraving basis for boards when printing pictures. In the 18th century, the bast was replaced by copper boards; in the XIX-XX - pictures were printed in a typographical way, however, the name "lubok" was retained for them.
Regarding the lubok, I recalled the words 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 lubok with Dutch engraving, because they represent different paths in art.” Lubok opposed the Peter the Great civic engraving, which Peter I actively propagated. As the historian I.E. Zabelin, Russian folk life under Peter was only outside filled with various German “decorations”, while inside it remained the same as before.
Nikolai Nikolaevich said: “In general, the lubok was a defense of the Russian people's worldview. If Peter I introduced the exact sciences, then in the popular print he defended, as we would say now, a poetic idea, a fairy tale. If Schkhonebek's engravings were signed, in general, in the language of the newspaper and official documents, then in the popular prints we find tales, epics, songs, as well as jokes and sayings. If everything was absolutely serious on the engravings of Peter, because they were, first of all, documents, then a lot of laughter and irony appear in the lubok. And, finally, if Peter's engraving was always performed on copper, it was pure graphics, for which some artists appreciated it.XXcentury and relied on it as pure graphics (World of Art, for example) ... then you can’t call lubok graphics - this is a completely special, not only graphic image. Russian popular prints were painted with bright colors.
towards the middleXIXcentury, in the context of the widespread book printing and the dominance of academic art, the word "lubok" has become synonymous with something unprofessional and rude. At that time, it was understood as jargon, as clumsy work. When they wanted to say something anti-artistic, they cited popular print as an example.
There were different genres in popular art. For example, popular prints on church themes (plots of Holy Scripture, hagiographic literature, spiritual parables) became widespread. There were poetic, fairy-tale luboks that illustrated epics. Among the pictures were landscapes - depicting nature, memorable places; there were lubok cards. There were genre luboks, pictorial ones, with an invented plot, and psychological ones - with dates, weddings, agreements. There were lubok pictures ritual and calendar. Finally, there were lubok bestiaries, on which animals and birds were shown.
Lubok was not only a festive art used to decorate the interiors of houses, but also a weapon of satire. There were, for example, political pictures directed against Peter I and his reforms. They appeared satirical portraits of Peter I in the form of a cat. This image was created, apparently, by someone from the opposition, perhaps in the Old Believer milieu, which opposed Peter, whom she perceived as the Antichrist. Bold inscriptions were made on lubok pictures with images of cats, with a direct allusion to the activities of Peter.
“Mice buried a cat” - a satirical image of the funeral of Peter I in St. Petersburg, as they say in the book by D.A. Ravinsky "Russian Folk Pictures". The inscriptions of the lubok themselves confirm this idea, as well as the image of a brass band, which played for the first time at the funeral of Peter I. Until that time, no one had ever been buried with music in Rus'. It was a European tradition, which then took root, entered the life of Russia, and toXVIII- XIX has become quite common over the centuries. But at the beginningXVIIIFor centuries it has been a sensation.
In different versions of this lubok, Ravinsky found various inscriptions of a farcical character. For example, one of them below shows a mouse with a straw in its teeth, sitting on top of another mouse, which is carrying a barrel of wine. Above them is the inscription: "The mouse pulls tobacco." It means. It also refers to the trade in vodka, which at first was private, and then turned into a state monopoly.
Sometimes lubok served as a newspaper chronicle, replacing the modern television. The lubok reported on the events that took place in the country. In particular, it was told that elephants appeared in Russia, which were brought from Persia as a gift to Empress Anna Ioannovna. The journey of elephants, followed with curiosity by all of Russia, was described in a popular print: elephants were depicted on the Volga, crossing the Moscow River, and ended up in St. Petersburg. This story, rather funny, but reliable, was cited in the documents of that era and illustrated with popular prints, as a kind of supplement to the newspaper.
The famous lubok, which was called "How a whale was caught in the White Sea", can also be called a chronicle. The story underlying it was not invented, but borrowed from the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper, which reported that on such and such a date, day and year, a whale swam into the White Sea and was caught by nets.
As Nikolai Nikolaevich Tretyakov believed, there was not so much laughter and satire in the soil-traditional Russian popular print, but still the poeticization of life and church themes prevailed.
Church Lubok continued to live inXIXcentury. It has different layers. There was, for example, a deep layer of Old Believer church popular art. The Old Believers preserved the church tradition in the lubok.
Lubochny
Aya, oh
1) Printed from a lubok, lime board, on which a picture is engraved for printing.
Lubok pictures.
2) Relating to or belonging to the works that were published in pre-revolutionary Russia for the people and were distinguished by their primitive content.
Lubok publications.
Related words:
splint
Etymology:
From a common Slavic noun * lub, having an Indo-European root * leub(h)- ‘peel (bark)’, ‘break off’, ‘damage’.
Lubok literature is cheap mass printed publications in Russia that appeared in the second half of the 18th century. following the lubok pictures. Characteristic genres of popular literature: alterations of fairy tales and epics, chivalric novels, historical legends, adventurous stories, lives of saints; songbooks, collections of anecdotes, oracles, dream books. The works of popular literature were usually anonymous.
Popular dictionary of the Russian language. Explanatory-encyclopedic. - M.: Russian language-Media. A.P. Guskova, B.V. Sotin. 2003 .
Synonyms:See what "lubok" is in other dictionaries:
popular print- Cm … Synonym dictionary
popular print- (not recommended popular) ... Dictionary of pronunciation and stress difficulties in modern Russian
LUBOKNY- [shn], popular print, popular print. 1. The same as bast. Lubok sleigh. 2. About pictures: originally printed from engraved lime prints and distinguished by extreme primitiveness of execution (source). Lubok pictures. || trans. Unskilful, clumsy ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
LUBOKNY- LUBOKNY, oh, oh. 1. see lubok and lubok. 2. Printed from popular prints (in 3 meanings). Lubok pictures. Lubok literature 1) pre-revolutionary cheap and primitive in content mass publications; 2) primitive literature, designed for ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
Lubochny
Lubochny- I adj. 1. ratio with noun. bast, splint I 1., associated with them 2. Peculiar to bast [bass 2.], splint [splint I 1.], characteristic of them. 3. Made from bast [bast 2., 3.], lubok [lubok I 1.]; bast. II adj. 1. ratio with noun. splint II, with ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova
popular print- lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok, lubok full-time,… … word forms
popular print- full-time popular print; briefly form chen, chna... Russian spelling dictionary
popular print - … Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language
popular print- A/ pr; 110 see Appendix II (made from the fibrous tissue of plants; about art: primitive) Such is the direct poet. He laments with his soul At the magnificent games of Melpomene *, And smiles at the fun of the marketplace And the liberties of the bast scene ... Dictionary of Russian accents
Books
- Alphabet of Petersburg, . Almost three centuries have passed since the day when Peter the Great founded a city in the Neva delta, which was destined for worldwide fame. St. Petersburg, created by titanic labor in the most ... Buy for 1600 rubles
- Charter of falconry, Mikhail Uspensky. In the lands of the unknown Zamirye, where Sharakh birds eat caviar and chase gavriks, stands the glorious city of Makukhkha, the capital of the Listoran kingdom. And everything would be fine, but the new ruler has come. ...
Lubok is a folk picture, a type of graphics, an image with a caption, characterized by simplicity and accessibility of images. Originally a kind of folk art. It was carried out in the technique of woodcuts, copper engravings, lithographs and was complemented by freehand coloring.
From the middle of the 17th century, printed pictures for the first time appeared in Rus', called "Fryazhsky" (foreign). Then these pictures were called "amusing sheets", in the second half of the 19th century they began to be called popular prints.
The drawing was made on paper, then it was transferred to a smooth board and the places that should remain white were deepened with special cutters. The whole 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, black paint was applied to the walls with a special roller. Carefully put a sheet of paper on top and pressed it. The print was ready. It remains to dry and paint. Lubki were made in different sizes. What colors were loved in Rus'? (Red, crimson, blue, green, yellow, sometimes black). Painted so that the combination was sharp. The high quality of the drawing said that at first the luboks were painted by professional artists who, under Peter I, were left without work. And only then the gingerbread cutters and other city artisans joined. 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 (for example, near Moscow in the village of Izmailovo lived luboks who made engravings on wood and copper. Women and children were engaged in coloring luboks.
How paints were made: Sandalwood was boiled with the addition of alum, crimson paint was obtained. The emphasis was on bright red or cherry color. Used lapis lazuli for blue paint. Paints were made 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.
Luboks are very fond of in Russia. Firstly, they retold history, geography, published literary works, alphabets, textbooks on arithmetic, and scripture. Any topic was covered in a popular print with the utmost depth and breadth. For example, on four full sheets it was told about our Earth. Where, what peoples live. Lots of text and lots of pictures. Luboks were about individual cities, about different events. caught For example, a whale in the White Sea, and a whale is drawn on a large sheet. Or how a man chooses a bride, or fashionable outfits, or ABCs. And all this was done with pictures. Sometimes many pictures were arranged in tiers. Sometimes there were texts on popular prints. Secondly, luboks served as decoration. Russian craftsmen gave the lubok a joyful character.
Lubok is the name comes from the word "bast" - bast, i.e. wood(inner part of tree bark). The drawings were carved on wooden boards. They sold these pictures and carried them all over the land of the Russian ofen (peddlers), who kept their goods in bast boxes. They valued 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 brought out was pictures. There was never grief or crying in the lubok. He only rejoiced and amused, and sometimes denounced, but he did it with great humor and dignity. Lubok instilled in people faith in themselves, in their strength. Peddlers of popular prints - ofeny 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 what's new in the country.
Lubok pictures, accompanied by a brief explanatory text. It was distinguished by simplicity and accessibility of images, was written in a lively and figurative colloquial language and often reproduced in poetic form. Drawn lubok (hand-drawn wall sheets) are also classified as popular prints, but the main property of lubok - mass character, breadth of distribution - is achieved only with the help of printing.
The subject matter of popular books was diverse. "Here you will find personified dogma, prayer, getya (legend), moralizing, parable, fairy tale, proverb, song, in a word, everything that was in the spirit, disposition and taste of our commoner, which was assimilated by his concept, which is the subject of knowledge, edification, denunciation, consolation and curiosity of millions...", - wrote I.M. Snegirev, one of the first researchers of the lubok.
Initially, Russian lubok was predominantly religious in nature. Russian engravers borrowed scenes from domestic miniatures, as well as church icons. So, from the early printed icons, the sheet "Archangel Michael - Governor of the Heavenly Forces" (1668), luboks of the 17th century depicting scenes from the icons of Suzdal, the Chudov Monastery, the Simonov Monastery in Moscow, etc. have been preserved. Often these pictures replaced expensive church pictorial images.
In the 18th century, secular subjects were the most numerous. The source for the grotesque of many of them was foreign engravings. So, for example, the famous popular print "Jester Farnos with his wife" - from the German model; "The Shepherd and the Shepherdess" - a pastoral scene in the Rococo style, from a drawing by F. Boucher, and the grotesque, fancifully fantastic figures of the popular print "Jesters and Buffoons" are beaten from etchings by J. Callot, etc.
Folklore-themed luboks were widely used among the people, as well as "amusing and funny pictures" - images of all kinds of amusements and spectacles, among which lubok pictures "Petrushka's wedding", "Bear with a goat" and especially "Baba Yaga's battle with a crocodile" were most often published. ". The well-known lubok "How mice bury a cat" also goes back to national folklore, which for a long time was considered a parody of the funeral procession of Peter I, allegedly created at the beginning of the 18th century by schismatics who fiercely fought against Peter's reforms. Today, scientists tend to think that the plot of this lubok appeared in pre-Petrine times, although the earliest print of this engraving that has come down to us dates back to 1731. Known in several versions, including "seasonal" ones (winter burial on a sleigh and summer - on a cart), this lubok was repeatedly reprinted with slight deviations in the title ("How mice buried a cat", "Drag a cat to a graveyard", etc. ), in various techniques (engraving on wood, on metal, chromolithography) not only throughout the 18th century, but almost up to the October Revolution.
Many popular prints were created on the theme of the teachings and life of various social strata of the Russian population: a peasant, a city dweller, an official, a merchant, etc. (“The husband weaves bast shoes, and the wife spins threads”, “Know yourself, point in your house”); popular prints reflected the events of domestic and international life ("The Eruption of Vesuvius in 1766", "The Capture of Ochakov", "The Victory of Field Marshal Count Saltykov at Frankfurt in 1759"), the military life of Russian soldiers, their political moods, etc. During the period of hostilities, the lubok often served as a newspaper, poster, leaflet-proclamation. So, in 1812-1815, a series of popular prints-caricatures of Napoleon and the French army, created by N.I. Terebnev, a famous Russian sculptor and artist, was released. The patriotic lubok called "The Fighting Song of the Donets" is widely known, which became widespread during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the text to which ("Hey, Mikado, it will be bad, we'll break your dishes") was written by V. L. Gilyarovsky.
Lubok pictures with portraits of tsars were very popular among the Russian people. In 1723, Peter I introduced strict censorship of images of the royal family, which, however, did not prevent the appearance on the book market of a popular print with a portrait of the imaginary Peter III - Emelyan Pugachev and the emperor Konstantin Pavlovich who never reigned.
Beginning in the middle of the 18th century, lubok pictures were often sewn together or issued in the form of a book with a large number of illustrations, subsequently preserved only on the cover. One of the first Russian lubok books is considered to be the "Biography of the glorious fabulist Aesop", published in 1712 and first printed in civil type. Epics, fairy tales, dream books, alterations of the so-called chivalric novels, etc. were published in the form of popular prints. The most frequently published popular books were fairy tale content: "About Yeruslan Lazarevich", "Bova Korolevich". Lubok editions of historical subjects were in great demand: "Jester Balakirev", "Yermak, who conquered Siberia", "How a soldier saved the life of Peter the Great", etc., as well as popular print calendars.
Lubok pictures and books were, as a rule, anonymous, had no output information, and were engraved by self-taught craftsmen, but there were also professional writers of lubok books. The most famous of them was Matvey Komarov - the author of the famous "The Tale of the Adventures of the English Milord George and the Brandenburg Mark-Countess Frederica-Louise" (1782), which did not disappear from the book market for 150 years. Over time, a whole literature appeared, called popular print, with its own authors, publishers, traditions, etc.
Over time, the technique of making popular prints improved: in the second half of the 18th century, engraving on copper began to be used, and from the beginning of the 19th century, lithography, which significantly reduced the cost of popular prints. There were also changes in the color of the lubok. So, if in the XVII-XVIII centuries popular prints were painted by hand by individual craftsmen in eight or ten colors, then in the XIX century - usually only in three or four (crimson, red, yellow and green). By the middle of the 19th century, the coloring itself acquires the character of factory production and becomes more rough, careless (“on the noses”). The readership of lubok publications has changed: if in the 17th century lubok served all strata of Russian society with equal success, then already in the first quarter of the 18th century, the growing urban population became its main area of distribution: merchants, merchants, medium and small church employees, artisans. Peasant, truly massive, lubok becomes already in the 19th century.
In the 18th-19th centuries, the main center for the production of popular prints was traditionally Moscow, where the first factories of the Akhmetyevs and M. Artemyev arose. Gradually, the production of popular prints passed into the hands of small merchants who had their own printing houses. In Moscow in the first half - the middle of the 19th century, the main producers of lubok were the dynasties of Loginov, Lavrentiev, A. Akhmetiev, G. Chuksin, A. Abramov, A. Streltsov and others, in St. Petersburg - publishers A. V. Kholmushin, A. A. Kasatkin and others. In the village of Mstera, Vladimir Region, the archaeologist I.A. Golyshev, who did a lot to educate the people, printed popular prints. Lubok publications of an educational nature were issued by numerous literacy committees, the publishing houses "Public Benefit" (founded in 1859), "Posrednik" (originated in 1884), etc. Luboks of religious content, as well as paper icons and icons, were produced in the printing houses of the largest Russian monasteries, including the Kiev-Pechersk, Solovetsky and others.
In the 80s of the 19th century, I.D. Sytin became the lubok monopolist in the Russian book market, who first began to produce lubok publications by machine, significantly improved the content and quality of lubok publications (chromolithography in five to seven colors), increased their circulation and reduced retail sales. prices. Through his efforts, the so-called new lubok was created, which, in its design, design, and color scheme, differed from traditional sheet publications. I.D. Sytin for the first time released a series of portraits of Russian writers (A.S. Pushkin, I.S. Nikitin, M.Yu. Lermontov, N.A. Nekrasov, A.V. Koltsov and others) and selections of alterations of their works , published luboks of military-patriotic and historical themes, on fairy-tale, everyday, satirical plots, lubok primers, calendars, dream books, fortune-telling books, calendars, lithographed icons, etc., which were bought in thousands of offens directly at factories and transported throughout Russia And
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, lubok continued to be the main type of book product intended for the broad masses of the people, and primarily for peasants and residents of the outskirts of Russia.
The role of the popular print, but already as a means of mass propaganda and agitation, especially increased during the years of the revolution. In this capacity, he continued to exist until the early 30s. In conditions when most of the country's population was illiterate, the bright, figurative and expressive art of the popular print, understandable and close to millions, perfectly met the challenges of the time. In 1915, F.G. Shilov, a well-known antiquarian of pre-revolutionary Russia, published a small edition of an album of popular prints called "Pictures - the war of Russians with Germans", created by the artist N.P. Shakhovsky in imitation of a popular print of the 18th century. All pictures of the edition were reproduced by lithographic method and hand-colored; the text to them was written by V.I. Uspensky, a well-known collector and publisher of numerous monuments of ancient Russian literature.
Many luboks on the theme of the revolution were created by the artist A.E. Kulikov, including Baptism by the Revolution, Listening to the Horrors of War, Woman in the Old Life, Who Has Forgotten the Duty to the Motherland? and others. His works in this genre were published in 1917 by the fine arts section of the Moscow Council of Soldiers' Deputies, and in 1928 the State Museum of the Revolution of the USSR, with a circulation of 25,000 copies, published a series of postcards of six titles with popular prints and ditties by A.E. Kulikov.
Thus, lubok editions are a kind of antiquarian book. Among them there are genuine works of folk art, reflecting the life, customs and aspirations of the Russian people. Each lubok picture today is the most interesting monument and document of its era, bears the signs and features of its time - it is this approach that should underlie the study of Russian lubok pictures. At the same time, the censorship of lubok publications, which existed in Russia since the end of the 17th century and initially applied only to the "spiritual" lubok, and since the 19th century - to all without exception, did not have a serious impact on its evolution.
The main reference book on the Russian popular print is D.A. Rovinsky’s capital five-volume work “Russian Folk Pictures” (St. Petersburg, 1881). The owner of the best collection of popular prints in Russia, a tireless researcher of all state and known to him private collections, D.A. Rovinsky put together, carefully described and commented, indicating the sources, 1800 popular prints.
Lubok - folk pictures on popular subjects with explanatory text, which could be used as proverbs, simple poems or short stories. Often popular prints were deliberately decorative and even grotesque. Due to their cheapness, they were in great demand even among the poorest segments of the population. Looking at these pictures, you are surprised to notice that many of them are relevant today.
Today it is not known exactly how and why he called these pictures “lubok”. According to one version, the name of the pictures was due to the fact that they were cut out on linden boards. According to another, these pictures were sold in ofeni-peddlers in bast boxes. And someone claims that the name came from Lubyanka - a Moscow street where the masters of making these paintings lived. But one way or another, it was luboks - folk humorous pictures that were sold at fairs from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century, that were considered the most popular and most massive type of artistic creativity in Rus'.
Pictures were sold at 1-2 kopecks per piece or in batches of 100 pieces for a ruble. In Moscow, one could buy lubok near the walls of the Kremlin - on the bridge at the Spassky Gates, where all sorts of people crowded from early morning until dark. For royal use, “amusing” sheets were sold in the Vegetable Row.
Lubok is a print or engraving that is obtained on paper from a wooden block. At first, popular prints were only black and white. Boyar mansions and royal chambers were decorated with them, and only later the pictures became colored, and their production became mass-produced.
Later, the pictures began to be painted. This was done by women near Vladimir and near Moscow, using the hare's paws. Sometimes such pictures were somewhat reminiscent of a modern coloring book for kids - hasty, inept, and sometimes illogical in color. But among the popular prints that have come down to us, scientists today distinguish many pictures with unexpectedly fresh and unique combinations.
If representatives of the upper strata of society were not serious about the popular print and refused to recognize these pictures as art, they were very popular among the peasant people. Although sometimes self-taught commoners drew them on the cheapest gray paper. In those distant times, no one cared about the careful preservation of popular prints - it never occurred to anyone that in a couple of centuries these pictures would be considered masterpieces of Russian folk art. Modern art historians believe that the lubok has absorbed the history of ancient Rus', folk humor, and the natural talent of the Russian people. They contain the origins of both colorful literary illustrativeness and lively caricature.
1888
As time went on, the technology of making lubok changed significantly. In the 19th century, drawings were no longer made on wood, but on metal plates. This allowed lubok craftsmen to produce more subtle and elegant paintings. The colors of the “fun” pictures have become richer and much brighter.
Lubok pictures for a long time were the main spiritual food for the common people, a source of news (since there are critically few newspapers) and knowledge. And the popular print was not expensive and spread throughout the country, despite the vast Russian distances. On the lubok one could find pictures of pseudo-scientific subjects, and satirical writings, and types of cities with descriptions, and arithmetic, and primers, and palmistry with cosmography. Calendars with useful household information were also popular.
ON THE. Nekrasov. Moscow. Lithograph T-va I.D. Sytina and Co. Moscow. Lithograph T-va I.D. Sytina and Co. 1902
INTERESTING FACT
Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl, the author of the Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, had the largest collection of popular prints. In his collection were all, without exception, released at that time.
For those who are interested in the topic of Russian lubok, we have prepared a continuation -. Particular attention should be paid to the texts.