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[GOLD MEDAL OF LEIPZIG BOOK ART EXHIBIT] Iskusstvo sovetskogo Palekha [i.e. Art of Soviet Palekh] / designed by Yu. B. Vasilyeva

Sobolevsky, N.

Item #2825

[Moscow]: Sovetsky Khudozhnik, 1958. 56 pp., 39 sheets of illustration. 43.5 x 32.3 cm. In a publisher's calico folder with an ornament on the top cover. Scuffs and tears to the case, soiling to the cover. Two first leaves are slightly foxed. Overall in good condition.

First edition and the only edition that reproduced the miniatures in one-to-one scale.

Palekh miniature is a Russian folk handicraft of a miniature painting, which is done with tempera paints on varnished articles made of papier-mâché (including the creation of small boxes, cigarette cases, and powder cases).

Palekh has been renowned for its icon painters since pre-Petrine times (along with Mstera and Kholui). Palekh icon painting reached its peak in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The local style was influenced by the Moscow, Novgorod, Stroganov, and Yaroslavl schools.
After the 1917 Revolution, Palekh artists were forced to seek new outlets for their creative potential. In 1918, they formed the Palekh Art and Decorative Artel, which specialized in wood painting. On December 5, 1924, seven Palekh artists—Ivan Golikov, Ivan Markichev, Ivan Bakanov, Ivan Zubkov, Alexander Zubkov, Alexander Kotukhin, and V.V. Kotukhin—united to form the "Ancient Painting Artel." They were later joined by artists Ivan Vakurov, Dmitry Butorin, and Nikolai Zinoviev. In 1925, Palekh miniatures were exhibited at the World's Fair in Paris. Palekh artists became known for combining iconographic style with "Soviet" themes, such as space exploration or glorifying the successes of industrialization.

The album features 39 color and black-and-white reproductions of decorative household items by leading Palekh artists: P. Bazhenov, I. Bakanov, G. Bureev, D. Butorin, I. Vakurov, A. Vatagin, I. Golikov, A. Zaitsev, N. Zinoviev, T. Zubkova, A. Kotukhina, G. Melnikov, N. Pravdin, I. Chelyshev, and others.
The lacquer miniatures are reproduced at full size. This album was also the first to use coated paper for multicolor offset printing. This publication was prepared for the exhibition "30 Years of Soviet Palekh Art," held in Moscow. In 1959, the edition was awarded a gold medal for printing at the Leipzig Book Art Exhibition.

Worldcat shows copies at California Merced, Chicago, Colorado Boulder, Nevada, New Mexico Universities, Saint John’s Universities and the New School, Carleton College, Denver Public Library, Getty Institute, the Nelson–Atkins Museum.

Price: $350.00