House painting

House painting is commonly referred to as the direction of decorative and applied art. It was spread over a huge area from Vyatka to Tyumen and further north. The heyday of house painting occurred in the second half of the XIX century, although the history of its appearance and development is much deeper and richer. In 1620, the Siberian Diocese was founded, and the construction of wooden churches began, which required woodcarvers and icon painters. Most of the craftsmen who know how to handle a brush worked for the church.

Seven painters were noted among the craftsmen of Tobolsk in the second half of the XVIII century. After the secularization of the church lands in 1764, the masters dispersed to Siberian cities. In the XVIII century, the craft of dyers became widespread. The sources of that time mention the villages where the dyers lived — these are the Tyumen villages of Verkhovyna, Ryabova, the village of Skorodumskoye and Karmatskoye. It was the Karmak masters who laid the foundation for the painting of utensils and rural houses. By the second half of the 19th century, dyeing had become one of the varieties of non-agricultural activities of peasants.

According to statistics, in 1910, about 300 peasant dyers lived in Karmat villages. The house painting left a particularly vivid trace in the Tyumen district, but the masters traveled further to the north and east (samples of the painting are found on the territory of modern Tobolsk and Vagay districts). Rich peasants turned to the services of dyers first of all (painting the house was very expensive — 80−150 rubles, rooms — 15−30 rubles).

Furniture and utensils were painted, rollers, flaps, cabbage cutting sections. They walked on the water with painted rockers. On a festive day, you could meet painted sleighs or carts. The motives were the simplest — leaves, flowers, berries. Very often there were images of birds (owls, pigeons, chickens, peacocks). There are images of human figures (soldiers, merchants, ladies). The range of colors was limited to red, yellow, blue, green, sometimes dark brown and purple. White and black were always used.

Boys began to learn the craft from childhood, and at 10−11 they already accompanied their fathers on trips. It was considered a simple matter to master the techniques of painting, it was more difficult to learn how to cook drying oil, grind paints, and paint large surfaces. It was only by the age of 16−17 that they mastered all the subtleties of the craft.

Until now, in village houses you can find wonderful birds, beautiful young ladies and mythical animals painted more than a hundred years ago by the skillful hand of a Siberian dyer.

Tyumen house painting

The climate, customs, traditions and culture of numerous peoples change from region to region in our vast country. Living side by side, we learn from each other, transfer experience and knowledge from different parts of the world. This is how the object of our intangible diverse cultural heritage was born and continues to be born.

Each region has its own long history, customs and culture. Many became famous for their unique types of painting: Gzhel painting, Khokhloma, Tagil, Zhostovskaya, Gorodetskaya. Our region was also known for its Tyumen (Karmatskaya) house painting, almost forgotten in the difficult years of the early twentieth century.

Which began to emerge, thanks to immigrants from Pomerania, in the XVII century, Tyumen (Karmatskaya) painting began to develop and spread initially among the well-to-do population, and later, closer to the middle of the XIX century, and among the peasants. The painting reached its heyday in the period of the late XIX — early XX century. But after a difficult period in the first half of the 20th century, with the advent of Western fashion for wallpapering, Tyumen house painting began to be forgotten. And only at the beginning of the XXI century, it begins to return everywhere again.

What is the uniqueness of our Tyumen painting? What is its peculiarity? It’s all about the technique of applying paint, as well as the fact that our painting was used not only to decorate utensils, but also to decorate the house itself. Bright colors, which became a lush bouquet of flowers, buds and berries, decorated ceilings, walls, window shutters and other large planes in the house. And along with household utensils such as spinning wheels, rockers and dishes, furniture and even a sleigh were painted.

A special feature of the paint application is the "double smear", when two paints are taken on a flat brush at once: for example, red on one corner and white on the other. Thus, a smooth transition from bright to light color was obtained, adding a simple at first glance element of picturesqueness.

The main colors were red, yellow, green and blue, but sometimes more complex mixed colors such as brown and purple were added. The white color, sometimes replaced by yellow, was used to convey a small volume so that the elements would not appear flat and lifeless. The black color was used to apply decorative elements to the painting: for example, to depict the stamens of a large bright flower or for the tail of a ripe berry.

At the beginning of the work, the craftsmen made sub-drawings, marking out the location of flowers, leaves, berries and other elements with spots on the wall or on the object. Some elements of the painting could have been taken from European culture (for example, the image of lions), since most of the craftsmen, otherwise "dyers", were originally engaged in decorating temples. When the overall composition was ready, the master began to apply the main strokes, turning the spots into blooming bouquets or trees of life. After that, the work could be framed with a contrasting bright frame, making the composition more saturated.

So it turns out, it looks simple, but such a bright, colorful and cozy Tyumen painting. Nowadays, the techniques of execution continue to improve. The availability of more colors has greatly diversified the color palette of modern works. Each master brings his own, but hardly noticeable highlight, thanks to which the painting, while preserving its identity, harmoniously fits into modern culture. Some craftsmen switch from wood to fabric, creating clothes with unique prints and hand-painted paintings, which further contributes to the popularization of Tyumen painting among young people.

After almost complete oblivion, the Tyumen (Karmatskaya) house painting is becoming famous again. More and more masters of different ages are interested in her, which will help to preserve a piece of our past in the present and future.