Exhibition activity of the Palekh lacquer miniature craft (1923-1939)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the exhibition activity of the masters of the Palekh lacquer miniature. The author has chosen as a chronological period the first fifteen years of the existence of this fishery – from its inception in the first half of the 1920s to the beginning of the Second World War. The subject of the study, therefore, is an analysis of the exhibition practices of the Palekh art craft of the pre-war period (1923-1939). The article shows the importance of the exhibition activity of the Palekh lacquer craft at all stages of this brief, but nevertheless extremely eventful period. The purpose of the article is to show the importance that the exhibition activity had for the success and public recognition of Palekh as a new and quickly became the most famous lacquer craft in Russia. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the fact that, using historical-typological and structural research methods, as well as a historical-systematic approach, the author analyzes the most important domestic and foreign shows of the 1920s - 1930s, at which the products of the Palekh lacquer miniature were exhibited. The author emphasizes an important circumstance: the very formation and strengthening of the Palekh lacquer miniature craft in the first half and mid-1920s was caused precisely by the success of the prototypes exhibited at the largest exhibitions of that time, such as the All-Russian Exhibition of 1923 in Moscow, as well as the International Exhibition in Paris of 1925. At the same time, it is shown that Palekh's products continued to be successful at the shows (the exhibition "10 years of October" in 1927, the Soviet Exhibition in New York in 1928, the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937 and many other exhibitions analyzed in the article). Thus, it is the justification of the success of the exhibition activity of the Palekh lacquer miniature craft as an important factor of its public recognition that is the main conclusion of the article.