Landscape in Leningrad Porcelain Art of the “Thaw” Period

Abstract

Landscape became one of the dominant genres of Leningrad porcelain art of the “Thaw” era, reflecting the peculiarities of Soviet culture in the second half of the 1950s – 1960s with its characteristic desire to explore new spaces, changes in the appearance of cities, as well as mass construction. Thus, it is not coincidental that such well-known Leningrad porcelain artists as Vladimir Gorodetsky, Nina Slavina, Antonina Semenova, Larisa Grigoryeva, Tamara Bezpalova-Mikhaleva, Lidia Lebedinskaya among others created landscape compositions. When interpreting landscapes in a “modern style”, they often strived to convey the “overall impression of the depicted” through the use of iconic motifs, allowing the viewer’s imagination to independently complete the image. Landscapes could be of a stylized, graphic nature or, on the contrary, could be characterized by a picturesque freeness. In some cases, landscape came closer to abstraction, symbolically conveying the image of a particular season. Artists often used a tiered type of composition in their interpretation of urban and suburban landscapes, combining the conciseness of a linear drawing and bright, expressive color, or, by contrast, making it almost monochrome. The image of Leningrad was transformed in the porcelain art of the “Thaw” period in accordance with the principles of the “modern style”: strict classical style was combined with modernist generalization and stylization. The theme of new construction was attractive for the artists as well: they depicted graphic images of houses under construction, cranes, and industrial structures. Landscape compositions were distinguished by a harmonious combination of shape and design. Artists often sought to emphasize the features of the form, arranging the composition accordingly while placing special visual accents. Porcelain artists often left most of the surface of objects unpainted, accentuating the beauty and sonorous whiteness of porcelain as a material or using it as an element of an artistic image. At the same time, artists actively applied the technique of colored overglaze, often supplemented by line painting or cleaning, and also experimented with unpredictable effects from the spreading of paints, similar to experiments with colored glazes in “Thaw” ceramics. The coloristic solution of the paintwork was extremely laconic: usually no more than two or three colors were used.