Interior of the State Museum of Ukrainian Folk Art in Kyiv

The Ukrainian nation was formed on the basis of the East Slavic tribes of the Dnieper and Dniester regions. As a single ethnic whole, it has crystallized since the 15th century.
In the context of considering the folk art crafts of Ukraine, it should be emphasized that over the centuries, close interaction between professional and folk art has continued, and this interaction and mutual enrichment had an equally strong direction in both directions.

There were many reasons for this, but first of all, the fact that even the most remote village was sometimes involved in historical significance event and could not help but let them through the world of his ideas in the most vivid way. Artistic crafts of Ukraine.
The Mongol yoke of the 13th century was the most difficult for Ukraine. In the 14th century, the Ukrainian lands came under the rule of Lithuania and Poland. The lands of the Dnieper region, which felt the hardships of the war with the Turkish conquerors, also suffered a heavy share.
With the intensification of the struggle for national liberation, and the intensification of the processes of formation of the Ukrainian nationality, the folk principle in Ukrainian culture, the Ukrainization of the most canonical themes and plots, is further strengthened
The lands of Ukraine, its villages and cities with magnificent architecture, workshops and factories literally knew no respite, torn apart by numerous foreign contenders for dominance. Already in the 16th century, Poland intensified its advance into Volyn and the Dnieper region. Intensified Catholicization of the population began. Again, already in the 17th century, a powerful wave of commitment to the past and one’s national traditions rose. Ukrainian enlighteners exalt folk culture as the guardian of national dignity, on national independence in the spiritual field. In 1825, shortly before the desired reunification with Russia, enlightened Ukrainians appealed to Russia for protection: “Ukraine will perish among the Poles, Uniates and damned heretics.”

Painted stove, the work of the artist Yu. Khimich

The difficult historical situation contributed to attracting active public attention to folk culture, tolerance for the penetration of folk images into all types of professional and even church canonical art. Images of lads, species and young women penetrate the frescoes and icons. The Catholic Baroque, adopted in the 17th century, is so greatly modified in Ukraine, so freed from its inherent exaltation, acquiring the features of bright tranquility, harmony and easy, freely readable plasticity, that with every right the history of art has gone down not as Western European Baroque in Ukraine, but as a unique Ukrainian Baroque. Ukrainian Baroque achieved its highest achievements in the original Ukrainian wooden architecture of the late 17th-18th centuries. The paintings of the wooden rural church pRAToro of the Spirit in Potelichi in 1620 are amazing in their artistic expressiveness and bright folk type, in their emotionality and realism.
Thus, the brilliant development of folk arts and crafts in Ukraine, in addition to many economic, natural and historical reasons, was based on the growth of national self-awareness and the vitality of folk ideals.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Ukraine was an agricultural country. Agriculture was the basis of labor occupations. Blacksmithing, pottery, and weaving played an important role in the development of crafts.
Folk arts and crafts of rural Ukraine are closely associated with certain regions. The most important of them are the forest region of Polesie from Sumshna to Volyn: Sumskaya. Chernigov, Kiev, Rivne, partly Zhytomyr and Volyn regions. Podolia is a hilly plain that includes Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky and the eastern part of Ternopil region. South - endless steppes of the Dnieper plains. The foothills of the Carpathians and Transcarpathia are Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
Ceramics.
Since time immemorial, the main centers of pottery production have been the Kiev region. Poltava region, Chernihiv region, Podolia and Transcarpathia.
The Kiev region is characterized by Vasilkov ceramics, the peculiarity of which is a large, picturesque multi-colored brushstroke of crucible ornament with a white outline. A kind of feathery brushstroke is also used, which has color transitions from darker to lighter.
It is in the Chernihiv region that beautiful black smoke-stained ceramics with polished linear decoration, which has centuries-old artistic traditions, are still made.

Decorated folk motives interior of the Chamber of Pioneers in Kyiv. Ada Ribachuk, Vladimir Melnichenko

In the Vinnytsia region, in Podolia, ceramics were painted with small-colored large paintings on a dark green or brownish-red background. The established centers here are Bubnovka and Krishentsi. In the ceramics of the masters of these villages there is a certain color and ornamental restraint, in contrast to the multi-colored ceramics of the Kiev region.
The most famous pottery production in Ukraine is the villages of Poltava region.
In the Poltava region, excellent ceramics were made in Khomutets and mainly in Oposhna. In the village of Khomutets, the ceramics were simpler, the shapes and painting were a little rougher, although the folk principles were more strongly felt, and especially in the figured vessels. A cute funny lei sits on his hind legs like a dog, his mouth is slightly open, he has a wonderful mane of lush curls, made of spirals of clay. The image is naive and good-natured, the color of the vessel is modest, monochromatic - brown.
Oposhni ceramics are very diverse. In production, there is a significant proportion of sculptural vessels that are highly decorative. Kumans, barrels, candlesticks, jugs and other utensils were produced in large quantities. The works of this craft have such a bright style that they are always easily recognizable. The fishery has gone through a long journey of gains and, unfortunately, some losses.
Products of Oposhnya masters of the 18th-19th centuries are variously represented in many museum collections. In 1894, the craftsmen were united into the Oposhnyanskaya pottery workshop, and in 1897, the Ceramic Art and Industrial School named after N.V. Gogol was formed in Mirgorod to train potters.
Over time, the list of products decreases, the colorfulness of the painting increases, the sculptural plasticity becomes more complex, and the products themselves significantly increase in size. Their appearance becomes more gift-giving, already in many ways far from everyday life.
In the 1940s and 1950s, this process was just beginning. During this period, D. Golovko and O. Zheleznyak became classics of the Oposhnya fishing industry. In their works one can feel an understanding of the plasticity of the material. The shapes of the products were quite compact, expressive, with a deep, rich color that organically combined with generalized plasticity. But already in D. Golovko’s later works a certain woodenness, dryness of form, complexity of color and fragmented silhouette appear. In this one cannot help but see the desire for an easel-like, exhibition-like work, which clearly prevails over practical expediency.

Ceramic figurines of three men

In the 1970s, in the sculptural works of G. Poshyvaylo, one can also feel the desire to move away from the strictly applied nature of everyday things, and the search for new means of artistic expression. His works emphasize the dynamics of forms, accentuate the expressiveness of details due to the overall impression: if this is a lion’s mane, then the curls are powerful, large, tightly curled, the tail bent in an elastic arc, the muzzle has lost its expression of naive good nature, and has even become somewhat aggressive. Sculptural vessels become almost easel-like small sculptures, in contrast to those simple, harmonious and practical everyday objects that we know from past decades.
The master’s desire to reflect modernity is expressed in the diversity and individuality of his own creative style. In this regard, the experience of Ukrainian ceramic sculpture of the 1920s is undoubtedly useful, when in the works created, for example, by the wonderful master Ivan Gonchar, there was a deep sense of modernity and at the same time the traditional folk character of the images was preserved. Thus, in his plastic composition “Demidov’s Dumplings” (apparently a version of the famous “Demyanova Ukha”), in the plastic “Budenovets”, the sketch “The Lord with the Dog” and others, despite the topicality of the plot, the filling of the works with a personal attitude to reality, that connection with folk art that distinguishes best works Ukrainian ceramicists. Such works, despite the seriousness of the topic, still did not pass into the category of easel art, since first of all it was a clay toy, amusement.
IN last years One can note with satisfaction the successes in the work of master N. Pishchenko. The toys he created: riders, cockerels, rams, cute perky turkeys are distinguished by the features of traditional Ukrainian folklore. With a sly smile, the master places the pompous, important rider with amusing seriousness in his face onto the dog. The playful aspect has always distinguished Ukrainian folk toys and plastic arts. The works of the family of Poshivaylo Gavrila Nikiforovich, his son and grandson today attract people with a true understanding of folk traditions and an appeal to the origins of the national heritage.
The Kosovo ceramic craft of Ukraine, which is located in Transcarpathia, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, is world famous. This craft is characterized by pottery with an engraved design on a whitened shard and a painting that is luminous and transparent, with a spreading yellow-green glaze and inclusion small quantity brown.
In former times, a lot of dishes were made here: bowls, plates, vases, jugs, splashers with four handles, painted clay toys and stove tiles, which often contained complex plot paintings on the themes of the day.

Painted board, 19th century

A characteristic feature of Kosovo ceramics, in addition to the color scheme, was the image of lush grasses and flowers, surrounded by birds, deer, horsemen and all sorts of other characters. A geometric pattern in the form of a mesh, triangles and rosettes was sometimes introduced into the pattern. Large patterns are located quite independently in relation to the forms - the pattern moves from the bottom of the plate to the side or from the body of the vase to the neck, breaking, without literally following the plasticity of the form.
Kosovo ceramics is unique, there is no other craft like it, and it is no coincidence that these products with their bright, joyful painting have attracted attention in the world. international exhibition in Ostend in 1959, where the works of two remarkable craftsmen Grigory Tsvylik and Pavlina Tsvylik were shown. The traditional nature of this ceramics and its rather small variability over a long period of time do not prevent it from being exceptionally modern even today.
In Kosovo they made a lot of toys: these were koniki, beer-cockerels, soldiers, ladies and many other decorative, with everyday details, funny little things.
Artistic wood processing. One of the most famous centers artistic treatment tree in Ukraine - Poltava region. By the time of the establishment of Soviet power in the Poltava province, several thousand families worked in this truly folk craft, and they worked all year round and many products were sold to zemstvos and markets.
In the Poltava region in the 1920s and 1930s, a lot of small plastic was made from wood. We know the figurines “Woman with a Makitra”, “Holiday in the Club”, and the tray “Cossack with an Oar in a Boat”. All of them are distinguished by their realistic interpretation of images and great skill. In the distant past, Kyiv and Carpathian crafts developed. In the Kyiv region, in addition to traditional household items, a lot of small sculpture was also made, especially in the post-revolutionary period. Compositions of the 1930s - “Exit to Kosovitsa”, “Collective Farm Holiday” and many others have the same distinctive features as those from Poltava: a fairly strong folk tradition in the pre-war period and a transition to some easel painting in the post-war period, which was largely overcome already in the 1970s.
Artistic merit distinguishes the works of the family dynasty of Shkribljakov, Korpankzhov, master A. Ishchenko and many, many others. The special architectonics of their work and the precise construction of symmetrical decor on the surface are attractive. It is in this rhythm, devoid of significant accents, that there is the main decorative quality of the works, the power of artistic expressiveness and the specificity of this art.
Pysanki. Pysanky were made everywhere in Ukraine, but it was in Transcarpathia that the ancient geometric ornamentation was traditional, which connects this art with embroidery and wood carving. Transcarpathian Easter eggs are made in many villages - in Kosmach, Zamagoriv, ​​Yavorov, Vyzhenka.
Many museums collect collections of Easter eggs - these masterpieces of Ukrainian folk art. Among the first is the wonderful collection of the Hutsulytsina Museum of Art in Kolomyia.
The kilims of Kosovo are beautiful, as are Easter eggs with geometric patterns. This ornament has its own characteristics: the edges of geometric shapes - stepped rhombuses seem to be stratified, like a rainbow ray, creating a beautiful spectacle of the color shimmering surface of the play of shades of color.
Kilims in central Ukraine are distinguished by lush floral decorations. Such colorful floral patterns in carpets are typical for the Poltava and Kyiv regions.
Podolia is characterized by strict geometric carpet patterns. They rather have something in common with Asia Minor and Balkan carpets. Such geometric carpets are woven in the Vinnytsia and Ternopil regions; as a rule, they are characterized by an eight-pointed rosette and a border with the same rosette, but of a slightly smaller size.
Chernigov kilims, more than any other, have a free, unconstrained arrangement of floral decor. These carpets were woven mainly in Degtyary.
Ukrainian carpets have always been distinguished by a pure and delicate range of colors. They were so beautiful with their colors that Catherine II issued a special decree on “searching for worm paint” in the Poltava province for palace needs. In the Poltava region they also made beautiful patterned striped carpets. They had their differences. The fact is that in any striped carpet it is customary to weave equal-sized ornamental figures that make up the pattern. In the Ukrainian carpet, everything is different - the rhythm of the carpet is based on a combination of ornamental figures, different in size and color. Neither one repeats the other, but within each stripe they form balanced masses of the pattern in relation to the background, which calms the composition and makes it harmonious. This method of decorating a carpet requires enormous skill, and this is all the more amazing since it is known that the masters did not make preliminary patterns and wove from memory. The shapes of the ornaments, the color of the figures - elements of the pattern, their size vary freely: there is almost no background, geometric figures visually seem to float out of it. One is clearer, more clearly outlined, the other almost dissolves in the background color, as it is similar in color to it, the third has blurred edges, the fourth has a stratified outline. There is practically no border in such a carpet. In another type of carpet of the same area there is a wide border, even equal in width to the field. But in such a carpet, all the woven hexagonal rosettes differ in shades of color. This technique allows even in a geometric Ukrainian carpet to avoid a simplified design. The almost imperceptible variety of individual motifs of the decorative pattern gives the carpet an indescribable charm. And not only is there such a variety of motifs in one carpet, but each carpet individually does not repeat the other, they are all different and made with extraordinary imagination.
The skill of Ukrainian carpet weavers is incomparable. I recall documents about the difficult situation of carpet weavers in the pre-revolutionary past. As contemporaries wrote, in a year it was necessary “to weave more than forty carpets for food for forty rubles.” The skin on the weavers' fingers was torn. In the documents, craftswomen and craftsmen were not referred to otherwise as “slave so-and-so” or “slave so-and-so.” And in the carpets they wove with clear, light colors there was eternal spring, harmony and poetry reigned.

Nowadays, we are pleased with the great successes of Ukrainian carpet weavers. Master L. Tovstukha, the chief artist of the Reshetilovskaya factory, recently completed the “Spring” carpet, which contains both the tenderness of a multi-color shimmering background and the spring flowering of nature. The “Summer” carpet is somewhat different in its image: there is a bright multicolor, decided in a hot, sonorous range - flowers, berries, fruits, birds - all in a luxurious ornament.
Weaving and embroidery. In addition to carpets, household fabrics were woven everywhere in Ukraine for making clothes, linen, and for decorating the hut. Fabrics from flax and hemp were produced in large quantities in Degtyarya, Reshetilovka, Dikanka, Sorochintsy, Shishaki. Krolevets, Chernigov region, was famous for its fabrics with star patterns surrounded by squares of a darker color. Ukrainian plakhta fabrics have a lot of options, but they are united by a checkered rhythm, small size of the pattern and multicolor. In Degtyary, the checkerboard pattern of interlacing threads in the finest mesh pattern was especially beautiful.
An old girl's song says:
If I had waited for the towel to rise,
Then neither my father nor the curses will separate me,
Neither court, nor communities,
They will only separate the spade and the shovel.
Krolevets is known for the lush red and white patterns of its towels, and in the Poltava region a small floral pattern tightly covers the towel cloth.
The girl sings:
My little silk one, sewn with silk, why did I spin you so that I could give you to someone I don’t want?
Previously, both candles and banner poles were wrapped in hustochka. In memory of the departed, they were hung over the graves. There is a well-known legend from 1599 about Samuel Kishka, who in Turkish captivity kept a hustochka as a memory of his native land.
Costume. In the villages of Ukraine to this day there is a folk costume with a predominance of light colors. The materials for making fabrics from which clothes were made were wool, hemp and flax. Women wore shirts, beautifully embroidered, unstitched skirts - plakhta, paneva, as well as aprons and a variety of headdresses, depending on the age of the woman. More often these were towel-shaped headdresses of the Russian plat-ubrus type. In the Kyiv region they preferred an ochipok cap decorated with embroidery. The girls wore wreaths. Moreover, in Bukovina, the festive headdress for girls were wreaths with plumes of feathers; such a headdress was probably associated with ancient pagan ideas. For winter time, fur coats and retinues were used. The costume was decorated with namist beads and colored woven patterned belts. Since the 19th century, gerdan buoys made from factory-made porcelain and glass beads have become widespread.

Fragment of the decorative-themed carpet Tears. 19th century.

Shirts and shirts were often embroidered using satin stitches.
In the Poltava region, shirts with modest, one-color, often grayish threads on white or white on white embroidery were common. In the Volyn region, a red-blue-and-white skirt goes beautifully with a white shirt, embroidered on the shoulders and collar with red seams on a white linen. The Kiev region is especially distinguished by its rich, bright, dense embroidery of shirts. Bukovina is characterized by bright, multicolored, rich embroidery with colored red, black, yellow and blue thread. In the Vinnytsia region, the exquisite embroidery of shirts is extremely beautiful: with one black thread on a white fabric or black with thick cherry on white. Lviv embroidery - small, continuous stitching in squares. Embroidery in the Carpathian region was especially polychrome. Here women wore pleated shirts with slits on the back or shoulder, linen skirts with an insert in the front, an apron, and a sleeveless vest. The sleeveless vests are richly embroidered, trimmed with leather, fur, pompoms, and metal overlays. Hutsul men's winter clothing with a suede upper and fur keptar has colorful tassels on the back, fur trim, colored floral embroidery, and decorative buttons.
The people's bright ideal of beauty, embodied in Ukrainian clothing, is associated with nature, its flowering, herbs, and birds. Ukrainian costume was especially revered. And even on the icon, the Mother of God was often depicted in folk costume, with namists - strings of beads.
But if embroidery nevertheless rather indirectly and somewhat restrainedly conveyed the motifs of nature, than, for example, it was in carpets, then the most complete, luxurious Ukrainian nature was reflected in wall paintings.
Painting. The emotional feeling of the craftswoman poured out in all its fullness, uninhibitedly, and freely in the paintings of the hut. Painted huts were everywhere in Ukraine, especially in the Khmelnitsky, Odessa, and Dnepropetrovsk regions, except for the Poltava region, where the huts were not whitewashed. They painted the outside - friezes under the roof, around the windows, inside - walls, stoves, friezes under the ceiling.
Both in huts and on paper, paintings in those years were modest, more like a line than a spot, discreet, delicate colors, with a great sense of proportion. There were a lot of paintings in the hut: the walls, the stove, and even nearby a hiding place, a bench, a closet, a shelf were painted, but nothing screamed, everything was surprisingly harmonious and in proportion to the patterned textiles that also decorated the hut.
In the post-war period, decorativeism began to increase in paintings. Drawings began to be primarily made on paper, as decorative panels. large forms. The painting began to be dominated by a spot of intense bright color. True, there are often very modest works. These are the works of N. Belokon. Its flowers with fluffy leaves, similar to chrysanthemums or dahlias, are almost volumetric in nature of painting, but the composition is balanced, harmonious and the colors are not variegated.
In recent years, the luminaries of Pstrikov painting have been Grigory Sobachka, Tatyana Pata, Galina Pavlenko-Chernichenko. The folkloric nature of the images is clearly visible in such popular prints as “Cossack Mamai”, “Gypsies”, “Natalka-Poltavka” and others. In the recent works of the wonderful master Maria Primachenko, the cycle of which is called “For the Joy of People,” the whole meaning of her work is revealed: she creates for the joy of people. She does a lot of work
plots of famous songs, fairy tales, which feature animals, birds, lush nature. Sometimes a master will name a character in his work so that she herself does not know who he is - this “kochubarka”. And he is interesting, unlike anyone else, a little scary and cheerful.

Decorative panel Ukrainian fashionistas. Shevchenko Prize laureate Maria Prymachenko. 1964

The works of Petrykivtsi are national in character, they have the features of Ukrainian folk art - a bright, kind openness to people, humor, a slightly childish structure of a pure soul, close to nature, equally soft, kind and sunny.
In recent years, varnish painting on wood has begun in Petrikovka. But in this new quality the painting loses somewhat: it is more dull in color. There is no harmony of light radiant colors that were on a white background.
The hut - the dwelling of a rural resident of Ukraine - is beautiful. In the hut there are colorful carpet patterns, embroidered towels, patterned curtains and bright folk pictures, painted hidden chests, simple glass gutters, glazed ceramics and carved wooden utensils, colorful wall paintings. Subtle-smelling dry herbs and flowers are hung.
And although in recent decades life in the Ukrainian village has changed significantly, many new modern factory-made items have been introduced, they do not determine the appearance of the hut, which has retained its unique national flavor.
Folk art has a direct impact on the appearance of the modern art industry in Ukraine - the production of porcelain, earthenware, textiles, carpets, and glass. His influence is also noticeable in monumental art. The traditions of stove tiles can be traced in the works of Omelyan Zheleznyak, made for the Kyiv Dnepr Hotel. Folk traditions are characteristic of all areas of creativity of contemporary Ukrainian artists.
The world of Ukrainian artistic crafts continues to remain integral, having a deep national identity, largely determined by deep folk traditions.

Painted board, 19th century Decorative composition of a ram. Honored Master of the URSR Dmitry Golovko

Like one of the predecessors industrial production has been developed in Ukraine since ancient times, but for a long time it was separated from other types of activity.

Craft of the Antiquity and Middle Ages

The craft was developed in the ancient cities of the Northern Black Sea region. In the early period, starting from the 1st millennium, the separation of crafts from Agriculture. In princely times, crafts were distinguished by the complexity of the nature of production and higher quality. In large cities, more than 60 industries already existed: metallurgy, blacksmithing, processing of fur, wool, flax, bone, stone, glass production. The production of jewelry, clothing and religious buildings reached its peak. According to their social status, the artisans of Kievan Rus were divided into free and serfs, as well as princely, boyar and urban (the largest number). They mostly settled in one area or on one street of the city. To protect their interests, they created societies that can be considered the birth of guilds. The Tatar-Mongol invasion led to the decline of crafts. They were revived only during the times of the Galician-Volyn state. In the 2nd half of the 14th century - 1st half of the 15th century, a guild organization appeared in the system of Magdeburg law.

Craft of Modern Times

In the 2nd half of the 17th century, handicrafts in Western and Right Bank Ukraine decreased due to the general decline of cities and philistinism, the spread of non-guild crafts, the settlement of subjects of rural artisans at castles, master's courts in cities and suburbs, and the competition of goods of European artisans. Crafts developed better in Kyiv, Chernigov, Poltava, Novgorod-Seversky, Nezhin. In the 1st half of the 19th century, handicrafts felt the pressure of tax policy in the central and eastern lands, as well as in Galicia. In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the development of factory industry and capitalism, construction railways, which facilitated the transportation of factory goods, the loss of the importance of craft workshops, low level education of artisans. Craftsmen experienced a significant crisis due to their lack of competitiveness compared to factory products during the 1870-1890s.

20th century craft

Before World War I, in 9 Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire there were 700 thousand artisans and handicraftsmen, 57 thousand independent artisans, 105 thousand tax-exempt artisans and craftsmen, handicraftsmen Food Industry 135 thousand, participants in various non-commodity trades 45 thousand. Handicraftsmen lived mainly in villages, artisans - in cities. In the early 20s. The importance of crafts increased partly due to the decline of the factory industry. The number of artisans and handicraftsmen in the Ukrainian SSR increased to 820 thousand by 1928. Over time, due to nationalization and the development of the factory industry, crafts fell into disrepair. The number of artisans and artisans in the Ukrainian SSR in 1939 was 57.7 thousand. After the liquidation of industrial cooperation in 1960, the handicraft and handicraft industries were transferred to the state regional industry system.

Folk crafts

The Ukrainian house was decorated with towels, sackcloth, and carpets. The floor was sprinkled with aromatic herbs to make it feel cozy and fresh.

The people's symbol of Ukraine, the national amulet is the towel. - is a symbol of harmony, love, beauty, happy destiny, hope, protection from evil forces. Each home was decorated with towels embroidered by the housewife’s hands, or others that she inherited from her mother and grandmother. Towels not only decorated homes, they were also hung over doors and windows so that no evil could enter the house. A well-decorated towel hung on a peg near the porch; they used it to wipe their hands and dishes, cover a tub of dough and baked palyanitsa, go with it to milk a cow, begin harvesting - the towel accompanied a person everywhere. The towel was called differently, depending on its purpose. A towel for wiping hands and face - wiping; for dishes, tables and lava - a washing machine; festive, for laying the table - lining; for tying matchmakers - a shoulder strap. And there was another one - the towel of fate. It was prepared by the mother even before the child was born. For the boy, she embroidered oak leaves on it, so that the son would be strong and courageous, and for the girl, she embroidered viburnum, so that the daughter would be beautiful, like a viburnum. After the birth of a child, this towel was placed by the mother under the baby's pillow. They carried the child with him to baptize, the mother blessed her son or daughter for marriage with him, and dressed the child with him on a long journey. This towel was treasured throughout life and placed in a coffin when a person died.

In each region of Ukraine towels have their own characteristic features. In the Kiev and Chernihiv regions, the dominant floral pattern is red, blue and black; Western Ukraine is characterized by a geometric pattern with bright colors.

Popular wisdom says that in his lifetime a person must build a house, plant a tree, and raise a child. And you need to start with building a house.

Once upon a time, our ancestors, when settling new lands, chose the best, most picturesque places to build housing.

Houses in Ukraine were most often built from wood, clay, straw, reeds, and wicker. Although they were small, they were warm, elegant, with windows facing the sun. When choosing a place for their future home, Ukrainians adhered to certain traditions: where cattle like to lie, people will feel good there; if rye grew well in the place chosen for construction, then this place is good for a home. And it was also impossible to build there where there used to be cemeteries, where people often got sick, in vacant lots, on roadways, at crossroads.

The house was planted with hollyhocks, lovage, and mint; it was always cleanly bleached and very often painted.

The house was light and sunny, that’s why it was called the svetlitsa. The pride of every home was the stove - a symbol home comfort and warmth. She stood in the left corner from the entrance. Food was cooked in the oven and it warmed the house. For this she was highly respected in the Ukrainian family. Every housewife, after heating the stove, swept it and often greased it with white clay.

1. Petrikovskaya painting, or “Petrikovka” - Ukrainian decorative and ornamental folk painting, formed in the Dnepropetrovsk region in the village of Petrikovka, where the name of this type of art comes from. Household items made from patterns in the Petrykivka painting style have been preserved since the 17th century.

The defining features of painting that distinguish it from other similar types of painting (for example, from Ukrainian opishnyansky painting and from Russian Khokhloma painting and Fedoskino miniatures) are the technique of execution, patterns, their colors and a white background.

A well-known painting technique has become a brand. At the end of January this year, the Petrykivka logo was created. It was given free of charge to the village craftsmen so that they could prove to customers the authenticity of the product.

2. Oposhnyanskaya ceramics- traditional Ukrainian ceramics from the town. Oposhnya in Poltava region, one of the largest cells for the production of pottery ceramics in Ukraine. Object of intangible cultural heritage of Ukraine.

According to archaeological finds discovered in the vicinity of Oposhni, the territory of the village was inhabited in the Neolithic era. It was then that ceramic tableware became widely used. The development of modern craft dates back to the end of the 19th century, when the majority of the population of Opishni was engaged in the production of unique decorative jugs. Modern Oposhnya ceramics have retained a rich variety of forms, among which, along with traditional national ones, a number of new ones have appeared - vases, decorative dishes, etc.

3. Ukrainian embroidery very different. Kozhniy district, the village has its own favorite colors, its own local patterns, its own wickerwork technique. For example, in the Poltava region they like to embroider with delicate shades of black, yellow or all white. In the Zhytomyr and Rivne regions - including chervonym. In the Vinnytsia region, embroidery is entirely black or also mixed with black and red. In the Kiev region - red with blue, sometimes with black. The Carpathian region gives preference to bright colors.

4. Vytynanka(from the Ukrainian word - “cut”) - a type of ancient Slavic,
in particular Ukrainian folk decorative art. Includes plot
and ornamental decorations of housing - openwork, silhouette, etc. In production
using scissors, a knife and other tools. Material for protrusions - paper (white
or colored), wood, plant materials. Protrusions are used to decorate a room (house) - walls, windows, shelves, chimneys, stoves. Vytynankas are used
both in everyday life and before religious or secular holidays. Particularly common in Podolia, Vinnytsia region.

6. Kilimarism(carpet weaving). Chronicle sources testify to the flourishing of carpet weaving in Kievan Rus in the second half of the 10th-12th centuries. In the XV-XVII centuries and especially in the XVIII century. carpets were already produced in many landowner workshops, carpet-making shops, manufactories and factories in Podolia, Volyn, and Galicia. Carpet weaving in the central, eastern and southern regions of Ukraine developed extremely at that time.

7. Wood carving (wood carving) - a type of decorative and applied art (carving is also one of the types of artistic wood processing along with sawing and turning). Hutsul carvers perform works using the technique of relief carving, portrait and subject images on decorative plates, and album covers.

8. Burshtin (amber). The Klesovskoye deposit was discovered quite recently, after the Great Patriotic War in the village Klesova, Rivne region. Ukraine.

9. Straw weaving. The use of straw from cereal plants for the manufacture of household items dates back to the historical period when agriculture was mastered by man. In almost every region of Ukraine there are straw weaving masters who enrich the traditions of the old masters.

10. Wicker weave- handicraft industry for the production of household goods
And artistic products from various elastic raw materials. It has rich and long-standing traditions in Ukraine, especially in Polesie. As raw materials for weaving they used vines and the bark of certain trees, especially young linden (bast) and birch trees (birch bark, bast), willow, conifer
and oak splinter, roots of spruce, pine, etc.

11. Doll-motanka - making a doll from multi-colored scraps of fabric and thread, which in the Ukrainian tradition was not only a toy for a child, but also its amulet (this explains the absence of faces in Ukrainian dolls - instead of them there are crosses).

A selection from the Internet. If anyone wants to add, I will be glad.

Pottery has been made and widely used in Ukraine since time immemorial. This is perhaps the most ancient type of folk art, which carries invaluable information about the culture and ancient life. So what is pottery and how did it develop on the territory of our state?

Making various household products, dishes, toys, tiles, etc. from pottery clay. and firing these products is what pottery is. This craft is quite ancient, originating in Neolithic times, and later developed into a type of folk art. Clay is a plastic raw material at the time of product formation, after processing - firing (at a temperature of 900 degrees) - it becomes hard material. Clay has a very wide palette of natural colors - starting from white, cream, moving to ocher, red, brown and dark gray. There are also ceramic paints, which generally give pottery products an amazing effect. They are made from colored clay - engobes. Decorative or transparent glazes are also used to cover the top of the finished product.

Potters of primitive times sculpted their products by hand: they covered a stone or any wooden form with small pieces of clay mass, no thicker than a finger, or twisted a ribbon of clay in a spiral, thus sculpting and perfecting a vessel that was cone-shaped, with thick walls and a sharp bottom . Such dishes did not have clearly defined roundness or a clear silhouette, but such a product performed its function. This technique has stood the test of time and existed on a par with working on a pottery wheel; it is still known to craftsmen today.

The potter's wheel was invented in the 4th millennium BC. At first it was manual and rotated rather slowly, then it was improved and became high-speed in the Middle Ages, received a foot drive, and this then became a significant revolution in the development of the entire pottery craft. The circular turning technique made it possible not only to increase the output of ceramic products, but also to make the products more perfect and elegant. The vessel made on such a circle had thin, light walls, its shapes had harmonious outlines, and it was possible to apply ornamental stripes, lines and other decorations to the surface.

Folk pottery masters used several decoration techniques in their craft finished product. These were glossing, chanting, horning, stamping, flanging, and sculpting.

Let's take a closer look at each of these techniques.

Ritting (or scratching, engraving, “cutting”) was done by making a deep groove with a small wooden stick or nail, like a pencil. This way a pattern of any shape could be scratched out.

Glossing (or also called polishing) was carried out with a smooth object, it could be a stone, and lines, stripes and other decor were applied over a dry shard.

When they worked using the horning technique, a special horn was filled with engobe, and either a goose feather or a glass tube was inserted into the hole at the bottom. A trickle of engobe was thus easily applied to the surface of the finished product. Later, closer to our time, the horn was replaced for convenience with a rubber bulb. Using this technique, craftsmen drew lines, straight and wavy, and applied dots, leaves, rosettes or other patterns.

Flandering is a technique in which three or four ribbons of engobes of different colors were connected with a sharp object; it looked like marble stains, clear and zigzag. Today, pottery distinguishes four types of products according to purpose: various dishes for anything, sacred objects (icons, crosses, candlesticks, etc.), toys, objects for housing and its arrangement (these could be tiles, flowerpots, vases or other products for similar purposes).

When in the 10th century The Old Russian state was formed, the production of pottery gradually developed and grew. This was especially true for cities. Products began to be coated with opaque and later transparent glaze. Potters Ancient Rus' They usually made pots in which grain was stored, or bowls, mugs, pots, jugs.

For the XIV century. It was typical to make convenient, inexpensive utensils for preparing dishes. It was decorated with polishing and wooden stamps - circles, rays, teeth, stars, swallows.

Pottery reached its highest level of development in the 17th-18th centuries. At this time, products were painted not only with engobes, but also with enamels - ceramic paint similar to glass. This opened up the possibility of using different colors and enriched the potters' palette. Popular at this time were floral ornaments and images of figures, which were used to decorate mainly bowls and tiles. The most widespread pottery craft was in the Poltava region, and among the Poltava pottery centers like Glinsk, Zinkov, Mirgorod, Oposhnya stood out the most. In 1789, about two hundred potters worked here, they produced festive utensils for various drinks (flasks, jars, jugs, barrels) and decorative sculptural ware: lions, lambs, roosters, horses, they were decorated with floral patterns. Glinsk was famous for the creativity of the Sulim family, who made flandrovka the leading technique of the city, sometimes combining it with floral patterns and motifs.

In the Dnieper pottery cells - Dybintsy, Reevka, Kanev, Sunki, Tsvetnoy, etc. - high-quality applied utensils, decorated with drawings, and figured drinkware, mainly in the form of animals and birds, were popular.

As for Podolia, then pottery production it was widespread there in Gaysin, Bar, Bubnovka, Smotrich, Letichev, etc. Bubnovskaya, for example, was characterized not only by clear plant patterns, but also by small sculpted bird figures that were placed on the tires of the market, dzbanok, etc. In Western Ukraine, the leading centers of pottery were considered to be Yavorov, Potelich, Pustyn, Kolomyia, Mukachevo, etc. The pottery workshop in Kolomyia was established in 1661. Here they produced dishes, as well as candlesticks and tiles, which were decorated with flandrovka or horning.

In the 19th century Each region that was engaged in pottery production began to have certain characteristics. They depended primarily on the quality of the materials used in the work, the level technical development production, traditions of this region and other factors.

The products of the master potters of Opishni were distinguished by their originality. For example, one of the local craftsmen, Fyodor Chervinka, not only engraved on the wet surface of the product, but also stuck relief motifs of an ornamental nature onto it. Vasily Porosny introduced various fantasy patterns into the lace of floral patterns fairy birds and animals.

In Podolia, Andrei Gonchar from the village of Bubnovka was famous among potters: he was the first to introduce the production of red painted dishes in his native village. Potters from the village of Bar Pyotr Lukashenko and Pavel Samolovich decorated bowls with figurative compositions that revealed entire themes. Yakov Batsutsa worked in the village of Adamovka, who gained popularity not only within Ukraine, but also far beyond them: he made spherical dishes and painted them with silhouette figures.

In the Hutsul region of the 19th century. Kosiv and Pistyn became leading centers of pottery. Kosovo ceramics became famous thanks to the creativity of the original Alexei Bakhmetyuk. His father, Pyotr Bakhmetyuk, was engaged in the manufacture of non-watered dishes. Aleksey, while still a young man, studied and worked with the then famous potter-tiler Ivan Baranyuk, who lived on the outskirts of Kosovo, in Moskalevka. Later, Alexey inherited his father's workshop, and his own creativity was marked by the original painting of tiles and dishes. The ornamentation of this master consists of flowers with many petals, triangular leaves, grape bunches, birds on the branches, goats, horses, deer. Boldly designed floral patterns were called “Bakhminshchina”.

The Pistin center of pottery craft is associated with the work of entire pottery families who became famous for their creativity: the Voloshchuks, Zondyuks, Koshaks, Mikhalevichs, Timchuks and other families. They specialized mainly in painted bowls, jugs, dishes, etc. Petr Timchuk also made unusual, unique figurines of rams, goats, and deer, which carried pots on their backs - they were used for indoor flowers.

Long-standing pottery centers of the Lviv region were formed - Gavarechchyna, Glinsk, Lagodov, Sasov, Sokal, Shpikolosy, Yavor, etc., which produced utensils for a wide range of purposes and various shapes.

Folk ceramics of the 20-30s of the XX century. in the villages of Adamovka, Bar, Dybintsy, Shatrishche, Oposhnya and other pottery centers was almost no different from similar products of the last century. However, we note that forced collectivization contributed to a significant decline in the pottery industry. They tried to establish pottery artels in many cells in the villages, but these attempts failed. The number of handicraft potters decreased, because the entire able-bodied population of the villages had to work on collective farms.

The post-war years made pottery a little more vibrant. There was very little applied utensils in everyday life, and this contributed to the restoration of ceramic production at a fairly rapid pace in the same Oposhny, Valki, Vasilkov. In the ancient centers of excellence, artels began to be created again - in Dybintsy, Bubnovka, Bar, Adamovka, Kosovo, Smotric. Among the outstanding masters who worked in them are the brothers Gerasimenko from Bubnovka, Gavrila Poshivaylo from Oposhna, Alexandra Pirozhok from Adamovka, Grigory and Pavlina Tsvilinkiv from Kosovo and others.

In the 60s, where there were still centers of gray ceramics, which were beautiful due to their shape, a brilliant, simple pattern only emphasized with its contrast the nobility and expressiveness of the finished product. Among such centers are Gorodishche (Poltava region), Shatrishche (Sumy region), Plakhtyanka (Kiev region), Pastyrskoye (Cherkassy region), Shpikolosy and Gavarechchyna (Lviv region).

However, since the 70-80s, pottery in Ukraine has gradually declined. There are fewer and fewer experienced potters left. Instead, semi-mechanized workshops for the production of ceramics and factories producing mass products that only imitate folk potters began to spread more and more.

Our variety offers you a huge variety. The greatest skill - which a great variety allows, being the centuries-old cradle of pottery art. We sincerely hope that ETHNOHATA's assortment will pleasantly surprise you.

Petrikovskaya painting.

originated on the whitewashed wall of a Ukrainian mud hut. The technology for making the paint was simple and at the same time unique - egg yolk mixed with juice. Naturally, such paint is not durable and had to be repainted once a year or for the holidays. But in an unspoken competition for the best painting of one’s hut, it was no longer enough to simply repaint or draw the same pattern - it must be made even more beautiful, more exclusive... So, out of the love of the common people for beauty, this type of fine art arose - Petrikov painting . Many years have passed since the first Cossack hut of the settlement of the glorious Cossack Petrik was painted. It is believed that it was from him that the name came - Petrykivka, where the famous Petrykivka painting was subsequently born and developed by the Folk Art Center "Petrykivka"
From generation to generation, the traditions of painting and original, mainly floral ornaments were passed on, which were subsequently increasingly improved. Household items with Petrykivka painting, which are in museums, date back to the 18th and 19th centuries. The ornament itself originates from ancient traditional ornaments, which were widely used in the life of the Cossacks, decorating their homes, equipment and weapons.

Oposhnyanskaya ceramics

Pottery is a traditional craft, including the Ukrainian one - the production of clay pottery (pots, toys, sculptures).
Visible in Ukraine since the end of the Mesolithic period. During the Chalcolithic period, pottery potteries began to develop ornaments painted on clay colored pots. Thanks to the development of the potter's circle, pottery has become a formalized craft.
Pottery has reached a high level of development in the production of Tripil culture. For the princess, pottery in Ukraine became a great industry. From the XVI-XVII centuries. developed continuously, becoming in the 19th century. one of the most important aspects of the Ukrainian handicraft industry. Potters sold their highly attractive pots at fairs or transported them to distant production areas.
In the world today, pottery products have largely been replaced by abundantly cheap factory ceramic, glass, and plastic products. However, in the 21st century, pottery pottery pieces are valued by lovers of hand-made, hand-crafted work as creations of mystique. And the glorious Opishnyansk ceramics are visible far beyond the borders of the Poltava region.

Ukrainian embroidery

The art of embroidery in Ukraine has its roots in the pre-Christian period, like the whole movement - it has a centuries-old history. This is confirmed by both the results of archaeological excavations and the testimony of travelers.
According to Herodotus, the Scythians had clothes with embroidered patterns.
In general, the emergence of embroidery dates back to the era of primitive culture. This is due to the appearance of the first stitch when sewing clothes from animal skins. The most ancient embroideries that have survived to this day date back to the 6th–5th centuries. BC e.
Throughout its existence, the materials used for embroidery have been animal sinews, threads of flax, hemp, cotton, silk... Often, in order to enrich clothing, craftsmen used pearls and precious stones, beads and seed beads, sparkles, shells, gold and copper plaques, coins...

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Wicker weave

Weaving as a craft has a long history. Wickerwork made from various plant materials was known back in Ancient Egypt. During excavations in the tomb of Tutankhamun, two wicker chairs were discovered, which were well preserved and look quite modern. In ancient Rome, patricians reclined on beds made of willow twigs. One of them, the manufacture of which dates back to the 2nd century AD, is kept in the Treve Museum. In ancient times, branches of trees and shrubs, especially willow, as well as roots and other materials were used for weaving.
The main type of wickerwork was baskets, varied in shape and purpose.

Weaving from natural materials - straw, willow twig, birch bark, marsh plants - is an ancient type of craft and at the same time folk applied art. Recently, it has increasingly attracted the attention of not only artists, craftsmen, gallery owners, but also people of various professions.

Straw weaving

Weaving from rye straw is one of the oldest types of folk crafts. It has been an everyday necessity since people learned to cultivate cereal crops.

No matter where you look, you can’t do without straw. The people lived under thatched roofs with straw-clay plaster and slept on straw mattresses. Straw was used to make things necessary for the household - travel bags, grain storage containers, mats, ropes, boxes, hats, children's toys, and holiday decorations. In any shaky place peasant farm straw came to the rescue, and belated travelers were covered in the stacks with a warm golden fur coat.

At all times different nations There were customs after the harvest to bring home ears of grain, symbolizing prosperity and well-being. In Rus', after harvesting, with songs and jokes, they brought a sheaf of dozhinok and placed it in the holy corner under the images, praising God, who gives people our daily bread.

How not to admire Mother Straw, which from time immemorial filled the life of our ancestors.