Gzhel earthenware pieces acquired its signature white-and-blue look only in the 1940s. The pottery manufacturing near Moscow was born so long ago that even historians are unable to fix the exact date of its birth. It is known, however, that back in the 14th century Gzhel was already famous as the center of painted dishware made of clay.
A Settlement of Free Potters
In 1328, Great Prince Ivan Kalita carried the contribution, collected across the Russian lands, to the Golden Horde. It was a long journey, and the mission was not easy, so Kalita being afraid that he would never return home, wrote his last testament and will. In it, the village of Gzhel was mentioned for the first time ever. The great prince left the village to his elder son.
The toponymic Gzhel was coined from the word “zhech” (to burn). The thing is that from time immemorial only potters lived in that area and they usually burned their earthenware in kilns. Potters used the vast deposits of valuable fire-resistant clay, later called the Gzhel-Kudinovo fields.
These clay fields were famous back then and are still famous for the seventeen kinds of clays, among which the two are considered most important: one is used to produce porcelain and faience and the other — bricks. Gzhel’s clay has remarkable features. Mikhail Lomonosov wrote about it: “One can hardly find earth purest and without additives… in the whole world… but so is our Gzhel one… I have not seen anything exceeding it in whiteness.”
The Gzhel area comprises a dozen villages but only one was called Gzhel. It was impossible to cultivate land here, as almost nothing could grow on its clay-rich soil. However, local peasants were much obliged to this barren soil and wonderful clay for their wellbeing. The Gzhel area avoided the hardships of serfdom, as its residents enjoyed a “manumission” given them by the Czar. The 18th century auditors thus described the region: “This land is sandy, its bread is inferior, meadows are the worst, forests are suitable for firewood, peasants pay their tithe by making various kinds of crockery and table sets…”
From century to century, Gzhel was inherited by Moscow princes and czars giving them ample revenues. In 1663, Czar Alexei Mikhailovich issued a decree ordering “to send clay from the Gzhel Province which is appropriate for apothecary’s vessels.” 15 wagonloads of Gzhel clay were delivered to Moscow, and it turned out to be suitable for alchemist receptacles, which had to meet high quality requirements. As a result, Gzhel became the exclusive supplier of apothecary and alchemical vessels for The Apothecary Department in Moscow. The chronicle goes: “…and it was ordered to keep the clay for the apothecary business and go on carrying that clay from the Gzhel province, as the Czar pointed out, and by the peasants of the said region, according to the Apothecary Department’s needs.” It was this decree of the Czar that launched ceramic production in Russia.
Traditions and Innovation
Until the mid-18th century Gzhel potters manufactured then-standard crockery, made bricks, pipes, tiles, and clay toys. By the middle of the 18th century Gzhel potters had mastered the technique of majolica-glazed ceramics, covered with opaque glaze. This method allowed making items with multi-color painting on white enamel.
At that time, Gzhel craftsmen began making festive crockery, like kvass goblets — decorative pitchers with ring-shaped bodies, long curved spouts, often sitting on four rounded legs; kumgans — similar vessels but without a hole in the body; pitchers, ewers, joking mugs (with inscriptions: “Drink but don’t spill over yourself!”), dishes and plates adorned with patterned and narrative paintings in green, yellow, blue, violet and brown on the white background. Usually, a crane was the focus of the composition, with sketchy trees, bushes or houses around it.
Around 1800, Pavel Kulikov opened the first porcelain factory in the village of Volodino, and by 1812, there were 25 factories in and around Gzhel. The best-known enterprises were the ones owned by Yermil Ivanov and the Laptevs in the village of Kuzyaevo. The best craftsmen stamped their personal marks on their pieces, for example: “In 1786, on the 13th day of the month of January, this mug was painted by Nikifor Semenov’s son Gusyatnikov. Amen.” So, now we know the names of Gzhel artists: Nikifor Gusyatnikov, Ivan Sroslei, Ivan Kokun.
Besides dishware, they manufactured toys in the form of birds and animals, and decorative figurines representing popular themes of the Russian life. Lustrous white horses, riders, birds, dolls were also painted purple, yellow, blue and brown.
In the early 19th century, Gzhel potters did not yet discover the secret of porcelain and they were only making a transition from the production of majolica to semi-faiance. But it was during that period the blue first began to replace multicolor compositions. Gradually the blue color became predominant. Thus, the unique Gzhel style was established: blue paintings on a white background, characterized by subtle transitions from light blue to dark blue. The patterns of two types prevailed: a composition with a big flower in the center or a garland of stylized plants.
There is a legend about the advent of porcelain in Gzhel. The first Gzhel manufacturer Pavel Kulikov learned the secret of porcelain making at the factory of K.Otto near Moscow, where Kulikov got a job with a purpose. Eventually, Kulikov launched porcelain production in his hometown, and for many years both the design of the furnace and the composition of the raw mass from which porcelain was made had been his secret. Opinions differ as to what happened afterwards. According to one version, Kulikov’s assistant let the cat out of the bag. The other version claims that, after the manufacturer died, one of the peasants furtively sneaked into the factory and copied the design of the furnace. We will never know what actually happened, but by the middle of the 19th century they started to manufacture porcelain artwrorks in Gzhel.
King of Porcelain
Step by step, porcelain production in Gzhel was concentrated in the hands of the Kuznetsov. family. Yakov Kuznetsov and his sons started their business at a small factory located on the bank of the Dorka river, a tributary of the Gzhelka river, and very quickly the manufacturers became millionaires. The Kuznetsovs built their famous factory in Dulevo outside Moscow, and in 1883, Matvey Kuznetsov established the “M.S.Kuznetsov’s partnership for the production of porcelain and faience articles”, which incorporated big factories in Gzhel, Dulevo, Riga, as well as the Tver, Kherson and Kaluga provinces.
By the end of the 19th century, Matvei Kuznetsov owned 18 enterprises and was the biggest supplier of porcelain, faience and majolica in the Russian market. His impressive success was based on his competent marketing strategy. Kuznetsov’s pieces always focused on a particular consumer. The manufacturer opted for inexpensive mass-market dishware. At the same time, he had a very clear idea of his customers’ tastes. For peasants, he produced cheap dull dishware with traditional folk ornaments; for his customers in cities, the simplified version of the “nobility” sets.
Porcelain items intended for sale in the Oriental market were distinguished by special designs. Kuznetsov aggressively promoted his products in Turkey and Persia, where Kuznetsov’s porcelain successfully competed with West European brands. He exported both traditional dishware, like cups and teapots, decorated in the Oriental style, and purely Oriental items, like big dishes for pilaf, bowls, and hookahs.
By the beginning of the new century, the annual volume of Kuznetsov’s dishware products amounted to 50 million pieces, whereas the turnover was four million rubles. About five thousand men and women worked at his factories. However, due to Kuznetsov’s entrepreneurial talents, small and medium-sized ceramic producers were practically extinct in Gzhel. One after another, small-size businesses in Gzhel closed down, and finally, Gzhel lost its significance as one of the most important Russian centers of ceramics.
The Second Birth
During the First World War, many traditions of folk art were lost. After the revolution, all Kuznetsov’s factories were nationalized, and tricks of the trade forgotten. Although in the 1920s, small enterprises emerged in Gzhel, it was impossible to revive the former beauty of the pieces. It seemed that the national craft was abandoned forever.
The revival of Gzhel ceramics began during the hard times in the nation’s history, when the country was recovering from the hardships of the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War. The Gzhel craft owes its rebirth to Alexander Saltykov, the former count, aristocrat, scientist and art critic. He developed a special method of painting — underglaze painting with a flow blue on white Gzhel clay. The uniqueness of underglaze painting is associated with the change in color during firing. Black as soot, cobalt after firing turns bright blue, and a painter, applying it, should anticipate the result. Only then he would be able to achieve the finest gradations of blue. Saltykov, together with a group of Moscow artists and Gzhel painters developed a veritable “ABC of brush strokes”, a special method of art painting. A brush stroke creates a dense blue surface contrasting with the white background. Thus, the background becomes the second color and it is as functional as the painting itself. The specific Gzhel trick is painting “by a brushstroke with shadows”. “The brush stroke” itself has a wide tonal range: from deep and dark hues to very light and airy ones. In general, it consists of variable shades of blue. The fine lines of the picture that play an important role in Gzhel painting complement the “ABC of brush strokes”.
But crucial for the revival of the craft was Alexander Saltykov’s cooperation with Natalia Bessarabova, a well-experienced painter, stage designer and costume designer. She became the founder of the modern Gzhel artistic style. Working with the collections of the State Historical Museum, she studied oldest Gzhel pieces and selected the best among them. Based on those samples she created her own pieces. Moreover, she embarked on teaching “the ABC of Saltykov’s brush strokes” to promising artists. It took Bessarabova as long as a decade to discover the secrets of old Gzhel artists’ skills, so that they were no longer a mystery to contemporary painters.
In the 1970s, the style of Gzhel porcelain pieces was recognized as the distinctive “Gzhel” one. Thus, it became one of Russia’s national symbols.
G.Yampolskaya