Bogorodsk toy: history of creation and interesting facts. Bogorodsk toy "Blacksmiths": cardboard version Bogorodsk toy creation history and interesting facts

We have already seen the famous Bogorodsk toy at the exhibition at the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts in Moscow. It's time to go to Bogorodskoe, near Moscow itself. There is a factory where these toys are made, and with it - a museum. It is quite easy to identify the factory: already above the gate there are carved figures.

Wooden sculpture meets us in the factory yard - you just have to look closely.

The museum is located in the factory complex itself. So feel free to go inside, where “entrance” is written on the door - they will already explain to you what and how.
They will explain, among other things, that the tradition of wooden carving in Bogorodskoye is very old. She has long been decorated with completely everyday things: yokes, spinning wheels and all that stuff.

When did toys appear here? Often referred to as the 17th century. However, the exact date, of course, is difficult to name. The museum at the factory - then still the artel "Bogorodsky carver" - arose more than a hundred years ago. Initially, as an assortment cabinet - that is, a collection of samples for internal use. But later it opened to the public. The works of Bogoda masters from the 19th century to the present day are collected here - in total, the collection contains over three thousand exhibits.

The Bogorodsk toy began with characters and plots of a domestic nature.

Of course, there are soldiers here too.

Early figurines are mostly small - the traditional toy was primarily aimed at children. And here the fact that the toy is moving stands out - although it is unlikely that its first authors could scientifically talk about the benefits of developing micromotor skills.

There are several technologies here. Here is a push-button toy - it comes into motion when you press a button or a key on a pedestal. Then the fox will try to grab Kolobok, and the bear will start chopping the log.

The second kinetic technique is balance. To bring such a toy into action, you need to swing the ball suspended from below. This is how the classic Bogorodsk "hens" pecking at the grain are arranged.

There are also a wide variety of characters and plots.

Finally, the most classic - "slats". This is how the famous "Man and the Bear" are arranged, which - if the bars are moved relative to each other - take turns hitting the anvil.

It is no coincidence that this toy has become the emblem of the Bogorodsk factory and flaunts on its facade. And in the museum, she is presented even in quite human growth - little visitors can feel like one of the heroes.

Here is another version of the "plank" toy.

And a variation of the same technique - here the planks move according to the principle of an accordion.

There are more rare ways to set toys in motion. Basically, these are already larger and more detailed compositions.

Here we are already moving on to a peculiar genre of “cabinet sculpture”. Initially, there were rural scenes, carriages, "tea parties". But sometimes historical characters.

But still, the main character of the Bogorodsk carving has long been a bear. Sometimes by itself, sometimes with the person.

But now we get to the shop windows of the Soviet period and see the plots are completely different.

A man and a bear present us with the Soviet coat of arms. And the next scene is "Land Decree".

In general, there are quite a lot of Lenin and in different variations and types. Although such things were not made in a large number of copies, they were mainly made to order as official gifts.

But these "three heroes" are in fact Frunze, Budyonny and Kotovsky. And other Chapaevs and carts are also present.

But the same epoch gives us fabulous and literary plots.

And here is the young Pushkin with Arina Rodionovna.

What's funny - sculptures depicting politicians are sometimes ordered from Bogorodsk masters even today. I was called, in particular, the names of Putin and Luzhkov. It is a pity, but their images are not presented in the museum exposition.

On the other hand, of course, there are not only children's toys still being produced in many places (where now a hare can appear not only with a drum, but also with a laptop), but also a cabinet sculpture. It's mostly animation now.

There are also interesting variants of high reliefs.

Moreover, such an office sculpture may well reach the size of a completely park - in full bearish growth.

Another recent innovation is the appearance of religious subjects (after all, Sergiev Posad is not far away).

And of course, the technology of manual carving is shown - of course, on the example of bears. The material is soft wood - mainly linden.

And here is the owner of the museum, Natalya Alexandrovna, who will tell you all these and many other details.

We go outside - and once again we consider the park sculptures installed there. The stories are mostly fictional. Well, or "bear".

But the trees on the road to Bogorodskoye were so frosty. Well, I don’t promise a similar spectacle at any time - it depends on the weather.

In principle, the museum at the Bogorodsk factory is regularly open on weekdays, until 17:00. However, firstly, you can book a tour and even a master class on Saturdays - you just need to do this in advance.

Secondly, in May here, on the territory of the factory, a traditional festival will be held - this is May 16-17-18, that is, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The festival is of course open to the public.

Well, and thirdly, the museum is seriously thinking about making Saturday, in principle, an open excursion day. We will wait for information on this.

Now how to get there.

First, to get one way or another in Sergiev Posad. It is possible by car (which is convenient, although it is fraught with traffic jams on the outskirts of Moscow). You can take the train (which, as it turned out, go in the direction of Sergiev Posad quite often - most likely, you won’t have to wait more than half an hour at any time of the day).

Further for motorists: having entered Sergiev Posad and moving along the main road, do not miss shortly after the Lavra left on the left, turn left to Uglich-Kalyazin. Further, according to the scheme presented on the museum's website (in other words, all the time straight, right up to the turn to the right at the huge sign "Zagorskaya PSP").

For those who travel by public transport: there is a bus station right in front of the railway station in Sergiev Posad. From where you can get to Bogorodskoye by bus or minibus with the same number 49. The minibus runs more often and goes faster. Bus - less often and on schedule (about once an hour). In general, he has an advantage, perhaps, only for regularly traveling local residents who have travel cards for him, but for a single trip, the minibus is still more convenient.

In any case, you must go to the final stop. From which to go forward a little in the direction of travel (landmark - a healthy red and white pipe). The official address of the factory is Bogorodskoye, 79 B (that's right, without the street).

Colorful wooden chickens on a stand, figures of blacksmiths, a peasant and a bear - pull the bar and they will knock with hammers on a small anvil ... Funny toys, known in Russia since time immemorial, have become the main folk craft for residents of the Bogorodskoye village near Moscow.

The ancient village of Bogorodskoye is located 25 km from Sergiev Posad, near Moscow. Folk craft originated under the influence of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery - one of the largest centers of artistic crafts in Moscow Russia

Already in the 15th-16th centuries, Bogorodsk peasants, at that time monastic serfs, laid the foundations for the artistic craft of woodworking that developed later. The village has become one of the centers of folk art in the history of Russian applied art.

The history of the Bogorodsk toy begins with a legend. They say that a peasant family lived in a small village near modern Sergiev Posad. They were poor people and had many children. The mother decided to amuse the children and make them a doll. I sewed it from fabric, but after a few days the children tore the toy. I wove it from straw, and by the evening the doll crumbled. Then the woman took a chip and carved a toy out of wood, and the children called her Auka. The children had fun for a long time, and then the doll got bored with them. And her father took her to the fair. There was a merchant, who found the toy interesting, and ordered the peasant a whole lot. Since then, they say, most of the inhabitants of the village of Bogorodskoye have taken up the “toy” craft.

Folk craftsmen in the village of Bogorodskoye, Moscow Region, create wooden carved toys, which, like clay ones, belong to folk plastic.

The traditional Bogorodsk toy is unpainted figures of people, animals and birds made of linden, compositions from the life of a Russian peasant.

The most famous Bogorodsk plot is blacksmiths. They are everywhere - and on the gates of the factory and even on the facades of houses. The toy "Blacksmiths" is over 300 years old. It is worth moving the slats and the brisk work immediately begins. Figures move in a clear rhythm, hammers knock on the anvil in time.

Folk craftsmen, working with a primitive tool, managed to create truthful, realistic images of the surrounding reality from wood.

Main difference Bogorodsk wooden toys - wood chips carving (wood is plucked off in small pieces).
It is she who creates a textured surface similar to animal hair. Smooth surfaces are processed with fine sandpaper.

Most toys are moving, and each type of movement has its own name. Particularly interesting are toys with movement: on slats, with balance, with a button. These uncomplicated, but always witty devices make the toy lively, expressive and especially attractive.

Divorce (planochki get divorced)

Balance.K the balance ball spins and the toy performs some actions.

Button toy. We press the button - it moves.

Craftsmen carved figures of animals and people from folk life, fables and fairy tales from linden.

The most traditional dolls made in Bogorodskoye were ladies and hussars, nannies, nurses with children, soldiers, shepherdesses, and peasants.

The toys reflect almost all stages of the country's development.

Bogorodsk toys are made not only for children's fun, but also to decorate housing, for comfort.

In 1923, the masters united in the artel "Bogorodsky carver" and a vocational school was opened, which trains new cadres of masters of artistic woodcarving.

In 1960, on the eve of the 300th anniversary of the birth of folk craft, the artel was transformed into an artistic carving factory.

They say that during the Great Patriotic War, famous carvers were recalled from the front, because the Bogorodsk toy was exported to the United States in exchange for weapons.

Now many toys are turned on lathes and painted by hand.

Wooden toys are considered one of the most useful for the development of fine motor skills of the child. In addition, they can be chewed, even painted, because they are coated with a special oil varnish. I must say that many adults "fall into childhood" at the sight of moving figures!

Bogorodsk toys can be found in shops, museums, exhibitions, in many houses not only in our cities, but also abroad.

Far beyond the boundaries of the Moscow region, Orthodox masters are known - miracle workers N. I. Maksimov, V. V. Yurov, S. Badaev, M. A. Pronin, A. Ya. Chushkin, A. A. Ryzhov, I. K. Stulov and other.

Bogorodsk master artists - participants in numerous exhibitions; their works were awarded gold medals at world exhibitions in Paris, New York, Brussels.

The "Peasant and the Hen" toy is in the Historical Museum of Moscow, the composition "How the Mice Buried the Cat" is in the Museum of Folk Art, the toy "The Cavalier and the Lady", "Tsar Dodon and the Little Star" is in the Russian Regional Museum of Local Lore. There are toys in the Sergiev Posad Museum-Reserve.

Modern Bogorodsk carving is diverse in terms of subjects and forms of artistic expression. It organically enters the artistic culture, preserving the ancient traditions of the craft.

The Bogorodsk wooden toy is not only an interesting souvenir, but also an excellent toy for a child: it develops a hand, awakens imagination, and the material is safe.

The French sculptor Auguste Rodin, seeing the Bogorodsk toy, said: The people who created this toy are a great people.

Bogorodskaya carving, Bogorodskaya toy - Russian folk craft, consisting in the manufacture of carved toys and sculptures from soft woods (linden, alder, aspen). Its center is the village of Bogorodskoye (Sergiev Posad district of the Moscow region).

Story

Origin

Sergiev Posad and its environs have long been considered the historical center of toy making in Russia. Sometimes it was called the "Russian toy capital" or "the capital of the toy kingdom." Toys were made in many surrounding villages. But the most famous was the village of Bogorodskoe, located about 29 kilometers from Sergiev Posad. The toy crafts of Sergiev Posad and the village of Bogorodsky are called by experts as two branches on one trunk. Indeed, crafts have common roots: the traditions of ancient pillar-like plastics and the school of three-dimensional, relief woodcarving at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, known since the 15th century.

According to folk legend, a long time ago a family lived in the village. The mother decided to amuse the little children. She cut out an “auka” figurine from a block of logs. The children were happy, played and threw the "auka" on the stove. Once the husband began to gather for the bazaar and said: “I’ll take the “auka” and show it to the traders in the bazaar.” "Auka" bought and ordered more. Since then, the carving of toys has appeared in Bogorodskoye. And she began to be called "Bogorodskaya".

It is rather difficult to determine the real date of the origin of the fishery. For a long time, most researchers believed that already since the 17th century Bogorodskoye had been engaged in volumetric woodcarving. The basis for such statements was the palace books of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, which speaks of buying toys for the royal children on the way to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Moreover, they usually refer not to the original source, but to the works of D. Vvedensky and N. Tseretelli, well-known researchers of Russian peasant toys in the 1930s, who also rely not on archival documents, but on the research of I. E. Zabelin. However, the latter made a mistake: the purchase of wooden toys is indicated in the book of expenses of Ekaterina Alekseevna, the wife of Peter I, in the entry of 1721. But, as I. Mamontova writes in her article: "However, the source unambiguously states that the purchase was made in Moscow ...".

It is believed that the earliest surviving works of the Bogorodsk craft (located in the State Historical Museum, the State Russian Museum, the Museum of Folk Art named after S. T. Morozov and the Art and Pedagogical Museum of Toys) date back to the beginning of the 19th century. Most likely, it would be legitimate to attribute the origin of the carved Bogorodsk toy to the 17th-18th centuries, and the formation of the craft by the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries.

At first, the craft was a typical peasant production. Products were made seasonally: from late autumn to early spring, that is, when there was a break in agricultural work. For a long time, Bogorodsk carvers were directly dependent on the Sergiev craft, working directly on orders from Sergiev buyers and producing mainly the so-called “gray” goods, which were finally finished and painted in Sergiev Posad.

At the same time, it was at the initial stage of the formation of the Bogorodsk craft that works began to appear that are considered masterpieces of folk art, including: “The Shepherd”, which has become a kind of Bogorodsk classic, lions with cubs, dogs with puppies.

The craft arose in a purely peasant environment, but developed under the strong influence of handicraft production with a different type of culture - township. This type of culture is a symbiosis of urban and peasant traditions, which has been influenced by porcelain sculpture, book illustrations, popular popular prints and works of professional painters.

Development

Already in the middle of the 19th century, the center of carving moved to Bogorodskoye, and the Bogorodsky craft gained independence. A great influence on the formation of the Bogorodsk style proper was exerted by the work of such masters as A. N. Zinin, and somewhat later by the activity of a professional artist, a native of Bogorodsk P. N. Ustratov. The period of the 1840s - 1870s, according to a number of experts, is the heyday of the Bogorodsk carved handicraft.

The next stage in the development of toy business in Bogorodskoye is associated with the activities of the Moscow Provincial Zemstvo in 1890-1900 in this area. In 1891, a training and demonstration workshop was organized in Sergiev Posad, which combined the functions of a research and educational institution, and also sold toys in Russia and abroad. A few years earlier, in Moscow, with the support of S. T. Morozov, the Moscow Handicraft Museum was opened. In fact, it was a whole movement, reviving and supporting the national basis in the dying folk art. Such zemstvo figures and artists as N. D. Bartram, V. I. Borutsky, I. I. Oveshkov played a significant role in the development of the Bogorodsk craft.

A professional artist, collector, and later the founder and first director of the State Toy Museum (now the Artistic and Pedagogical Toy Museum) N. D. Bartram was one of the first to try to preserve and revive ancient traditions. However, seeing that the old works did not captivate the handicraftsmen, he began to orient them towards the creation of works in the folk style, but following the models of professional artists. The opponent of this path was the artist and collector A. Benois, who considered this process an artificial rescue of the fishery.

You can talk a lot about what is more - harm or benefit brought by the intervention of professional artists in folk crafts, but the indisputable factor is that for several decades the products of the zemstvo period were a kind of standard for master carvers.

In 1913 an artel was organized in Bogorodskoye. This helped the people of Bogorodsk gain economic independence from the Sergius buyers. The initiators of the creation of the artel were already quite well-known at that time carvers A. Ya. Chushkin and F. S. Balaev. At the head of the artel was a kind of "artistic council", which consisted of the oldest and most experienced craftsmen. Newly joining the artel, the carvers were first assigned to the easiest work, if the young master coped with the manufacture of a simple toy, the task was complicated for him: the execution of animal figures, multi-figure compositions.

In the same 1913, an educational and demonstration workshop with an instructor class was opened in Bogorodskoye, and in 1914 a zemstvo school was opened on its basis, in which boys studied at full board.

In the first decade after the October Revolution, old zemstvo samples were preserved in Bogorodskoye, and the products of the trade were exported in large quantities. In 1923, the artel "Bogorodsky carver" was restored, in which the masters of the older generation continued their work and the Bogorodsky craft occupies one of the leading places. The change in the social structure stimulated the craftsmen to search for new forms and artistic solutions. However, it was precisely at that time that the problem of “easel painting” that emerged back in the “zemstvo period” arose. In the 1930s, the so-called toy-sculpture appeared, which was distinguished by the novelty of the theme and its disclosure.

For the next two decades (1930s - 1950s), professional artists and art critics again intervene in the affairs of the craft - mainly employees of the Scientific Research Institute of the Art Industry (NIIKhP) created during this period. Not only in Bogorodskoye, but also in other fields, outright politicization begins. The masters were called themes that were alien to the peasant nature and the people's understanding of beauty. In Bogorodsky, the reaction to ideological pressure was the development of a fairy tale theme. The conventionality of Bogorodsk carving was the best way to express the unusual in a fairy tale, to create vivid and memorable images. The historical theme in these years has significantly narrowed, localized. First of all, it reflected the events of the Great Patriotic War.

One of the most tragic dates in the history of the Bogorodsk craft can be called 1960, when the artel organization of labor traditional for art crafts was liquidated and replaced by a factory one. This process is sometimes aptly referred to as the "manufacturing" of the fishery. From that time on, craft began to slowly die, and the concepts of “art industry”, “plan”, “val” and other completely alien concepts came to replace it. A decade and a half later, by an evil twist of fate, the village of Bogorodskoye with its peculiar landscape and the features of the Kunya River attracted the attention of power engineers. The situation in the field has worsened. Log houses with lace architraves were demolished, gardens were cut down, and traditional Bogorodsk gatherings and the simplicity of rural communication left with them. Master carvers moved to high-rise buildings on the upper floors, traditional crafts became more and more problematic. Back in 1984, G. L. Dine wrote in the journal “Decorative Art of the USSR”: “... the village seems small, miserable next to the new buildings advancing on it. Probably the security zone will not save her now either. Inevitably, the way of life of people, their spiritual and moral appearance will change, which means that Bogorodsk art will also be transformed.

In the 1970s - 1980s, about 200 carvers worked at the Bogorodsk Art Carving Factory. Among them were high-class masters who developed interesting samples, there were master performers. In connection with the turbulent events in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the situation in the fishery worsened even more. Currently, the Bogorodsk fishery is in an endless process of struggle for survival. Its position is unstable: traditional sales markets have been lost, raw materials have risen in price, high energy prices - all these factors are not conducive to improving the situation. The Bogorodsk art carving factory has changed its name so many times over the past decade that, according to the current chief artist of this organization, “we barely have time to change signs and stamps.”

In Bogorodskoye, two organizations were created that produced the same products. The best craftsmen leave the "official craft", but at home they continue to create high-class things, although this is far from being the case for everyone. Most of the young craftsmen follow the market, performing works that are either insignificant from the point of view of folk tradition, or completely far from it. You don't have to look far for an example. One of the leading craftsmen, still working in the field, S. Pautov, said with bitter irony: “The frosts killed the French near Moscow in 1812, the Germans in 1941, and will soon kill the Bogorodsk carvers.” The artist had in mind wooden carvings depicting Santa Claus - a favorite character of the New Year holidays, who replaced the notorious bear for homeworkers. On the opening days and on the shelves of shops, the worst of what is still being done in Bogorodskoye is most often found. Interest in the Bogorodsk toy and sculpture is declining due to the low quality of workmanship, low artistic level and rather high cost.

Modernity

At present, the situation in the field is difficult, but the factory continues to produce products. A difficult situation has developed in the Bogorodsk Art and Industrial College. This is a constant shortage of local youth; the influx of students from the subjects of the federation, on the one hand, promotes the popularization of Bogorodsk artistic carving, and on the other hand, nullifies the classical Bogorodsk tradition.

Among the Soviet masters of Bogorodsk carving are F. S. Balaev, A. G. Chushkin, V. S. Zinin, I. K. Stulov, M. A. Pronin, M. F. Barinov and others.

Fishing features

Bogorodsk carving is performed using a special "Bogorodsk" knife ("pike").

One of the distinguishing features of the craft has always been the manufacture of moving toys. The most famous toy is "Blacksmiths", usually depicting a man and a bear, who alternately hit the anvil. This toy, which, according to some sources, is more than 300 years old, has become a symbol of both the Bogorodsk industry and Bogorodsky itself, having entered the coat of arms of the village.

Sergiev Posad and its environs have long been considered the historical center of toy making in Russia. Sometimes it was called the "Russian toy capital" or "the capital of the toy kingdom."

The most famous was the village of Bogorodskoe, located approximately 29 kilometers from Sergiev Posad. The toy crafts of Sergiev Posad and the village of Bogorodsky are called by experts as two branches on one trunk.

Indeed, crafts have common roots: the traditions of ancient pillar-like plastics and the school of three-dimensional, relief woodcarving at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, known since the 15th century.

At first, the craft was a typical peasant production. Products were made seasonally: from late autumn to early spring, that is, when there was a break in agricultural work.

For a long time, Bogorodsk carvers were directly dependent on the Sergiev craft, working directly on orders from Sergiev buyers and producing mainly the so-called “gray” goods, which were finally finished and painted in Sergiev Posad.

The craft arose in a purely peasant environment, but developed under the strong influence of handicraft production with a different type of culture - township. This type of culture is a symbiosis of urban and peasant traditions, which has been influenced by porcelain sculpture, book illustrations, popular popular prints and works of professional painters.

The next stage in the development of toy business in Bogorodskoye is associated with the activities of the Moscow Provincial Zemstvo in 1890-1900 in this area. In 1891, a training and demonstration workshop was organized in Sergiev Posad, which combined the functions of a research and educational institution, and also sold toys in Russia and abroad.

In 1913 an artel was organized in Bogorodskoye. This helped the people of Bogorodsk gain economic independence from the Sergius buyers.

In the Soviet period, the masters were called themes that were alien to the peasant nature and the people's understanding of beauty. In Bogorodsky, the reaction to ideological pressure was the development of a fairy tale theme.

The conventionality of Bogorodsk carving was the best way to express the unusual in a fairy tale, to create vivid and memorable images.

The historical theme in these years has significantly narrowed, localized. First of all, it reflected the events of the Great Patriotic War.

Bogorodskaya carving in our time

In the village of Bogorodskoye, they continue to develop traditional carving. Anyone can study at the Bogorodsk Art and Industrial College. This is the oldest educational institution that preserves Russian national traditions of carving.

Since 1960, CJSC Bogorodsk Wood Carving Factory has been operating in the village. By 2001, several areas of activity were defined at the enterprise: a section for carved white toys, a section for sculpture, a section for turning a painted toy with movement based on ancient principles of assembly and painting, a section for mixed styles and trends, mainly chipped and painted toys, nesting dolls. Since 1999, in cooperation with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, iconostasis carving has been revived at the enterprise.

The Museum of the Bogorodsky Craft was created at the factory, where a large collection of works by ancient and modern masters who worked at the factory is collected.

WHERE COULD I BUY?

Photo gallery

WHERE COULD I BUY?

You can view, select and purchase Bogorodsk carving products at online store "RUSSIAN CRAFTS".

Tradition

Auka

According to folk legend, a long time ago a family lived in the village. The mother decided to amuse the little children. She cut out an "auka" figurine from a block of logs. The children were happy, played and threw the "auka" on the stove.

Once the husband began to gather for the bazaar and said: "I'll take the "auka" and show it to the traders in the bazaar." "Auka" bought and ordered more. Since then, the carving of toys has appeared in Bogorodskoye. And she began to be called "Bogorodskaya".

Tatyga

But there is another version, another legend, in which the main character is Tatyga, a deaf and mute master.

It was back in the fourteenth century... There lived in those days the great Russian ascetic Sergius of Radonezh, who blessed the Moscow prince Dmitry before the famous Battle of Kulikovo.

He lived in monastic seclusion and fell in love with carving toys out of wood. With these toys, St. Sergius presented children who were brought with them by pilgrims. Over time, on the site of a small monastery, lost in the forests, founded by Sergius of Radonezh, a large monastery grew up - the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

And the tradition of making crafts for children was taken over by the monks of the Lavra. Not a single pilgrim returned from these holy places without toys. So the wooden figures, nicknamed "Trinity", dispersed around the world. There is a legend about this.

Another legend tells us about a different starting point in the history of town toys. According to legend, a deaf-mute craftsman nicknamed Tatyga lived in Sergiev Posad, who once carved a doll from a linden tree and sold it for decoration to a merchant’s shop that sold sashes, mittens and other necessities near the walls of the monastery.

Soon a buyer was found for the doll. Then the enterprising merchant made Tatyga an order for carved wooden dolls, and he realized that it was a profitable business, began to recruit students from the townspeople. This craft was taken over by other skilful inhabitants, and "amusing" craft began here.

Date of occurrence

It is rather difficult to determine the real date of the origin of the fishery. For a long time, most researchers believed that already since the 17th century Bogorodskoye had been engaged in volumetric woodcarving.

The basis for such statements was the palace books of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, which speaks of buying toys for the royal children on the way to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. But this information is not accurate.

It is believed that the earliest surviving works of the Bogorodsk craft date back to the beginning of the 19th century. Most likely, it would be legitimate to attribute the origin of the carved Bogorodsk toy to the 17th-18th centuries, and the formation of the craft by the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries.

Masterpieces

Already at the initial stage of the formation of the Bogorodsk craft, works began to appear that are considered masterpieces of folk art, including: "The Shepherd", which has become a kind of Bogorodsk classic, lions with lion cubs, dogs with puppies.

Handicraft Museum

In Moscow, with the support of S. T. Morozov, the Moscow Handicraft Museum was opened. In fact, it was a whole movement, reviving and supporting the national basis in the dying folk art.

Such zemstvo figures and artists as N. D. Bartram, V. I. Borutsky, I. I. Oveshkov played a significant role in the development of the Bogorodsk craft.

"Plan" and "shaft"

One of the most tragic dates in the history of the Bogorodsk craft can be called 1960, when the artel organization of labor traditional for art crafts was liquidated and replaced by a factory one.

From that time on, craft began to slowly die, and the concepts of "art industry", "plan", "val" and other completely alien concepts came to replace it.

Fishing features

Bogorodsk carving is performed using a special "Bogorodsk" knife ("pike"). One of the distinguishing features of the craft has always been the manufacture of moving toys.

The most famous toy is "Blacksmiths", usually depicting a man and a bear, who alternately hit the anvil. This toy, which, according to some sources, is more than 300 years old, has become a symbol of both the Bogorodsk industry and Bogorodsky itself, having entered the coat of arms of the village.

Colorful wooden chickens on a stand, figures of blacksmiths, a man and a bear - pull the bar and they will knock with hammers on a small anvil ... Funny toys, known in Russia since time immemorial, have become the main folk craft for residents of the Bogorodskoye village near Moscow.

LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS OF THE VILLAGE OF BOGORODSKOE

The history of the Bogorodsk toy begins with a legend. They say that a peasant family lived in a small village near modern Sergiev Posad. They were poor people and had many children. The mother decided to amuse the children and make them a doll. I sewed it from fabric, but after a few days the children tore the toy. I wove it from straw, and by the evening the doll crumbled. Then the woman took a chip and carved a toy out of wood, and the children called her Auka. The children had fun for a long time, and then the doll got bored with them. And her father took her to the fair. There was a merchant, who found the toy interesting, and ordered the peasant a whole lot.

Since then, they say, most of the inhabitants of the village of Bogorodskoye have taken up the “toy” craft.

But seriously, folk craft originated under the influence of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery - one of the largest centers of artistic crafts in Moscow Russia 350 years ago. The traditional Bogorodsk toy is unpainted figures of people, animals and birds made of linden, compositions from the life of a Russian peasant. Until now, the “man and the bear” are considered the symbol of the craft in various plot productions, the first of which was the movable toy “Blacksmiths”.

FACTORY OF WOODEN TOYS

At the beginning of the last century, the first production appeared in the village of Bogorodskoye - Andrey Chushkin's handicraft and toy artel. Later, the artel was named “Bogorodsky carver”. In Soviet times, the craft flourished, in the artel, which became an artistic carving factory in 1960, 300 people worked, there were large state and foreign orders. Now the situation has changed. Walking through the factory shops, I was amazed - no more than five craftsmen worked in each of them, and most of the premises were simply empty.

According to the head of the sales department Andrey Lunev, in the last decade the staff of the factory has decreased by exactly half. And there were much fewer orders, mainly - exhibitions and vernissages in the capital. Moreover, the metropolitan competitors-handicraftsmen tortured. “They cut a crude fake and push it to dealers for a penny. Naturally, it will cost less than our work. So people buy, out of ignorance.” Andrey showed factory and handicraft versions of the Blacksmiths toy. The difference is immediately visible. The toy, made by the hands of Bogorodsk carvers, is proportioned, the smallest details of the figures of a man and a bear are carved. And the fake is more like the clumsy work of a junior high school student.

Recently, people do not want to go to work in a factory. The salary is more than modest. Some "exclusive craftsmen" work from home, completing complex, original factory orders and receive a percentage of their value. An ordinary carver on stream receives at the factory no more than one and a half thousand rubles, painters - about a thousand. Carvers in creative workshops are “richer”, the salary is up to 2500, and their work is more interesting. Once a month, they must submit two toys to the factory's artistic council for release on the stream, plus exclusive orders. In this case, you can also earn interest from each. The rest of the employees have not seen any bonuses or “13th salary” since the early 90s. The team noticeably “aged”, the young, having graduated from the local art and industrial school, either leave to work in Sergiev Posad, or are engaged in carving at home, and hand over their products to resellers.

“BIRTH” TOYS

Before getting to the store counter, the toy goes a long way. It begins with a well-dried linden log, a soft, pliable tree in processing. Products are turning and manual processing. With the first, everything is simpler - the details of future toys are machined, the assemblers connect them, and the painters do the painting, if necessary, and varnish it. But manual work is much more difficult. Carvers process lime "churaks" on their own. Let the wood be soft, but most of the craftsmen in the factory are women. The workpiece of the product is first cut down with an ax or cut out with a hacksaw according to a template. Then the processing begins with tools - chisels and Bogorodsk knives with very sharp blades. So cuts for masters are a common thing: they will seal the wound with a band-aid - and again they will go to work. It is necessary to work out the norm, each carver must hand over 120 - 130 products per month.

We are paid little, - complained to me the carver Tamara, an elderly woman who has worked at the factory for 42 years. - If the finished sculpture costs about a thousand, then the master receives a hundred rubles from them. And on the day of such products you can’t do much, from the strength of one or two, although everything depends on experience. From the carver, the products go to the assembly, painting, or immediately to the warehouse. In the workshops, I saw a lot of blanks, future “bears”, “hares”, “young ladies” and “dogs”. But she could only get an idea of ​​the famous Bogorodsk toy in the museum of the factory.

FOR FUN AND BEAUTY

Once in the factory museum-shop, I again felt like a child. Shelves behind the counter were filled with toys and wooden sculptures. Here are painted chickens familiar from childhood on a stand, under it is a round balance. You spin it, and the hens start banging their beaks together. Here is a fisherman cat with a sly face - also a mobile toy. And a lot of different bunnies, bears, mice. All dolls are painted with bright colors, and you want to take it in your hands. I tapped the hammers of the blacksmiths, “pecked” with the hens, “feed” the bunny with carrots... Our photojournalist rocked the balance of the “cat-fisherman” for a long time, and when the wooden foot with the fishing rod began to move, burst into happy laughter. The methodologist of the museum, Natalya Vyunnik, watched the entertainment of journalists with a smile.

Many of us “fall into childhood,” Natalia said. - And when schoolchildren come, it is impossible to tear them away from the counter. Choosing is a problem, I want to buy everything at once. For small children, our toys are the best: you set the toy in motion - the hand develops, and you can gnaw - after all, the tree. We paint with gouache, and then cover with oil varnish, it is harmless.

HOW TOYS “COME TO LIFE”

Children prefer mostly bright turning toys. At the factory, they can be bought for 70-80 rubles, in stores - three times more expensive. But handmade toys and sculptures are much more expensive, about a thousand rubles. Some of them are motionless, in others, with the help of a spring inserted inside, only a certain part “comes to life”. The “Russian beauty” shakes her head, the leaves on the birch tree tremble and the umbrellas in the hands of the “ladies”... There are also composite toys where each character moves.

At the “Peasant Yard” all the heroes are busy with their work: the mother milks the cows, the father chop wood, the daughter feeds the chickens, and they knock with their beaks, and the little son swings on a swing. The figures are set in motion by a push-button mechanism. Natalya explained that the details are attached to the inner bar on a harsh thread. The bar has moved - and the figures “come to life”. Another traditional mechanism is divorce, when the figures are attached to sliding bars. This is how “Blacksmiths” and “Soldiers on Divorce” are arranged.

WORKS OF THE MASTERS

In addition to the traditional toys, the masters of the Bogorodsk factory make custom-made carved furniture, wooden wall panels with a three-dimensional image of people and animals, large sculptures and watch holders. I saw these works in the factory warehouse and in the creative workshops of carvers. I wanted to buy a watch framed by penguin figurines - it turned out to be a little expensive, about five thousand.

Sometimes “fun” customers come across, - says the carver of the creative workshop Sergey Pautov. - Once a man came, from the cool ones, and ordered a carved stupa, as a gift to his mother-in-law. With a hint, so to speak. And an employee of the Russian Museum in Germany asked me to make several sculptures in explicit erotic poses. I still don't understand why the Russian museum needs such exhibits. They order carved devils, and even wooden shoes. A few years ago, I had to make a panel - a portrait of Luzhkov, the former governor of the Moscow region, Tyazhlov, wanted to present such a gift to the mayor of the capital. Now here is an order for Putin and Gromov.

REAL FOLK CRAFTS

After talking with the local population, I learned that factory orders are not the main source of income for carvers. Most work from home, and the products are handed over to resellers. Otherwise, do not survive. Many are believers, large families. And how can you feed your family on zero, at today's prices, salary! Therefore, each house has its own small workshop. There are regular customers from resellers, there is also one-time work, for example, carved furniture for a bathhouse or a country house. With raw materials, "individualists" also have no problems. Merchants come to the village and sell linden by cubic meters, from cars. Prices are quite affordable, one cubic meter can be purchased for one and a half thousand rubles. This amount of wood is enough for the master for a whole year of work.

At the factory, the part-time work of their employees is disapproved. Only everyone continues to “handicraft”. The profit is obvious, as one of the villagers told me: in just five years, her daughter's family was able to earn money for a two-room apartment and a car, and now they are building a country brick house. In addition to wood carvers, there is another folk craftsman in Bogorodskoye - an old blacksmith. In his seven decades, Grandpa is still the only one in the village who makes tools for woodcarving - Bogorodsk knives and chisels. A set of ten items sells for one and a half thousand rubles, he brings his goods directly to the factory or to the vocational school. True, recently carvers have adapted to making tools on their own, but only a few. So the old man's business is booming.

Source - "Solidarity" newspaper