Ivan Ivanovich Zubkov was a miniaturist. He painted icons and frescoes, and restored wall paintings in churches. He studied at the icon painting workshop of the Belousov brothers in Palekh and later worked there. In 1924, he became a member of the Palekh Artel of Ancient Painting.
There is a fascinating legend about Palekh miniature. Once the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun was presented with a casket on which it was written: “To the amazing Knut Hamsun, who is mistaken in believing that the proletariat and the revolution do not know how to preserve and create art.” The Norwegian was delighted: “Is the drawing under the lacquer made by hand? This is witchcraft!”.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, the village of Palekh was not always known as a place of residence for great artists. It was inhabited by peasants, artisans, icon painters, ironically called “bogomazy” (from Russian “God” and “to smear”). Palekh icon painters became artists after the Russian revolution. Andrei Rublev’s techniques and traditions remained only on their fingertips and in their eyes. Instead of icons and frescoes, Ivan Zubkov began to create landscape and genre compositions on papier-mâché products.
Ivan Zubkov’s “Rural Landscape” is an example of how icon painters were looking for new forms of realizing their creative potential. In this work, the artist transferred the conventional style of the image, traditional for the Old Russian icon, to the canvas. This was an innovative direction for its time, and, based on that, workshops of lacquer miniatures in the Palekh style were subsequently established. They are now known all over the world.
The artist was a keen admirer of rural nature, which always appears in his works in festive sunlight. As a connoisseur of iconographic traditions, he also perfectly mastered the original technique of applying layers of paint. Due to the translucence of the lower layers of paint through the thin, transparent upper layers, the artist achieves a smooth transition from one tone into another. The blue sky and golden leaves on the trees are complemented by accents of pink and green. Everything is important in the picture. The artist seems to be contemplating nature and people living in this world. The figures appear to be smoothly, somewhat slowly moving, which creates a feeling of peace and quiet. This effect is facilitated by the color scheme, built on gentle transitions of one color to another.
There is a fascinating legend about Palekh miniature. Once the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun was presented with a casket on which it was written: “To the amazing Knut Hamsun, who is mistaken in believing that the proletariat and the revolution do not know how to preserve and create art.” The Norwegian was delighted: “Is the drawing under the lacquer made by hand? This is witchcraft!”.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, the village of Palekh was not always known as a place of residence for great artists. It was inhabited by peasants, artisans, icon painters, ironically called “bogomazy” (from Russian “God” and “to smear”). Palekh icon painters became artists after the Russian revolution. Andrei Rublev’s techniques and traditions remained only on their fingertips and in their eyes. Instead of icons and frescoes, Ivan Zubkov began to create landscape and genre compositions on papier-mâché products.
Ivan Zubkov’s “Rural Landscape” is an example of how icon painters were looking for new forms of realizing their creative potential. In this work, the artist transferred the conventional style of the image, traditional for the Old Russian icon, to the canvas. This was an innovative direction for its time, and, based on that, workshops of lacquer miniatures in the Palekh style were subsequently established. They are now known all over the world.
The artist was a keen admirer of rural nature, which always appears in his works in festive sunlight. As a connoisseur of iconographic traditions, he also perfectly mastered the original technique of applying layers of paint. Due to the translucence of the lower layers of paint through the thin, transparent upper layers, the artist achieves a smooth transition from one tone into another. The blue sky and golden leaves on the trees are complemented by accents of pink and green. Everything is important in the picture. The artist seems to be contemplating nature and people living in this world. The figures appear to be smoothly, somewhat slowly moving, which creates a feeling of peace and quiet. This effect is facilitated by the color scheme, built on gentle transitions of one color to another.
