‘Memories of Mother’ was completed in 1998. The painting depicts the artists themselves in their studio. Sergei Tkachyov sits on the left, holding brushes in his hands. Alexei Tkachyov stands on the right, with a palette clearly visible in his hands. The painting depicts the artist working on a portrait of Elena Tkachyova - Alexei’s daughter. The young girl is wearing a traditional folk outfit, fashioned by the artists’ mother - Maria Vasilievna - over a hundred years earlier.
Alexei and Sergei Tkachyov recall that their mother was fantastic at needlework. She spun, wove, and embroidered her own clothes. Maria Vasilievna created her own new patterns, and they were so popular with her village neighbors, that people would come to her to copy the designs. One of the traditional folk outfits made by their mother was donated to the Moscow Museum of Folk Art by the brothers.
The brothers described the process of making fabric for needlework in detail. Usually, at the end of winter, a loom was installed in their house — ‘as my mother said, it’s time to weave’. Large sheets of linen were made by hand, before being soaked in a large oak barrel with ash. Later on, the fabric was “boiled off” - white-hot stones were lowered into the barrel to boil the material in an alkaline solution. “Steam poured out of the barrel and a rattling sound came from within, ” as the artists described it. In May, the linen would be rinsed in the river and spread out to bleach under the sun. Shirts, undergarments, towels, table cloths and bed sheets would all be fashioned out of the linen.
This laborious process fascinated the artists. They were once asked how they managed to preserve their mother”s traditional outfit, despite the fact that they had moved often and their family had had to evacuate quickly to Sverdlovsk. Alexei Tkachyov replied, “You can understand - we are artists. We know the true value of folk artworks. So we looked after our mother”s outfits like our lives depended on it, taking them with us everywhere we went. And now my daughter, who is an artist, and her daughter, who is also an artist, are painting these outfits on models, singing and preserving our traditions.
The artists were introduced to folk art by their mother when children. They later admitted that this may have been the beginning of their own creative lives.
Художники приобщались к народному искусству своей мамы с самого детства. Позже они признавались, что, возможно, именно с этого началось их собственное творчество.
Alexei and Sergei Tkachyov recall that their mother was fantastic at needlework. She spun, wove, and embroidered her own clothes. Maria Vasilievna created her own new patterns, and they were so popular with her village neighbors, that people would come to her to copy the designs. One of the traditional folk outfits made by their mother was donated to the Moscow Museum of Folk Art by the brothers.
The brothers described the process of making fabric for needlework in detail. Usually, at the end of winter, a loom was installed in their house — ‘as my mother said, it’s time to weave’. Large sheets of linen were made by hand, before being soaked in a large oak barrel with ash. Later on, the fabric was “boiled off” - white-hot stones were lowered into the barrel to boil the material in an alkaline solution. “Steam poured out of the barrel and a rattling sound came from within, ” as the artists described it. In May, the linen would be rinsed in the river and spread out to bleach under the sun. Shirts, undergarments, towels, table cloths and bed sheets would all be fashioned out of the linen.
This laborious process fascinated the artists. They were once asked how they managed to preserve their mother”s traditional outfit, despite the fact that they had moved often and their family had had to evacuate quickly to Sverdlovsk. Alexei Tkachyov replied, “You can understand - we are artists. We know the true value of folk artworks. So we looked after our mother”s outfits like our lives depended on it, taking them with us everywhere we went. And now my daughter, who is an artist, and her daughter, who is also an artist, are painting these outfits on models, singing and preserving our traditions.
The artists were introduced to folk art by their mother when children. They later admitted that this may have been the beginning of their own creative lives.
Художники приобщались к народному искусству своей мамы с самого детства. Позже они признавались, что, возможно, именно с этого началось их собственное творчество.
