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tradition of the earthenware toys survived better in the
20th century than the traditions of other hand-made Russian
toys. The Dymkovo settlement near the city of Kirov (formerly
known as Vyatka) is the best-known center of earthenware
toy production. The settlement is established in the 15th
century by the citizens the Northern town of Veliky Ustyug
who rebelled against Moscow domination and were established
by the Tsar Ivan III to the remote regions. Some of them
including many skilled craftsmen and toy makers moved to
the place that was known the town of Khlynov at the time.
L.Falalyeva. "Turnip". 1966
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The toys-making
trade was primarily promoted the needs of the local festival
known as the “whistling celebration". There was
a great demand during the festival for various whistles
manufactured by the local craftsmen and shaped as figurines
of birds, horses, and lambs. The festival is rooted in the
pagan worship of Yarilo, the Slavic solar deity. Another
ancient local festival stimulated the demand for toys included
all kinds of popular entertainment such as community contests
for fist fighters and making snowmen. In the 19th century
such rural festivals were quite big affairs, they coincided
with fairs and other trade events and continued for several
days.
The Dymkovo toys were shaped of
the local red clay mixed with fine river sand to prevent
cracking ring firing. First the massive base of a toy was
shaped and then smaller fragments were attached to it (chest,
arms, head, dress fringes, hair plaits, or hesad dresses).
Z.Penkina. "Emelya on the stove". 1989
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The finished toys
were dried for several days, fired for three - four hours,
primed with chalk dissolved in buttermilk, and painted with
tempera paints over the white background. (It is only the
Dymkovo toy makers who "whitened" their products
by immersing them into a suspension of chalk powder in milk.)
When the primed toy was drying in a draught a casein film
appeared the surface and fixed the chalk coating.
The most ancient motifs of the Dymkovo
toys are the animals and birds. However, the Dymkovo toy
trade is famous primarily for the colorful figurines of
proud noble ladies, fat merchant wives, elegant gentlemen,
valiant hussars, and groups of figurines depicting scenes
from the circus life and open-air markets. The charmingly
lively and often funny characters of the toys graphically
represent the everyday life of a small Russian town in the
19th century.
The toy structure includes basically
a bell-shaped skirt and a torso with attached small spherical
head, bent arms, and diminutive children figures.
The Dymkovo toys are painted in as many as a dozen colors,
rather than two or three, typical for other Russian earthenware
toys. They are adorned with distinctive ornaments of squares,
stripes, circles, loops, or dots. In conclusion a toy is
decorated with diamonds of gold leaf, which make it look
extremely festive.
Z.Penkina. "Tea drinking". 1995
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Modern
Dymkovo toys include ancient motifs, as well as those of
the second half of the 19th century, such as barynyas (or
landladies), nyanki (or nannies), vodonoski (or female watercarriers)
and others. In the 1930s, the Dymkovo toys began to depict
fairy tales and contemporary lifestyle. There were also
multi-character compositions on stands, figures of people
taller than 30 cm and others. Massive, abtsract, and somewhat
grotesque forms of the Dymkovo toys are emphasized by ruffles,
puffed collars, and other features. Improvised bright painting
of the toys represents a geometric ornament of cirles, checks,
and dots of different colors and sizes. Dymkovo toys appeal
to our contemporaries by their artistry, clear-cut characters,
witty humor and optimism. These are the traits that make
this original art superior to time.
Z.Penkina. "Emelya on the sledge". 1996
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