Gorodets painting
Picturesque hand-painted bookmarks with traditional Gorodets subjects.
On the original style of Gorodets art
This style of decorative wood painting derives its name from the Gorodets settlement in the Nizhny Novgorod Province that was famous for its woodwork crafts. Gorodets painting is readily identified by its distinctive manner and original subject matter.
This style of painting has evolved a peculiar brushwork method whereby the object is first covered with a coloured ground that also serves as a primer and is then ‘painted over’ with a thick brush, large patches of colour forming a composition and marking the images in it. Then a finer brush is used to elaborate details and model the shapes with fine strokes. The finest brush is used to apply delicate white and black finishing touches in order to enliven the composition. The same brush is normally used to paint an elegant border framing of the entire composition.
Typical Gorodets motifs are sumptuous rose-like blossoms, bright rosettes, small flowers, birds with brightly-colored feathers and, certainly, their famous horses, each of them delicate, with a small head, curved neck and slender legs.
Somewhat later but no less typical subjects are strolling ladies and gentlemen, horseback riders, tea-drinking scenes in rich interiors with columns, tall windows, magnificent draperies and clocks, and sometimes everyday scenes, such as hunters in a wood, spinners at work or builders constructing a house.
