Mstyora (or Mstera) miniature (russian: Мстёрская миниатюра) is a Russian

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

of miniature painting, which is done with

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

paints on

varnish Varnish is a clear transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not a stain. It usually has a yellowish shade from the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmented as desired, and is sold commercially in vario ...

ed articles mostly made of

papier-mâché upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...

. Mstyora miniatures appeared in the settlement of Mstyora (in modern

Vladimir Oblast Vladimir Oblast (russian: Влади́мирская о́бласть, ''Vladimirskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its closest border 66 km east of central Moscow, the administrative center is the city of Vladimir, wh ...

) in the early 20th century on the basis of a local tradition of icon-painting. In 1923, Mstyora painters formed an

artel An artel (russian: арте́ль) was any of several types of cooperative associations and (later) corporate enterprises in the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. They began centuries ago but were especially prevalent ...

called Ancient Russian Folk Painting (Древнерусская народная живопись), renamed Proletarian Art (Пролетарское искусство) in 1931. This artel was turned into a factory in 1960. The Mstyora painting technology was borrowed from the

Palekh Palekh (russian: Па́лех) is an urban locality (a settlement) and the administrative center of Palekhsky District of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. Population: Painting Palekh has a very long history in Russian iconography, the art of painting ...

artists. Mstyora miniatures usually represent characters from real life,

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

, and literary and historical works. Warmth and gentleness of colors, depth of landscape backgrounds (often with blue dales in the back), small size and squatness of human figurines, and subtlety of framing pattern done in

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

are typical.

References

{{Authority control Russian handicrafts Miniature painting Papier-mâché Vladimir Oblast 20th-century establishments in Russia