Decorative Minimalism. “The Thaw” in Soviet Porcelain. In the Christmas Gift series

The diverse selection of pieces presented in the Recess of the Eastern Gallery of the Winter Palace tells about the era in the 1950s and ’60s that is customarily referred to as the “Thaw”. The display contains more than 160 works in porcelain – table services, vases and examples of small-scale plastic art – that produce a unique, striking impression of their time, as well as works by present-day artists of the Imperial Porcelain Factory created specially for the exhibition.

The epoch of Khrushchev’s “Thaw” was a time of substantial changes in public attitudes and social life, which found powerful reflection in art and culture. The dominant aesthetic theme of the era became the “Contemporary Style” with its characteristic tendency towards simple forms, an emphasis on functionality, as well as convenience and economy in manufacturing. This is a style for everyday living – practical and affordable.

The sources for the creation of the new style were the artistic traditions of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco, the creative experiments of members of the Russian avant-garde, folk art and the Archaic era, as well as contemporary foreign industrial and applied art. 

In porcelain art, the “Thaw” manifested itself in the active development of shapes, the updating of the subject matter for painting, and the working out of an innovative artistic language that might be termed “decorative minimalism”.

A leading role in this process was played by the sculptors and artists of the then Leningrad Porcelain Factory named after M.V. Lomonosov. The new artistic style proposed by the factory’s creative staff became a continuation of the traditions of the avant-garde in applied art and was of strong significance for its subsequent evolution.

The design of new porcelain shapes reflected a tendency to “eliminate excesses”: the sculptors abandoned the moulded relief adornments and elaborate silhouettes characteristic of post-war applied art and gave preference to concise, modernistic approaches.

The development of shapes in the new style was the work of Anna Leporskaya, Eduard Krimmer, Vladimir Semionov, Vladimir Gorodetsky, Serafima Yakovleva and others.

The exhibition includes Vladimir Semionov’s vase Crystal (1956) that won a Grand Prix at the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels and became a sort of symbol of the “Contemporary Style”, a sign of the times and of the changes in applied art. Its wave-like organic shape was perceived as a complete innovation among the ranks of classic vase shapes, while the choice for this object of the colour black, not characteristic of porcelain, produced an unusual decorative effect.

The shapes that Anna Leporskaya created are marked by classical strictness and clarity and by immaculate proportions, which combine in her work with the soft, flowing quality of the lines. Her vase designs are often founded upon a rethinking of motifs from nature. This is the case with Birch, Rowan and Daffodil (all 1962) that feature in the exhibition. The tendency towards soft, streamlined shapes that was popular in “Thaw”-era applied art found embodiment in the works of Eduard Krimmer – the table services Waterlily (1958) and Sun (1961). Current tendencies of the “Contemporary Style” found reflection in the shapes that Serafima Yakovleva gave to vases and services.

The decorative painting of the period is characterized by stylized, conventionalized compositions that seek to convey a “general impression” of what is depicted. Among the main themes that inspired porcelain artists were floral motifs, landscapes and new housing construction. An important feature of “Thaw”-era porcelain became the desire to show the beauty and emphasize the high quality of the material itself, which led to the popularity in the 1960s of unpainted white porcelain that began to be perceived as a finished product.

Depictions of flowers – one of the most traditional motifs in porcelain art – underwent a transformation during the “Thaw” in full accordance with the requirements of the “Contemporary Style”. Artists presented simplified, stylized images of blooms, turning them into a self-sufficient motif and abandoning the types of composition and elaborate floral ornaments that were classic for the decoration of porcelain. One of the most striking examples of the creative rethinking of plant motifs in the spirit of decorative minimalism is Larisa Grigoryeva’s Snowdrop service (1960).

Landscape in the “Contemporary Style” was very popular among the artists of this time. Winter scenes are one of the key themes in the early works of Vladimir Gorodetsky (the vase paintings Winter’s Day and Snow (both 1962)). Larisa Grigoryeva’s porcelain service Winter (1964) presents some fascinatingly beautiful images. The theme of a Leningrad spring is given poetical treatment in the Nina Slavina’s painting of the Spring Shadows service (1959).

The artists took an interest in abstraction and offered some original interpretations of ornamentation. The colour scheme became very restrained and laconic, tending towards contrast or, conversely, towards a unity of tone. In Nina Pavlova's Contrast service (1959), the red decoration is juxtaposed to the white surface of the porcelain, calling to mind the Suprematists’ experiments. At the same time, the artists sought to create modern variations on the classic porcelain motif of the net (Lidia Lebedinskaya’s vase painting entitled simply Net (1962)).

The theme of new housing developments and life in the new city districts was one of the most topical for “Thaw”-era paintings and graphic works. The image of Leningrad in porcelain art was transformed in accordance with the aesthetics of the “Contemporary Style”. The theme of the city was developed most consistently in the 1960s by Antonina Semionova, as exemplified by her painting on the New Housing service (1966).

In porcelain sculpture, which at this time favoured genre compositions and depictions of animals, the “Contemporary Style” expressed itself in the consolidation of shapes, reduction of detail, generalization and concision. The exhibition includes works of decorative sculpture, including A New Hairstyle (1962), Bather (1959), Woman Reading a Book (1965) and others. The animal genre is represented by the works of celebrated exponents: Boris Vorobyov’s sculpture Black Panther (1956) and Pavel Veselov’s composition Giraffes (1960).

The Fourth World Festival of Youth and Students, held in Moscow in 1957, had a special significance for “Thaw”-era culture. The image of the dove of peace became one of the main symbols of the festival. This theme is echoed in the exhibition in the works of Eduard Krimmer – the sculpture Dove (1957) and a series of small figures of doves intended as souvenirs.

For the Leningrad Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, the “Thaw” was a time of active participation in national and foreign exhibitions, at which works by sculptors and artists working for the enterprise were repeatedly awarded prizes. These events included the World’s Fairs in Brussels (1958) and Montreal (1967), the International Exhibitions of Ceramics in Ostend (1959) and Prague (1962), as well as numerous all-Union, republican and regional exhibitions.

The exhibition “Decorative Minimalism. ‘The Thaw’ in Soviet Porcelain” is the 19th in the Christmas Gift series that is devoted to the history and art of porcelain produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory, known in Soviet times as the Leningrad Porcelain Factory. This series is a revival by the Hermitage of a long-standing tradition going back to the late 18th century, by which as the Christmas feast approached the best pieces produced by the Imperial Factories in Saint Petersburg were put on display in the Winter Palace.

Original pieces by current artists of the Imperial Porcelain Factory joint-stock company are also included in the Christmas Gift exhibitions. The display includes new works by the company’s artists that were inspired by “decorative minimalism” and the era of the “Thaw” that gave birth to it.

The exhibition “Decorative Minimalism. ‘The Thaw’ in Soviet Porcelain” marks the 100th anniversary in 2020 of the birth of Larisa Grigoryeva (1920–1997), a striking exponent of the “Contemporary Style” in the art of the Leningrad Porcelain Factory.

The State Hermitage publishing house has brought out a scholarly illustrated catalogue for the exhibition – Dekorativnyi minimalizm. “Ottepel'” v sovetskom farfore.

The texts in the catalogue are by researchers in the Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, a department of the State Hermitage: Ida Shik (“The ‘Second Modernism’ in Soviet Porcelain”) and Inna Maistrenko (“Larisa Grigoryeva – an artist of the ‘Contemporary Style’”).

The exhibition has been prepared by the Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, a department of the State Hermitage (headed by Anna Ivanova). The exhibition curator is Ida Shik, Candidate of Art Studies, a junior researcher in the Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Factory department.

The general sponsor of the exhibition is the VTB bank www.vtb.ru

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