The traditions of folk art in the Vitebsk region have received support from the Head of State
The winner of the President of Belarus grant for the restoration of works from the naive art collection is Anna Perlina, head of the exhibition activities sector at the Regional Methodological Center for Folk Art (OMCNT).
The center's collections include 300 artistic works and about 50 decorative and applied art pieces (wood carving), which are recognized as intangible historical and cultural values of our country. As Anna Perlina noted, the insite (naive) art of the Vitebsk region is a key element of the region's artistic culture. It has deep folk roots and embodies the historical and everyday life of the people through picturesque and plastic forms of expression.
In world art practice, the term insita (given by nature) is applicable to the work of non-professional artists. The spiritual values of this type of folk art include attachment to their native land, the poetics of craft-labor, agricultural, and love-family idylls. The authors convey the people's developed ideas about historical events, fairy-tale visions of the world, biblical subjects, everyday scenes, and the desire to see beauty around them. One of the prominent representatives of insite art is considered to be the Belarusian painter, graphic artist, sculptor, writer, folklorist, ethnographer, and archaeologist, a native of the Glubokoye district, Yazep Drozdovich. The OMCNT collections include one of his "malyavankas" (folk paintings). It is interesting that Mark Chagall also used the artistic techniques of amateur artists when decorating Vitebsk during revolutionary holidays.
The center's collection includes many anonymous works found during ethnographic exhibitions, but also works by famous original painters: Fyodor Maksimov, Nikolai Boytsov, Vasily Zhernosek, as well as wood carvers: Semyon Shavrov, Pyotr Zelyavsky, Gleb Rabizo. Today, artists from folk amateur groups of the Postavy, Glubokoye, Braslav, Gorodok, Liozno, Verkhnedvinsk, Beshenkovichi, Orsha, Lepel, Shumilino, Polotsk, and Vitebsk districts, as well as the regional center, contribute to the development of insite art in the Vitebsk region.
– Many stock works need restoration, as the authors wrote them on whatever they could find: scraps of fabric, cardboard, cabinet doors. They used oil, gouache, natural paints, and even tooth powder, – explained Anna Perlina.
Restoration work on the artworks was carried out constantly, but the grant opens up new opportunities for preserving the unique cultural heritage of Belarus. Professional restorers from other cities, masters of folk art crafts, and specialists from the OMCNT will be involved. Stretcher frames and frames will be needed.
The grant will also allow for the organization of exhibitions in Belarus and abroad, demonstrating the richness and originality of this unique direction, conducting traditional culture lessons and practical workshops, passing on knowledge and love for this type of creativity to the new generation, and increasing the recognition of our cultural heritage. An electronic catalog will also be created, presenting the intangible value of our country.
Previously, the Vitebsk OMCNT received a grant from the President of Belarus in 2017. It was aimed at creating a collection of reconstructions of traditional folk costumes and preparing methodological materials for the album-catalog of decorative and applied arts "Traditional Costume of the Vitebsk Region."