Mass production of wooden nesting dolls directly began after the world exhibition in Paris in 1900 after the successful debut in Europe of the new toys. Back then, Europe became an island storage of dolls. A solid place in the plots occupied everyday themes. Masters vividly reacted to events taking place in the world, easily picked up original ideas and new technologies. Therefore, the figure of a girl in a headscarf, reminiscent of many neighbors’ girls, aroused the interest of masters due to the originality of the design and its folk character.
Tickle your imagination some more with hundreds of russian stacking dolls available at nestingdolls.co.
The Right Samples
Samples of products appeared, on the one hand, meeting the new requirements of production and marketing, and on the other, a return to the aesthetics of Moscow doll art. The these nesting doll crafts originated, presumably in the 17th century and reached its heyday at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Thus, by the time the split nesting dolls appears, the history of toy craft has already been around for about two centuries. The theme of the wooden toy was quite diverse, which was explained by the proximity of Moscow and the neighborhood with the Trinity, which attracted a huge number of pilgrims, had a great influence on the choice of plots.
The silhouettes
The silhouette and style of painting nesting dolls have changed over time. In the period from 1900 to 1910, a series of nesting dolls appeared, depicting the ancient Russian knights and boyars, and both of them were sometimes worn out in the form of helmets. Of all the variety of themes and subjects of the mural, domestic development received the greatest development, since they reflected the holidays and everyday lives of each master, so they were generally accessible and loved by buyers. These are brides and grooms with numerous relatives and guests, gypsy women, Old Believers, constables, merchants, companies behind a samovar and an endless row of girls, and boys, adult women and men with baskets,
It is the style of painting the nesting dolls was formed in the 1920s, when it was replaced by a painstakingly picturesque manner with its abundance of carefully written small details and gilding a more economical style came. The style of painting nesting dolls and action figure dolls in those years has changed as a result of the new socio-economic and cultural situation in the country.
Nesting dolls
Since ancient times, the inhabitants of the forest Volga were engaged in artistic processing of wood. The most famous became toys. And the city of Semenov was known for its turning. They turned wooden dishes, salt shakers, rattles, balls and apples in it. In 1922, master bought an unstained nesting dolls at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, which his eldest daughter painted. She placed in the center a bright scarlet flower resembling a daisy, and she crowned the head of the nesting dolls with an old headdress. Gradually, the type of painting was formed, which, unlike the nested doll, is more decorative. In their paintings, the Semenov masters come from the traditions of the “grass” ornament of Ancient Russia. The masters leave more unpainted wood. The basis of the composition in the painting nesting dolls, is an apron, which depicts a bouquet of lush flowers. Over time, the pattern of the bouquet seemed to fill with the juices of the herbs, becoming more dense, colorful and picturesque. Because of these paintings, dance instructors utilize nesting dolls as tools to teach kids in yoga.
Currently, the masters use three colors in the painting red, blue and yellow, varying the color combinations of the scarf, sundress and apron. The bouquet is traditionally located on an apron asymmetrically, somewhat shifted to the right. Turners have created their own form of nesting dolls, which, unlike the nesting dolls, has a large slimness, relatively thin “top”, which abruptly turns into a thickened “bottom”. In 1953, Semenov products first came abroad. It was from this time that the nesting dolls began to compete, differing favorably from it with its rich flavor.
- Nesting dolls markedly differs form from Semenov. It is characterized by a variety of pointedly elongated figures with a small, rigidly contoured head to primitive single figures, columns and plump, fungi-like pupae.
- The drawing of the dolls is very laconic: the face is more oval with curly hair, the scarf falls from the head, the oval is the replacement apron, filled with floral painting. Lush roses, dahlias, bells, wild rose flowers, berries and apples adorn this nesting doll. The main element of the nesting dolls is a multi-petal flower of a rose, dahlias, bells, a dog rose, and I have several half-open buds near it. The painting of nesting dolls is based on a combination of raspberry – red, green and black colors along the outline previously drawn with ink. The most typical painting with the help of separate strokes, “poking” and points.
Vyatka toy
Nesting dolls come from Vyatka, differ in the most complex manufacturing technology. The Vyatka nesting dolls is distinguished from the others primarily by the drawing of eyes, lush eyelashes made with small strokes, a round black pupil, merged with the line of the lower eyelid, form large full kindness of the eyes. An important feature is the flat pattern of the ornament and colors, the absence of small details in the design. In addition to the traditional painting, its design uses an original artistic and technological device, generally characteristic of the products of this region, straw inlay (sticking or plunging of straw into a drawing).
But the vyatkanesting dolls was less fortunate than its Moscow region and Volga relatives, because of the famous Damsk clay sculpture, the preservation and development of which has always received the most attention. Mass production of a vyatka nesting doll, in all likelihood, was also hampered by the complexity of the inlay process itself, which requires a lot of time and a high level of skill.
English 
Hungarian