The scene on this box is taken from the "Tale of the Firebird, Prince Ivan, and the Gray Wolf." This scene occurs at the tail end of the story, just before the climax. Ivan has just stolen Tsar Dolmat's Firebird, riding off on the Horse with the Golden Mane with his one true love Princess Yelena.
During the 1960's, Palekh was already an established center of art. Golikov, Bazhenov, Kotukhin, and N. Zinovyev had passed on their artistic knowledge to the youth of Palekh and business was going well. Nikolay Zinovyev, being one of the founders of the Palekh Artel in the 1920's was a legend whom many younger artist looked up to. One of these was Parmen, his son, who was born in 1919.
Parmen did what many other Palekh teenagers were doing by attending the Palekh Art School. He graduated there at the age of 20. One of his great influences was the tutelage of Ivan Markichev. After graduating in 1939 he was most likely sent off to war on the Russian front. Since he did not start working for the Palekh Art Workshop until 1961 it is assumed that he stayed in the service for a few years after the war, but when he came back painted on his own. While working there for 13 years, his work was finally starting to be noticed and he was taking his boxes to art exhibitions. His works are kept by the Palekh Art Museum, the Museum of Folk Art, and other museums throughout Russia.
Evidence from this composition suggests that his work was influenced by his father's style, as well as the icon painting style. The black background is also present, which is a Palekh trademark that was borrowed from the Fedoskino style. Influence of his father's monumental work can be seen by the larger than life position Ivan, Yelena, the Firebird, and the Horse with the Golden Mane occupy in the composition. The landscape is a pure representation of the icon painting style that gave Palekh its classic and stylized look of distinction. This style, and the techniques used by icon painters, allows the manipulation of time, space, and proportions to achieve artistic intentions. The black background in Palekh paintings can occur regardless of day or night. This scene takes place at night as evidenced by the stars accompanying the characters in the sky.
Being 39 years old, this box is in impeccable condition. There is still a shine to the surface of the box, which means it was stored in good conditions where too much air was not able to evaporate the layer of clear lacquer. Enough, however, has evaporated over time to reveal the contours of the paper-mache underneath the black exterior and red interior. There are no cracks on the box, except on the interior portion of the hinge where red lacquer has detached from the metal surface of the hinge. This is not considered a crack or a defect in the piece; new pieces only months old develop this as well and is not uncommon. There is minor scuffing and a few scratches on the bottom of the box from handling. There are also a few light scratches to the left of the horse in the composition.
Egg-tempera paint is the main medium used to paint this composition. The colors are as vibrant as the day they were applied to the box. Gold and aluminum paints are used to detail the intricacies of the box. The artist pays particular attention to the characters in the sky. Their bodies are positioned to give off the drama and emotive qualities from this point in the tale. The horse is well drawn, which reveals with subtlety its sinewy muscles. The landscape is painted like one would see in an icon with the stylized hills grasses, and the water that is always more violently painted than it appears in reality.
This piece is a rare find because of the combination of the box's age, who painted it, its condition, and the manner in which the composition was executed. Gold beading frames the scene and a gold ornamentation patter, accented with aluminum flowers, wraps around the sides of the box. There is a hinge above the composition and upon completing the piece the artist writes a serial number (not an important element; an accounting device for the workshop to track the box and not what was painted on it), Palekh, 1964, and the signature in gold along the bottom of the composition.
Materials: paper-mache, egg-tempera paint, gold, aluminum, and lacquer.
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About Artist Zinoviev, Parmen Nikolaevich:
Lacquer miniature artist, born in 1919. Son of Nikolay Zinoviev, Parmen completed the Palekh Art School in 1939, where he studied under Ivan Markichev. Parmen worked at the Palekh Art Works Artel beginning in 1961, and began participating in exhibitions beginning in 1974. He works are held in the State Palekh Art Musuem, the Museum of Folk Art, the State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of Russia, and others.
Bratchikova Ye. K., 1996, "MINIATURISTS OF PALEKH. NAME REFERENCE", RUSSLIT, Moscow, 5-7739-0001-7, 5-86508-035-0
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read about Zinoviev, Parmen Nikolaevich
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Item Specifications:
- Title: "Ivan, Yelena, the Firebird, and the Horse with the Golden Mane 1964"
- Price: $1300.00
- This specific item is available as a single work.
We do not expect to carry this item in the foreseeable future!
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