Dmitry Volkov

The Palekh hand-painted fairytales on Russian black lacquer wood are known throughout the world. Originating in Palekh, a small town in Russia, the area became the center of icon painting as early as the 17th century and the Palekh icon before the Russian revolution was no less famous than the Palekh casket today, and these two types of art are directly related. In 1924, seven years after the Russian revolution, hereditary Palekh icon painters figured out how to apply their skills and preserve the ancient Russian artistic tradition in a new, atheistic culture. The very first works of Palekh icon painters in the new genre of brilliant painted story on black lacquer, commissioned by the handicraft museum, received a diploma of the first degree at the exhibition of the Academy of Artistic Sciences. Artists have been painting stories in Palekh, Russia for as long as there are records and even today they still make the paint the same way - using egg yolk, achieving "depth, luminosity and perseverance." Diluted with table vinegar or kvass. Palekh artists' brushes are also handmade. So modern masters, even when buying ready-made paints, still produce brushes by hand - hair by hair. To work with sheet gold, craftsmen use a special brush - lampemsel, made from the tip of a squirrel's tail.