Hermitage
December 7, 2012 - March 31, 2013

in the Blue Bedroom of the Winter Palace, the exhibition "Sentimental Journey. Wedgwood in Russia ", dedicated to the centenary exhibition of ceramics company Wedgwood in the Imperial Academy of Arts, one of the curators, who was the first director of the State Hermitage - Sergey Troynitsky (1882-1948).

addition products exhibited at the fair in 1912, the Hermitage shows unidentified public and previously unpublished pieces from the museum's storerooms. Just before the audience brought 97 works of world famous company, which can not only appreciate the high artistic level of the Hermitage collection, but also give the concept of the educational mission of the main aspects of Josiah Wedgwood.

Club pitcher. 1820-1840 firm Wedgwood Brown rock mass Source: hermitagemuseum . org

copy of Portland vase. Around 1890 firm Wedgwood Jasper mass Source: hermitagemuseum.org

Biography Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) - a vivid portrait of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution in Britain. Great Josiah was the youngest of thirteen children in the family of the owner of a small ceramic workshop. Starting self-employment at 29, 36 Josiah has become "ceramist Her Majesty", in 39 years - opened the famous factory "Etruria", which were produced decorative vessels, reminiscent of antique vases. Romantic manifestation was with handmade master "Vaz earliest days" Etruria "" during the opening ceremony of the factory. The front side of these vessels were decorated with images that mimic the Greek red-figure vase painting. Contemporaries perceived vedzhvudovskie products as an example of high artistic taste, the visible embodiment of ancient harmony.

Wedgwood worked with the youth of technological research. In the early years of his career, he has improved the composition used at the time of green glaze, giving them a shiny emerald hue (in this technique in the early 1760s as a decorated jug of pineapple). Wedgwood is a credit to the upgrading of traditional English recipe earthenware "creamy" (items from the "set with the emblems of agriculture"). New ceramic composition was named queen and faience different light color and greater plasticity. Among the inventions of Wedgwood - the recipe of the famous black basalt mass resembles a antique bronze, black-lacquered and Greek vessels, and of course, the mass of jasper, gained particular popularity contemporaries. The latter is easily possible to reproduce antique cameos with white relief on a colored background and produce plaques graceful neoclassical interior decoration (such as "Dancing nymph" or "Sacrifice Flora»).

Saucer. About 1820 firm Wedgwood Pottery, overglaze painting and gilding Source: hermitagemuseum.org

Maker of the service desk. 1785-1790 firm Wedgwood Jasper mass Source: hermitagemuseum. org

XVIII century - the century of the fictional journey in which intellectuals were sent without leaving from the desk. Another thing - people practices. Construction of the new plant is also making Wedgwood as a fascinating journey into the past, and Wedgwood - potters, businessman and "traveler" - could not be denied in sentimentality. Josiah Wedgwood positioned himself as the creator of a new cultural utopia, focused on the myths of antiquity, but mastered in modern practical sense. Products of the company were carried out on samples of the "best" of antiquities, while in one piece with a combination of antique plastic and visual motifs and artistic realities of other eras.

no accident that the Russian craze English culture traditionally associated with interest vedzhvudovskim works. Pottery firm Wedgwood helped the Russians, if not feel inhabitants of Britain, then make a "sentimental journey" to its shores.

since Catherine II comfortable and civilized life in the open air in Russia associated with the British cultural tradition. It was commissioned by the Empress in the years 1773-1774 Wedgwood was made famous "Green Frog": 944 item, decorated in 1222 not repeated views of Britain. The ensemble was designed for roadside palace in the town Kekerekeksinen (finsk. "bog frog"). Part of the service objects, stored in the beginning of XX century in the English palace in Peterhof, was exhibited at the jubilee exhibition vedzhvudovskoy ceramics in London in 1909. These same 34 things, are the world-famous adventurer ceramic ensemble on this show. "Green Frog", originally intended for viewing, not for utilitarian use, Russians not only acquainted with British landscapes, but also with the British cultural values, and the exhibition in 1909 was seen as a symbol of Russian involvement in the European cultural tradition.

Items from the "Green Frog". 1773-1774 firm Wedgwood Pottery Queen, overglaze Source: hermitagemuseum.org

medallion with a portrait of Catherine II. About 1780 firm Wedgwood black basalt mass Source: hermitagemuseum. org

Exhibits Hermitage exhibition can show a pronounced interest in Russian culture as a phenomenon English taste, and the idea of ​​English comfort (eg, utensils purchased for Tsarskoye Selo Palace farms). These products help to show the contribution of the company in the history of the interpretation of Wedgwood ancient heritage. Fictional Russians travel to Britain and vedzhvudovskoe "sentimental journey" in the ancient world - two equal storylines exposure.

The exhibition is an illustrated catalog (State Hermitage Publishing House), with introduction and annotations by catalog curator - Lydia Vladimirovna Poles, senior fellow Western European Applied Art at the State Hermitage Museum.

Source : hermitagemuseum.org