Although the skill of embroidery is often thought to be a craft tradition that is firmly ensconced in that of the past rather than the present or future, embroiderers themselves have always been aware of and used contemporary themes within their work. For us today, these themed embroidery designs can be an interesting and sometimes valuable lesson in social and design history.
All of the design work shown here is part of the exhibition shown by the Soviet Union at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris. Compared to the previous post on Northern Russian embroidery which showed the traditional pattern work that was used extensively throughout the region from a far earlier period, these pieces tend to show aspects of Northern Russia from a much later period. They incorporate aspects of everyday life, motifs and emblems from the Russian Empire including images of the church, landed gentry and peasantry and the Romanoff double-headed eagle. However, also included in the exhibition was embroidery work produced in early Soviet era Russia as well, with images portraying factories, workers and cars.
This later contemporary themed embroidery work does not necessarily dominate the production of the craft during this period, as traditional older design work, including the red thread dominated embroidery work of Central Russia, was still being produced in relatively large quantities. There would also have been examples of early Soviet and Bolshevik embroidered propaganda banners that were used in marches both before and after the revolution. This was very much in the same manner as the Trade Union and Suffragette banners that were often embroidered by women and could be seen across Europe and North America, particularly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The pieces shown here though not political in form would still have complimented the tradition of embroidery and been added to the overall library of design work that was such a vital part of the craft. This library of mostly amateur inspired work, none of which was written or copied down, but was instead passed as a memory from generation to generation, is an invaluable illustration of both the history of the craft and the history of those involved with the craft, usually unknown women.
During the peak of the European Arts & Crafts movement, a number of avid collectors started to procure examples of mainly rural crafts. It was these particular traditions that were most in need of either protection or at least documentation, as the drift towards regular employment in large towns and cities across Europe was seeing the demise of many of these long term and multi-generational rural craft disciplines, including that of embroidery. Luckily, many of these collections that were put together by the nineteenth century Russian middle classes and aristocracy, survived the Revolution and became important additions to a number of state museum collections, where luckily for us they still remain today.
Further reading links:
Russian Punchneedle Embroidery
Russian and Other Slavic Embroidery Designs
Early Russian Embroidery in the Zagorsk Museum Collection
Russian Embroidery and Lace
Russian Embroidery Book
La Broderie Russe Ancienne (Ancient Russian Embroidery)
Russian Embroidery 17th-Early 20th Centuries
RUSSIAN EMBROIDERY: TRADITIONAL MOTIFS
Russian embroidery patterns
Ancient Russian Ecclesiastical Embroideries
Russian Knot Embroidery Craft Book
Antique Russian Embroidery
Pearl embroidery in Russia. Avenue / Zhemchuzhnoe shite na Rusi. Prospekt
Embroidery Icons, towels, A r / Vyshivka ikon, rushnikov, pokrovtsov
