RUSSIAN KERCHIEFS AND SHAWLS, AURORA ART PUBLICATIONS, Leningrad, 1985

 

 This Book review is to be read in conjunction with Ariane Crafts 2020 July-August Russian and Scandinavian Embroidery Book Reviews:

1. https://arianecrafts.blogspot.com/2020/07/book-review-frieda-halpern-full-colour.html

2. https://arianecrafts.blogspot.com/2020/08/peter-linenthal-russian-folk-motifs.html

3. https://arianecrafts.blogspot.com/2020/08/mary-gostelow-embroidery-of-all-russia.html

4.https://arianecrafts.blogspot.com/2020/08/thomas-parsons-scandinavian-designers.html

5.https://arianecrafts.blogspot.com/2020/08/edith-nielsen-scandinavian-embroidery.html

Though a thick hard cover book, this is mostly an illustrated pictorial guide to the modern evolution of Russian Kerchiefs and Shawls from the 18th to the 20th century compiled by Louisa Yemifova and Rina Belogorskaya. All pictures are of items currently in museums listed accordingly, so I mostly recommend this book for readers looking to analyse textile objects in details to pinpoint fashion evolution and migration of practices and materials used in the Russian Fashion Accessories industry.

If you are a textile historian you will find of use to ask an Art Historian to help you analyse the influence that European Classic Empire Art style had in the themes of the scarfs, like so well Dr Olga Gordeyeva observed in page 5 of her Introduction to the book here reviewed,

" Large transparent white silk or muslin bridal veils were embroidered with gold thread, flat wire, sequins and silk in shadow satin stitch. The patterns can be traced back to motifs current throughout European Classicism and Empire styles at the turn of the 19th century".

Dr Olga Gordeyeva gives a succinct chronological evolution of Russian Kerchiefs and shawls based on materials, designs, stitches used, fringe of society members who made and produced the items, who wear them and what each symbolised for example a married woman vs a single woman , in what region of Russia the items were produced and where the materials were sourced and transformed , for example local mills and if the items were produced in local group homes or individually, and most importantly she also mentions items exported to Asia -  a detail which might be relevant if the reader is looking for how in long term, higher demand of cheaper silk products shifted the industries during the 18th and 19th century from Europe to Asia,

" The first Russian silk mill appeared in Moscow in 1714, and by 1727 there were sixteen. In the second half of the 18th century many towns from Astrakhan to Vologda had their own silk mills but Moscow and Kolomna with neighbouring villages were the centre of the silk industry. A major manufactory specializing in silk kerchiefs woven in gold was owned by the Kolomna merchant Guri Levin; kerchiefs with his trademark date back to the 1780s. His mills were famous for their kanavat bridal veils, which concealing the wearers figure, created a very stately effect. The kanavats had a wide zig zag border, a pattern seen on oriental textiles, interwoven with gold-thread garlands and rosettes. The whole ground was filled with rows of continuous ovals placed around large rosettes. These veils sold well in Russia and were also exported to Asia. (…) The Levin’s mills disappeared in the mid-19^th century; they no longer took part in industrial exhibitions in the late 1840s and 1850s.”

in page 6

 

The progression of the 19^th and 20^th century Shawls industry is marked by the introduction of printed manufactured shawls and kerchiefs to meet higher demand.  The author establishes a chronological and regional evolution of the methods of manufacturing production according to printing blocks available in industries with accelerated modernisation based on funding or not modernised based on lack of funding, fashion demands on the customer side, designs, monopolisations of paints by leading factories and how many manufacturing plants bankrupted late 19^th century unable to compete with ultra-modernised manufacturers such as the Guchkkov Brothers who also had greater care in supplying items designed according to the demand at the time such as Oriental designs.

The author concludes the introduction by reminding us that kerchiefs and shawls are still accessories with a niche market and that the then Soviet Union was funding the industry at the time the book was published,

“At present Soviet artists and designers, united around the USSR Art Fund, are working at major enterprises and local industrial workshops, carrying on the traditions of Russian textiles. “In page 18

 

Page 162 – 167 : List of Russian Manufactories

Hope this review proved useful and thank you for reading,

Best wishes,

Ariane Crafts