05 april – 05 may
The exhibition "Revived Tradition. The bone carving art of Taymyr" is a rare opportunity to get acquainted with the works of the best masters of modern bone carving, combining the ancient traditions of the culture of the Far North and the traditions of new art, including avant-garde. The masters do not just repeat old forms - they create new images on the edge of dream and reality, showing the incredible vitality of ancient bone-carving art and the limitless plastic potential of the material. And the material is the bone of two great animals: the reindeer, which accompanies the life of northern peoples from birth to death, and the mammoth, which is older than man as a species. From its tusks, preserved in the permafrost of the Taymir, the peoples of the peninsula cut everything, even utensils.
For thousands of years a unique culture of five indigenous Arctic ethnoses: Dolgans, Nenets, Nganasans, Evenks and Enets was formed, and bone carving became an integral part of it. Bone carving has always been used for making various hunting and fishing tools, household items, elements of reindeer harness and ritual paraphernalia. In the hands of old masters these things became real works of art.
In the second half of the XXth century, the tradition of creating bone products in the Taymir was interrupted due to the decline of local reindeer herding and changes in the life of indigenous ethnic groups. The revival began only in the 90s with the help of professional artists.
At the exhibition you will see the works of the best artists from the collection of the Taimyr House of Folk Art and other institutions of Dudinka - the Taimyr Museum of Local Lore, the City Center of Folk Art, the Arctic Center of Culture. Among them are famous artists N.M. Kirgizov, D.V. Chuprin, N.A. Chunanchar, N.O. Kirgizov, V.V. Yamkin, A.A. Porotov, F.N. Falkov... They revive the ancient tradition of the peninsula without losing the author's individual manner. Masters successfully work in the genre of sculpture of small forms with the use of various techniques of bone carving, consciously made avant-garde solutions, and all together - it is a magical journey into the ancient dreams of Taymyr - the world of its gods and heroes, into the rituals of its religion and household, without which it is impossible to understand this ancient land, its spiritual content.
On April 6, the All-Russian Decorative Art Museum will host Taymyr Day. We will listen to the sound of musical instruments of the indigenous peoples of Taimyr, play Taimyr board games, talk about the images of folklore in the arts and crafts of the Dolgans, about shamanism and spiritual culture of the indigenous peoples of the peninsula, at master classes we will try to create sculptures of small forms from mammoth tusk and reindeer horn, shaman's tambourine.