Why Are Nesting Dolls A Pop Culture Phenomenon

The nested doll is a symbol of national culture, and has its admirers both among our compatriots and foreigners who are not indifferent to this kind of art.

Buy a nesting doll – a symbol of folk art

The nesting souvenir is more than a symbol of folk art, it is a national treasure and national pride. As a rule, they are purchased as mementos. Traditional dolls will be a wonderful souvenir for a foreign guest, an international delegation, a colleague from abroad or a collector. You can pick up both a classic and very original set, for example, with persons of famous musicians or seasons. This gift will be remembered for a long time, because it carries a piece of original culture.

For more cool Russian nesting dolls design, nestingdolls.co offers several traditional and carved nesting doll sets. To place an order, just send the goods to the cart and choose your preferred payment method.

How it All Happened

The first nesting doll was created, in the store of small nesting dolls and toys “Children’s Perception”. Initially there was a bookstore, which was managed by Anatoly Memento, a toy workshop opened a little later.

Craftsmen worked on toys in this workshop. At first they created “ethnographic” dolls, dressing them in traditional costumes of people from different parts of Russia. Alexander III really liked the idea of such dolls, and he endorsed her by saying that such Russian dolls have a positive effect on telling children about life, life and culture.

  • There is an opinion that when creating a painted nesting doll made of wood, the master was inspired by a Japanese toy brought from France or the Far East. There is a possibility that this was a wish-fulfilling Drama doll. When making a wish, one eye is drawn on the doll, and after the second one is executed. If the desire does not come true, then the doll should be burned the next year.
  • It could also be a Cokes doll. This nesting doll was born on the island of Honshu, in honor of the healing of the infertility of the wife of a military ruler. After visiting the island they had a daughter. However, it should be noted that all these conjectures have not any documentary evidence.
  • Memento was given the task of creating a new wooden nesting doll, and the craftsmen got down to business. Best of all, he managed a hereditary turner. Once he saw a good chock, he carved it in the form of a nun, and showed his work to turners. They really liked the idea of ??Russian nesting dolls, and they advised to make a greater similarity with the female figure, and the toy itself detachable.
  • Memento’s toy, which is currently in our shop of dolls, he liked, and he instructed Sergei Maltin, who was an illustrator of books in his publishing house. So nesting doll got black eyebrows, and beautiful outfit. It is worth noting that disputes about the involvement of Maltin in the painting of nesting dolls continue to this day.

Unfortunately, we cannot know about the exact date of the Semenov nesting doll creation. However, we can determine its approximate age, it is reliably known that in 1986, based on these data, we can conclude that the nesting doll was born between 1898 and 1990.

The history of the birth of the nesting doll keeps many secrets and mysteries in it, many of which are not unraveled today. Russian nesting doll became an excellent national souvenir.

The Fact

However, you should not only take this nesting doll as a souvenir, because it was initially created as a toy for small children. It may not be a toy for sports, but this nesting dolls will still guarantee a smile on children in the same way a Transformer squishy being enjoyed by a kid. Having opened the Semenov nesting doll, the child will be pleasantly surprised by the presence of another nesting doll in it. This toy is very useful for young children to develop logic and thinking. For many years, the nested doll has become an integral part of culture.

  • Since the beginning of the 80s of the last century, as a result of increased competition from private toy factories in the field, a period of decline began. The provincial drew attention to this. In the 1890s, the site helps to maintain the stable development of handicraft production, including toy production. Professional artists, educators, economists who first tried to make out new samples of toys on a serious scientific basis were invited to the craft. In order to improve the condition of the fishery in 1891 an educational and demonstration workshop was opened under the direction.
  • Thus, at the time of the appearance of a split-molded, figurine, the history of toy fishery already had about two centuries.
  • Masters vividly reacted to events taking place in the world, easily picked up original ideas and new technologies. Therefore, the figure of a girl in a headscarf, reminiscent of many neighboring Nesting doll, aroused the interest of toy-makers due to the originality of the design and its national character. Because of this, you can see many nesting dolls placed on tables of every household.

The Right Appearance

The appearance of nesting dolls in Russia at the very end of the last century was not accidental. It was during this period of time among the Russian artistic intelligentsia that they not only began to seriously engage in collecting works of folk art, but also tried to creatively comprehend the richest experience of national artistic traditions. In addition to the institutions, private art circles and workshops were organized at the expense of patrons of art, in which, under the guidance of professional artists, masters were trained and various household items and toys were created in the Russian style.

  • Samples of products appeared, on the one hand, meeting the new requirements of production and marketing, and on the other, a return to the aesthetics of art.
  • Most likely the mass production of nesting doll directly began after the world exhibition in Paris in 1900 after the successful debut in Europe of the nesting doll- new toys.
  • In 1904, the workshop – the store “Children’s Education” was closed, and its entire range was transferred to the Zesty training and demonstration workshop. In the same year, the workshop received an official order from Paris for the manufacture of a large batch of nesting doll. Interest in the nested doll is explained not only by the originality of its form and decorative painting, but also, probably, by a peculiar tribute to fashion for everything Russian, which spread at the beginning of the 20th century largely.

The annual fairs in Leipzig also contributed to the massive export of the nesting dolls. Since 1909, the nesting doll has also become a regular participant in the Berlin exhibition and the annual handicraft market, which took place in the beginning of the 20th century in London. And thanks to a traveling exhibition organized by the Society of Shipping and Trade, the inhabitants of the coastal cities of Greece, Turkey and the countries of the Middle East got acquainted with the nesting dolls.

In 1911, a Japanese fake was brought from the Leipzig fair, which was an exact replica of the nesting doll, differing from it only by the features of the face and the absence of a lacquer coating. By itself, this fact does not favor the version of the Japanese origin of the doll.

The Style

The silhouette and style of painting nesting doll have changed over time. At the beginning of the 20th century, the general interest in history, encouraged by the provincial, had a great influence on the nested doll. In the period from 1900 to 1910, a series of nesting dolls appeared, depicting the ancient Russian knights and boyars, and both of them were sometimes turned into helmets. In honor of the centenary of the Patriotic War in 1912, the dolls “Kutuzov” and “Napoleon” with headquarters were made.

The favorite folk hero Stephan with his closest associates and the Persian Princess was not overlooked by the authors of the dolls.

  • 100 years anniversary N.V. Gogol in 1909 was also marked by the appearance of a series of dolls depicting the heroes of his works. Often, ethnographic images were created, made from the sketches of professional artists and reliably reflecting the characteristic features and details of traditional clothing from the Baltic States, the Far North and other regions. It is simply impossible to restore and list all possible nesting doll dolls born at the time in the home workshops of GergievPosed, as it is impossible to describe and illustrate all modifications of the nesting doll made during the so-called “Zemstvo” period of existence of the craft.

The same plot could be painted with one-piece, one -piece nesting dolls and detachable, hollow inside, dolls in nesting doll can be successively decreasing separable nesting dolls or more identical cohesive.

The Bottom Part

At the bottom, a massive part of nested dolls sometimes insert a metal core. Some nesting dolls were supplied from the outside with additional details, trimmed and manually attached headdresses, carved trays with food, etc.

These examples speak of the inexhaustible fantasy of handicraftsmen and the intensive search for the most optimal form of the figurative turning nesting doll.

The form of the nested doll, which is closest to the original one, and the “tumbler” similar to it, which was made in the 19th century, gradually became established. And of all the variety of themes and themes of the nesting doll painting, household development was the most developed, since they reflected the holidays and everyday life of every handicraftsman, therefore they were widely available and loved by both craftsmen and buyers. These are brides and brides with numerous relatives and guests, gypsy, Old Believers, constables, merchants with children and households, companies for the samovar and an endless series of girls and boys, adult women and men with baskets, knots, dishes, live animals, tools or treats in their hands.