Monika Kopplin highlights the extraordinary variety of decorative techniques as well as the many stylistic features. The history and art history of Russia are reflected in the small format of the lacquer miniatures, painting a lively picture of the various eras. A comprehensive index of seals expands the catalogue into a reference book. Russian lacquer art can be traced back to Peter the Great, who had come to know this flourishing art and craft during his study trips in Western Europe. The first important work in this genre in the tsar's empire was completed in 1722 in the form of the Lacquer Study in his palace of Monplaisir. A second significant event followed when the Korobov workshop, which was modelled on the Braunschweig-based Stobwasser workshop, was established in 1793 near Moscow. It is better known by the name of a later owner, Lukutin. A technical and artistic alignment with the German model was followed by an increasingly independent Russian development from the 1820s onwards. At first this found expression in specific decorative techniques, and later also in specifically Russian motifs.

English summary: Triggered by the October Revolution and by government-imposed atheism, religious art in Russia abruptly saw the legs knocked out from underneath it in 1917. In Palekh, an ancient center of icon painting, artists turned to lacquer miniatures in search for a livelihood and new artistic direction. After tentative beginnings under the influence of Art Deco, the transformation of religious motives and of a traditional style vocabulary became part of young Soviet art. In the center of this movement stood the painter Ivan Golikov, who together with six other former icon artists in Palekh brought the "cooperative for old painting" to life in 1924. Golikov's paintings were at the same time the starting point and the high point of the early Palekh style, which was adapted in individual form by all the other painters of the time. With the tenth anniversary of the revolution in 1927, the targets and achievements of socialism were brought to the foreground as a dominant theme. The radical reconstruction of society and the transformation from an agricultural to an industrial state was celebrated in striking compositions. Since the late thirties, increasinlgy so from 1941 onwards, the theme of these pieces transitioned from threat and struggle to triumphant scenes of victory. For the first time, the origins of the Russian school of Palekh are traced using the abundant pool of important collections, and are presented in the exhibition and catalog. German text. German description: In der Hinwendung zur Lackminiatur suchten die Palecher Ikonenmaler nach der Oktoberrevolution eine neue kuenstlerische Ausrichtung. Die Errungenschaften des Sozialismus, aber auch Bilder der Bedrohung und des Krieges dokumentieren eindringlich die Entwicklung des jungen sowjetischen Staates. Ausgelost von der Oktoberrevolution und dem staatlich verordneten Atheismus, war der religiosen Kunst in Russland seit 1917 schlagartig der Boden entzogen. In Palech, einem alten Zentrum der Ikonenmalerei, suchten die betroffenen Maler in der Hinwendung zur Lackminiatur ein Auskommen und eine neue kuenstlerische Ausrichtung. Nach tastenden Anfangen unter dem Einfluss des Art deco gelang die Transformation religioser Motive und eines tradierten Stilvokabulars in die junge sowjetische Kunst. Im Zentrum dieses Geschehens stand der Maler Iwan Golikow, der gemeinsam mit sechs weiteren ehemaligen Ikonenkuenstlern 1924 die Palecher "Genossenschaft fuer alte Malerei" ins Leben rief. Golikows Malerei sollte Ausgangspunkt und Hohepunkt des fruehen Palecher Stils zugleich sein, den sich bei aller individuellen Auspragung auch die anderen Maler zu Eigen machten. Mit der Zehnjahresfeier der Revolution 1927 traten die Ziele und Errungenschaften des Sozialismus als dominierendes Thema in den Vordergrund. Der radikale Umbau der Gesellschaft und der Wandel vom Agrar- zum Industriestaat wurde in plakativ anmutenden Kompositionen gefeiert. Schon seit den spaten dreiaiger Jahren und verstarkt von 1941 an wichen sie Bildern der Bedrohung und des Kampfes von duesterer Eindringlichkeit, schliealich den triumphalen Szenen des Sieges. Erstmalig wird in Ausstellung und Katalog aus dem reichen Fundus der bedeutendsten russischen Sammlungen das Werden der Palecher Schule nachgezeichnet.

An extensive commemorative publication has been dedicated to Monika Kopplin, the longstanding director of the Museum for Lacquer Art in Munster, on the occasion of her 60th birthday. 22 renowned authors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Finland, Holland, and Japan, not to mention Russia, provide an overview of he development of lacquer art.

The Museum for Lacquer Art in Munster has what is probably the mostimportant collection of Russian lacquer art outside Russia. The works of art date from the early nineteenth century to the 1950s and comprehensively document the development of a flourishing branch of the arts and crafts.