The Issues of Design of the Leningrad Porcelain during the "Thaw" Period: Organic Style vs Functionalism

Decorative and applied arts began to play a significant role in Soviet cultural discourse during the Khrushchev "Thaw". In the art of porcelain, the Thaw manifested itself in the active creation of shapes, updating the themes of paintings, and the development of an innovative artistic language such as decorative minimalism. In the article, the researcher aimed to analyze the issues of shape design in Leningrad porcelain of the Thaw period. Its relevance is due to research and curatorial interest in the heritage of this era. The lack of specialized works devoted to the shapes of porcelain products determines its novelty. The object of the study is the shapes developed by sculptors of the Leningrad Lomonosov Porcelain Factory in the second half of the 1950s – 1960s. The topic of the study is the artistic originality of the author’s shapes of this period. The researcher used comprehensive methodology. The author summarized that organic design with fluidity and a sense of inner life of shapes was dominating trend in the late 1950s – early 1960s. In the second half of the 1960s, the functionalist rigor and clarity of forms prevailed in the shape design. Each of the sculptors developed their own individual style within the framework of general trends. The shapes of vases and services created by sculptors regularly received awards at international exhibitions and favorable reviews in the press. The artists actively used them for paintings in the “modern style”. The aesthetic trends developed by Leningrad Lomonosov Porcelain Factory sculptors were also in demand at other enterprises. Contemporary porcelain artists use a number of Thaw shapes for their original compositions. In addition, the principles of shape design the period of the “second modernism” remain relevant for porcelain of the 21st century.

Soviet decorative and applied art, porcelain, Thaw, shape design, Leningrad Porcelain Factory, modern style, functionalism, organic design, Anna Leporskaya, Vladimir Semenov