Is it true that the faceted glass was invented by the author of the “worker and the collective farmer”?

It is believed that the design of the cult attribute of Soviet life was developed by the famous sculptor Vera Mukhina. We checked whether this is really so.

Although the most famous work Vera Mukhina - the monumental “worker and collective farmer” on VDNH and several monuments in Moscow, many are grateful to her for creating faceted glasses that could be found in any Soviet dining room, restaurant or ordinary home cuisine. Internet users not only thank the sculptor for the design it developed, but also mention the legends associated with the product: for example, the faces allegedly symbolize the union republics, and the rim uniting them in Russia. Such messages can be found, in particular, in "VKontakte", Twitter And Facebook. Beat this "fact" in fiction. Author of the book “100 famous symbols of the Soviet era” and at all declaresthat the faceted glass of Mukhin came up with Casimir Malevich in 1943 in Sverdlovsk.

The faceted glass certainly existed before Mukhina allegedly set about the design. For example, in 1918-1924, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin wrote A few still lifes that depict these glass products. How Reported Violetta Mikitin, head of the ceramics and glass department of the Kuskovo Museum, some craftsmen made faceted glasses at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, they were exquisitely decorated and significantly different from usual.

The belief is widespread that faceted glasses appeared in Russia even under Peter I. Allegedly, master Efim Smolin even Give me Such a glass of the king, assuring that he is so durable that he will not break when falling. Peter I approved the idea, and later the faceted glasses of steel produce At the factory of the Maltsovs on the Goose River-later the city of Gus-Khrustalny will appear here. At the same time, the keeper of the Glass Collection of the Crystal Museum named after Maltsovs Alla Chukanova Calls Distinguish between pre -revolutionary and Soviet faceted glasses. The former was done with the help of granting - a manual process produced after blowing a glass, while later samples appeared as a result of pressing. “When the Soviet glass arose, it began to be called faceted, but this is not entirely correct,” Chukanova claims.

By statements For a long time, the keeper of the museum in the Gus-Khrustalny, for a long time, did not know documentary evidence that Vera Mukhina had at least any relation to the creation of a faceted glass. However, a few years ago Chukanova Turned To the Museum of Vera Mukhina in Feodosia, and its director announced the memoirs of the artist of Uspensky. He was part of the working group, which, under the leadership of Mukhina at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, was developing a new design of dishes at the Leningrad Art Glass Plant. Allegedly, the first Soviet dishwashers were already created, and the glasses fought at them - in particular, it was this problem that Mukhina and her colleagues had to be solved. At the same time, the plant in Leningrad was not so large and specialized in the production of exclusive things, so the new standardized faceted glasses decided to make it in the Gus-Khrustalny. The first batch was released In September 1943.

This version is at least more logical than the story of Mukhin and Malevich (the last died In 1935, so he could not participate in the developments of the early 1940s). Nevertheless, she is not without problems. In particular, the museum in Feodosia Positions himself as a folk one - it was created by enthusiasts, which, unfortunately, does not make them experts. The mention of the dishwasher also raises questions - we could not find confirmation that at that time in the USSR such devices were produced for public catering establishments. Submit similar pessimism and some specialists. “Is Vera Mukhina, a topic that is still waiting for its researcher, was really the creation of his (ed. - Ed.) He supposes Violetta Mikitin from the museum "Kuskovo".

Thus, Vera Mukhina at best belongs to the authorship of the “rebirth” of the faceted glass, but not its creation. Moreover, apparently, several ideas of the famous sculptor and her colleagues went to production at once. Chukanova Turns Attention to the price list of varietal glass dishes of 1939, 1941 and 1957: they describe glasses with a different number of faces, with a rim and without it, designed to use various drinks. Therefore, the legends that are common in social networks that the faces symbolize the Soviet republics, and the rim that unites them either Russia or the Communist Party, is unfounded.

Most of the untruth

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. E. Solovyova. Who and why actually came up with a faceted glass?
2. Behind the glass. The story of a faceted glass from Peter I to Petrov-Vodkin