Mstyora miniature
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Mstyora miniature (Мстёрская миниатюра in Russian) is a Russian folk handicraft of miniature painting, which is done with tempera paints on varnished articles mostly made of papier-mâché.
Mstyora miniature appeared in a settlement of Mstyora (Vladimir Oblast) in the early 20th century on the basis of a local icon-painting handicraft. In 1923, they formed an artel of Mstyora painters called "Ancient Russian Folk Painting" (Древнерусская народная живопись), which would be renamed to "Proletarian Art" (Пролетарское искусство) in 1931. This artel was turned into a factory in 1960. The Mstyora painting technology was borrowed from the Fedoskino artists (see Fedoskino miniature).
The Mstyora miniatures usually represent characters from real life, folklore, literary and history works. Warmth and gentleness of colors, depth of landscape backgrounds (often with blue dales in the back), small size and squatness of human figurines, and subtlety of framing pattern done in gold are typical for the Mstyora miniature.
