Известия Уральского федерального университета. Серия 2: Гуманитарные науки (Jun 2020)
Hoessrich and Woerffel Atelier’s Stand at the Centennial Exhibition (Philadelphia, 1876) and Its Subsequent History
Abstract
The history of Russian stonecutting art is mostly known due to the production of the imperial lapidary factories. However, in order to understand the real situation in this area of decorative arts, it is also important to consider the production of private ateliers. This article analyses the activity in coloured stone working at one of them, i.e. the Atelier of Hoessrich and Woerffel founded in 1842 in St Petersburg. The article refers to a collection made of malachite and other ornamental stones created for the first official world’s fair held in America and organised for the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1876. The collection prepared for the exhibition produced a great impression on the public and some of the pieces were bought by American visitors. Thanks to some archival photographs kept in a library in the US, it has become possible to carry out a detailed examination of the range of exhibits, identify some of the works and find their analogues in museums of the US, the Republic of Iran, and in private collections in Russia, North America, and Europe. Also, this makes it possible to trace the development of fashion for the use of malachite. The author provides some corrections for the attribution of part of the pieces identified or gives new ones. The analysis of the exhibition activity of the Saint Petersburg atelier carried out with reference to a wide range of print catalogues and reports of world, international, and Russian nationwide exhibitions of the last quarter of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries makes it possible to examine changes in the market and in public tastes and study their influence on the activity of the enterprise and its product range. The research carried out makes it possible to reinstate the items created by the atelier in the history of Russian stonecutting art and make conclusions about the role of Hoessrich and Woerffel Atelier’s participation in the exhibition of 1876 to promote fashion for malachite in new markets, and clarify the geography and routes of how these works spread. The author also points out factors underlying the influence of the state of things in the art market on the range of products and the viability of their enterprise.
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