Index of the Moscow Department of the II-th all-Russian Handicraft Exhibition in St. Petersburg, 1913

Index of the Moscow Department of the II-th all-Russian Handicraft Exhibition in St. Petersburg, 1913
M. Drukar. 1913, 144 p., incl. with photos. Publisher's illustrated cover, slightly enlarged format (16.5 x 23.5 cm). Good condition; worn cover, bend and tear in the center on its front side.

[In 1902, the 1st all-Russian handicraft and industrial exhibition was held in St. Petersburg. This first specialized review was organized by the Ministry of agriculture and state property and was under the August patronage of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The extensive exhibition, divided into 19 thematic groups, is located in the newly renovated Tauride Palace. Strict classic interiors of the Palace bloomed with bright colors of carpets, fabrics, embroidery and filled with an amazingly diverse crafts of folk craftsmen-from simple bast shoes to precious elegant trinkets. A large wooden pavilion was built in front of the Palace to display agricultural machinery and implements, carriages, kerosene engines, and all kinds of machine tools for handicraft production. The prison Department also displayed the products of prisoners in a temporary pavilion attached to the Palace from the garden. Almost four thousand participants from 56 provinces and regions presented their products at this show. Demonstration weaving, sewing and other industries were organized. Performances of musical groups on folk instruments were very successful.

The all-Russian handicraft exhibition has turned into a real celebration of national labor and art. It had a wide response in the press. Contemporaries wrote about it: "the Russian capital... amazed and amazed, contemplated the fruits of folk art. She could not help but see that this work in the exhibition, as a synthesis of folk thought and folk labor, is looking for a way out on a wide road."

Visitors to the exhibition were struck by the grandiosity of the opening picture of the branch of national labor that employs a multi-million part of the rural population of Russia. As contemporaries noted, " many of the public first learned here that the products they purchased in city stores under the guise of factory products, sometimes even brought from abroad, in many cases are actually made by Russian peasants in distant villages and are often made with extremely imperfect tools."

However, there were also critical reviews. Alexander Benoit wrote on the pages of the World of arts that the exhibition is not "a true expression of the life of our artisans." The decorative design of the exhibition was particularly sharply criticized for its "meagre and sluggish design". Interestingly, the decoration of the first hall was done under the direction of the famous artist Konstantin Korovin, who already had a positive experience in the design of the Russian handicraft Department at the Paris world exhibition in 1900.

Simultaneously with the exhibition, the first Congress of artisanal industry figures was held , which "recorded the trend of people's working life towards free development". It was decided that the government would hold such exhibitions approximately every ten years. Contemporaries considered it no coincidence that just four years later, the first state Duma met here, in the Tauride Palace.

Eleven years later, in March 1913, the 2nd all-Russian handicraft exhibition was held in St. Petersburg. She was again under the August patronage of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Prince A. P. Oldenburg was appointed Chairman of the exhibition Committee. The organizer of the exhibition organized by the Main Department of land management and agriculture (Gosis), which is assumed initially to hold an exhibition in the Mikhailovsky Manege. However, this was not implemented for organizational reasons. The exhibition was located on the Petrogradskaya side in a four-story stone building of the herbarium of the Botanical garden, which was attached to two wooden heated pavilions. These temporary buildings were designed by the architect A. I. Dietrich. The General artistic design of the pavilions is based on the sketches of the artist S. V. Chekhov. 

Six thousand participants from all over Russia brought their diverse and original works to St. Petersburg. Here you could see magnificent examples of pottery and furniture, products made of straw and metal, lace and embroidery, carpets and gold embroidery, weaving, toys and iconography. All exhibitors were given free seats at the exhibition. In addition, participants were entitled to free return transportation of unsold exhibits.]