Ivan Bilibin and Folk Embroidery

4 March 2021

I’ve been putting together a talk about the life and work of Ivan Bilibin, best known for his illustrations of Russian fairy tales. One aspect I’ve been looking at is his interest in the folk arts and crafts of northern Russia, and how this influenced his work. A distinctive feature of his fairy tale illustrations is the use of decorative borders, many of which reflect patterns and motifs found in Russian folk art, including embroidery.

In 1902 Bilibin visited Vologda province, in the north west of Russia. He drew and photographed examples of vernacular wooden architecture, particularly churches. He collected works of folk art, including icons, embroidery, costumes and woodcarving. The following year he asked by the Ethnographic Department of the Russian Museum, St Petersburg to travel to the provinces of Vologda, Olonets and Archangel to undertake ethnographic research and to acquire works of folk art for the museum. He published his findings in the monograph Народное творчество русского Севера (Folk Arts of the Russian North) in 1904.

Two illustrations from ‘Folk Arts of the Russian North’

Peasant embroidery from the north of Russia was invariably worked on linen and made use of the even weave of the fabric to create geometric designs, full of symbolic meaning in their communities of origin. A previous blogpost of mine goes into the typical techniques and motifs appearing on household textiles, such as ritual towels and bed valances, as well as on items of dress.

All the embroideries shown below were acquired by the Soviet state from Ivan Bilibin’s collection in the 1920s and are now in the History Museum, Moscow.

Valance. Archangel province (?), northern Russia. 18th century. Whitework embroidery done in linen thread, and drawn thread work on a linen ground.

Towel edge. Olonets province, northern Russia. 19th century. Counted thread work with red linen thread on a linen ground; edging of bobbin lace. Note stylised men on horseback and birds.

Towel edge. Nizhny Novgorod province, northern Russia. Mid-19th century. Counted thread work with cotton and silk thread on a linen ground.

Hem of skirt (detail). Kargopol District, Olonets province, northern Russia. 1848. Counted thread work with linen and silk threads on linen.

Fabrics for sleeves of women’s shirts. Archangel, Vologda and Olonets provinces, northern Russia. Second half of 19th century. Counted thread embroidery in cotton, silk and linen threads on linen.