“Russia” is not for sale
Surprisingly, there was no Kasli foundry museum in the homeland of the craft before. And about two months ago it was inaugurated in one of the first stone buildings in the city. A school for artistic foundry masters was once located here, although the plant, founded in the 18th century near deposits of molding sand, at first only produced roofing iron and, during the war with Napoleon, cannonballs and grenades. The change of theme occurred thanks to the efforts of the manager Grigory Zotov: it was he who in 1823 brought from Nemetchina samples of cast iron frames, vases, candlesticks, cabinet sculptures and even furniture.
In addition, as museum researcher Ekaterina Gracheva says, the company began to collaborate with the best sculptors and artists of the time, including Mikhail Kanaev, Nikolai Bach and Peter Klodt’s workshop. The unsurpassed peak was and remains the 1,500-piece cast iron pavilion, exhibited at the Paris World’s Fair in 1900 together with the sculpture “Russia”, cast according to the model of Nikolai Laveretsky. The French president, Emile Loubet, according to legend, was so delighted that he wanted to buy it along with a collection of cast iron figures. However, mining engineer Pavel Karpinsky said: “The owners agree to sell everything except the statue of a female warrior.” The French negotiated, but heard the answer: “Russia” is not for sale.
And then they forgot about the wonder of the world returning from abroad: in an era of unrest and revolutions, the muses are silent. In 1921, the company’s management issued a strange order: the pavilion was to be cast in cast iron pots and pans. The townspeople, trying to save the masterpiece, wrote a complaint to the county and the commission that arrived decided to confiscate it. In 1957, the pavilion was rebuilt in Yekaterinburg, where it remained.
– Isn’t it a pity that this is not your exhibition now? – I ask the director of the Kasli Museum, Maria Shirokova.
There is no comprehensive program, but municipalities commission small cast iron architectural forms for landscaping.
“It’s a shame,” he admits. “But they don’t want to give it to us and there’s no way to recreate it: it’s very expensive, time-consuming and technically difficult.”
Perhaps it will be possible to return the pavilion through cultural exchange?
– There were thoughts and even negotiations took place. But historically it happened like this: we did not preserve the pavilion and now it is not worth talking about priority rights over it. Another good thing is that the Kasli masters have matured enough to create something equally elegant and grand. This is something that we will be happy to support,” responds the regional Minister of Culture, Alexey Betekhnin.
mechanized sculptor
In the reference room, on the table, there is a cast iron cactus in a pot, indistinguishable from the real one, as if the plant had been sprayed with black ink. Although I am surprised by the similarities, model fund specialist Larisa Stolbikova says: this is one of the new products. There were actually five options; we choose without needles.
– Because? It’s so realistic.
“Naturalist,” the interlocutor corrects. – Every work must have an artistic generalization, but in the first case there is none.
I don’t see any deep difference, but I also can’t doubt what was said: Larisa Pavlovna is known in the city as one of the leading casting experts. In the golden age of fishing, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, cast iron was smelted with charcoal in Kasly, she says. This made it softer, more fluid, more plastic. When everyone switched to coke, the blast furnace was closed due to lack of profitability and they began to use an imported alloy, which is more difficult to machine.
– Previously, each cast piece was marked with the seal of the molder, the main part of the technological chain. The product required almost no minting. I looked at Klodt’s horse head like it was a paperweight: there was just a thin seam where the mold pieces met. Remove it and you won’t even need to texture the surface, drawing veins, mane or fur. When cast iron changed its properties, the sawyer, master of machining, acquired the same importance as the shaper. If the casting is not very good, you have to remove the excess layers, as sculptors do, the art critic makes an elegant comparison.
Keeping traditions
We are shown a full-length composition of a border guard with a dog. The soldier has an impassive, chiseled face, with his gaze fixed on the horizon. The dog expresses his willingness to serve. An allegory comes to mind: casting masters are also guardians, if not of borders, then of traditions.
Photo: Tatyana Andreeva/RG
Modeler Elena Kravchenko removes burrs from a paraffin ballerina using stamping tools (etching tools) and a soldering iron, leaving it smooth. The paraffin evaporates: a crust is formed, which is molded into sand, and liquid metal is poured into the “cavity”. Each model has a figure with features: bigger eyes or a wider smile. Industrial training teacher Radik Khabibullin also talks about individual writing and the unique design of the product, such as the papillary patterns of the fingers.
In essence, the technology remains the same, even though two centuries have passed. Local casting involves a lot of manual work. If the path of reducing it is followed, there will no longer be Kasli alternatives to the conveyor belt. With this union of hands and metal, the soul penetrates into the cast pieces, which is why they are so valued by connoisseurs.
New standard
One of the most memorable orders is for 486 cast iron lanterns for the Sochi Olympic Games.
– I have a lock of gray hair, I’m not kidding. They had to do it in six months, although similar volumes took three years. But the order was canceled and with little time left before the Olympic Games, they said: “There are no other options,” plant director Vladimir Kiselev relives the days of emergency.
Unfortunately, all the lights were recently removed and replaced with modern aluminum ones. The weather is not an obstacle for cast iron, but the bases have been eaten away by corrosion. But in Krasnodar, Kasli products are found almost everywhere; in Perm, a large project was recently completed. What about Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg? Surprisingly not among the main consumers.
Alexey Betekhtin clarifies: there is no comprehensive program to support fishing in the region, but we can talk about specific requests. In particular, a project has been developed to frame the Kirov Bridge near the Chelyabinsk Philharmonic so that it looks no worse than in St. Petersburg. It is known what pattern the bridge spans will be woven, but art historians still argue about the sculptural groups: either they will be favorite horses or heroes of Ural fairy tales.
– So you ask, is it possible to repeat the pavilion? The masterpiece was created by masters, our task is to try to surpass them and not copy them,” Kiselev emphasizes.
Sketches have already been prepared for a project of no small scale and complexity. Indirectly, Alexey Betekhtin lifted the veil of secrecy, naming one of the possible options for making an openwork chapel, which is completely visible to the light, and each detail represents one of the directions of the Ural nave. Maybe this is a new standard.
