GENNADY ALEXANDROVICH KULISHKOV (Russian 1937-2013)
Grandma Ullia’s Toy - 1983
Oil on board
Signed lower right in Cyrillic and dated 83
23 inches x 19 inches (58cm x 48cm)

Kulishkov was born in the northern Russian city of Kargopol where he graduated from college and taught art. Poet, athlete, musician, engraver, and painter, Kulishkov exhibited widely in the 1970’s and 1980’s after which time he undertook a number of international trips (Italy, France, Switzerland). A year before his death and due to his decades long commitment for the enrichment of his home town, he was given the title of Honorary Citizen of Kargapol.

The colorful toy held by the young girl in the offered painting and those displayed on the table (grandma Ulliana’s toys) are one of the best examples of traditional Russian folk art toys which find their origins in the village of Dymkovo located on the Vyatka River, roughly 600 miles northeast of Moscow. The origins and development of the unique Dymkovo toy is closely linked to the annual centuries old svistoplyaska (whistle festival) held on the fourth Saturday after Easter on the banks of the River Vyatka. The first recorded mentioning of this event took place in 1811, however it is believed to have existed for some 400 years, thus dating the history of the Dymkovo toy to at least the 17th century. The inhabitants of the Dymkovo suburb traditionally manufactured many different toys and whistles for the event. The whistles and toys took various forms including common farm animals such as ponies, ducks, pigs, sheep, geese and others. Colorful dolls depicting ladies, in traditional costumes modeled as water-carriers, nannies and wet nurses holding children, stood on the windowsills of houses in place of expensive porcelain statuettes.

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