ARTISTIC METAL PROCESSING IN THE MOLDOVAN SSR AND THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA: FORGOTTEN OR LESS KNOWN NAMES

• Main Author: Liliana CONDRATICOVA
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Academy of Sciences of Moldova 2021-01-01
• Series: Akademos: Revista de Ştiinţă, Inovare, Cultură şi Artă
• Subjects: visual artist; art; jewelry; decorative plaque; artistic processing of metals; technology
• Online Access: http://akademos.asm.md/files/146-152_15.pdf

The main purpose of our approach is to analyze the activity of craftsmen (artisans) in the field of artistic metal processing in the second half of the twentieth century – the beginning of the twenty-first century. The work of the artists includes various decorative boards representing village life, heroes of folk tales and agricultural work, emphasizing the impact of folk art on the subjects approached by decorative craftsmen. Jewelry, being a relatively apolitical field, is represented by necklaces with pendants, earrings, brooches, rings, all made of noble metals and fine, ornamental pebbles. Based on archival documents, exhibition catalogs and interviews with artists who used to make jewelry and various metal plates, was presented relevant information regarding the activity of craftsmen whose names were recently revealed (Alexei Marco, Gheorghe Cojusnean, Vladimir Calasnicov, Vladimir Vasilkov etc.). Also, in the scientific circuit were introduced new, forgotten or less known names: Vasili Sochin, Iuri Terehov, Natalia Vavilina and others. The evocation of their creation comes to complete the general picture of the evolution of decorative art, implicitly of the artistic processing of metals from the Moldovan SSR and the Republic of Moldova.