Korosten Porcelain of the 20th Century: The Evolution of Style, Search for the National Expression

Author

Serzhant Liudmyla

a junior research fellow at Fine, Decorative and Applied Arts Department of M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5545-9693

Korosten Porcelain of the 20th Century: The Evolution of Style,
Search for the National Expression

Abstract

The article explores the history and stylistic evolution of the products of one of the largest enterprises of Ukraine’s ceramic industry – the Korosten Porcelain Plant (KPP). Its operation lasted for over a century, developing in line with the cultural and artistic mainstream of the twentieth century.

The history of the KPP can be conventionally divided into several periods:

1906–1919 – the establishment of production, when the factory’s policy was determined by its private owner;

1919–1924 – a transitional period marked by crisis caused by World War I and changes in ownership;

1925–1930s – operation under the UkrFarfor-Faience-Glass Trust;

1940s–1950s – postwar recovery and the dominance of socialist realism in artistic themes;

1955–1960s – a period of national revival and the introduction of modernist aesthetics;

1970s–1980s – the development of ethnic style and polystylism in design;

1990s–2000s – functioning under market conditions with a more commercial approach to product assortment and decoration.

Each historical stage of the enterprise influenced the artistic design of its products and reflected its specific conceptual program. Throughout all periods, the factory consistently updated its product range, developed new models, and improved production technologies. The plant’s artists were at the forefront of introducing modernist innovations in porcelain, rethinking approaches to form and decoration based on functionalism and minimalism. The creative team of the factory made a significant contribution to shaping the national style in Ukrainian porcelain, which today represents an integral part of the cultural heritage of twentieth-century decorative art.

Keywords

Korosten porcelain, product assortment, form, decor, national style.

References

1. DRAGAN, V., E. YASHCHENKO, A. YURCHENKO. Korosten Porcelain Plant (A Brief Overview of Activities in the Twentieth Century). Zhytomyr, 2004, 272 pp. [in Russian].
2. KARA-VASYLIEVA, Tetiana. Decorative Arts. History of Ukrainian Art: In Five Volumes. Kyiv, 2007. Vol. 5. Art of the 20th Century, pp. 206–238 [in Ukrainian].
3. KARPINSKAYA-ROMANYUK, Lyudmila. Tears of Korosten. Porcelain, 2017, no. 2, pp. 70–80 [in Russian].
4. ANON. Korosten Porcelain. Catalogue of Products, 2004, 214 pp. [in Ukrainian].
5. KORUS, Olena. From the History of Production of Small Plastics of the Korosten Porcelain Plant. Artistic Culture. Current Issues, 2016, no. 12, pp. 110–121 [in Ukrainian].
6. PETRYAKOVA, Faina. Ukrainian Art Porcelain (Late-18th – Early 20th Centuries). Kiev, Scientific Thought, 1985, 222 pp., ills. [in Russian].
7. ANON. About the Measures to Improve the Products of the Art Industry. Architecture of the Soviet Ukraine, 1941, no. 3, pp. 44–45 [in Ukrainian].