The unique characteristics
of the Vranceanian folk art creation steam from this very historical continuity
on this land, since ancient times, of a people that have never migrated
to other places. A characteristic is the "prispa" (verandah), either in
just the front of the house, on one side and sometimes two sides. The raw
materials available in the in the countryside were clay, stone and wood.
The diversity of folk architecture
as an art stems on the one hand, from the wide range of raw materials available
in one area or another and, on the other hand, from the local tradition
in house building. The raw materials available in the countryside were
clay, stone and wood. While clay continues to be an important building
material in our day, the adobe (chirpici, pronounced "kirpich"-in Romanian
-sun-dried bricks of clay mixed with straw).
Last but not least, the Vranceanian
peasant home interiors are remarkably beautiful, whether of carved wood
(the pillars of the verandah, the tower, the gates and the archways) or
in imitation of stucco. The stylized representations of the Tree of Life
of rosettes as symbols of the Sun, of horses and human faces, are all examples
of the prevailing geometrical patterns.
The Vranceanian wooden churches
show the same qualities in point of architecture: the elegant lines, the
admirable proportions of volumes, the magnificent interiors, beautifully
carved and painted. The peasant home interior design serves an undeniably
aesthetic purpose in any typically Vranceanian ethnographic area. It observes
long-established rules, handed down from generation to generation for centuries.
Hearts, ovens and stoves are extremely important in any peasant household.
The stoves and the ovens are often ornamented with multi-colored enameled
tiles, which display not only the geometrical motifs, but also peasant
adaptations of decorative patterns of the Renaissance and the Baroque fireplaces.
The tools and kitchen utensils,
a must in the villagers' everyday life and work, also have an aesthetic
value in their home interiors: spoons of various size, milking buckets,
cottage cheese molds, spindles, reels, weaving looms; the musical instruments.
The fourth and largest category includes the agricultural tools and the
wooden containers for food.
The art of pottery still
holds a place apart in the peasants. Vranceanian ceramics boats a brilliant
ancient tradition dating as back as the Neolithic era and continuing with
the black and red earthenware of the Dacian period, the Greek and Roman
style, the Byzantine luxurious designs of the Middle Ages and finally,
the influence of Asia Minor.
Painting has generally developed
to a smaller degree. The portraits of Saints and the Biblical scenes one
would normally expect to see are often mingled with lay elements borrowed
from the everyday country life and the local folklore. Of particular interest
is their iconography, with its characteristic mixture of oriental and Western
motifs. If the early icons were painted with the brush, the cartoon was
later, especially during the 19th century, discarded, which accounts for
the frequent and inscriptions reversals.
Costumes make up one of the
most diverse and complex folk arts in Vrancea County, as they are not just
one single artistic "genre", but a combination of crafts. They display
a wide set of raw materials, patterns and techniques: flaxen, hemp, raw
silk, cotton and woolen woven materials, embroideries, sheepskin vests
and coats decorated with leather appliques or wool and silk embroideries
etc.
Metal was used to inlay various
wooden art facts such as pipes, bagpipes, knives, and axes. Masks worn
on certain holy days; they may be of wood, leather, fabrics, horns, seeds,
etc, or a combination of objects and materials. The vigil masks of the
Vrancea Land are quite famous.
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