From the history of the ethnographic study of pattern weaving(branoe tkachestvo) of the Udora Komi

Research Article

Abstract

Samples of patterned weaving produced by the Udora Komi were regularly documented by ethnographers and collectors throughout the twentieth century. Woven items collected along the Vashka and Mezen rivers are now held in major national and regional museums in Russia, as well as in museum collections abroad (Hungary, Finland, Estonia, Germany). Nevertheless, to this day, no specialized studies have been devoted to this unique artistic tradition. The reason for this “lack of scholarly attention” on the part of ethnographers and art historians likely lies in the fact that nearly all collectors have regarded Udora decorative weaving as a tradition borrowed from the Russian population of the Northern Dvina basin. It is quite possible that the emergence of patterned weaving in Udora was directly connected to the influx of Old Believer peasant settlers from the Pinega and Northern Dvina regions who arrived on the Vashka in the 1860s. Undoubtedly, the technological language used to execute ornamental motifs and narrative compositions in Udora textiles is closely related to the work of Vologda and Arkhangelsk craftswomen, since the inhabitants of the Vashka and Pinega rivers share a common historical and cultural environment within the Northern Dvina basin. However, Komi craftswomen did not borrow Russian patterns themselves; rather, they adopted the technological language of producing woven ornamented items. There is reason to believe that in the first half of the twentieth century, a distinctive multicolored ornamental style developed in the patterned weaving of the Udora Komi—one that is uncharacteristic not only of Russian craftswomen but also of other ethnographic groups of the Komi. This article presents a concise history of the ethnographic study of Udora Komi patterned weaving in the twentieth century, as well as an attempt to describe the unique multicolored decorative canon of textile ornamentation created by Komi craftswomen of the Vashka River basin. The article also formulates a hypothesis regarding the origins of the artistic tradition of multicolored patterned weaving among the Udora Komi in the first half of the twentieth century.
Keywords: ethnology; weaving; textile traditions; Udora Komi; Vashka River basin; patterned multi‑shaft weaving