2025 № 4 (55)

UDC 7

BBC 85.125; 85.103(2)

DOI: 10.51678/2226-0072-2025-4-300-353

For cit.: Sipovskaya N.V. Matryoshka: Studio Art and Folk Tradition. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2025, no. 4, pp. 300–353. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226-0072-2025-4-300-353.

Sipovskaya Natalia V. 

D.Sc. (in Art History), Director of the State Institute for Art Studies, 5 Kozitsky Lane, Moscow, 125375, Russia 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0578-3687

sipovskaya@sias.ru 

Matryoshka: Studio Art and Folk Tradition

Abstract. The anti-globalization movement, increasingly evident in the cultures of various countries, is reviving a wide range of themes related to the evaluation of various national phenomena. Russian culture is no exception, offering a broad field of study, both in research and creativity, from the search for hallmarks of “Russianness” in assessing past achievements to the possibility of their relevant interpretation in contemporary artistic practice. A separate topic is the genesis of artifacts that have become iconic features of national culture. Such as the Matryoshka doll, whose birth is the subject of lively, and sometimes heated, debate. This article attempts to reconstruct the circumstances of the emergence of the most famous Russian doll, which happy interweaved of the search for a new national expression by outstanding artists of the turn of the 20th century, the work of enthusiasts studying folk culture, and the skills of traditional handicrafts. 

Keywords: Matryoshka, Children’s Education store, Maria Alexandrovna Mamontova, Vasily Petrovich Zvezdochkin, Abramtsevo, Sergei Vasilyevich Malyutin, Handicraft Museum, Sergei Timofeevich Morozov, Sergiev Posad, Nikolay Dmitrievich Bartram 

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Received 05.11.2025 

Accepted 16.11.2025