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First time Kasli
Cast-iron moulding appeared in the middle of 19th century. The peculiarity
of this sort of production in the row of the same products laid, first
of all, in the clearness and the smoothness of the surface of the
metal , and also in the skills of the craftsmen. The secret was in
a great quality of iron, smelted on the fire from wooden coal, in
the consistence of the forming sands and in the skills of the craftsmen.
The beginning of manufacturing Kasli
ironing is associated with Mr. G. F. Zotov, Who in 1823 became
the owner of mining district and brought to the Kasli works the skills
of creating Art cast-iron moulding. The name of the first professional
master was the graduate of The Art Academy Mr. M. D. Kanayev
(1831-1884). Arriving to Kasli he opened a drawing school,
where workers studied the art of drawings and moulding. The models
by Kanayev were the prototypes to such famous sculptures as “The
Cottage with Chicken Legs”, “The Gypsy-painter”, “The
Frost-Demon”. After his death the academician of the sculpture
N.R.Bakh (1853-1885) when came to Kasli he brought the
figures created by his father R.I.Bakh (1819-1903) and
there he continued to study the most talented workers. Thanks to the
sculptures of the Bakhs the variety of forms became wider and Kasli
school got such important relations with more popular Russian sculptors.
The most famous castings belong to P.K.Klodt, E. A. Lansere,
N.I. Liberikh (the authors of the shape). The same place takes
the row of portraits of famous composers and writers by R.R. Bakh.
But the summit of Kasli craftsmen is
Kasli cast iron Pavilion, designed by Russian architect Y.Y.
Baumgarten (1867-1919) created to the World Art and Industry
Exhibition in Paris in1900.
In 1914, when the factory had to make
a good deal of military production the output of Art casting was greatly
reduced. And in 1921 the grandson of P.K. Klodt K.A.Klodt
was invited to Kasli where he worked out several new forms for casting.
Some of them were a knife to cut the paper “Pioneer”, the containers
for the pencils and the portrait of V. Lenin. In 1930s the factory
started to produce meat grinders under the license of Swede, and Art
casting was definitely forgotten. Only in the end of 40s a new top
was taken by Kasli Art casting. Nowadays the quality of the sculptures
are not so good, it wishes it would be better. But more often the
masters at the works come back to old models. Now there are several
own sculptors at the factory. Much attention is paid to the architectural
casting, that we can see in the streets not only in Ekaterinburg but
other Ural cities as well..
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