Dulevo Porcelain Factory was founded in the Dulyovo wasteland (now Likino-Dulyovo) in 1832 by merchant Terenti Kuznetsov. The Dulevo porcelain factory is one of the largest factories in Europe today. Dulevo bright, catchy porcelain works have gained a gold medal and the Grand Prix awards at the world’s fairs in Paris (1937) and Brussels (1958, Sculpture by A.G. Sotnikov “Falcon”). The famous factory was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1976 for outstanding achievements in the development of the porcelain industry. The legendary Dulevo porcelain artist Vladimir Yasnetsov defined porcelain painting in the Soviet Union in the 70s – 80s.
Vladimir Yasnetsov was born November 29, 1926, died in 2005. Honored Artist of Russia, Honorary Member of the Academy of Arts. 25-year-old Vladimir Yasnetsov Dulevsky entered the factory in 1950. He did not belong to the hereditary family of porcelain artists, no one in his family did draw.
Vladimir became interested in drawing at school. In his third year he was mobilized and sent to the army. He served for a long time – seven years , participated in the war with Japan. In Manchuria he saw library collection of ink drawings of the famous Chinese artist Qi Baishi. They impressed the artist. Tenacious and diligent, he quickly mastered the art, created beautiful drawings and compositions.
Greater success came in 1958, when he was awarded medals of the World Exhibition in Brussels. In 1983 his works “Golden Autumn”, “Moonlit Night” and “First Green” were awarded the Honorary Diploma of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. “Moonlit Night” – a phenomenon quite unprecedented in porcelain.
Vladimir Klimentievich Yasnetsov – head of dynasty of porcelain artists. In the artistic laboratory worked for many years his wife Vera. His son Yuri founded private enterprise “Kuznetsovsky porcelain”, which works for the second decade. Original artist porcelain creates his daughter Marina, granddaughter continues the tradition of her grandfather.
After retiring from the factory Vladimir Yasnetsov did not stop working. He painted decorative things in a small workshop in his home. Situation changed dramatically after the death of his wife. Yasnetsov heavily suffered the loss of his beloved one, he fell ill and quietly faded away.
The emphasis was placed on the identity, folklore, national characteristics and traditions, in which was born Dulevo unique style – “earthenware”. For more than 170 – year history of the Dulevo porcelain factory, much has changed. Today it is technically equipped enterprise, with a continuous production cycle that runs about 3 thousand people. And it is still one of the biggest factories in Europe, specializing in the production of high-quality porcelain.
The plant artists P. Leonov, V. Yasnetsov, A. Sotnikov , S.Anikin, Vladimir Vasiliev, K. Kukushkin, S. Medvedev, A. Brzhezitskoy, G. Chechulin, O.Bogdanova, Anatoly Karpov, V. Gorodnichev, V. Shirin, M. Obrubov, M.Bezenkova, while preserving historical traditions of Dulevo porcelain, created artworks worthy of the world recognition.
The plant currently produces the widest range of products – all kinds of table and tea assortment, sculpture, gift baskets, vases, decorative plates and more. The dazzling white combined with magnificent gold porcelain articles are now sold in 75 regions of Russia, 6 neighboring countries, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Norway.
