Uelen bone carving workshop

The workshop opened in Uelen was led by the Chukchi master Vukvutagin (1898-1968), who also taught other masters. In addition to him, the first employees were Aromke , Halmo (Vukvutagin's brother), Aye . Organizational work was carried out by Tegrynkeu ^[4] . The workshop produced small plastic products: chess, powder boxes, brooches, miniature sculptures of animals. The craftsmen also performed traditional relief images on a walrus tusk ^[5] . The subjects for reliefs were the events of the daily life of the Chukchi, episodes of whale hunting, sea animals, riding reindeer teams.

The appearance of the workshop was preceded by the success of works performed by Chukchi students of the Institute of the Peoples of the North in Leningrad. The works created in the sculptural workshop of the Institute later received a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937 ^[6] . In 1937, the works of Uelen masters were exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery ^{[7] [8]} .

In the 1930s, the first girl began to engage in artistic carving - the Eskimo Naguya from the village of Chaplino ^[9] . The Chukchi and Eskimos considered traditional carving the occupation of men (“A woman’s hand should not touch the cutter” ^[10] ). However, in the future, many women appeared among the masters.

In 1933, a professional artist Alexander Gorbunkov was sent to the Chukotka National District as a consultant on folk art crafts ^[11] . He not only helped the masters in the development of plots of future works, but also conducted classes on bone carving with adolescents from the Uelen and Nauchansk schools ^[12] . Gorbunkov initiated the use of Chukchi and Eskimo tales as carvings. The first such work was a relief carving on a walrus tusk (70 cm), illustrating the tale of the silly giant Kehl published by V. G. Bogoraz in 1900. The thread was made by master Rypkhyrgin ^[9] . Later, the tale of the giant Kele became a popular story among the Chukchi masters.

In 1934, when airplanes rescuing the Chelyuskin crew were based in Uelen, the master Vukvol (1914-1941), the son of Halmo, engraved the death of the Chelyuskin, landing people on ice, Schmidt's camp, meeting the arriving airplane ^[13] .

Among the famous artists of the Uelen bone carving workshop were the Chukchi (Aromke, Vukvol, Gemauge, Kililoy, Kunnukai, Ivan Seigutegin), and the Eskimos (Valtyrgin, Vankatein, Emrykain, Khukhutan ). Among the masters, dynasties are not uncommon. Masters Vukvol and Tukkai were the sons of Halmo - one of the first workers in the workshop, Vera Emkul - the daughter of Aromke , Galina Tynatval - the daughter of Vukvutagin ^{[14] [15]} . The first leader, Vukvutagin , was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1950, and in 1961 he became an Honored Artist of the RSFSR ^[16] . Also honored artists of the RSFSR were Tukkai , Vera Emkul , Ivan Seigutegin and Elena Yanku .

Since the 1960s, the work of folk artists has been actively studied by artists of Magadan . They use some methods of constructing the composition in their work, both in decorative and applied art, and in painting. At the same time, they take part in the development of Uelen fishing. For example, artist Dmitry Bryukhanov created a series of sketches for carving walrus fangs on folklore subjects, according to which Tukkai made a series of sculptures ^[17] .

Since 1968, Tukkai became the artistic director of the Uelen bone carving workshop. In 1967 he was awarded the Order of the October Revolution ^[18] .

A number of masters of the Uelen bone carving workshop were admitted to the Union of Artists of the USSR . In 1976, Vasily Emrykain, Ivan Seigutegin , Galina Tynatval and Vera Emkul received the RSFSR State Prize ^[19] for outstanding work in folk bone carving.

Since the 1970s, due to a reduction in walrus tusks, the masters began to use new material - whale bones collected on the coast of Chukotka ^[20] .

In 1977, the Uelen bone carving workshop was named after Vukvol ^[21] .

Following the workshop in Uelen, workshops were organized in other Chukchi villages, but sooner or later they closed. In 2012, a branch of the Uelen bone carving workshop was re-established in the village of Neshkan ^[22] . In 2011-2012, exhibitions of Chukchi carved bone were held in Khabarovsk, Magadan, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Yakutsk and Salekhard ^[23] .

• Mitlyanskaya, T. B. The look of the hunter, the sensitivity of the artist. Chukchi-Eskimo art of artistic bone processing // Rainbow in the snow. Culture, traditional and contemporary art of the peoples of the Soviet Far North. - M .: Mol. guard, 1972.
• Mitlyanskaya, T. B. Artists of Chukotka. - M .: Fine Arts, 1976.
• Kaplan, N.I. Folk arts and crafts of the Far North and the Far East. - M .: Education, 1980.

• History of the Uelen bone carving workshop (neopr.) (Inaccessible link) . Folk art crafts of Russia. Date of treatment March 31, 2015. Archived February 25, 2015.
• Keukei, D.N. Uelen bone carving workshop (neopr.) . Chukotka District Library (May 7, 2013). Date of treatment March 31, 2015.