Lubok

Russian popular print

A lubok (plural lubki; лубо́к, лубо́чная картинка) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories, and popular tales. Lubki prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early examples from the late 17th and early 18th centuries were woodcuts, followed by engravings or etchings, and from mid 19th century lithography. They sometimes appeared in series, which might be regarded as predecessors of the modern comic strip. Cheap and simple books, similar to chapbooks, which mostly consisted of pictures, are called lubok literature (лубочная литература). Both pictures and literature are commonly referred to simply as lubki. The Russian word lubok derives from lub a special type of board (secondary phloem) on which pictures were printed.

Russian lubki became a popular genre during the last half of the 17th century. Russian lubok was primarily influenced by the "woodcuts and engravings done in Germany, Italy, and France during the early part of the 15th century". Its popularity in Russia was a result of how inexpensive and fairly simple it was to duplicate a print using this new technique. This type of art was very popular with these two social classes because they provided them with an inexpensive opportunity to display artwork in their houses. Religious themes were prominent until 1890, when secular subjects became more prevalent. Production numbers of lubok reached 32,000 titles in 1914, with circulation numbers of 130 million. The original lubki were woodcuts. The Koren Picture Bible (1692 1696) established the most prominent style, an "Old Russian" rendering of international iconography and subjects, most closely related to the frescos of the Upper Volga. By mid 18th century, however, the woodcuts were mostly replaced with engraving or etching techniques, which enabled the prints to be more detailed and complex. After printing on paper, the picture would be hand colored with diluted tempera paints. While the prints themselves were typically very simplistic and unadorned, the final product, with the tempera paint added, was surprisingly bright with vivid colors and lines. The dramatic coloring of the early woodcut prints was to some extent lost with the transfer to more detailed engravings. Because of the staggering difference in military defense, Russia assumed itself to have the upper hand before the war ensued. Luboks depicting the overconfidence of the Russian army were created because censorship laws at the time did not allow satirical magazines to subsist. With the use of satirical, often racist cartoons, luboks displayed pictures such as, "a Cossack soldier thrashing a Japanese officer, and a Russian sailor punching a Japanese sailor in the face". These luboks, produced in Moscow and St. Petersburg, were anonymously created and recorded much of the Russo Japanese War. Perhaps due to the Russians' overconfidence, "During the battle, the Japanese generals were able to size up their opponent and predict how he would react under certain circumstances. That knowledge enabled them to set a trap and defeat a numerically superior enemy". Therefore, the Russian government eventually stepped in with its censor laws and stopped the creation of more satirical luboks. All in all, around 300 luboks were created during 1904–05.