Kholui, known throughout the world as a center of papier-mache lacquer miniatures and famous in Russia in the past for its skillful icon painters, is thought to be one of the oldest settlements in the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. It is situated on the banks of the small but deep and fancifully meandering Tesa River, to which it owes its name. «Kholui» or «kholuiniki», the vernacular for wattle fences, according to Vladimir Dahl's Dictionary of the Russian Language, were used there for fishing.

The earliest documented mention of Kholui dates back to the 16th century. According to an order sent by the Grand Prince Ivan Vasilievich of Moscow to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, «On Exempting the Starodubsky Salt Mines from Taxes» (1546), Kholui belonged at that time to the monastery, to which Kholui's inhabitants supplied locally mined salt, a valuable product in those days. Kholui thus emerged in the late 17th century as the center of the icon painting tradition of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Icon painting developed fairly quickly in Kholui in the early 18th century: demand grew with every passing year. Kholui icons were highly appreciated in northern Russia, especially in the Vologda, Arkhangelsk and Olonets gubernias and St. Petersburg itself.

Golden Fish
B. Kiselev, 1954

In 1882, the Alexander Nevsky brotherhood founded in Vladimir opened, in Kholui, six-year drawing classes, which were later transformed into an icon painting school. Icon painting, drawing and painting within the framework of the Academy of Arts curriculum were taught there. N. N. Kharlamov, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts was sent to Kholui to act as the school's headmaster and teacher.

The activity of the icon painting and drawing school (1882–1920) was quite fruitful. Its first graduates formed an association and engaged in icon and wall painting under the supervision of their teacher, N. N. Kharlamov. They did the famous frescoes and icon stand for the Russian embassy church in Vienna, as well as for the Orthodox cathedrals of Cracow and Kishinev, and other churches in many Russian towns.

Most graduates, however, continued to work in Kholui, leaving an indisputable impact on the artistic level of icons and frescoes and fulfilling the most important commissions. Their knowledge and superb craftsmanship maintained and enhanced the prestige of Kholui icon painting. The school also laid the groundwork for the development of modern miniature painting in Kholui.

Religion was persecuted and desecrated after the October 1917 revolution and the Civil War in Russia. Together with churches and cathedrals-historical and cultural monuments of the Russian people, remarkable icons and frescoes were also lost.

Kholui's icon painting workshops were closed.

Lacquer miniatures on papier-mache emerged as a new trend in Russian decorative and applied art, winning recognition throughout the world. Fedoskino, in which the craft has been developing for 200 years now, is the indisputable birthplace of Russian lacquers. Kholui started to evolve its own style much later, when some of its painters returned home after long and fruitless quests and wandering across Russia. Inspired by the accomplishments of Palekh and Mstyora craftsmen, Kholui painters Sergei Mokin, Konstantin Kosterin, Dmitri Dobrynin and Vassily Puzanov-Molev formed an association in 1934 to try their hand in the new media. Icon painting school graduates, they were all talented professionals with vast experience; Puzanov-Molev even held two diplomas: he graduated from Moscow's Stroganov Art School in 1912. It took Kholui painters a long time and a lot of efforts to develop their own style.

On a government decision a vocational art school opened in Kholui in 1943. Artists serving at the front and in the rear were summoned to teach there, and appropriations were made to equip the classrooms, to buy firewood, teaching aids, clothes and footwear for future students. Another graduate of the Leningrad Academy of Arts, U. A. Kukuliev was sent to Kholui. He worked as the association's artistic director and taught drawing and painting at the art school. The four-year program focused on miniature painting, which was taught by Sergei Mokin (until 1945), Konstantin Kosterin and Vassily Puzanov-Molev.

In January 1947, the first post-war graduates of the art school joined the associ­ation. They were fourteen and included Nikolai Baburin, Alexei Kosterin and Boris Tikhonravov. Vladimir Belov, Mokin's pupil, became their unofficial leader. He was five or so years older than the rest of them and was distinguished above all by his love for miniature, hard work, imaginative thinking (very much like his teacher) and awareness of the creative goals and obligations of his generation. Subsequently art school graduates constantly joined the association's young team of craftsmen, among them Nikolai Denisov, Boris Kiselev, Valentin Fomin and Nikolai Starikov. That was in fact the beginning of Kholui lacquers.

At the first conference held in Kholui in 1959 on the occasion of the association's 25th anniversary scholars, art historians and critics, as well as leading painters from Palekh, Mstyora and Fedoskino, discussed a current display of over 200 exhibits and unanimously pointed to the accomplishments of Kholui craftsmen. The general opinion was that Kholui had developed its own artistic traditions and an inimitable image. Kholui lacquers came into their own.

Ever since that time Kholui became known as a center of lacquer miniatures, and museums, galleries, Russian trading houses and foreign firms showed keen interest in the works of its craftsmen. Kholui lacquers gained recognition.

Its painters produced both unique works of art, which were bought by famous museums and displayed at exhibitions, and models used to make small batches for the market.

More works were made for the market, and the number of painters also grew. Every year graduates of the local art school joined the team, worked side by side with experienced masters, improved their professional skills and gained experience. The range of local products expanded: there were already over 700 models, of which painters produced small series of copies for the market. Objects of new shapes and purposes appeared, and red, green and cherry-coloured pieces were added to the traditional black ones.

Miniaturists are often called «fairy-tale» painters due to their devotion to Russian folklore themes. Indeed, tales, epic poems and legends are closer than any other genre to the imagery and pictorial potentialities of miniature painting. Kholui painters show special fondness towards Pushkin's tales, Yershov's Little Hunchbacked Horse, Bazhov's Urals Tales, Afanasiev's tales and other folk tales. Pieces with Russian folklore themes enchant by their genuine sincerity and purity, extol beauty and evoke the sublime in deeds and aspirations. Free from perfidy, evil, violence and grief, they give a graphic portrayal of folk wisdom, triumphant justice and truth.

Another notable theme was the architectural landscapes of old Russian cities and invaluable historical and cultural monuments, including Novgorod, Outside Novgorod, Pskov-Krom, several versions of Uglich, Old Yaroslavl, In Yaroslavl, Rostov the Great, several versions of Suzdal, Old Suzdal, Kideksha, The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, Golden Gate, The Vladimir-Suzdal Museum Preserve, The Kremlin. St. Basil's, The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Optina Pustyn, Alexan-drovskaya Sloboda, The Trinity-Sergius Monastery, several versions of Kholui, Kizhi and The Nikola-Shatromsky Monastery.

That tradition is being studied anew and reinterpreted by contemporary painters. New times dictate new approaches to icon painting, nourished by a great love for Russia's past and present, in-depth knowledge of the sources, the inspiration and talent of those who have undertaken the arduous and noble job of reviving the traditions of old Russian painting. Kholui craftsmen are once again going through a period of dissatisfaction with their present accomplishments. Their creative quests aim to breathe life into icon painting and to produce miniatures on biblical and Gospel themes. These eternal themes of world art, which have for many years been banished from Russian lacquers, are being given a new lease on life at a confluence of past traditions and novel aspirations of local craftsmen.