Perm Sculpture

religious works of art in wood, sculpted in the northwestern Urals from the 17th to the early 20th century. Perm’ sculpture was carved from pine or, more rarely, fir, linden, or birch, and was painted, usually with tempera colors on levkas in tones close to northern icon painting. The sculptures combine accentuated expressiveness with a certain immobility of form, especially those of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th. The generalized sculpting of the clothes and body contrasts with the detailed modeling of the heads.

Perm’ sculpture absorbed the traditions of local pagan sculpture, and in the 17th century it began showing the influence of Moscow icon painting. In the 18th century, baroque methods and Western European iconographic styles appeared in the sculpture. The most popular subjects of Perm’ sculpture are the suffering Christ (the midnight Savior), the crucifixion, the head of St. John the Baptist, St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk and Paraskeva-Piatnitsa (an ancient Slavic deity). The most important collection of Perm’ sculpture is in the Perm’ Art Gallery.