6 crystal tons of the USSR fountain for the World Exhibition

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

A fountain is depicted on the modern coat of arms of Konstantinovka. This is puzzling and surprising. Why a fountain? These events took place in the distant 30s.

By the resolution of the US Congress dated June 15, 1936, 64 states were invited to take part in the World Exhibition in New York "Building the World of Tomorrow". The Soviet Union accepted the invitation and on March 16, 1937, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Council of People's Commissars) issued an official decree on participation in the exhibition. To organize all the preparatory work, the Soviet part of the International Exhibition was created, which was subordinate to the Council of People's Commissars. She was responsible for the development of the thematic plan of the pavilion, organization of work on its design, construction and decoration, preparation of exhibits.

One of the exhibits of the exhibition was to be a decorative fountain. The project was presented by the outstanding sculptor Iosif Moiseevich Chaikov (1888-1979). According to him, the fountain had to be of the following dimensions: height - 4, 25 m, diameter of the whole bowl - 4 m. The implementation of such a project was not an easy matter. Engineer F. S. Entelis offered his services.

Fyodor Semyonovich Entelis (1907-1995) - glass production engineer, professor at the V. Mukhina Art and Industry School, member of the Union of Architects of the USSR. Laureate of the USSR State Prize. Entelis began his acquaintance with the industrial Konstantinovka as an engineer long before the fountain project. After graduating from the Silicate Institute in Kamenets-Podolsk at the age of 20, Fyodor Stepanovich was sent as a night foreman to a mechanized glass factory in Konstantinovka. Here, "in close contact with old experienced craftsmen, he learned the secrets of making glass, so far only window glass, which were not taught at the institute."

In 1939, Entelis met Nikolai Nikolayevich Katchalov (1883-1961), a professor at the Leningrad Technological Institute, with whom they were planning to create an experimental art glass workshop at the Leningrad Mirror Factory. Its artistic director was the famous monumental sculptor Vera Ignatievna Mukhina (1889-1953), who was also interested in artistic glass. In 1940, Fyodor Stepanovich was appointed head and technical director of the experimental workshop. Before the start of the war, the best forces of glass-blowing workers from various factories, as well as several talented artists, were gathered here. This enterprise has repeatedly won prizes at domestic and international exhibitions. An interesting fact, in 1949 a giant crystal vase was made on it as a gift to I. V. Stalin (artist B. A. Smirnov, process engineer F. S. Entelis). Fyodor Semyonovich also advised the Hermitage workers, was engaged in the reconstruction of the technology for the manufacture of antique glass products. He wrote the work "Forming and hot decoration of glass", with his participation published the monographs "Russian art glass", "Spanish glass" and "Antique glass".

In 1938, the fountain was designed by sculptor I. Chaikov and engineer F. Entelis. Parameters: height 4, 2 m, diameter of the curved bowl, according to various estimates, 2, 25-2, 50 m. As noted, the wonderful crystal fountain was made by Konstantin's people in collaboration with the Krasny Giant plant. It is noteworthy that before that at Avtosteklo it was not necessary to work on crystal. The 75-year-old glassmaker Nazarov from the Dyadkovo plant was invited to help. This is how the event is described: “The old master saw such large pots, rolling table, annealing furnaces for the first time. He was confused by this technique. His business was clearly not going well. More than 10 brews did not give the desired result. " Experienced glassmakers Dmitry Milodanov and Vakula Rachuk undertook to cook the crystal. For this, several dies were cast from nickel. The oldest craftsmen of the factory bent the crystal, giving it the appearance of a bowl. Then these huge bowls with a diameter of 2.5 m underwent the finest processing on machine tools. To process the details of the fountain, the design of which was collapsible, "the plant successfully applied an improved technology": glass processing with a victorious cutter.

Descriptions and images of the fountain have survived. A huge shallow bowl towered on a colored monumental leg. From the center of the bowl, another, smaller size, seemed to grow, and a sheaf of crystal ears rose from it. From the crystal tubes of the sheaf, water flowed freely into a small bowl and, having filled it, overflowed into a large one. This large bowl, two and a quarter meters in diameter, made of a solid sheet of thick crystal, was the most remarkable part of the structure.

Temerin S. M. in his work “Russian Applied Art” (1960) noted: “In this monumental structure, transparent crystal was combined with patinated bronze and colored stained-glass windows made of multilayer colored glass. The experience of creating this work testified to the great importance of the creative collaboration of an engineer with an artist for the further development of the glass industry."

The New York World's Fair opened on April 30, 1939. Designed for two summer seasons, it finally closed only on October 27 of the following year. The exhibition exposition of the Soviet Union was located in three different buildings: the Main Exhibition Pavilion of the USSR, the Arctic Pavilion and the Hall of Nations. In the center of the main Soviet pavilion towered a gigantic 24-meter steel sculpture called The New Soviet Man. The sculpture itself weighed 30 tons, mounted on a metal frame and installed on the central obelisk pylon (60 m high). In the "Arts" hall of the main pavilion, among the paintings and sculptures, a crystal fountain was demonstrated.