Legends in Lacquer

Only in the snotty West have we developed this idea of “outsider art” for crafts and art forms that are “vernacular.” Look to the East to find traditions that not only predate modernity, but keep right on ignoring it. Like Russian lacquer boxes. These incredibly detailed and lush paintings on boxes, plates, miniature caskets, and other functional forms go back five hundred years, and they’re still made today in Palekh, in central Russia. That’s a lot of twenty-four karat gold leaf and microscopic cyrillic. If you haven’t checked out the Museum of Russian Art—which normally specializes in Soviet-era socialist realism—this is a rare opportunity to appreciate folk art at its finest. Outsider art? Count us in! 11300 Hampshire Ave. S.; Bloomington; 612-914-0200; www.tmora.org