Ukrainian art is a new powerful impetus in the world of culture. The works of our artists are popular outside their homeland. We present to your attention a selection of those Ukrainian artists who are known and respected in the world.
Alexander Roitburd
Alexander Roitburd is a multifaceted personality, one of the most famous contemporary Ukrainian artists in the whole world. He was born in 1964 in Odessa. Now he is engaged not only in painting, but also in photography, video, and graphics.
His creations are even exhibited in the Museum contemporary art in New York. It is his painting “Farewell, Caravaggio” that is considered the most expensive (97 thousand dollars) Ukrainian work of art.
Alexander Roitburd. Goodbye Caravaggio
Vasily Tsagolov
Another famous and respected Ukrainian artist all over the world is Vasily Tsagolov. He was born in Russia, but since his student years he has lived and worked in Kyiv.
One of his works, “Office Love 2,” was sold at auction by Phillips de Pury & Company in early June 2009 for $53,600.
He creates his masterpieces by combining mythology with popular culture, on the basic principles of modern postmodernism.
Vasily Tsagolov. Evander Holyfield - Van Gogh randomly
Alexander Gnilitsky
This Ukrainian artist, unfortunately, died in 2009. But he managed to present the culture of Ukraine at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Also, his paintings were exhibited in art galleries in Ukraine, Russia, Croatia, USA, France, Norway, Finland, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland.
Gnilitsky’s masterpieces are valued at a high price; for example, “Sky. Olegovskaya” was sold for $41,250.
Alexander Gnilitsky. Reflection in the dome
Yuri Senchenko
Yuriy Senchenko is rightfully considered the patriarch of Ukrainian art. True, Senchenko mostly worked in tandem with Arsen Savadov. It's them big picture“The Sorrow of Cleopatra” is considered to be the starting point of new Ukrainian art.
His paintings were seen by art connoisseurs in Chicago, New York, Munich, Edinburgh, Moscow and many other foreign cities.
Yuri Senchenko, Arsen Savadov. Cleopatra's Sorrow
Arsen Savadov
Arsen Savadov, a Ukrainian artist in whom the KGB was at one time actively interested. On the territory of art, he now actively represents Ukrainian culture in Europe and America.
The artist tries to combine postmodernism with baroque culture in his paintings.
The artist’s greatest fame came from his provocative paintings “Donbass Chocolate” and “Book of the Dead.”
Arsen Savadov. Toys
Oleg Tistol
Continuing the list of world-famous Ukrainian artists, we must not forget about Oleg Tistol.
Among all Ukrainian artists, he is qualitatively different in his manner of painting, which is probably why he is so respected in Europe.
Among his outstanding works are: “Project of Ukrainian money. Roksolana”, “TV + Realism”, “U.Be. Ka”.
One of the most important projects in which Tistol participated is the 2014 exhibition “I am a Drop in the Ocean” at the Künstlerhaus Museum in Vienna.
Oleg Tistol. Ukrainian money project. Roksolana
Ilya Chichkan
Ilya Chichkan is a bright representative of the new wave of Ukrainian art. His works are often exhibited in Ukrainian galleries.
His works are highly valued in Europe. One of his paintings, “It,” was sold in 2007 for $70,000.
Ilya Chichkan. From the life of insects
Ivan Marchuk
This artist is called a modern Ukrainian genius of art. The British even included him in the list of “100 modern geniuses” in 2007, in which, by the way, he is the only Ukrainian.
It was Ivan Marchuk who introduced a new method of drawing into art, which critics call plenticism.
Ivan Marchuk. Portrait of B. Mortar
Boris Mikhailov
Boris Mikhailov is the only Ukrainian artist who exhibited at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (2011). He is a member of the German Academy of Arts, a lecturer at Harvard University, and his works are in such famous collections as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Munich Pinakothek nouveau, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Mikhailov mainly became famous for photography, although he also draws. In particular, Mikhailov at one time shocked Ukrainians with paintings of naked men.
Boris Mikhailov. Naked Mikhailov
Maxim Mamsikov
His paintings, in addition to Ukraine, were seen by France, Germany and Russia. For some reason, Mamsikov’s creativity is not as highly valued in his homeland as, for example, in France.
In 2009, at the auction of Phillips de Pury & Company, his “Battleship” was bought for 35 thousand dollars.
Maxim Mamsikov. Untitled
Oksana Mas
Famous Odessa artist working in various genres. For example, Ukrainians could see her work “Virgin Mary” right on the street, which she compiled from 15 thousand Easter eggs.
Over the past two years, the artist has had a dozen foreign exhibitions, including in Zurich, Paris, London and Moscow.
At Sotheby's auction in 2009, one of Mas's paintings was bought for 55.2 thousand dollars.
Oksana Mas. Altar of Nations
Tiberius Silvasi
The painter Tiberiy Silvashi is a bright representative of Ukrainian contemporary art. He constantly experiments and displays his results to the public.
Contemporaries consider Silvashy to be the leader of the school of Ukrainian abstractionists.
Tiberius Silvasi. Display
Gritsya Erde
A very young, very talented and very ambitious girl who creates mainly fantasy collages with subtext, but also does graphics and drawing. Right now Gritsya Erde is holding her own exhibition in Berlin, Germany.
The young artist also makes covers and illustrations for books and albums of Ukrainian singers.
Gritsya Erde. Horror inspires
Oleg Golosiy
This artist did not have time to be an artist of independent Ukraine for long, because in 1993 he died at the age of 28. But for my short life he managed to take part in exhibitions in England, Germany, France, and Russia.
Anatoly Krivolap
The most expensive work by Anatoly Krivolap "Horse. Evening" was sold at Phillips London on June 28, 2013 for $186,000.
The artist mainly paints landscapes and experiments with color. He recently opened two personal exhibitions in Kyiv in the Triptych ART and Mironova Gallery galleries.
Anatoly Krivolap. Evening
Victor Sidorenko
Bright and expressive - this is what his works are called. Victor Sidorenko is a candidate of art history and professor at the Kharkov State Academy of Design and Arts, as well as the founder of the Institute of Contemporary Art.
His last painting, “Untitled,” from the series Reflection into the unknown, was sold at a British auction for $32,800.
Victor Sidorenko. Energy flow
Nikita Kadan
Another young, but very talented and world-famous Ukrainian artist.
Nikita Kadan only for recent years there were 4 personal exhibitions, of which only one was held in Ukraine. In addition, he has about 50 group exhibitions abroad. Even New York knows his name.
Nikita Kadan. The Rape of Europa.
Vinnie Reunov
Konstantin "Vinny" Reunov was born and spent his childhood in Ukraine. Then he started moving constantly. But still he returned to his homeland.
His canvases hang even in the UK, in the Saatchi Gallery. Last summer, Vinny presented the “Made in Ukraine” project in Kyiv gallery"Crucian carp."
Vinnie Reunov. THIS CULTURAL NOVELTY WILL CHANGE THE WAY HIGH-EXCLUSIVE ART IS PRESENTED TO MASS AUDIENCE
Andrey Sagaidakovsky
Shy but talented Lviv artist. Once upon a time, he painted on canvas like everyone else, knowing where to get it for next to nothing. But then the point closed. Sagaidakovsky could not come to terms with this, because the love of art flows in his blood. Then he began to paint on carpets and mats.
It was this drawing technique that brought Mr. Andrey fame throughout the world.
Andrey Sagaidakovsky. Conversations
Ivan Semesyuk
Ivan Semesyuk is the first artist in Ukraine who began painting in the “redneck art” style. And immediately his paintings scattered throughout Ukraine and the world.
He became the chairman of the union of free artists "Will or Death".
His works have participated in more than 80 exhibitions. Semesyuk's paintings were exhibited in France, Norway, Poland, and Russia.
Ivan Semesyuk. Portrait of Nestor Makhno
Vlada Ralko
Vlada Ralko is an expressive Ukrainian artist, without whose works not a single exhibition in Ukraine is complete.
Her creations have their own specific style and charm. They are distinguished by their bright, “stable” color. Vlada Ralko tries to show her feelings and thoughts about the world around her through paintings.
Vlad Ralko. Inside
Nikolay Matsenko
Nikolay Matsenko is an artist who never forgets his roots. He was born in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. All his works are imbued with nationality and childhood memories. Matsenko mainly makes carpets and coats of arms.
The artist claims that thanks to coats of arms he realizes himself, and carpets are his memories from childhood.
Nikolay Matsenko. Not yet... (Sketch of the Great Coat of Arms)
Alexander Voytovych
Sasha Voitovich is a true connoisseur of female nature; it is not without reason that the main theme of his works is a woman and her body.
The Lviv artist has repeatedly exhibited not only at group foreign exhibitions, but also at personal ones. In particular, in Hungary and several cities in Spain.
And in 2009 he opened his own gallery.
Alexander Voytovych. Summer Time
Igor Gusev
Once upon a time, back in the early 90s, Odessa artist Igor Gusev drew illustrations for magazines, zodiac signs and naked girls.
But with the end of the “hard” years, the artist’s work also changed. It became serious and balanced. For example, in 2013, at the Dymchuk Gallery, Gusev presented his paintings with retro images.
In 2012, at a London auction, Igor Gusev’s painting “Club 27 Emmys” was sold for $19,500.
Igor Gusev. Snow simulator. inner voice
For Independence Day, the “24” website has prepared 24 materials about Ukraine for you. Learn interesting things about your native country every day!
"Ukrainian landscape".
1849.
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukraine, a union Soviet socialist republic located in the southwest of the European part of the USSR. Area 601 thousand square kilometers. Population over 44 million people (1963), including 50% urban. 76.8% are Ukrainians, there are also Russians, Jews, Poles, Belarusians, etc.; 362 cities and 826 urban-type settlements (as of January 1, 1964). The capital is Kyiv.
The most important rivers: Dnieper, Southern Bug, Dniester, Northern Donets, Prut, the mouth of the Danube. Minerals: coal (Donbass, Dvovsko-Volynsky basin), brown coal (Dnieper basin), rock salt(Donbass), iron ore (Krivoy Rog, Kerch), manganese (Nikopol), peat (in the Polesie regions), oil (foothills of the Carpathians, Poltava region, etc.), flammable gases, building materials, etc.
The oldest finds of human culture in the territory modern Ukraine belong to the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age (Trypillian culture). In the 4th-6th centuries, in the area between the Dnieper and Dniester rivers, an alliance of East Slavic tribes, the Ants, arose, whose main occupation was agriculture. Since the 9th century, the territory of modern Ukraine was part of the feudal state - Kievan Rus. By this time, the territory of Ukraine was inhabited East Slavic tribes: Polyans, Buzhans, Tivertsy, Drevlyans, Northerners, etc. The economy and culture of the ancient Russian state in the 9th-12th centuries reached a significant level. The Old Russian nationality was the single root of three fraternal peoples: Great Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. In the 13th century, the lands of Southwestern Rus' were conquered by the Mongols. The formation of the Ukrainian nation took place in the 14th-15th centuries. Having begun the seizure of Ukrainian lands in the 14th century, the Polish gentry, after the Union of Lublin of 1569, established heavy feudal oppression over the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian people waged a difficult struggle against the aggression of the Crimean Tatars and Sultan Turkey. Big role in liberation struggle The Ukrainian people were played by the Zaporozhye Sich. The people's liberation war of 1648-54 under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnitsky against the oppression of Polish feudal lords ended with the reunification of Ukraine with Russia (Pereyaslav Rada 1654). Poland held Right Bank Ukraine and Western Ukraine until the end of the 18th century, part of the latter then came under Austrian rule. Left Bank, as well as Sloboda Ukraine, were part of the Russian state. Transcarpathian Ukraine was under the yoke of Hungary. The invasion of Charles XII in 1708-09 sparked a people's war in Ukraine against the Swedish invaders and the traitor hetman Mazepa. After a number of restrictions, the tsarist government in the 2nd half of the 18th century liquidated the autonomy of Ukraine and the Cossack organization - the New Sich. The Cossack elder received Russian nobility. In March 1821, the Southern Society of Decembrists, headed by P. I. Pestel, was organized in Tulchin. In December 1825 there was an uprising of the Chernigov regiment. In December 1845 - January 1846, a secret political organization arose in Kyiv - the Cyril and Methodius Society, the revolutionary democratic direction of which was headed by T. G. Shevchenko. In 1847, the tsarist government brutally dealt with revolutionary-minded members of society. In 1861, a peasant reform was carried out in Ukraine, which accelerated the development of capitalism. The rapid growth of industry began, especially coal in the Donbass and iron ore in Krivoy Rog. The development of the revolutionary democratic and labor movement in Ukraine in the 19th and 20th centuries was part of the all-Russian revolutionary movement. In 1875, the South Russian Workers' Union was organized in Odessa. In the 80-90s, Marxist circles appeared in Kyiv and Kharkov; at the beginning of the 20th century, social democratic organizations arose. The mass peasant movement of 1902 and the political strikes of 1903 in Ukraine played an important role in the preparation of the revolution of 1905-07, during which mass revolutionary uprisings of Ukrainian workers and peasants took place. During the First World War (1914-18), military operations took place on the western outskirts of Ukraine.
The Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 liberated the Ukrainian people from social and national bourgeois-landowner oppression. The 1st All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets [Kharkov December 11(24), 1917] elected the first Soviet government of Ukraine, which led the fight against the bourgeois-nationalist counter-revolutionary Ukrainian Central Rada, expelled from Kyiv in January 1818. By February 1918, Soviet power had won almost the entire territory of Ukraine . During the years of foreign military intervention and civil war (1918-20), the Ukrainian people waged a national war of liberation against the German occupiers, the Anglo-French interventionists and their henchmen in the person of Hetman Skoropadsky, the counter-revolutionary Directory, Denikin, Wrangel, and the Polish invaders. With the help of the working people of Russia, the enemy was expelled from Ukraine. In December 1920, a military-economic agreement was concluded between the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR. With the formation of the USSR on December 30, 1922, the Ukrainian SSR became part of it. During the years of the pre-war five-year plans, a powerful industry was created in Ukraine and the collective farm system was established. In November 1939, Western Ukraine, previously under Polish domination, reunited with the Ukrainian SSR. In August 1940, part of the territory of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which had separated from Romania, were reunited with the Ukrainian SSR. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, the Ukrainian SSR was occupied by the Nazi invaders, who established a regime of brutal terror. The occupiers caused enormous damage to the population and national economy of the Ukrainian SSR. Together with other peoples of the USSR, Ukrainians fought heroically in the ranks of the Soviet Army, in partisan detachments. By mid-October 1944, the entire territory of the Ukrainian SSR was liberated from the Nazi occupiers. On June 29, according to an agreement between the USSR and Czechoslovakia, Transcarpathian Ukraine was reunited with the Ukrainian SSR. Thus, all Ukrainian lands were reunited into a single Ukrainian Soviet state. In 1954 Soviet people solemnly celebrated the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia. In February 1954, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a resolution on the transfer of the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia and for the outstanding successes of the Ukrainian people in the state, economic and cultural construction of the Ukrainian SSR, she was awarded the Order of Lenin (May 22, 1954). For major successes in increasing the production of agricultural products, on November 5, 1958, Ukraine was awarded the second Order of Lenin.
In terms of economic importance, Ukraine ranks second (after the RSFSR) in the USSR.
Encyclopedic Dictionary. "Soviet Encyclopedia". 1964
Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov.
"Ukrainian landscape".
1860s.
Before the Tatar invasion, neither Great, nor Little, nor White Russia existed. Neither written sources nor folk memory preserved any mention of them. The expressions “Little” and “Great” Rus' begin to appear only in the 14th century, but neither ethnographic nor national importance don't have. They originate not on Russian territory, but beyond its borders and were unknown to the people for a long time. They arose in Constantinople, from where the Russian Church was governed, subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Until the Tatars destroyed the Kyiv state, its entire territory was listed in Constantinople under the word “Rus” or “Russia”. The metropolitans appointed from there were called metropolitans of “all Rus'” and had their residence in Kyiv, the capital of the Russian state. This went on for three and a half centuries. But the state, devastated by the Tatars, began to become easy prey for foreign sovereigns. Piece by piece, Russian territory fell into the hands of the Poles and Lithuanians. Galicia was captured first. Then the practice was established in Constantinople to call this Russian territory, which had fallen under Polish rule, Little Russia or Little Russia. When, following the Poles, the Lithuanian princes began to take away the lands of Southwestern Rus' one after another, these lands in Constantinople, like Galicia, received the name Little Rus'. This term, which is so disliked by Ukrainian separatists these days, who attribute its origin to the “Katsaps,” was invented not by Russians, but by Greeks and was generated not by the life of the country, not by the state, but by the church. But also in political terms, it began to be used for the first time not within Moscow, but within the Ukrainian borders.
Nikolay Ulyanov. "Russian and Great Russian". “Miracles and Adventures” No. 7 2005.
Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi.
"Ukrainian night".
1876.
By the time Mazepa was elected hetman, Left Bank Ukraine had the following administrative-territorial division and internal governance. It was divided into ten regiments: Gadyachsky, Kyiv, Lubensky, Mirgorodsky, Nezhinsky, Pereyaslavsky, Poltava, Prilukiy, Starodubsky, Chernigovsky. These administrative-territorial entities, in turn, were divided into hundreds (up to about 20 in each regiment), hundreds were divided into kurens, and the latter united several villages.
The administration of Ukraine was carried out by a hetman, whose election was confirmed by a royal charter. Not only administrative and military power was concentrated in his hands, but also the highest judicial power: without his sanction death penalty was not accomplished. Under the hetman, there was a general foreman, consisting of a general convoy, who was in charge of all the artillery, a general judge, who was in charge of the general court, a general treasurer, who was in charge of financial affairs, a general clerk in charge of the office, two general esauls-inspectors of the army and the hetman's adjutants; General Cornet and General Bunchuk were endowed with approximately the same functions. The general foreman also constituted the outer layer of the feudal class - for example, Mazepa owned 100 thousand peasants in Ukraine and 20 thousand in the neighboring districts of Russia.
B. Litvak. "Hetman-villain."
Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi.
"Evening in Ukraine."
1878.
The morning was sunny. The first snow fell overnight. It became winter and, as often happens in Ukraine, suddenly there was a breath of spring through the winter. It’s frosty in the shade, but it melts in the sun. Sparrows chirp, doves coo on the sunny eel of golden church domes. In the gardens, cherry and apple trees, covered with frost, stand white as if in spring bloom. And under the snow the white walls of the Cossack huts seem dark, and the dirty Jewish houses seem even dirtier. (Notes of S.I. Muravyov-Apostol).
Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi.
"Ukraine".
1879.
While passing through Vinnitsa, he noticed that Ukrainian children never wear glasses, and their teeth do not need the services of dentists, and this made a very strong impression on the Fuhrer. He pointed out to Martin Bormann:
Take up this issue... for the sake of the future of the German nation! Tall, blond, blue-eyed children should be taken from their parents to be raised in the Nazi spirit.
The helpful Bormann, agreeing with Hitler, immediately came up with the theory that the Ukrainians were an offshoot of Aryan tribes related to the ancient Germans. Heinrich Himmler's headquarters these days was located near Zhitomir, Himmler's armored car ran daily between Vinnitsa and Zhitomir, Hitler did not forget to remind the Reichsführer SS:
Heinrich, it’s time to think about selective selection of Slavic children to replenish the manpower reserves of our Reich, because Ukrainians outwardly represent excellent eugenic material...
Valentin Pikul. "Square of Fallen Fighters."
Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi.
"The head of a Ukrainian peasant in a straw hat."
1890-1895.
Ukrainians (self-name), people in the USSR. Number 42,347 thousand people, the main population of the Ukrainian SSR (36,489 thousand people). They also live in other union republics, including the RSFSR (3,658 thousand people), the Kazakh SSR (898 thousand people), the Moldavian SSR (561 thousand people), the BSSR (231 thousand people), the Kirghiz SSR (109 thousand people), the Uzbek SSR (114 thousand people). Outside the USSR they live in Poland (300 thousand people), Czechoslovakia (47 thousand people), Romania (55 thousand people), Yugoslavia (36 thousand people), as well as in Canada (530 thousand people), USA (500 thousand people), Argentina (100 thousand people), Brazil (50 thousand people), Australia (20 thousand people), Paraguay (10 thousand people), Uruguay (5 thousand people). The total population is 45.15 million people.
They speak Ukrainian. Writing since the 14th century based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Russian is also common, and Polish is also spoken in Western Ukraine. Ukrainian believers are mostly Orthodox, some are Catholic. Ukrainians, together with closely related Russians and Belarusians, belong to Eastern Slavs. In Polesie there are subethnic groups of Litvins and Poleschuks, and in the Carpathians - Hutsuls, Boykos, and Lemkos.
The formation of the Ukrainian nationality took place on the basis of part of the East Slavic population, which was previously part of a single ancient Russian state (9-12 centuries).
In the 16th century, the Ukrainian (so-called Old Ukrainian) book language emerged. On the basis of the Middle Dnieper dialects at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the modern Ukrainian (new Ukrainian) literary language was formed.
The name "Ukraine" was used to designate various southern and southwestern parts of ancient Russian lands in the meaning of "edge" back in the 12th-13th centuries. Subsequently (by the 18th century), this term in the meaning of “kraina”, i.e. country, was fixed in official documents, became widespread among the masses and became the basis for the ethnonym of the Ukrainian people.
Along with the ethnonyms that were originally used in relation to their southeastern group - “Ukrainians”, “Cossacks”, “Cossack people”, in the 15th-17th centuries (in Western Ukraine until the 19th century) the self-name “Russians” (“Russians”) was preserved (“ Rusini"). In the 16th and 17th centuries, in official documents of Russia, Ukrainians were often called “Cherkasy”; later, in pre-revolutionary times, they were mainly called “Little Russians”, “Little Russians” or “South Russians”.
Food varied greatly among different segments of the population. The basis of the diet was vegetable and flour foods (borscht, dumplings, various yushkas), porridge (especially millet and buckwheat); dumplings, dumplings with garlic, lemishka, noodles, jelly, etc. Fish, including salted fish, occupied a significant place in the food. Meat food was available to the peasantry only on holidays. The most popular were pork and lard. Numerous poppy cakes, cakes, knishes, and bagels were baked from flour with the addition of poppy seeds and honey. Drinks such as uzvar, varenukha, and sirivets were common. The most common ritual dishes were porridges - kutya and kolyvo with honey.
Like Russians and Belarusians, in the social life of the Ukrainian village until the end of the 19th century, despite the development of capitalism, remnants of serfdom and patriarchal relations remained, and the neighboring community - the community - occupied a significant place. Many traditional collective forms of labor (cleaning, supryaga - similar to Russian pomochas and "parubochi hromada" - associations of unmarried guys) and recreation (vechornitsy t dosvitki, New Year's carols and shchedrovki, etc.) were characteristic.
"Peoples of the World". Moscow, “Soviet Encyclopedia”. 1988
Vasily Sternberg.
"Fair in Ukraine".
We intended to read a little on the plane, but fell asleep instantly. And when we woke up, the plane was already flying over the fields of Ukraine, as fertile and flat as our Midwest. Beneath us lay the endless fields of the gigantic granary of Europe, the promised land, yellowing with wheat and rye, harvested here and there, harvested somewhere else. There was no hill or elevation anywhere. The field stretched to the very horizon, flat and rounded. And along the valley, rivers and streams twisted and zigzagged.
Near the villages where the battles took place, trenches, ditches and crevices ran in zigzags. Some houses stood without roofs, and in some places black patches of burnt houses could be seen.
There seemed to be no end to this plain. But finally, we flew up to the Dnieper and saw Kyiv, which stood above the river on a hill, the only hill for many kilometers around. We flew over the destroyed city and landed in the surrounding area.
Everyone assured us that outside of Moscow everything would be completely different, that there would be no such severity and tension there. And indeed. Ukrainians from the local VOX met us right on the airfield. They smiled all the time. They were more cheerful and calmer than the people we met in Moscow. There was more openness and cordiality. Almost all of the men are large blonds with gray eyes. A car was waiting for us to take us to Kyiv.
"Ukrainian".
1883.
Poltava Regional Art Museum named after. Nikolai Yaroshenko, Poltava.
The Shevchenko-1 collective farm was never one of the best, because the land was not the best, but before the war it was a quite prosperous village with three hundred and sixty-two houses, where 362 families lived. In general, things were going well for them.
After the Germans, there were eight houses left in the village, and even these had their roofs burned. People were scattered, many of them died, men went into the forests as partisans, and God only knows how the children took care of themselves.
But after the war, people returned to the village. New houses grew, and since it was harvest time, houses were built before and after work, even at night by the light of lanterns. To build their little houses, men and women worked together. Everyone built it the same way: first one room and lived in it until another was built. In winter in Ukraine it is very cold, and houses are built in this way: the walls are made of hewn logs, fixed at the corners. Shingles are nailed to the logs, and a thick layer of plaster is applied to it on the inside and outside to protect it from frost.
The house has a canopy that serves as a storage room and hallway at the same time. From here you get to the kitchen, a plastered and whitewashed room with a brick stove and a hearth for cooking. The hearth itself is four feet off the floor, and this is where the bread is baked—smooth, dark loaves of very tasty Ukrainian bread.
Off the kitchen is a family room with a dining table and decorations on the walls. This is a living room with paper flowers, icons and photographs of the murdered. And on the walls are medals of soldiers from this family. The walls are white, and the windows have shutters, which, if closed, will also protect against winter frost.
From this room you can access a bedroom - one or two, depending on the size of the family. Due to difficulties with bedding, the beds are not covered with anything: rugs, sheepskin - anything to keep them warm. Ukrainians are very clean, and their homes are perfectly clean.
We were always convinced that on collective farms people live in barracks. This is not true. Each family has its own house, garden, flower garden, large vegetable garden and apiary. The area of such a plot is about an acre. Since the Germans cut down all the fruit trees, young apple, pear and cherry trees were planted.
John Steinbeck. "Russian Diary".
"Ukrainian girl"
1879.
Kyiv national museum Russian art, Kyiv.
I need to talk about breakfast in detail, since I have never seen anything like it in the world. To begin with - a glass of vodka, then each was served a scrambled egg of four eggs, two huge fried fish and three glasses of milk; after that a dish with pickles, and a glass of homemade cherry liqueur, and black bread with butter; then a full cup of honey with two glasses of milk and, finally, another glass of vodka. It sounds, of course, incredible that we ate all this for breakfast, but we really ate it, everything was very tasty, although later our stomachs were full and we did not feel very well.
John Steinbeck. "Russian Diary".
Vladimir Orlovsky.
"View in Ukraine".
1883.
The colonel himself is from Kyiv, and he has light blue eyes, like most Ukrainians. He was fifty, and his son was killed near Leningrad.
John Steinbeck. "Russian Diary".
Vladimir Orlovsky.
"Ukrainian landscape".
Holy Rus'... We often pronounce this familiar phrase as a matter of course, without thinking - why, exactly? Have you ever heard of, say, the saints of Kazakhstan, Estonia, America, France, Iraq, China, Madagascar, Australia?.. You can continue this series indefinitely without finding a convincing explanation for the mysterious phenomenon. Agree, it would never even occur to us to doubt the deeply organic connection between the two short words, their enduring, some kind of tectonic inviolability.
Just as, having witnessed something that was done, in our opinion, not humanly, we habitually lament: somehow not in Russian This. Agree, it would never even occur to us to say about something similar, that it is somehow not Kyrgyz, not Latvian, not Uruguayan... I recently received an interesting note in one classroom: “To the collection of your examples of Russianness. In Ukraine they say (in the imperative mood): “I speak Russian to you..."».
Vladimir Irzabekov. "Secrets of the Russian word."
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
"Ukrainian peasant."
1880.
The Ukrainian was shipwrecked. Lived for two years desert island. Suddenly a boat approaches, with a beautiful woman in it.
Man, come here! I'll give you what you've wanted for two years.
The Ukrainian rushes into the water and swims towards her.
Dumplings! Dumplings!
Yuri Nikulin. "Anecdotes from Nikulin."
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
"Two Ukrainian peasants."
1880.
I talked with completely benevolent residents of Kiev, who, by the way, would still like to live with us in the same state, but, nevertheless, they believe that they are “Ukrainians”, because this is not the first generation engaged in Ukrainization. They believe that Ukrainians are a different people, but still we would be very happy in one state. The people of Kiev are quite friendly. I told them: don’t be offended by me, but what kind of people are you? Look here. I can speak language a little clumsily, but reading and listening comprehension will not be clumsy, that’s all. So, if I move to Kyiv and live there for five years, then they will no longer distinguish me, and if you live in Moscow for five years, then they will no longer distinguish you in Moscow. But a Siberian will be visible in Moscow even in ten years: he has more features, more differences than a Muscovite and a Kievite. This is an example from my private conversation, not a scientific debate. And they couldn't object to me. We are really similar. In a conversation, everyone can speak their own language so as not to break or make the other laugh. I can talk to a Galician. I had a long polemic in 1991 with Galicians on Lvov Street, but there was no bloodshed. Moreover, they spoke not just Ukrainian, they spoke a very unique Galician dialect. But I understood everything, and I spoke as always, like a Muscovite. And everything was fine, we understood each other. But you can’t talk to a Pole like that anymore.
Vladimir Makhnach. “What is a people (ethnic group, nation).” Moscow, 2006.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
"Ukrainian hut".
1880.
Ukrainians began to live in grand style
Scientists from the Kyiv National University of Technology and Design conducted anthropometric studies among residents of Ukraine. Their goal is quite pragmatic: to determine the direction of the country’s light industry in the coming years, to find out which sizes of clothes and shoes will become the most popular. This is the first time such a survey has been carried out in the last quarter of a century.
Experts have come to the conclusion: the population of Ukraine has grown by 8-10 cm, and residents of the northern part of the country have grown more than the “southerners”. On average, the size of running shoes increased by two numbers for both men and women. At the same time, the Ukrainians became plump and stooped. Flat feet, caused by a sedentary lifestyle, as well as changes in social conditions, have noticeably spread.
“Miracles and Adventures” No. 3 2005.
Konstantin Yakovlevich Kryzhitsky.
"Evening in Ukraine."
1901.
"Moonlit Night in Ukraine."
Painting from the estate of A. N. Kuropatkin Sheshurino.
Nikolai Efimovich Rachkov.
"Ukrainian girl."
Second half of the 19th century.
Nikolay Pymonenko.
"Ukrainian night".
1905.
Nikolay Pymonenko.
"Harvest in Ukraine."
"Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians."
Engravings of the 19th century.
Ukraine has long been famous for its artists. Taras Shevchenko, Ilya Repin, Kazimir Malevich... - the list of outstanding masters of brushes and palettes can be continued for a long time. Who is the pride of Russian fine art today? Here is a list of the 10 highest paid (read: most talented) contemporary Ukrainian artists.
1. Anatoly Krivolap
Today he is one of the most successful and best-selling Ukrainian artists. Fans and collectors are acquiring his works at an incredible rate (some already have more than 50 works). Krivolap's paintings are sold at crazy prices at the world's leading auctions and are exhibited in almost all Ukrainian museums.
Anatoly Krivolap was always worried about the question of how to paint a picture with pure colors and so that they match perfectly. He has been working on this problem since the 1970s. Incredible warm sunsets, mysterious silhouettes of people and animals, houses and shadows of trees - all this miraculously appeared from under his brush.
Since the 1990s, Krivolap has become one of the most expensive Ukrainian artists. The last successfully sold work is “Night. Horse" ($124,343) - entered the TOP 10 most expensive daily lots by Phillips de Pury & Co. Prices for his works are rising every year, and experts say that in five years his paintings could cost about half a million dollars.
A. Krivolap. From the series "Ukrainian motive"
A. Krivolap. "Horse. Evening"
A. Krivolan. "Horse. Night"
2. Alexander Roitburd
Alexander Roitburd participated in more than a hundred exhibitions and art projects. His works are presented in Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, in art museums Ukraine, Russia, USA, Slovenia, in many public and private collections. In addition, Roitburd has participated in the Venice Biennale and Documenta. The most famous works: “Geisha” ($20,641), “Goodbye Caravaggio” ($97,179) and “Flight into Egypt” ($57,700).
A. Roitburd, "Geisha"
A. Roitburd, "Self-portrait"
3. Oleg Tistol
Oleg Tistol is a key figure in the Ukrainian New Wave. He represented Ukraine at the Sao Paulo Biennale (1994) and the 49th Venice Biennale (2001).
Oleg Tistol was the only one who managed to make Ukrainian national symbols interesting and understandable in the West: both native hryvnias (the “Ukrainian Money” project) and Crimean palm trees (the “U. Be. Ka” project). The most famous works: “Lamp” ($26,225), “Gurzuf” ($12,300) and “Stranger No. 17” ($20,000).
O. Tistol, "The Third Rome"
O. Tistol, "Roksolana"
O. Tistol, "Gurzuf"
4.Ilya Chichkan
Ilya Chichkan is one of the most famous, exhibited, highly paid Ukrainian artists. Works in different types of fine art: painting, photography, installation, video. He filmed rabbits after injecting them with LSD, photographed the mentally ill and mutant children, and drew A.S. as monkeys. Pushkin and the Pope. Once the artist was commissioned to paint a portrait of Joseph Kobzon. At first he refused, but then changed his mind. Having finished the work, Chichkan wrote the title on the back: “Kobzon oh...yy,” which the singer really liked.
Ilya Chichkan’s works have been exhibited in leading galleries and museums in Europe, the USA and South America, as well as at prestigious international forums and contemporary art festivals: the Sao Paulo Biennale (1996), Johannesburg (1997), Prague (2003), Belgrade (2004), the European Manifesta Biennale (2004), and the Venice Biennale (2009). The most famous works: “From the Life of Insects” ($24,700) and “Heavyweight Curator” ($8146).
I. Chichkan, "Geisha"
I. Chichkan, "Pushkin"
Sergey Vasilkovsky(1854-1917) - one of the leading Ukrainian artists late XIX- beginning of the 20th century. He was born onKharkov region in the family of a clerk. He received his initial creative skills from his parents and grandfather. His father showed him the beauty and expressiveness of calligraphic writing, his mother showed him a love of folk songs and folklore, and his grandfather, a descendant of a Cossack family, instilled in his grandson an interest in ancient Ukrainian customs and traditions.
The environment and surroundings contributed to the fact that Sergei’s creative character began to manifest itself from early childhood: he was interested in music, sang and drew. The boy received more thorough knowledge of drawing at the Second Kharkov Gymnasium from the gymnasium drawing teacher Dmitry Bezperchy, a student of Karl Bryullov himself. He did various sketches, and even drew caricatures of his teachers, for which he apparently got into trouble.Since his parents, people of old views and traditions, saw the future well-being of their son in public service, then at the insistence of his father, young Sergei entered the Kharkov Veterinary School. After two years of studying at the school, he left it and went to work as a clerical employee in the Kharkov Treasury. This unloved activity weighed heavily on the creative personality, and Sergei told his father that he was leaving his job and leaving for St. Petersburg to enter the Academy of Arts. To which the father replied: if he leaves his position, then let him know that he does not have a father, since he will no longer consider him a son. Despite a letter with a “curse” from his father, 22-year-old Sergei left his government position and in 1876 entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.Vasilkovsky will study at the academy for nine years. First, he attends general classes, and then goes to the landscape workshop of academicians Mikhail Klodt and Vladimir Orlovsky. He had little money and, feeling the need, was forced to earn a living: either working as a “retoucher” in light painting, or copying drawings for sale.
Despite financial difficulties, his studies at the academy went quite successfully, and after three years Sergei Ivanovich received a small silver medal for a landscape sketch from life, and after another two years, a second small silver medal.
His great artistic talent progressed more and more in the subsequent years of his studies.
In 1883, all summer, Sergei Ivanovich worked a lot in Ukraine, drawing original landscape sketches, full of creative inspiration and youthful romance: “Spring in Ukraine”, “In Summer”, “Stone Beam”, “On the Outskirts” and others, with the intention of representing them to compete for a gold medal at an academic exhibition.
Next year, for the painting “Morning” Vasilkovsky receives a small gold medal. And a year later, for completing the diploma work of art“On the Donets”, is awarded a large gold medal, and receives the right to travel abroad as a pensioner of the academy.
At that time, this word did not mean elderly people, but talented young people who were sent to study abroad for many years, paying them a significant stipend (“pension”).
"Spring in Ukraine"
"On the Outskirts"
"Morning"
In March 1886, Vasilkovsky went on a retirement trip to Western Europe - France, England, Spain, Italy and Germany. When I worked and studied in France, I became close to the “Barbizonians,” whose work created a feeling of high spirits in the viewer and made them see poetry and real beauty in the surrounding nature.During his European tour, the Ukrainian artist creates delightful landscape works: “Morning in Besançon”, “Bois de Boulogne in winter”, “Partridge hunting in Normandy”, “Typical Breton manor”, “View in the Pyrenees”, “After the rain (Spain) ", "Vicinities of San Sebastiano", "Winter evening in the Pyrenees" and others.
"Morning in Besançon"
After a business trip abroad, Sergei Ivanovich settled in Kharkov and, full of creative energy, undertook trips to his native Ukrainian villages and steppes.
With his artistic strokes of the brush, he creates delightful Ukrainian lyrical-epic landscapes: “Chumatsky Romodanovsky Way”, “Village Street”, “Sunset in Autumn”, “Winter Evening”, “Herd on the Outskirts of the Village”, “Mills” and many others .
"Chumatsky Romodanovsky Way"
"Village Street"
"Mills"
The Ukrainian realist artist also wrote paintings on a historical theme, in which he glorified the glorious Ukrainian Cossacks: “Cossack Picket”, “Cossack on Reconnaissance”, “Watchmen of Zaporozhye Liberties” (“Cossacks in the Steppe”), “On Guard”, “Cossack Levada” ", "Cossack Mountain", "Cossack Field", "Cossack on patrol", "Cossack in the steppe. Warning signs”, “Cossack and girl”, “Campaign of the Cossacks” and a large number of others.
"Cossack picket"
Watchmen of Zaporozhye liberties"
"Cossack Levada"
Vasilkovsky’s creativity was not limited only to landscapes and historical paintings- He also worked in the genre of portraiture. Of a number of portraits, one of the most famous is the portrait of the Ukrainian Moses - Taras Shevchenko.The artist demonstrated high professional artistic skill in monumental genre- he painted the recognized masterpiece of Ukrainian modernism: the Poltava provincial zemstvo.
In total, during his 35-year creative careeryu activity Sergei Vasilkovsky created more than 3000 paintings. In addition, he is the author of the albums “From Ukrainian Antiquity” (1900) and “Motives of Ukrainian Ornaments” (1912), on which he worked together with another famous Ukrainian artist Mykola Samokish.
Consistently experienced the stages of Baroque, Rococo and Classicism. This influence is already evident in two portraits from 1652 of B. Khmelnitsky’s children, Timofey and Rozanda. At the same time, the style of early Ukrainian painting is very diverse and unequal in skill.
Ukrainian culture of the second half of the 17th and early 18th centuries
Most of the ceremonial portraits (parsun) of Cossack colonels that survived were painted by local Cossack craftsmen, who, however, knew how to convey the mood and character of the elders depicted. Pavel Alepsky wrote about the realistic skill of Cossack painters in the mid-17th century.
Unfortunately, only a small proportion of the paintings that were created have survived to this day. Ukrainian artists 18th century. In the second half of the 17th century. Schools of icon painters are already being created. The most famous examples are the paintings of the Assumption Cathedral and the Trinity Gate Church in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, which have a soft, pastel form of writing. Sensuality and rounded smooth lines set viewers into a somewhat melancholic mood and try to maintain a cheerful worldview. At the same time, dramatic scenes, such as “The Expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple,” and especially the passion scenes, are executed with the transmission of militant tension corresponding to the turbulent era. The figures depicted on the frescoes exuded physical and mental health, their movements lost all stiffness and generally emphasized the sublimity of their mood.
The images created by the Kiev-Pechersk art workshop became a canon, a role model in all other parts of Ukraine.
Temple painting
At that time, the so-called priest portrait became a characteristic component of temple painting. Ktitorami ( vernacular- headman) called the founders, donors and guardians of a particular church, as well as the current ones (heads of the parish council). In the Kyiv churches there were a lot of such guardians throughout their history. In the altar part of the Assumption Church of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, before it was blown up in 1941, 85 historical figures were depicted - from the princes of Kievan Rus to Peter I (it is clear that this is not all). The senior church hierarchs are depicted as unshakable, but the closer to that period the historical figure was, the more lively the portraits became, the more expression and individuality was reflected in the faces.
Church iconostases, in which icons were arranged in four or even five rows, acquired extraordinary splendor in the Baroque era. The most famous of the surviving baroque iconostases of this kind are the iconostases from the Churches of the Holy Spirit in Rohatyn, Galicia (mid-17th century) and the tomb church of Hetman D. Apostol in Velyki Sorochintsy (first half of the 18th century). The pinnacle of easel icon painting of the 17th century. there is the Bogorodchansky (Manyavsky) iconostasis, which was completed during 1698-1705. master Job Kondzelevich. Traditional biblical scenes are re-enacted here in a new way. Depicted alive real people, full of speakers, even dressed in local costumes.
Quite early, elements of the Rococo style appeared in icon painting, which is associated with the active use by students of the Lavra art workshop as examples of drawings, the parents of the French Rococo, Watteau and Boucher, presented in student album collections. Rococo brings greater lightness and gallantry to portraits, adds characteristic small details, and a fashion appears for the execution of women's parsuns.
The development of classicism in art in the second half of the 17th century
In the second half of the 17th century, copper engraving developed. The development of engraving took place in close connection with the production of student theses, the needs of book printing, as well as orders for panegyrics. At the same time, among the works of the Tarasevich brothers and their later colleagues one can find not only luxurious allegorical compositions of a secular and religious nature, but also realistic engraving sketches of landscapes, seasons and agricultural work. In 1753, Empress Elizabeth issued a decree: three Ukrainian children from the court chapel who had lost their voices should be sent to artistic science. These guys were the future famous Ukrainian artists Kirill Golovachevsky, Ivan Sabluchok and Anton Losenko. Each of them made a significant contribution to the development of classicist art.
Art education in Ukraine in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries
Professional artistic and creative training of Ukrainian masters in the 19th century took place at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and at the European higher art institutions popular at that time, where the main emphasis was on academicism and classicism. According to the conditions of the development of aesthetics, this had the ability to create resistance artistic development Ukraine, to create a gap between folk and “lordly” art.
The best artistic paintings of Ukrainian artists of the 19th century are represented by people with an academic education, and this is primarily T. Shevchenko, and then with him Napoleon Buyalsky, Nikolai and Alexander Muravyov, Ilya Repin and others, who sought to create a national school of art. The center of development of cultural and artistic life was Kyiv. Afterwards, the constant formation of art schools began. The Kiev Drawing School became one of the first art institutions and played an important role in the development of fine arts in Ukraine. At different times, I. Levitan, M. Vrubel, V. Serov, K. Krizhitsky, S. Yaremich and others studied here. Famous artists received their primary art education at the school: G. Dyadchenko, A. Murashko, S. Kostenko, I. Izhakevich, G. Svetlitsky, A. Moravov.
The art school provided thorough training for creating works of art. A museum was even founded at the institution, which received various sketches and drawings by Repin, Kramskoy, Shishkin, Perov, Aivazovsky, Myasoedov, Savitsky, Orlovsky and others. The school’s teachers used progressive methods, which were based on the requirement of drawing from life, strict adherence to the principle “from easy to more complex”, providing an individual approach, an organic combination of special and general education training, that is, focusing on the development of a comprehensive art education.
Professor P. Pavlov, the famous Russian geographer P. Semenov-Tien-Shansky, as well as local collectors of works V. Tarnovsky and I. Tereshchenko helped in organizing M. Murashko’s school. Experienced teachers of the school at different times were M. Vrubel, I. Seleznev, V. Fabricius, I. Kostenko and others. M. Murashko’s school existed until 1901, thanks to which students had the opportunity to develop their natural talent, and then receive artistic education. The future famous Ukrainian artists P. Volokidin, P. Aleshin, M. Verbitsky, V. Zabolotnaya, V. Rykov, F. Krichevsky, K. Trofimenko, A. Shovkunenko and others were students of the Academy of Art. Art education in Ukraine, the second half of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century. represented by schools that were concentrated in Odessa, Kyiv and Kharkov.
Art of Ukraine of the late 19th - early 20th centuries
A particularly prominent place in Ukrainian art belongs to T. Shevchenko, who graduated in 1844 and was a student of Karl Bryullov himself, the author famous painting"The Last Day of Pompeii". T. Shevchenko created a number of paintings from the life of the peasantry (“Gypsy Fortune Teller”, “Katerina”, “Peasant Family”, etc.). The poetic and artistic heritage of T. Shevchenko had a huge influence on the development of Ukrainian culture and in particular the fine arts. It determined its democratic orientation, which was clearly reflected in the work of graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts L. Zhemchuzhnikov and K. Trutovsky. Konstantin Trutovsky is also known for his illustrations to the works of N. Gogol, T. Shevchenko, Marko Vovchok, and he also captured the biography of the Ukrainian artist T. Shevchenko.
Subsequently, progressive artists shared the ideas of the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions” created in 1870 and its leaders: I. Kramskoy, V. Surikov, I. Repin, V. Perov. Following the example of the Russian “Peredvizhniki”, Ukrainian artists sought to use realistic artistic language, which people understand, and show their paintings to residents of different cities. In particular, the “Society of South Russian Artists” was created in Odessa, which was actively involved in exhibitions.
Artistic perfection and high realism are inherent in the paintings of Nikolai Pimonenko. His most famous works are “Seeing off the Recruits”, “Haymaking”, “Rivals”, “Matchmakers”. IN historical genre A. Murashko showed his talent. He is the author famous painting“Funeral of Koshevoy,” for whose central figure Staritsky posed. In landscape painting, Sergei Vasilkovsky showed more talent, whose work is closely connected with the Kharkov region. He discovered Ukrainian painting in Europe, where he was honored to exhibit his paintings at the Paris Salon “out of turn.” A unique phenomenon in world art has become seascapes marine painter I. Aivazovsky. The painting “Night over the Dnieper” by Arkhip Kuindzhi was noted for its unsurpassed effect of moonlight. Remarkable masters of landscape painting were Ukrainian artists of the 19th century: S. Svetoslavsky, K. Kostandi, V. Orlovsky, I. Pokhitonov.
Ilya Repin, who was born in Chuguev in Slobozhanshchina, constantly maintained his connection with Ukraine. Among the many works of the outstanding master, his painting “The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan” occupies a special place. For this painting, his comrade Dmitry Ivanovich Yavornitsky, who devoted his entire life to studying the history of the Zaporozhye Cossacks and who was called Nestor of the Zaporozhye Sich, posed for the artist in the role of the Koshevoy clerk, depicted in the center of the canvas. The film depicts General Mikhail Dragomirov as Koshev's ataman Ivan Sirko.
In Galicia, the soul of the national artistic life was the talented artist (landscape-lyricist and portrait painter) Ivan Trush, Drahomanov's son-in-law. He is the author of portraits of famous figures of Ukrainian culture I. Franko, V. Stefanik, Lysenko and others.
Thus, the entire cultural development of Ukraine took place in inextricable connection with the progressive culture of the Russian people.
Painting in the 30s of the 20th century
In the 30s, Ukrainian artists continued to develop different directions artistic thought. The classic of Ukrainian painting F. Krichevsky (“Winners of Wrangel”), as well as landscape painters Karp Trokhimenko (“Personnel of the Dneprostroy”, “Kiev Harbor”, “Above the High Road”, “Morning on the Collective Farm”) and Nikolai Burachek (“Apple Trees in Bloom” , “Golden Autumn”, “Clouds Are Coming”, “The Road to the Collective Farm”, “The Wide Dnieper Roars and Moans”), which masterfully reproduced the states of nature depending on the characteristics of solar lighting. Significant achievements of Ukrainian painting of this period are associated with the development of the portrait genre, represented by such artists as: Pyotr Volokidin (“Portrait of the Artist’s Wife”, “Portrait of the Singer Zoya Gaidai”), Alexey Shovkunenko (“Portrait of a Girl. Ninotchka”), Nikolai Glushchenko (“Portrait of a Girl. Ninotchka”), Nikolai Glushchenko (“Portrait of a Girl. Ninotchka”). Portrait of R. Rolland"). At this time, the work of the artist Ekaterina Bilokur (1900-1961) flourished. The element of her painting is flowers; they form compositions of extreme beauty. The paintings “Flowers behind the fence”, “Flowers on a blue background”, “Still life with spikelets and a jug” enchant with the combination of the real and the fantastic, a sense of harmony, a variety of colors, and a filigree manner of execution. With the annexation of Transcarpathia to Ukraine in 1945, the number of Ukrainian artists was supplemented by Adalbert Erdeli (“The Betrothed,” “Woman”), Berlogi lo Gluck (“Lumberjacks”), Fyodor Manailo (“On the Pasture”). The Transcarpathian art school was characterized by professional culture, coloristic richness, and creative search.
Painting from the Great Patriotic War
One of the leading topics of Ukrainian easel painting The Great Patriotic War remained for a long time. Artists painted the heroism of warriors and the pathos of struggle. However, philosophical paintings were also written: “Nurse” by Askhat Safargalin, “In the Name of Life” by Alexander Khmelnitsky, “Flax is Blooming” by Vasily Gurin. Many artists continued the development of Ukrainian fine art, trying to give own interpretation personality and creativity of the Great Kobzar: Mikhail Bozhi “My Thoughts, Thoughts” and the like. The pride of Ukrainian culture is the work of artist Tatyana Yablonskaya (1917-2005). Even in the post-war years, T. Yablonskaya created one of the best paintings of that time - “Bread”. The artist’s paintings of the early period - “Spring”, “Above the Dnieper”, “Mother” - were made in the best academic traditions, full of movement, feeling and pictorial freedom.
Painting in the 50s of the 20th century
At the end of the 50s in Ukraine, ideological pressure on the creativity of artists somewhat weakened. And although adherence to the “principle of socialist realism” remained mandatory for Soviet artists, its narrow limits expanded. In the fine arts, compared to the previous period, there has been more freedom in choosing themes, means of realizing artistic ideas, and identifying national identity. Many Ukrainian artists sought to move away from straightforward copying of life; they turned to symbolic images, a poetic interpretation of the former world. It is poeticization that has become one of the leading trends in various forms of art. This period is characterized by a desire for national roots. Ukrainian artists of the 20th century turned to the images of outstanding figures of history and culture, studied folk art and customs. Great value acquired in which bold experimental searches took place. Among the original ones: the Dnieper hydroelectric power station (DneproGES), 18 striking works of Ukrainian monumentalists - a stained glass triptych at the National University. T. Shevchenko, mosaic “Academy of the 17th century.” at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, interior decoration of the Palace of Children and Youth in Kyiv, and the like.
Painting in the 60s of the 20th century
In the early 1960s, artist T. Yablonskaya turned to folk art, which led to a change in her artistic style (“Indian Summer”, “Swans”, “Bride”, “Paper Flowers”, “Summer”). These paintings are characterized by a flat interpretation, plasticity and expressiveness of silhouettes, and the construction of color based on the relationship of pure, ringing colors.
The work of the Transcarpathian artist Fedor Manail (1910-1978), who became one of the best European artists even in the pre-war years, is striking. At the epicenter of the artist’s creative quest is the nature of the Carpathians and the elements folk life: “Wedding”, “Breakfast”, “In the Forest”, “Sunny Moment”, “Mountains and Valleys”, etc. F. Manailo was a consultant on the filming of S. Parajanov’s film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, which, thanks to him contribution, acquired special expressiveness and ethnographic accuracy.
Lviv is distinguished by its spirit of experimentation and its attraction to the European cultural tradition. art school. If the Transcarpathian school is characterized by picturesque emotionality, then the Lviv school is characterized by a graphic manner of execution, sophistication and intellectuality. Obvious representatives of these trends of that time are the famous Ukrainian artists: Zinovy Flint (“Autumn”, “Indian Summer”, “Bach’s Melodies”, “Reflections”), Lyubomir Medved (the cycle “The First Collective Farms in the Lviv Region”, the triptych “Emigrants”, “ Fluidity of time”, etc.). The works of these masters in the portrait genre became a real achievement in art. Portraits of cultural figures by L. Medved (Lesya Ukrainka, S. Lyudkevich, N. Gogol, L. Tolstoy) attract attention with the originality of the manner of execution, the unexpectedness of the compositional structure, the depth and special sharpness of the images.
The original artist Valentin Zadorozhny (1921-1988) worked in different genres- monumental and easel painting, graphics, tapestry, wood carving. The artist used and creatively reinterpreted the best traditions folk art, deeply understood the foundations of national culture: the paintings “Marusya Churay”, “Ecumenical Dinner”, “Chuchinskaya Oranta”, “Daily Bread”, “And there will be a son and a mother...” and others captivate with the saturation and contrasting juxtaposition of colors, expressiveness of lines, ease of rhythm, decorative sound.
In the work of the artist Ivan Marchuk, different artistic directions and methods (from realism to surrealism and abstractionism); genres (portraits, still lifes, landscapes and original fantastic compositions similar to dreams). Tradition and innovation are intertwined in his paintings, all works have a deep spiritual basis: “Blossom”, “Blossoming Planet”, “Lost Music”, “Sprouting”, “The Voice of My Soul”, “The Last Ray”, “The Moon Has Rising Over the Dnieper” , “Monthly Night”, etc. Among the artist’s many works, the painting “Awakening” attracts attention, in which a face appears among the herbs and flowers beautiful woman, her fragile transparent hands. This is Ukraine, which is awakening from a long, heavy sleep.
Ukraine is rightfully proud of its folk artists: Maria Primachenko, Praskovya Vlasenko, Elizaveta Mironova, Ivan Skolozdra, Tatyana Pato, Fedor Pank, etc. At one time, P. Picasso was amazed by the works of M. Primachenko. She created her own world in which fantastic creatures and characters live folklore, the flowers seem to be endowed human soul(“Wedding”, “Holiday”, “Bouquet”, “Magpies - white-sided”, “Three grandfathers”, “A wild otter grabbed a bird”, “Threat of war” and others).
Art of the late 20th century
The end of the 20th century can be considered a time of new beginning in the history of Ukrainian creative art. The formation of an independent state created a new cultural and creative situation in Ukraine. The principle of socialist realism became a thing of the past, Ukrainian artists began to work in conditions of creative freedom. Art exhibitions held at that time showed high creative possibilities Ukrainian fine art, its diversity, the coexistence of various directions, forms and means of expressing artistic ideas. Ukrainian fine art of the late 20th century. received the name “New Wave”, picking up the movement of the Ukrainian avant-garde of the 10-20s, but continuing to develop it in new conditions.
Contemporary Ukrainian artists and their paintings do not fit into the framework of any one style, direction or method. Masters of the older generation prefer traditional to realistic art. Abstractionism became widespread (Tibery Silvashi, Alexey Zhivotkov, Pyotr Malyshko, Oleg Tistol, Alexander Dubovik, Alexander Budnikov, etc.). And yet, the main feature of modern Ukrainian art is the combination of figurative and abstract methods of creativity (Viktor Ivanov, Vasily Khodakovsky, Oleg Yasenev, Andrey Bludov, Nikolay Butkovsky, Alexey Vladimirov, etc.).
New Ukrainian art
Contemporary Ukrainian art has been influenced by Western modernism. Surrealism (from the French "superrealism") is one of the main movements of the artistic avant-garde; it arose in France in the 20s. According to the main theorist of surrealism A. Breton, its goal is to resolve the contradiction between dream and reality. The ways to achieve this goal were varied: Ukrainian artists and their paintings depicted scenes devoid of logic with photographic precision, created fragments of familiar objects and strange creatures.
Op art (abbreviated English as optical art) is an abstract art movement that was popular in the West in the 60s. Op art works are based on the effects of visual illusion, while the selection of shapes and colors is aimed at creating the optical illusion of movement.
Pop art (abbreviated English popular art) arose in the USA and Britain under the influence of mass culture. The source of his images were popular comics, advertising and industrial products. The simultaneity of the plot in pop art painting is sometimes emphasized by technique, which is reminiscent of the effect of photography.
Conceptualism, conceptual art (from the Latin thought, concept) is the leading direction of Western art of the 60s. According to its representatives, the idea (concept) underlying the work has intrinsic value and is placed above skill. A variety of means can be used to implement the concept: texts, maps, photographs, videos, and the like.
The work may be exhibited in a gallery or created 'on site', e.g. natural landscape, which sometimes becomes its component. At the same time, the image of the artist undermines the traditional idea of the status of the authors of art. In an installation, individual elements located within a given space form a single artistic whole and are often designed for a specific gallery. Such a work cannot be transferred to another place, since the surrounding environment is an equal part of it.
Performance (from English representation) is an artistic phenomenon closely related to dance and theatrical performance. The language of pop art is skillfully and often used in their works by such Ukrainian artists as Stepan Ryabchenko, Ilya Chichkan, Masha Shubina, Marina Talutto, Ksenia Gnilitskaya, Victor Melnichuk and others.
Ukrainian postmodernism
Assemblage is an introduction to three-dimensional non-art materials and so-called found objects - ordinary everyday objects. Derived from collage, a technique in which pieces of paper, fabric, etc. are mounted on a flat surface. The art of assemblage was originated by P. Picasso at the beginning of the 20th century; among Ukrainian artists, the assemblage technique was widely used by A. Archipenko, I. Ermilov, A. Baranov and others. Modern Ukrainian artists call the current creative process in Ukraine, by analogy with the West, the era of postmodernism (that is, coming after modernism). Postmodernism in the fine arts resembles the intricately mixed fragments of all previous styles, directions and movements, in which it is pointless to look for at least the slightest manifestations of integrity. Ukrainian postmodernism is most often a borrowing, or even outright plagiarism, of Western models.