© Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times
© Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times
© Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters
© Yves Herman/Reuters
This is the second of this weekend’s two articles in which the artists and paintings of Ukraine tell their own story. Each of the links given takes you back to the series of articles I compiled here a couple of years ago.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Ukrainian art schools were at last training the Ukrainian artists of the future, who were able to make their own styles and develop distinctive movements. Among them were some who went on to earn a place internationally. Unfortunately, history conspired to change all this in the political unrest around the October 1917 Revolution in Russia, and through two World Wars. As a result, the lives of many Ukrainian artists were brought to an early end, by disease, starvation, or execution. A large proportion of their output has been deliberately suppressed, hidden away in collections of banned works, destroyed, or looted.
Mykola Pymonenko (1862–1912) was born in a village outside Kyiv and started his training in his father’s icon workshop in the city, prior to his discovery by Mykola Murashko of the Kyiv Art School, where he trained before heading off to Saint Petersburg. He returned to Kyiv in 1884 to teach and to paint in the Naturalist style that was so popular at the Salon in Paris at the time. It was he who perhaps painted the first distinctively Ukrainian works that drew on local themes such as Paska at Easter, traditional weddings and the grain harvest. Kazymyr Malevych was among his pupils.
Many Ukrainian artists had depicted Zaporozhian Cossacks, and they remained a favourite theme for Ilia Repin right up to his death, but the first prominent specialist national history painter was Mykola Ivasyuk (1865–1937), who was born and brought up in Zastavna in western Ukraine when it was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He therefore trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, but chose to spend much of his career in Chernivtsi and Kyiv, where he also taught.
During the nineteenth century, the evolution of painting in Ukraine had largely been constrained by the orthodoxy of the Imperial Academy, and the supply of Russian patrons. As its own art schools flourished, and support for the arts grew, the pace of progress rose rapidly in Ukraine. The first decade of the twentieth century saw Ukrainian artists in the same avant garde as those in France and the rest of Europe, until the First World War and the October 1917 Revolution.
The war threw Ukraine into the midst of the conflict between Austro-Hungary and Russia, with Ukrainians fighting one another on behalf of two different empires. Then from 1917 onwards, the country lapsed in and out of complete chaos. By 1920, many Ukrainian artists had been forced to leave, or were intending to do so.
For painters like Ivasyuk, the world changed too rapidly. Initially he was commissioned to design postage stamps, then in 1926 he was made a professor at the Kyiv Art Institute. In a few years he had been moved away to Odesa as a result of political criticism. In the autumn of 1937, he was arrested, convicted of terrorism on the basis of his history paintings, and was shot by a firing squad at the age of seventy-two. Many of his paintings were confiscated or destroyed in a bid to erase him and his work completely.
Viktor Zarubin (1866–1928) was born in Kharkiv, trained under Arkhyp Kuindzhi, and painted extensively in Ukraine and northern France.
Ivan Trush (1869–1941) was born in Vysotsko, to the north-east of Lviv. He settled in the city, where he was involved in the establishment of Lviv National Museum. He was a prominent portraitist, and painted Impressionist landscapes.
Petro Nilus (1869–1943) was born in Balta, in south-west Ukraine, and moved to Odesa, where he studied under Kyriak Kostandi. He was active in Odesa for much of his career until moving to Paris in 1920.
Mykola Burachek (1871-1942) was born in Letychiv, western Ukraine, and trained under Khariton Platonov in Kyiv. He taught in Kyiv from 1917, then in Kharkiv from 1925. He died there during its Nazi occupation.
Oleksandr Murashko (1875–1919) was born in Kyiv, where he became a major figurative painter. He taught there from 1909, and was a co-founder of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts. He was shot dead by a street gang.
Kazimierz Sichulski (1879–1942) was born in Lviv. He travelled in the Carpathian Mountains from 1905, where he painted Hutsul peoples. He taught in Lviv from 1918, then in Kraków, Poland from 1930, before returning to Lviv in 1939.
Kazimierz Sichulski’s Galician Landscapes 1
Kazimierz Sichulski’s Galician Landscapes 2
Fedir Krychevskyi (1879–1947) was born in Lebedyn, near Sumy in north-east Ukraine. He studied with Gustav Klimt in Vienna before returning to teach in Kyiv in 1914, where he was appointed Rector of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts. He remained in Kyiv during the Second World War, but was arrested by Soviet forces in 1943, and died of starvation in Irpin during the famine of 1947.
Kazymyr Malevych (1879–1935) was born in Kyiv of Polish descent, where he started his studies. He became a Cubo-Futurist by 1912, then went on to Suprematism. He taught at Kyiv Art Institute from 1928 alongside Oleksandr Bohomazov, but was sacked from there in 1930, was arrested by the KGB and threatened with execution.
Oleksandr Bohomazov (1880–1930) was born in Yampil, near Lyman in east Ukraine. He trained under Mykola Pymonenko at the Kyiv Academy of Arts from 1902, alongside Oleksandra Ekster and the sculptor Oleksandr Arkhypenko who were to play major roles in the development of modernist art in Ukraine and Europe. After a period studying in Moscow, he returned to Kyiv in 1908, where he became one of the leaders of the avant garde. In 1914 he wrote an innovative treatise on modern painting that formed the basis of his teaching at the Kyiv Art Institute from 1922.
Like Ivasyuk, Mykhailo Boichuk (1882-1937) came from Galicia in Austro-Hungary, where he was born to the south of Ternopil, but trained first in Lviv then in the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, Poland. He returned to Lviv in 1910, where he developed a novel style, unique to Ukraine, known as Monumentalism or Boichukism, which brings together traditional Byzantine icon painting and the pre-Renaissance. This enjoyed recognition and popularity during the 1920s, when there were more than two dozen visual artists creating commissioned works for public buildings throughout Ukraine. After the October 1917 Revolution he was a co-founder of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts.
Boichuk and his colleagues fell from grace during Stalin’s Great Purge of 1937, when he was accused of being a bourgeois nationalist. For that, he, his wife and many of his colleagues were executed that year, and most of their work destroyed. They weren’t the last to die for their art, either: in 1946, for instance, Ivan Ivanets, director of the Lviv Art Gallery, was kidnapped and killed in Russia.
Expatriates of this period include Oleksandr Shevchenko, Oleksandra Ekster, Arnold Lakhovskyi, Wladimir Baranoff-Rossiné and Abraham Mintchine.
Oleksandr Shevchenko (1882-1948) was born in Kharkiv, and painted for much of his career in Moscow.
Oleksandra Ekster (1882–1949) was born in Poland in a Belarusian family but trained under Mykola Pymonenko in Kyiv, where she launched her career. She lived in Paris from 1906, where she developed Cubo-Futurism before returning to Kyiv in 1914, where she opened an art school in 1918. She then went to Odesa before going to Moscow, and migrated to Paris in 1924.
Arnold Lakhovskyi (1880–1937) was born in Chornobyl, in north Ukraine. He trained in Odesa and Munich, and moved to Paris in 1925, then to New York City in 1933, where he was a successful portraitist.
Wladimir Baranoff-Rossiné (1888-1944) was born in Kherson, and studied in Odesa. He moved to Paris in 1910. During the First World War he lived in Nordic countries, then taught in Moscow in 1920. He was a prolific inventor, whose inventions include the optophonic piano, and he was an early developer of military camouflage. He moved back to Paris in 1925, where he was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943, and he died in Auschwitz.
Abraham Mintchine (1898-1931) was born in Kyiv, where he studied at its Art School and with Oleksandra Ekster. He left for Berlin in 1923, then lived in Paris from 1925, where he painted prolifically before he died suddenly in 1931.
Despite attempts at their assimilation, control and waves of destruction under a succession of empires, painting in Ukraine has somehow flourished as a result of the dedication of this succession of artists. Long may the artists, teachers and art collections of Ukraine flourish.
Andrey Kurkov and others (2022) Treasures of Ukraine, A Nation’s Cultural Heritage, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978 0 500 02603 8.
Konstantin Akinsha and others (2022) In the Eye of the Storm, Modernism in Ukraine 1900-1930s, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978 0 500 29715 5.
For once, words fail me. So instead of fumbling around trying to express my feelings, this weekend I’m going to let the artists and paintings of Ukraine tell their own story. Each of the links given takes you back to the series of articles I compiled here a couple of years ago.
I start this sketchy account of modern painting in Ukraine in the early nineteenth century, a time of transition from a past of mainly religious works, with workshops creating magnificent icons, to landscapes and secular figurative art. Much of central and eastern Ukraine was then part of the Russian Empire, although in western areas like Galicia and the Carpathians, Polish and Austrian affiliations remained dominant.
When academies had replaced apprenticeship and guilds, the training of painters had become centralised across Europe. The Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna originated as a private academy in 1688, and in 1757 the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg was founded. When Ivan Soshenko and his protégé Taras Shevchenko trained, it was reasonable that they should do so at the Imperial Academy, just as contemporary artists in Galicia aspired to train in Poland or Austria.
Ivan Soshenko (1807-1876) was born in Bohuslav near Kyiv. After his training in Russia, he returned to Ukraine to paint and teach, and it was from there that he encouraged and assisted the training of Taras Shevchenko.
Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), widely known as Kobzar Taras, was born in Moryntsi, central Ukraine, near Kyiv. He was a protégé of Ivan Soshenko, and became a prodigious painter and prolific writer, the founder of modern Ukrainian literature.
Russia was relatively slow in opening up its collections of art to the public. Those of the Medici family in Florence had been opened to the public as the Uffizi Gallery around 1789, and the French royal collection became the Louvre Museum shortly after, in 1793; even London’s National Gallery was founded in 1824. Russia’s earliest public collection, also located in Saint Petersburg, wasn’t opened to the public until 1852, and the next two were even later: the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 1867, and the Aivazovsky National Art Gallery in Feodosia, Ukraine, in 1880.
Arkhyp Kuindzhi (1841–1910) was born in Mariupol. After had trained at the Imperial Academy in 1868-72, instead of returning to Ukraine to teach he found patrons like Pavel Tretyakov in Moscow, and was appointed professor in Saint Petersburg in 1892. Fortunately he found time to return to Ukraine to paint, and to influence other Ukrainian artists.
The oldest art school in Ukraine, now named the Grekov Odesa Art School, is in Odesa, and was initially founded as a drawing school in 1865. Within twenty years, there were art schools in other major cities including Kyiv, but the attraction of the Imperial Academy remained, together with the pool of wealthy Russian patrons.
Volodymyr Orlovsky (1842–1914) was born in Kyiv. He started training there under Soshenko before he went to study at the Imperial Academy in 1861-68. Russia retained him there, first by providing him travelling funds to tour Europe, then with the post of professor in 1876. Ten years later he broke free and returned to Kyiv to teach, and co-founded Kyiv Art School in 1900.
Khariton Platonov (1842–1907) was born in the Upper Volga region of Russia. He lived, worked and taught in Kyiv from 1877, and among his pupils there were Mykola Pymonenko and Mykola Burachek.
Mykola Kuznetsov (1850-1929) was born to the north of Odesa. From 1893 he was based mainly in Odesa until he migrated to Yugoslavia in 1920.
Rufin Sudkovsky (1850–1885) was born in Ochakiv, between Odesa and Kherson, where he was based for much of his career. He painted the Black Sea coast.
Ivan Pokhitonov (1850–1923) was born in central Ukraine, to the north of Kherson, and trained in Odesa. He travelled in Europe and lived in western Russia and Belgium.
Over this period there were also three famous expatriates: Ivan or Hovhannes Aivazovsky, Ilya Repin, and Marie Bashkirtseff.
Ivan/Hovhannes Aivazovsky (1817–1900) was born in Feodosia, Crimea. Although he travelled extensively, he was based in Feodosia from 1845. He was a major marine artist, and was appointed official painter to the Russian Navy. He painted Crimea and the Black Sea coast, and his studio taught Arkhyp Kuindzhi.
Although Ilia Repin (1844–1930) is today known as a Russian master, he was born in Chuhuiv near Kharkiv. He painted extensively in Russia, Ukraine and France, and was one of the major portraitists and figurative painters of the period.
Marie Bashkirtseff (1858–1884) was born in Havrontsi, central Ukraine. She settled in Paris and trained there from 1877, becoming a protégé of Jules Bastien-Lepage, and a Naturalist, before her untimely death.
I have reached a period when more Ukrainian artists were trained in and taught in the early art schools of Ukraine, as they grew and developed over this period. Although most did train in the long-established academies in Saint Petersburg, Poland and Germany, and many spent time in Paris, centres were flourishing in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Lviv. Styles that became popular inevitably included Impressionism and Naturalism.
Kyriak Kostandi (1852–1921) was born near Odesa, where he trained initially, and returned to teach. He was co-founder of Odesa’s Society of South Russian Artists and remained a central figure there until his death.
Serhii Vasylkivskyi (1854-1917) was born in Izyum, south-east of Kharkiv, and lived most of his life in the city, where he was a key member of artistic circles.
By the turn of the century most major cities in Ukraine were in the process of forming their own public art collections. The National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU) in Kyiv was founded in 1899, the same year as the Odesa National Fine Arts Museum. Kharkiv Art Museum followed in 1905, and the Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery was formally opened in 1907.
Serhii Svitoslavskyi (1857-1931) was born in Kyiv, where he returned and set up his studio. He painted many Ukrainian landscapes, particularly views of the River Dnipro. He was a teacher of plein air painting in Kyiv, and Oleksandr Bohomazov was among his pupils. He was also a key figure in the early years of Kyiv Zoo.
Mykola Samokish (1860–1944) was born in Nizhyn, Ukraine, and brought up near Chernihiv. He travelled widely and painted in Russia and Ukraine, organised an art school in Simferopol, Crimea, and taught in Kharkiv.
Mykhaylo Berkos (1861–1919) was born and initially trained in Odesa, then settled to the north of Kharkiv, where he taught and was a key figure in Kharkiv Art College.
Andrey Kurkov and others (2022) Treasures of Ukraine, A Nation’s Cultural Heritage, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978 0 500 02603 8.
Konstantin Akinsha and others (2022) In the Eye of the Storm, Modernism in Ukraine 1900-1930s, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978 0 500 29715 5.
有个新闻，我这一年闲聊时经常提起。从各方面都切合了我的审美。
2022 年 12 月 18 日，乌克兰国防部在 twitter 发文，感谢来自 52 个国家的军事及个人援助，视频中列出了这些国家的国旗。其中，没有大陆的五星红旗；有台湾、有香港，而代表香港的旗子，是时代革命运动中的黑紫荆旗。
（视频里有 8×7=56 面旗子，推文里说是 52 个国家，其对应关系，大家有兴趣可以连连看。）
随后，香港官方各种抗议，具体后续不了了之。原始的推文已经被删除。
这些国旗的出现，可以追溯到 2022 年 6 月，在基辅独立广场（Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kiev）上的一个展示项目。
从网上搜的图片可以看到，中间有一小段时间，是已经挂上了台湾国旗，但还没有挂上黑紫荆。第一批在乌克兰参加志愿者的台湾导游「莊育瑋」，也在这个期间，就去合影。
后来黑紫荆旗怎么挂上去的，无从考证。但是很容易想象：有个来自香港的家伙，也在乌克兰做志愿兵，看到挂了台湾旗，就跑去说：我来自香港，所以你们也要挂香港的旗帜啊，就挂黑紫荆吧！
这个事情让我觉得很嗨的原因，在于：以往涉及国旗的场合中，那些对于个体，构成被迫的身份绑定，甚至是负担的层面，在这个事件中，消失了。参战的志愿者，可以凭借自己的意愿，来决定我所属的「国家」的旗帜，应该用什么样的方式展示。
而且，我们经常面对的，同一类身份的人，在另一个层面上意见不一致，而带来的割裂感，这里似乎也消失了。
就是说，理论上会有这样的情况：一个爱国小粉红，也去乌克兰参战，看到这种场面，坚持要改成五星红旗、或者红紫荆旗，怎么办？——但现实中，真会有这样的人，去乌克兰参战吗？没有啊。只有几个脑残，跑去俄罗斯那边当炮灰。
即使有中国大陆籍贯的人，在乌克兰做志愿者（我相信是有的），也不介意国旗被改成什么样吧。这样的人，看到黑紫荆旗，会与之争吵吗？不会的啊。大概只会为此感到欢乐。
这种在现实层面实现的同温层过滤，感觉很好。
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