{"id":139296,"date":"2021-04-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=139296"},"modified":"2021-08-27T10:41:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T07:41:01","slug":"three-key-trends-of-ukrainian-avant-garde","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/three-key-trends-of-ukrainian-avant-garde","title":{"rendered":"Three Key Trends of Ukrainian Avant-garde"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ukrainian avant-garde didn\u2019t have a lot of time to blossom \u2013 the art movement lasted for approximately 20 years, in 1910-1930s. Within this short period it managed to shock, amaze and make a powerful impact that attracted international attention.<\/strong> Even the term itself was coined by a French art historian Andr\u00e9i Nakov \u2013 which happened later, in 1973. This timing makes sense in a way, as Ukrainian avant-garde had profound influence on the nonconformist art of the 1960ies, which led to renewed interest in the sources of its inspiration. And avant-garde born in art schools, artists\u2019 associations, bold exhibitions in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv \u2013 as well as in European capitals – keeps inspiring still: it was one of the pillars of modernist revival in 1990ies with its rumbling echoes well heard today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scale of the phenomenon is mesmerizing: it included movements such as cubofuturism, spectralism, constructivism and panfuturism. <\/strong>At least 8 associations united artists of all kinds, who created not just paintings, but also poetry, sculptures, innovative scenography, cinema and music, often blurring the lines between different forms of art. To all this variety, however, there were several distinct trends \u2013 a guideline of sorts for those who would like to explore the world of Ukrainian avant-garde in more detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Women played essential role in Ukrainian avant-garde<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Oleksandra<\/a>
Oleksandra Ekster<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the XX century, this art movement widely relied on women who made some of the greatest contributions to its development and whose efforts were recognized on par with men. Oleksandra Ekster was a founder of one of the most prominent art schools in Kyiv, which played a role in establishing a whole plethora of new avant-garde artists. <\/strong>She is considered an \u201camazon of avant-garde\u201d and a co-founder of Cubofuturism. However, her revolutionary spirit fully demonstrated itself in reimagining traditional scenography. She introduced a new approach to decorations, brought the costume creation to a level of dizzying new heights and had influenced the development of Art Deco style. Ekster experimented with textures and spatial structures, paid a lot of attention to contrast, dynamism and rhythm. By the way, Ekster studied under Mykola Pymonenko at the Kyiv School of art, just as Kazymyr Malevych did. Personally acquainted with Picasso, she was a star of European \u2013 most of all, French, as the family was forced to emigrate in 1924 \u2013 salons and exhibitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oleksandra<\/a>
Oleksandra Ekster. “Three female figures”, 1910<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sonia Delaunay, known as a French artist, was of Ukrainian and Jewish origin and was another prominent figure to influence Ukrainian avant-garde. <\/strong>Born in a small town in the Poltava region of Ukraine, she grew to become one of the most celebrated \u2013 and most versatile \u2013 artists of her time. Having moved to Saint Petersburg, then to Germany at the age of 18, she then emigrated to Paris. Together with her husband, Robert Delaunay, she founded a movement known as orphism. The first woman to be honored with an opportunity for exhibition in Louvre in 1964, she brought new concepts and revolutionary ideas to all the forms of art, often mixing them. Delaunay decorated her famous dresses with poems, including Dadaistic ones; just as Oleksandra Ekster, she experimented with theater decorations and fabrics. A fan of bright colors and geometric shapes, Sonia Delaunay developed an amazing legacy, some of which yet stands \u2013 for example, the salon she established, REALITES NOUVELLES, is still functional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sonia<\/a>
Sonia Delaunay<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. Unique feature of Ukrainian avant-garde was a combination of folk and high art<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Folk motives played an essential role in the creation of avant-garde legacy. They served as a source of inspiration for many artists, including Kazymyr Malevych, who referred to traditional <\/strong>pysanka<\/em><\/strong> motifs in his paintings.<\/strong> He was not alone \u2013 the above mentioned Oleksandra Ekster was also frequently inspired by folk art and the works of Ukrainian craftsmen, just as Davyd Burliuk. Burliuk, a futurist poet, art theorist and a teacher to Vladimir Mayakovskiy according to Mayakovskiy himself, created approximately 15,000 paintings by his own account!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"David<\/a>
Davyd Burliuk<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Davyd<\/a>
Davyd Burliuk. “Cossack Mamay”, 1912<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Avant-garde poetry and scenography borrowed a lot from the language of peasants and craftsmen, making artistic linguistics more fluent and rhythmical. Folk culture led to the development of na\u00efve art, and its archetypes were often used by Oleksandr Bohomazov (who managed to reach the level of the best European avant-garde artists despite having very little formal education \u2013 he was sometimes referred to as \u201cUkrainian Picasso\u201d) and Oleksandr Arkhypenko. Arkhypenko\u2019s cubistic sculptures introduced new elements such as sculptural voids; he relied on negative space and often blurred lines between sculpture and painting. He incorporated national motifs in sculptured clothing to reach a more dynamic, vibrant rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oleksandr<\/a>
Oleksandr Bohomazov. “Tuning saws”, 1927<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Kazymyr<\/a>
Kazymyr Malevych. “Girls in a Field”, 1932<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

3. Many avant-garde artists had to flee from Soviet repressions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stalinist repressions that intensified in 1930ies targeted many groups, and intellectual elites including artists were one of those groups. Totalitarian regime persecuted independent thinkers for many reasons, at the same time trying to impose the new \u201csocial realist\u201d art that left no place for \u201cbourgeois\u201d avant-garde.<\/strong> It was one of the reasons for Kazymyr Malevych to emigrate from Ukraine. Mykhail Semenko, a futurist poet, was under increasing pressure from authorities that forced him to reject avant-garde \u2013 however, this rejection did not save him from arrest and subsequent death sentence in 1937. Les Kurbas, founder of the innovative \u201cBerezil\u201d theater, has also been arrested and first sent to the labor camp \u2013 where he also managed to found a local theater. Kurbas was executed in 1937, yet another representative of \u201cExecuted Renaissance\u201d, a large group of Ukrainian artists from 1920-1930ies that fell victims to the repressions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Les<\/a>
Les Kurbas<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Despite this tragic aspect of history, Ukrainian avant-garde managed to survive in hearts, minds and the influence it had on the further development of art. Perhaps it might witness a revival through the increasing interest towards the artistic experiments of the early XX century \u2013 which might yet inspire new vision today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Go on a journey to discover more about Ukrainian culture in our materials within the #UkraineExplained<\/a> project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are on this ride along with Euromaidan Press<\/a>, Stopfake<\/a> , Internews Ukraine<\/a>, and Texty.org.ua<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian avant-garde didn\u2019t have a lot of time to blossom \u2013 the art movement lasted for approximately 20 years, in 1910-1930s. Within this short period it managed to shock, amaze and make a powerful impact that attracted international attention. Even the term itself was coined by a French art historian Andr\u00e9i Nakov \u2013 which happened […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":139375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[690,700,748],"tags":[1063,7248],"section":[726],"form":[31943],"yoast_head":"\nThree Key Trends of Ukrainian Avant-garde | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ukrainian avant-garde didn\u2019t have a lot of time to blossom \u2013 the art movement lasted for approximately 20 years, in 1910-1930s. 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