| Useful Links |
|
• Art
of Ukraine - art galleries, photography, sculpture, news, graphics,
contemporary arts. (Eng.)
• Internet
Gallery of Ukrainian Art - very informative site. Here you can
find info on Ukrainian graphics, textile, paintings, ceramics, theatres,
wooden art. (Eng., Ukr.)
|
| ART FOR SALE |
|
|
| 1000 Years of Art |
A Brief Look at Some of Mankind's
Greatest Artistic Achievements
|
| The art of Ukraine of the 20-th century |
Pages of Ukrainian Secession. History and
Modernity
| Oleksandr Klymenko and His Philosophy of
Light |
Aprominent western art critic once remarked
that to say something new - after a lot has already been said
- about a painter's art is almost as difficult as to paint
a new picture... more
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Art Books
on Parade
These stunning books are as informative as
they are beautiful.
From Mexican muralists to the Great Tenors, there's something
for everyone |
| |
El Greco Edited
by Jose Alvarez Lopera Skira
|
|
Artists at Work
by David Seidner Rizzoli |
Treasures of Art Nouveau
by Michel Draguet Skira |
 |
 |
 |
Last year the world
saw a
unique exhibition spanning three Mediterranean countries: Spain,
Italy and Greece. El Greco spent part of his life in each.In
case you missed visiting those countries, you are offered the
rare opportunity to study the fullness of El Greco's art as
a whole with this catalog, which features scholarly essays and
exquisite color plates |
|
By the late, award-winning
photographer, David Seidner, this
work offers a glimpse into the studios and lives of some of
the most important artists of our time, including Jasper Johns
and Roy Lichtenstein. Seidner's perceptive prose, striking black-and-white
portrait photographs, and color images of the studios in
which the artists work, all combine to make this a fascinating
book. |
|
Those who appreciate the fine craftsmanship
and sinuous beauty
of the Art Nouveau age will adore
this sumptuous book. It is packed
with full-color p h o t o -graphs of
an outstanding privately owned collection of paintings, furnishings,
jewelry and everyday items. The
author, a doctor of philosophy and literature, discusses this
celebrated period in art and design history
expertly and in depth.
|
The Great Tenors
by Helena Matheopoulos Vendome Press |
Mexican Muralists
by Desmond Rochfort Chronicle Books |
Local Color
The Di Rosa Collection of Contemporary California Art
by various authors Chronicle Books
|
 |
 |
 |
This treat for music lovers covers
nearly a century of great tenors, from Enrico Caruso to Jose
Carreras, with excellent biographical essays, supplemented by
many hard-to- obtain photographs. A 77-min. long CD featuring
all the afore-mentioned tenors performing their best known and
most loved arias is also included, as are the lyrics in both
English and the original language.
|
|
This book follows the careers of the
three most prominent artists of the Mexican mural movement.
Trace the lives of Jose Clemente 0rozco , Diego Rivera and David
Alfaro Siqueiros, from their rural childhoods through the bloody
years of the revolution to artistic maturity. With lively, insightful
text and splendid color photography, this book is one to treasure. |
|
In the Napa Valley is the Di
Rosa Preserve, a showcase of more than 1,600 works by hundreds
of California artists. Once a private vineyard estate and collection,
the Preserve is now open to the public. This book features the
work of 76 artists accompanied by insightful essays, including
Imogen Cunningham, Mel Ramos and Richard Shaw.
|
|
| |
|
|
1000
Years of Art
A Brief Look at Some of Mankind's
Greatest Artistic Achievements |
| |
| |
| 11th
Century |
|
|
| Romanesque-At
the last turn of the millennium, Europe, was in the second half
of the Middle Ages (or Medieval period), which began in the
5th century and lasted until the 15th. It has been described
as an "age of faith," a time when the point of human existence
was the salvation of the soul. During the llth and 12th centuries,
a period in art described as the Romanesque (meaning "in the
Roman manner" because of its use of some aspects of Roman buildings),
castles, churches and monasteries were springing up everywhere. |
|
One of the most
notable was The Abbey Church of Sarnie-Toy (c 1080-1120) in
Conques, France,
Interior of St. Michael's, Hildesheim, Germany, is a superb
example of Romanesque architecture. |
|
which drew pilgrims
from far and wide to view the relics of a child saint. Lofty
tunnel arches were the dominant feature of the Romanesque style
of architecture. Virtually all art objects-namely architectural
and independent sculpture, wall paintings and books-were made
for religious purposes. Artists, who usually labored in workshops,
were anonymous and had little status.
• back to TOP
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 12th
Century |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gothic -This
style predominated in Europe from about 1140-1400, first emerging
in architecture. It is recognizable by its soaring verticality,
pointed arches, ribbed cross vaults, flying buttresses and luminescent
stained glass windows. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame (1194-1120)
in Chartres, France, is a stunning example.
• back to TOP
|
|
Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Chartres, France is a stunning example
of the Gothic building style. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 13th and 14th Century |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Proto-Renaissance -
The most significant artist from this period leading up to the
Renaissance was Giotto di Bondone whose "Lamentation" fresco
in the Arena Chapel in Padua, Italy, (c. 1305) introduced facial
expression into art for the first time. |
|
"Lamentation Over the Dead Christ," a fresco by Ciotto |
|
• back to TOP
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 15th Century |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| The term "Renaissance," French for
rebirth, refers in this context to a revival of certain ideals
of Greek and Roman civilization which arose in the 15th century
and spread throughout Europe in the 16th. Economic prosperity,
particularly in The Netherlands, gave rise to a prosperous class
of merchants and bankers who supported scholarship, literature
and the arts. During this period, artists began to be regarded
as trained intellectuals. Many became famous, and they began
to sign their work with more regularity. The contemporary idea
of the artist as a genius has its roots in this time. Early
Renaissance, Italy - Painter Masaccio is significant
for "The Trinity with the Virgin Mary, Saint John and Two Donors,"
(c 1425-28) in which he demonstrates a thorough |
|
knowledge of the method of scientific
perspective developed by architect Filippo Brunelleschi in 1425.
Donatello, with his sensuous bronze sculpture of "David"
(1448) revived the life-sized, free-standing nude figure, not
seen in art since the Greeks. His carved wooden sculpture of
the gaunt "Penitent Mary Magdalene" (c 1430-1450) took expressiveness
in art to a new level. The Gutenberg Bible was published in
1450-56; by 1460, woodcuts were being used for
|
|
illustrations in books. Sandro Botticelli
was instrumental in reviving female nudes with his "Birth of
Venus" (c 1484-86).
Early Renaissance, Northern Europe. The Renaissance took
quite a different form in Flanders (now Belgium), where interest
in the natural world was manifested in careful observation and
recording of nature. Breath-takingly accurate realism became
the hallmark of the period. Jan Van Eyck applied layer upon
layer of thin oil paint to achieve remarkable color nuance and
convincing detail in his highly symbolic "Portrait of Giovanni
Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami" (1434). Van Eyck not only signs
his work but paints in a self-portrait, testament to the artist's
rising self-awareness about his art.
• back to TOP
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 16th Century |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
High Renaissance, Italy-Leonardo
da Vinci's "Mono Lisa" (1503-6), with her enigmatic smile and
penetrating gaze, is perhaps the best-known painting in the
history of art, and his wall mural of the "Last Supper" (1495-98),
stands as a supreme example of Renaissance achieve ment, although
it has deteriorated badly. Michelangelo Buonarroti is unmatched
even today in his depiction of the human figure. His marble
sculpture of the "Pieta," (1498-99) located in St. Peter's Basilica
in Rome, is a tender representation of Mary cradling her crucified
son, whose form is so convincing you cannot believe it was carved
from stone.
Michelangelo's art in the Sistine Chapel (1495-98) in
the Vatican, with its depiction of the ancestors of Jesus
|
|
and scenes from Genesis, is one of
the most complex and awe-inspiring works of art ever created.
"Mona Lisa" by Basilica in Leonardo da Vinci
Raphael's "Philsophy" fresco (1509-11)
represents the ideal in painting at the time, both for its content-famous
Greek philosophers, the type of lofty and educational subject
that was prized in the day-and the technical mastery he displays
in perspective, |
|
human anatomy, facial expression,
architectural detail and realism.
Venice-Titian introduces loose brushwork
and "impasto" (paint that slightly rises up in relief) in his
dramatic painting of the "Rape ofEuropa" (c 1559-62).
Northern Europe-With such works as "Adam and Eve" (1504),
German artist Albrecht Durer became the first internationally
famous printmaker.
As the Reformation took hold in Europe and art for religious
purposes waned, Pieter Bruegel the Elder turned to scenes of
every day life and to the landscape for subject matter. "Hunters
in the Snow" (1565) and "The Peasant Wedding Feast" (1566) are
two of his best known.
• back to TOP
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 17th Century |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
European wealth continued to increase
in the 17th century. Many of the national identities we know
today took form, strongly influencing artistic developments.
Protestantism was already firmly established in Northern Europe,
but the permanent schism in Europe between Roman Catholicism
and Protestantism continued to have a profound effect on art.
The Catholic Church waged a Counter Reformation and used art
to try to strengthen its hold on believers and convert non-believers.
The most typical art of 17th century was Baroque, a style characterized
by the depiction of highly dramatic moments to evoke emotions
in the viewer. The Baroque style, however, took different forms
in different parts of Europe.
Baroque Italy-St. Peter's Basilica
(1607-15) is built in the Vatican, Rome. Painter Caravaggio,
in his highly realistic "Conversion of St. Paul" (1601), employs
tenebroso, strong highlights and shadows, to dramatize a moment
of intense emotion, and extreme foreshortening to successfully
depict the human form at unusual angles. |
|
Divine revelations and mystical conversions
were common themes in Italy. Gianlorenzo Bernini achieves enormous
fame and wealth primarily working for the church in Rome. His
multimedia sculpture "Ecstacy of St. Teresa" (1622-25) is a
outstanding example of classical Baroque with its idealized
forms and highly emotive religious content.
Baroque Spain - With his loose, painterly
(showing brushstrokes) technique, court artist Diego demonstrates
the highl approach to painting characti north in his "Las Meninas'
portraits accord respect to -A painted, regardless of class
or status.
1600 Baroque Flanders-One of the best
educated and most intellectual artists of the 17th century was
Peter Paul Rubens, whose "Arrival and Reception of Marie de
Medici at Marseilles" (1621-25), one of a series of paintings
on her life commissioned by the wife of King Henry IV, is a
tour de force of Baroque realistic style.
Baroque Holland-Incredibly wealthy
at this period, Protestant Holland was enjoying a Golden Age
in its economy and art. |
|
Art was made for the open market
and focused not on religious or classical themes but secular
motifs-portraits, still lifes, landscapes, street scenes. One
of the most creative and technically adept artists of all time
was Amsterdam's Rembrandt van Rijn, who demonstrated his mastery
of group portraiture in such paintings as "Milita Company of
Captain Frans Banning Cocq" (1642). His consummate skill in
etching was captured in "Three Crosses" (1653). France-The
Palace at Versailles (1669-85), the largest and most copied
royal compound in the world, was built by Louis XIV.
"The Night Watch" by Rembrandt van Rijn
• back to TOP
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 18th Century |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
The 18th century has been called the
Age of Enlightenment, when secular and scientific issues took
precedence over theological. It was marked by faith in human
reason, natural human rights, scientific inquiry and progress
toward a Utopian society. Many artists were trained in academies
rather than serving apprenticeships. Artists began showing their
works in salon and academy exhibitions.
Rococo-After the death of France's
|
|
Louis XIV, who epitomized the left
Versailles to return to Paris. Art during this period was simply
to entertain, and the predominant style of the day. Rococo,
with its flourishes and exuberant, ornate excess, reflects that
philosophy. Antoine Watteau's "A Pilgramage to the Island of
Cythera" (1717), with its depiction of artistocratic pleasurable
pastimes, celebrates the pleasures of life. Neoclassicism-With
the outbreak of revolution in France, the guillotine |
|
eliminates much of the aristocracy
that sponsored Rococo art. The style favored by the revolutionaries
is Neoclassicism, a return to "uplifting" subject matter, often
drawn from Classical Greece, and technical mastery in anatomy
and perspective. Jacques-Louis David's "Death of Socrates" (1787),
painted before the revolution, was the benchmark because its
theme of heroic suicide illustrated the value of stoicism and
absolute sacrifice.
• back to TOP
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 19th Century |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Europe and the United States were
dominated by economic, political and technological revolutions.
A spirit of reform characterized the century, and the resulting
changes in institutions, lifestyles and class structure had
a profound impact on the art world. The emerging importance
of the individual was reflected in many ways. The subject matter
of artists broadened, with France dominating the art scene.
Romanticism - Francisco Goya created
the first social protest art with his highly expressive "The
Execution of Madrilenos on the Third of May, 1808" (1814-15),
commemo-rating a doomed uprising against the French in Madrid.
Eugene Delacroix in his passionate "Liberty Leading the People"
(1830) employed color divisionism, using complementary colors
in separate strokes for each color. This layed the foundation
for the Impressionist movement. Joseph-Nicephore Niepce created
the first photograph in 1826.
Realism-Courbet's "A Burial at Ornans"
(1849) is a self-expressive
|
|
painting that reflects a personal
vision of the world. His technique was a "problem" in that by
the standards of the day, the painting looked unfinished. Edouard
Manet defied convention and depicted contemporary life in his
"Luncheon on the Grass" (1863). The public was shocked by the
combination of a nude female figure with two fully clothed men.
He flattened the background space, moving closer to what will
become non-objectective art.
Impressionism-A revolutionary new school of French painters
used quick, spontaneous brush strokes of separate colors to
create impressions of scenes. The intention was to capture light
and color-brilliance. Claude Monet was the leading member of
this illustrious group; his "Impression Sunrise" (1872), displayed
in the first exhibition by these renegades, gave the movement
its name. Other notables included Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir,
Berthe Morrisett and an American woman, Mary Cassatt.
Post-Impressionism-Vincent Van Gogh
objected to the formlessness of the |
|
Impressionists and employed strong
edges in his paintings. With bold brush strokes filled with
energy and movement, he represented transcendent feelings about
subjects he painted, as in "The Starry Night" (1889). In works
such as "Still Life with Basket of Apples" (1890-94), Paul Cezanne
employed differing viewpoints in one painting, setting the stage
for Cubism. Auguste Rodin, with such powerful sculptures as
"The Burghers of Calais" (1884-86) gave new realism, honesty
and vision to the human figure. Gustave Eiffel created the Eiffel
Tower in Paris in 1887-89.
Van Gogh's "Starry Night"
• back to TOP
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 20th Century |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Rapid technological change dominated
the 20th-century landscape against a backdrop of political conflict
and warfare. The ecology of the planet began to suffer the effects
of technology and overpopulation. Communication and transportation
networks link the planet, shrinking it to a global village.
Twentieth-century art is often referred to as modern art. Modernists
shared two general characteristics: a dedication to developing
original aspects of style and the belief that art could address
the problems of contemporary society. Art shifted away from
the representation of specific things to emphasize the intrinsic
qualities of a specific medium. Universities now trained artists.
Artists mainly sold their work on the open market.
Fauvism-Henri Matisse, in such works
as "The Dance" (1909-10) explored the boundaries of color, using
flattened, simplified forms to achieve highly expressive works
of art.
"Denoiselles d'Avignon" by Picasso
Cubism-Pablo Picasso rocked the art
world with works such as "Les Demoiselles D'Avignon" (1907),
which view objective reality from multiple perspectives and
break it down into flattened geometric forms. This style pushed
art to further abstraction, edging ever closer to non-objectivity.
Dada-Jean Arp eschewed all accepted
notions of art in "Collage Arranged According to the Laws of
Chance" (1916-17) in which he created collages by dropping torn
.
|
|
pieces of paper randomly onto another
piece of paper and gluing them down.
Abstraction and non-objectivity became the hallmarks of the
20th century as illustrated by Georgia O'Keeffe's "Evening Star
III" (1917).
German architect Walter Gropius and others founded the Bauhaus
(1919), which lays down the tenets of the Modernist movement
in architecture, with its use of contemporary technology and
materials, and emphasis on streamlined, unadorned surfaces.
Piet Mondrian broke the link between art and objective reality.
With works like "Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow" (1930),
he strove to reduce art to its simplest formal vocabulary-primary
colors, primary values (black and white), and basic elements
(horizontal and vertical)-in order to transcend the dross of
the natural world and reach the essence of higher beauty. Frank
Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater" (1936), made use of new technology
and materials to create an asymmetrical architectural style
that boldly defies gravity, while wedding the structure with
the natural surroundings. The International Style glass box
skyscraper, as typified by Mies van der Robe's Seagram Building
in New York (1956-58), changed the face of metropolitan skylines.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Kaufmann House, "Fallingwater,"
Bear Run, Pennsylvania
Surrealism-Salvador Dali in "Persistence
of Memory" (1931), with his limp, misshapen clock faces, tried
to open up the world of the irrational and illogical to provoke
the subconscious mind.
Abstract Expressionism-Jackson Pollock,
in non-objective works such as "Convergence" (1952), would Hing
and drip paint onto canvases on the floor to
|
|
reach his individual subconscious
and express a personal vision.
Hard-Edge Abstraction-Frank Stella's "Empress of India"
draws attention to the visual elements of painting- color, line
and shape. To emphasize his point, he used shaped canvases.
Pop Art-In the '60s, Andy Warhol commented
on mass production and the capitalistic nature of our society
by painting common commercial products, such as Coca Cola bottles
and Campbell's soup cans.
Earth and Land Art-Robert Smithson used the earth's surface
as his canvas to create "Spiral Jetty" (1969-70) in the Great
Salt Lake, Utah. Post-Modernism-Le
Corbusier's Notre-Dame-du-Haut chapel in Ronchamp, France, with
its curvilinear, sweeping forms, introduced a sculptural, natural
element to contemporary architecture. Frank Gehry created the
massive, undulating, otherworldly Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao,
Spain, (1997) an astonishing secular cathedral that set the
stage for radical new forms in architecture in the next millennium.
Where do we go from here? Only time will tell. But wherever
new thought and technology takes us in terms of art, it will
be influenced by what has gone before-1,000 years of awesome
artistic accomplishment, clearly among mankind's proudest achievements.
The Persistence of Memory" by Salvadore
Dali
• back to TOP |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The
art of Ukraine of the 20-th century
Pages of Ukrainian Secession. History and Modernity
|
| |
| |
|
Secession, also called Modern, Art
Nouveau, Jugendstil, appeared fro the first time in Austria
and Germany late in the 19th century as antithesis to deathly
academic style and "unorderly" Impressionism. In art the time
of "touch-down" Realism was running out. The artists came to
feel their involvement in space, physical and spiritual. That
cosmism became the determinant of symbolism, the important influential
trend in European culture. According to the tradition of North-European
art, in which spiritual had long prevailed over corporal, conditional
over real, linearity over plastic volume, Secession preferred
graphic, bringing the conventionality level up. Oriental art
operated with eternity categories, timelessness, fancied plane
instead of deep perspective, decorativeness instead of chiaroscuro,
bringing art beyond pragmatism scope into the domain sacral.
Artists appealed to the European Middle Ages as well: to icon-painting
with its renunciation of "carnal", so called realm of the Creation.
The Secessionists abolished the antithesis of "high" (academic,
intellectual) and "low" (emotional, applied) art. From then
on their painting united topicality with decorativeness; flat
colorful spot, contoured by sinuous line, became the sign of
artistic form of the new style. The pictures combined carpet-like
surface and poetic motifs. Their characters never reminded of
real type, but were conventional characters, carriers of concepts,
experience, presentiments and preferences of an artist, which
became art-pundit, destined to charge the world with aesthetic
energy. Artists acknowledged the independence of artistic quality,
renouncing moralization, politics, sociality, which should be
handled by other professionals. "We despise any moral or social
regulations," wrote in his treatise "The Philosophy of Mystic"
Carl Duprel, a fancy philosopher of the late 19th century. The
main thing is to enlighten the soul, light it up by the rays
of "extraterrestrial" mysterious energy, so that the soul touches
the source "whence life undulates" (Andrey Platonov). The Ukrainian
youth of the early 20th century manifested extraordinary sensitivity
to the new tendencies. Artistic information processes had been
quickened by thenm and nobody needed at the time decades or
centenaries to tune in to the newest European wave. The ways
of Austrian Secession to Ukraine were various, especially via
the Kharkiv Art Academy (Kharkiv belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian
Empire). Pupils of this Academy - M. Zhuk and O. Novakivsky
- adopted the ideas of their teacher S. Wyspiansky, one of the
major masters of this style, and developed their own Ukrainian
variant of Secession, while F. Krychevsky acquired it directly
in Vienna studying there the works of Austrian artist G. Klimt.
In Munich O. Murashko, A. Manevych, and H. Narbut came to know
German Secession. But our artists never confined themselves
to apprenticeship. They became part and parcel of the All-Russian
Modern style, and, e.g., Heorhiy Narbut became a major book
designer in the famous Ptersburg group "Mir Iskusstva". The
Ukrainian artists never used innovations mechanically. Some
of them by means of Secession graphic "arranged" the spontaneity
of Impressionism. Other threw in all their creation with this
style. There is only scarce evidence of its influence upon O.
Murashko.
The brush in his colorful pictures reminds of an energetic
stroke as a prototype of an ornament. As a result, an amorphous
colored mass is pierced by lines of force, becomes more resilient
and organized.
|
1894-1914
Nude
(oil on canvas)
Self-Portraite
1894-1914
(oil on canvas)
Kiss
1894-1914
(oil on canvas)
|
The chaotic Impressionism on Murashko's canvases
is done with due to the Secession form. His turning to religious
subjects is explained by Secessional "cosmic" tendency to
combine earthly and celestial. "The Annunciation" is distinguished
by elucidated, almost transparent coloring with superiority
of bluish and yellowish tones. The orientally dark-haired
archangel Gabriel and Mary with light brown hair and Slavic
lines are as if woven of light ether matter. They are irradiating
heavenly light. Murashko of the 1910s was emotionally more
strained. Coloring on his canvases grows thicker and includes
darkly blue-violet colors; the uneven temperamental stroke
impresses the spectator with dramatic energy. In order to
clamp down on his gloomy temperament, Murashko introduces
ornamental motifs to the costumes of his characters, giving
the Secession its due. Spectator often associated Modern with
Decadence promoting poetic calming down, dissolution, disappearance.
The characters of F. Krychevsky resisted such mood due to
their lust of life, energy, for their author was an optimist.
However, he was a proponent of Secession. He portrayed Lidiya
Staryts'ka as an embodiment of earthly beauty. But she was
painted not against real, but ornamental background. It brings
on associations with the "seventh" heaven, paradise, Eden.
Though combination of real and symbolic is not that organic
here. The image of a woman still gravitates toward academism.
Krychevsky proved to be a remarkable advocate of the new style
in the "Life" triptych, where linearity and spaciousness create
plastic unity through inventive employment of Secessional
and Cubist forms. The triptych is tripartite. During Renaissance
it was the term for the pictures showing paradise, earth,
and hell. While Krychevsky tells a story of a peasant family,
the artist uses elevated metaphorical language to recount
it. Unlike "effeminate" Klimt, whose refined characters plunge
into the poetic universe, Krychevsky treats the lovers ("Love")
in a touch-down manner, heavily, but not prosaically. The
melodious rhythm of lines and refined plasticity turn their
embraced figures into a symbol of human Emotion. Fedir Krychevsky
became the instructor of such bright artist as Vsevolod Maksymovych,
whose artistic development was like a lightning. The decorative
talent of the native of Poltava (Poltava had been always famous
for cut-outs, tapestry, embroideries) combined with cultural
impressions from Vrubel, Somov, Beardsley. His canvases, submerged
into archaic times, revive the old fecundity cult. The characters
are braided with endless garlands with vegetable patterns,
looking like Olympians. Athleticism was Vsevolod's vital and
zestetic ideal. He belonged to the known group of nudist athletes
of Poltava, founded by the artist Ivan Myasoyedov, Maksymovych's
teacher. Introduction of athleticism into the stylistics of
Secession with her rather exhausted airy imagery was Maksymovych's
innovation. His athleticism was marked by narcissistic self-admiration.
The beautified faces of men and women on his panels are as
if copied off the artist himself. His own beauty he showed
in the "Self-Portrait". The endless inventive weave of ornamental
stylization with "peacock's eyes" carries a death tune: a
skull, like an inkling of secret intensions of the young Adonis
of slender lusty build. A vulnerable sensible spirit is hidden
in the strong body. An unhappy love led to a to a tragedy:
the twenty-five-year-old lad committed suicide. Shortly before
his death he created one of his masterpieces: "The Kiss".
Love carries a human on an element wave: either sea foam,
or celestial spheres.
• back to TOP
|
|
| |
|
© Ukraine-Today.com
|
