Ukrainian avant-garde explained

Ukrainian avant-garde is the avant-garde movement in Ukrainian art from the end of 1890s to the middle of the 1930s along with associated artists in sculpture, painting, literature, cinema, theater, stage design, graphics, music, and architecture. Some well-known Ukrainian avant-garde artists include: Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Archipenko, Vladimir Tatlin, Sonia Delaunay, Vasyl Yermylov, Alexander Bogomazov, Aleksandra Ekster, David Burliuk, Vadym Meller, and Anatol Petrytsky. All were closely connected to the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odesa by either birth, education, language, national traditions or identity.^{[1] [2]} Since it originated when Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire, Ukrainian avant-garde has been commonly lumped by critics into the Russian avant-garde movement.

The first formal Ukrainian artistic group to call itself "Avangarde" (Avant-garde) was founded in Kharkiv in 1925. The term, "Ukrainian Avant-Garde", concerning painting and sculpture during Soviet censorship, was used during discussion at Tatlin's dream exhibition. Curated by Parisian art historian Andréi Nakov, in London, 1973, the exhibition showcased works of Ukrainian artists Vasyl Yermylov and Alexander Bogomazov.^[3] The first international avant-garde exhibitions in Ukraine, which included French, Italian, Ukrainian and Russian artists, were presented in Odesa and Kyiv at the Izdebsky Salon; the pieces were later exhibited in St. Petersburg and Riga.^{[4] [5]} The cover of "Izdebsky Salon 2" (1910–11) contained abstract work by Wassily Kandinsky.

Timeline

• 1908: Exhibition "Zveno" in Kyiv; works by Alexandra Exter, David Burliuk, Vladimir Burliuk, Yevgeny Agafonov, and Volodymyr Denisov.
• 1909: "Blue Lily" at Kharkiv; works by Eugene Agafonov, Maria Sinyakova, and Vasyl Yermilov.
• 1910: Exhibition "Salon Izdebsky 2" at Odesa and Kyiv; works by Alexandra Exter, David and Vladimir Burliuk, and Wassily Kandinsky, alongside pieces by Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Maurice de Vlaminck, Maurice Denis, Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau, and Paul Signac.
• 1910: "Hylaea", a Ukrainian-Russian association of Futurist poets, is founded in Chornianka, Kahovsky region, South of Ukraine. Members include David and Vladimir Burliuk, V. Kamensky, Aleksei Kruchyonykh, Benedikt Livshits, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Velimir Khlebnikov, and others.
• 1913: Mykhaylo Semenko in Kyiv founds the Ukrainian futurist group "Quero".
• 1914: Aleksandra Ekster – together with her fellow-Ukrainians Archipenko, Vladimir Baranov-Rossiné, Kazimir Malevich, Vadym Meller and the Burliuk brothers, exhibit at the Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris and, alongside Archipenko, take part in the Esposizione Libera Futurista Internazionale in Rome.^[6]
• 1914: Aleksandra Ekster and Alexander Bogomazov found the group of Cubo-Futurists artists named "Koltso" in Kyiv.
• 1917: Artistic group "Union of Seven" is founded in Kharkiv; members included Boris Kosarev, Georgy Tsapok, Volodymyr Bobrytsky, and Nikolai Kalmykov.
• 1924: Kyiv Art Institute (KHI); professors included Alexander Bogomazov, Vadym Meller, Victor Palmov, Kazimir Malevich, and Vladimir Tatlin.
• 1925: Artistic association and magazine "Avangarde" at Kharkiv, founded by Valerian Polishchuk and Vasyl Yermilov.
• 1925: Association of Revolutionary Art of Ukraine (ARMU) founded in Kyiv; members include Mykhailo Boychuk, Alexander Bogomazov, Victor Palmov, Vasyl Yermilov and Vadym Meller.
• 1927: The Union of Modern Artists of Ukraine (OSMU) is founded in Kyiv; Victor Palmov, Anatol Petrytsky, and Pavel Golubyitnikov are involved.
• 1927: Artistic association and the magazine "New Generation" is founded in Kharkiv by M. Semenko, Nina Genke-Meller, Vadym Meller, Anatol Petrytsky, and Geo Shkarupii.

People involved

Cinema

• Alexander Dovzhenko^[7]

Painters

• Yevgeny Agafonov
• Alexander Bogomazov
• Aleksandra Ekster
• Mykhailo Boychuk
  • Vladimir Burliuk David Burliuk
• Mykola Hlushchenko
• Sonia Delaunay
  • Oleksandr Hnylytskyi Kazimir Malevich
• Abraham A. Manievich
• Vadym Meller
• Victor Palmov
• Oksana Pavlenko
• Kostiantyn Piskorskyi
• Vasily Sedlyar
• Manuil Shechtman
• Maria Sinyakova
• Vladimir Tatlin
• Vasyl Yermylov
• Nina Genke-Meller

Sculptors

• Alexander Archipenko
• Ivan Kavaleridze
• Petro Mitkovicer

Theatre directors

• Boris Balaban
• Les Kurbas
• Faust Lopatynsky
• Volodymyr Sklyarenko
• Mark Tereshchenko
• Januariy Bortnik

Stage Designers

• Aleksandra Ekster
• Vadym Meller
• Anatol Petrytsky
• Alexander Khvostenko-Khvostov
• Mykhailo Andriienko-Nechytailo

Writers

• Mykola Bazhan
• Myroslav Irchan
• Mykola Khvylovy
• Valerian Polishchuk
• Mykhaylo Semenko
• Geo Shkurupiy
• Oleksa Slisarenko
• Maik Yohansen
• Mykhailo Yaloviy
• Yuriy Yanovsky

Architects

• • • Joseph Karakis
  • Vasyl Krychevsky

Composers

• Borys Lyatoshynsky
• Zinoviy Lysko
• Stefania Turkewich

External links

• Ukrainian avant-garde http://avantgarde.org.ua/en.php
• Library Of Ukrainian Art http://en.uartlib.org/ukrainian-avant-garde/
• Kyiv to Paris: Ukrainian Art in the European Avant-Garde, 1905-1930 http://www.zoryafineart.com/publications/view/11/app/webroot/Zorya_Inc.pdf
• Staging the Ukrainian Avant-Garde of the 1910s and 1920s https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/staging-the-ukrainian-avant-garde-1910s-1920s-theatre-design-new-york
• From Utopia to Tragedy. Ukrainian Avant-Garde 1914-1934 https://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/22117/file.pdf
• UKRAINIAN AVANT-GARDE ARTISTS OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/Art.asp#Topic_14
• Online Museum of Ukrainian Avant-Garde Embroidery http://www.uaheritage.com/en/dna-avant-garde-embroidery

Further reading

• Valentine Marcadé, Ukrainian contribution to avant-garde art of the beginning of the 20th century. // Suchastnist. 1980. Vol. 7–8. P. 202–221.
• Natalia Aseeva, Ukrainian-French relations 20-30's. XX century. N.Aseyeva. - K.: Naukova dumka, 1984. 226 pp.
• Myroslava Mudrak, The New Generation and Artistic Modernism in the Ukraine, Umi Research Press, USA, 1986, pp 282,
• Ukrajinska avangarda 1910-1930: Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, Zagreb, 16. 12. 1990.-24.
• Valentine Marcadé, Art d'Ukraine / V. Markade. – Paris : L'age D'Homme, 1990. – 349 p.
• Avantgarde and Ukraine. – Munhen : Klinhardt & Biermann, 1993. – P. 41-51.
• Dmytro Gorbachov, Ukrainian avant-garde of the 1910s–1920s: Album. Kyiv: Mystetstvo, 1996. 400 p.
• Myroslav Shkandrij. The Phenomenon of the Ukrainian Avant-Garde 1910-1935. Winnipeg Art Gallery:, 2001.
• Ukrainian modernism 1910–1930: Album / [author, ref. A. Melnyk]. Kyiv: KhM Gallery, 2006. 288 p.
• Victor Sydorenko, Visual art from avant-garde shifts to the latest directions: Development of visual art of Ukraine in the 20th-21st centuries / IPSM AMU. Kyiv: VKh [studio], 2008. 187 p.
• Vita Susak, Ukrainian artists in Paris. 1900–1939. Foreword by Jean Claude Marcadé. Kyiv. Rodovid Press. 2010. 408 p.
• Lesya Smyrna A century of nonconformism in Ukrainian visual art. / Modern Art Research Institute of The National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. Kyiv: Phoenix, 2017. 480 p.
• Vera Faber, Die ukrainische Avantgarde zwischen Ost und West. Intertextualität, Intermedialitätund Polemik im ukrainischen Futurismus und Konstruktivismus der späten 1920er Jahre. Bielefeld:Transcript, 2019, 416s. .
• Myroslav Shkandrij. Avant-Garde Art in Ukraine, 1910–1930: Contested Memory, 2019
• Alisa Lozhkina. Permanent Revolution: Art in Ukraine, the 20th to the Early 21st Century. —. Kyiv: ArtHuss, 2020. — 544 p.
• Olha Melnyk, editor; Viktoriia Velychko and Ihor Oksametnyi, curators. 2023. Futuromarennia. Multidisciplinary Project: Research, Exhibition, Catalog. Kyiv: Mystetskyi Arsenal. .
• Endre Bojtar, "Die Avantgarde in der ukrainischen Lyrik der zwanziger Jahre". In: M. Semenko: Ausgewahlte Werke. Würzburg, 1983. 218-233.
• John E. Bowlt, "Performing Arts Journal", Vol. 1, No. 3 (Winter, 1977), pp. 62–84.
• Birnie Danzker J.-A. Die Avantgarde und die Ukraine / Avantgarde and Ukraine / J.-A. Birnie Danzker, I. Jasenjawsky, J. Kiblitsky. – Munhen : Klinhardt & Biermann, 1993. – P. 13-40.
• Dmytro Gorbachov, V. Melnyk. Ukrainian avant-garde // "Pamyatki Ukrainy". 1991. No. 4. p. 22-29.
• P Kirchner, I Kongreß der Internationalen Assoziation der Ukrainisten, Zeitschrift für Slawistik, 1991.
• Mahdalyna Laslo-Kutsiuk, Shukannia formy: Narysy z ukrainskoi literatury XX stolittia. Bucharest: Kriterion, 1980. 327 p.
• Jean-Claude Marcadé, Raum, Farbe, Hyperbolismus : Besonderheiten der Ukrainischen Avantgardekunst (Space, colour, hyperbolism: characteristics of Ukrainian avant-garde art) / Jean-Claude Marcadé, J.-A. Birnie Danzker, I. Jasenjawsky, J. Kiblitsky // Avantgarde and Ukraine. – Munhen : Klinhardt & Biermann, 1993. – P. 41-51.
• Valentine Marcadé, "Ukrainian art of the twentieth century and Western Europe", V. Markade, Vsesvit. - 1990. - No. 7. - P. 169-180.
• Myroslava Mudrak, Nova Generatsiia (1927-1930) and the Artistic Avant-Garde in the Ukraine (dissertation), University of Texas at Austin, 1980.
• Myroslava Mudrak, The painted surface in the Ukrainian Avant-garde : from facture to construction, Pantheon, 1987.
• Myroslava Mudrak, "The New Generation and Artistic Modernism in the Ukraine" (review by Leon Tsao) Leonardo Vol. 21, No. 3 (1988), pp. 332–333.
• Myroslava Mudrak, "The Ukrainian Studio of Plastic Arts in Prague and the Art of Jan Kulec", Art Journal Vol. 49, No. 1, (Spring, 1990), pp. 36–43.
• Myroslav Shkandrij. The Literary Discussion in Soviet Ukraine, 1925-1928 (dissertation), University of Toronto, 1982.
• Virlana Tkacz, Les Kurbas and the Creation of a Ukrainian Avant-garde Theatre: The Early Years, Columbia University, 1983 .
• Olena Golub, "Everything was beginning from aquarelle". Day, 2010, (September 16.).

Notes and References

1. Myroslav Shkandrij. The Phenomenon of the Ukrainian Avant-Garde 1910-1935. Winnipeg Art Gallery:, 2001.
2. Library Of Ukrainian Art http://en.uartlib.org/ukrainian-avant-garde/
3. Andréi Nakov, Historien d'Art https://andrei-nakov.org/en/alexandre-bogomazov/
4. Linda S. Boersma. 0,10: The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting. 1994. p 16. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.
5. Bert Cardullo. Theories of the Avant-garde Theatre: A Casebook from Kleist to Camus. 2012. p. 23. Scarecrow Press.
6. From Utopia to Tragedy. Ukrainian Avant-Garde 1914-1934. James Butterwick. Footprint Innovations Ltd. 2017
7. Ukrainian Avant-garde http://avantgarde.org.ua/en.php