Особливості інтерпретації біблійної тематики у творчості митців Західної України 1960-х – 1980-х років

Abstract

У статті висвітлено специфіку інтерпретації християнських образів та сюжетів у мистецтві Львівської і Закарпатської художніх шкіл епох “Відлиги” й “Застою”. Проаналізовано джерела формування та характерні особливості пластичної мови, сюжетний спектр робіт на релігійні теми. Охарактеризовано умови функціонування досліджуваної проблематики та її втілення в творчості видатних майстрів 1960-х 1980-х років.

В статье освещена специфика интерпретации христианских образов и сюжетов в искусстве Львовской и Закарпатской художественных школ периода “Оттепели” и “Застоя”. Проанализированы источники формирования и характерные особенности пластического языка, сюжетный спектр работ на религиозные темы. Охарактеризованы условия функционирования исследуемой проблематики и её воплощение в творчестве ведущих мастеров 1960-х 1980-х годов.

Art-practices of the late 20-th 21-st century are usually seen as detached from the spiritual problematic. However, the contemporary art process witnesses an increased interest in religious thematics, which became the core of the numerous creative projects and exhibitions. This would be impossible without the sacred tradition kept alive during the Soviet period. Being, in fact, being put under a taboo on the official level, the development of the religious thematics in the 1960-s–1980-s went in the realm of the Nonconformist art. One of the Nonconformist’s traits was the idea of the national culture’s revival, which first emerged in the legacy of Lviv and Transcarpathian artists. Thus, the scope of the paper is revealing specific features of interpretation of the biblical thematic in the oeuvre of the masters of the Western Ukraine during the researched period. The analyzed material demonstrated the representation of the biblical characters and motifs was based on the dialogue between the Modernist aesthetics and the aesthetics of folklore art. The region of Western Ukraine was the least “sovietized” among the other local art schools, since it was the last one to become the part of the USSR; hence, the bonds with the European tradition was still strong in the mid of the 20-th century, prompting the artists, like Ferents Seman or Zinovy Flynta to incorporate the creative achievements of Avant-garde in their vision of the sacred problematics. The European influence can be seen in the tendency towards geometric stylization of forms, the shift of the accent on the formal qualities of the image, like surface and composition. Another approach toward the issue was connected with the reminiscences of the naive art aesthetics, inspired both by the primitivism movement and local tradition of home icon. The painters like Mykhailo Shteinberg and Elizabeth Kremnytska aspired to amplify the expressivity of forms with the help the simplification of the visual means, as well as combination of the purely Biblical subjects (like Crucifixion or Madonna) with the everyday scenes, which conveyed the sense of religion being an essential and vital part of the national mentality and mode of life. The popularity of the “Mother-of-God” motif is being discussed. It is demonstrated they were often defined by a more “monumental” tone of the artistic message, differing from the common lyricism of all images, connected with the subject of motherhood. Despite the connection with Christianity that has been preserved in the Westеrn Ukraine, the active propaganda of the atheism and denial of faith negatively affected the place of religious thematic in art. However, in comparison to the rest of the Ukrainian local art schools of the 1960s–1980s, the attitude towards it in Lviv and Transcarpathia was more liberate, since we find biblical characters and stories even in the pieces by the members of the Artists’ Union of the USSR and professors of the state art schools (Volodymyr Mykyta, Petro Markovych). The others followed the compromise strategy of utilizing religious symbols in a veiled, non-manifestory way (Oleh Mynko, Ihor Bodnar). It is demonstrated the interest toward the sacred should be permanently fuelled from the depth of the national traditions, which enabled the artists of the Western Ukraine to produce their unique vision of the religious motifs and become the source of inspiration for their colleagues from Kyiv, Odessa and Kharkiv.