Ukraine

Avant-garde

Artists

Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Archipenko, Vladimir Tatlin, Sonia Delaunay, Aleksandra Ekster, David Burliuk, Mykhail Semenko, Vasyl Yermylov, Alexander Bogomazov, Vadym Meller, Anatol Petrytsky, Mykhailo Boychuk

Groups and initiatives

• Kvero [Quaero], 1914. Futurist literary group. Mykhail Semenko, Vasyl Semenko and Pavlo Kovzhun.
• Budiak [Weed], Kharkiv, 1913. Bohomazov and Syniakova.
• Kiltse [Ring], 1914. Bohomazov.
• Skoptsy (near Kyiv) & Verbivka (near Cherkasy), 1915. Peasant craft cooperatives. Embroideries and kilims designed by Suprematist artists – Kazimir Malevich, Alexandra Exter, Nina Henke-Meller, Liubov Popova, Ivan Puni, Olga Rozanova, Nadezhda Udaltsova, and Yevgeniia Prybylska.
• Molodyi teatr [The Young Theater], Kyiv, *1916. Experimental theatre, founded by Les Kurbas. Kurbas directs and acts in Gogol’s Revizor and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.
• Flamingo, 1919-21. Mykhail Semenko, et al. Published 3 books of poetry by Semenko (with cover designs by Petrytsky and Lisovsky).
• ASPANFUT (Asotsiatsiia panfuturystiv) [Association of Panfuturists], 1921-24. Mykhail Semenko, et al.
• Kom-Kosmos, Kharkiv, 1921.
• Yugolif, Odessa.

Works

• 1914, Vladimir Tatlin creates his relief Bandura in yellow and blue (the national colours of Ukraine).
• 1923, Boris Lyatoshinsky, Symphony No 1
• 1923, Kyiv-born constructivist composer Alexander Mosolov creates his First Piano Sonata Op. 3.

Journals

• Ukraïnska khata, Kyiv, 1909-14.
• S’vit.
• Mystetstvo [Art], eds. H. Mykhailychenko and Mykhail Semenko, 1919-. [1]
• Universalnyi zhurnal, 1922? Futurist.
• Semafor u maibutnie, ed. Mykhail Semenko, 1922. Futurist. [2]
• Bumerang u maibutnie, 1922. Futurist.
• Holfshtrom, 1922? Futurist.
• Katafalk iskusstva [Catafalque of Art], ed. Mykhail Semenko, 1922. Futurist.
• Barykady teatru [Barricades of theatre], 1923-.
• Honh komunkulta, 1924. [3]
• Nova Generatsiia [New Generation], ed. Mykhail Semenko, 1927-30. Collaborators included Eisenstein, Vertov, Mayakovsky, Tatlin, Malevich, Georgian Futurists, and numerous European artists.
• Bumeranh [Boomerang], 1927-.

Venues, workshops, schools

• 1910, Kharkiv. The artist studio Golubaia Liliia [Blue Lily] opened by Evgeny Agafonov.
• 1911, Opening of the first film studio in Ukraine.
• 1919, Odesa Film Studio opens.
• 1920, Kharkiv. Constructivist Vasyl Yermilov heads Industrial Teacher Workshop.
• 1922, Bohomazov joins Palmov, Meller and Tatlin at Kyiv Art Institute.
• 1925, constructivist Vladimir Tatlin is the head of Theatre, Cinema and Photography Faculty at Kyiv Art Institute; he executes stage designs for Taras Shevchenko’s Haidamaky [Haidamaks].
• 1925, Viktor Palmov, the Russian-born Neo-Primitive painter, friend of David Burliuk and Vladimir Mayakovsky, is appointed professor of painting at the Kyiv Art Institute and joins various avant-garde groups.
• 1926, VAPLITE [Free Academy of Proletarian Literature] is founded by Mykola Khvylovy.

Events

• 1906, Kyiv Exhibition by Alexander Archipenko [4] and Alexander Bogomazov [5].
• 1909, Odessa First Salon organised by sculptor Vladimir Izdebsky and former student of Odesa Art School Wassily Kandinsky. It is the first major display of avant-garde art in the territory of the Russian Empire (it includes 900 works by 150 artists, such as Henri Matisse, André Derain, Natalia Goncharova, Aleksandra Exter, Mikhail Larionov, and many others).
• December 1909, Odessa. Second Izdebsky Salon showing works by Kandinsky, the Burliuks and many Western avant-garde artists (439 works in total, 25 by David Burliuk, 53 by Kandinsky). First abstract work by Kandinsky appears on the cover of the catalogue Salon Izdebskago 2. The catalog contains essays by Kandinsky and Schoenberg.
• 1910, Kyiv. Second Izdebsky Salon moves from Odessa to Kyiv.
• 1914, The Ring Exhibition – an exhibition of the group Kiltse [Ring] led by Alexander Bohomazov, one of the founders of Ukrainian cubofuturism (Exter, Isaak Rabinovich).
• 1927, First All-Ukrainian Art Exhibition “Ten Years October” is held in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa (Epstein, Khvostenko-Khvostov, Meller, Palmov, Petrytsky and Tatlin).

Books, almanacs

• 1914, Mykhail Semenko publishes his first two poetry collections Derzannia [Audacity; includes provocative introduction Sam [Alone] which is considered the first manifesto of Ukrainian futurism: “I burn my Kobzar”), and Kvero-Futuryzm [Kvero-Futurism].
• 1914, Bohomazov writes his treatise Painting and Elements. Published in Ukrainian and English translation in 1996.
• 1919, Jewish Kultur-lige (Culture League) society forms a Yiddish Publishing House. The Culture League promotes a post-Cubist expressionism (Epstein, Lissitzky, Nikritin and Tyshler).
• 1925, futurist literary almanac Hol’fshtrom [Gulf Stream]. It includes contributions by O.Kapler, O. Slisarenko, Geo Shkurupii, and Mykhailo Shcherbak
• 1922, Futurist almanac Semafor u maibutnie. Aparat panfuturystiv [A Go-Ahead Signal for the Future”] is published. It includes manifestos in French, German and English („What do we want”) and translations of various Dada texts.
• 1922, First collection of poetry by Geo Shkurupii “Psykhetozy” (Psychetosis).
• 1923, Kyiv. Panfuturist miscellany Zhovtnevyi zbirnyk panfuturystiv [The Panfuturists’ October Collection] edited by Geo Shkurupii and Nik Bazhan is published. Cover designed by Nina Henke-Meller.

More

• 1926, literary group Avanhard [Avant-garde”] organised by Valerian Polishchuk (includes painters Vasyl Yermilov and H.Tsapok, poet H. Koliada) proclaims the ideas of constructivism, dynamism, “machinism” and “spiralism”.
• 1927, OSMU (Contemporary Ukrainian Artists Union) is formed (Altman, Khvostenko-Khvostov, Epstein, Petrytsky, Palmov).
• 1927, Kyiv. Literary almanac Zustrich na perekresnii stantsii. Rozmova tr’okh [Meeting at the Crossing Station] (M.Semenko, Geo Shkurupii, M.Bazhan).
• 1928, Kyiv. Malevich joins Tatlin, Palmov and Meller as a Professor at the Kyiv Art Institute. Malevich starts his second Peasant cycle.
• 1928, Odesa. Fresco cycles by the Boichukist School.
• 1928, Dovzhenko's epic film Zvenyhora [Zvenigora].
• 1928, Kharkiv. The unaffiliated journal Literaturnyi iarmarok [Literary Fair] is established under the editorship by Mykola Khvylovy. Design by Anatol Petrytsky.
• 1929, Odesa. Odesa Film Studio, Dovzhenko creates his expressionist film Arsenal which shows Bolshevik uprising in Kyiv in January 1918 .
• 1930, Kyiv. Last monographic exhibition by Kazimir Malevich (45 works from 1928-30 are shown). Malevich is arrested and jailed for 3 months.
• 1930, Dovzhenko's film Zemlia [Earth] depicting collectivization in Ukraine (scenario Dovzhenko, cinematography Danylo Demutsky). It is called “counter- revolutionary”.
• 1930, Almanac Avanhard [Avant-garde], edited by Geo Shkurupii.
• 1930, Kharkiv. First Polish State Theatre opens (Fedir Nirod).
• 1930, Forced liquidation of “Literaturnyi iarmarok”; demise of Nova Generatsiia (New Generation).
• 1930, Mykhail Semenko Evropa i my.Pamflety i virshi (Europe and us).
• 1930, L’viv. Formation of ANUM [Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists] headed by Mykhailo Osinchuk and Yaroslava Muzyka. It organises 13 group and personal exhibitions.
• 1931, Lviv. ANUM organises exhibition in which Ukrainian artists from Paris ( Mykhailo Andrienko-Nechytailo, Oleksa Hryshchenko, Mykola Hlushchenko and Vasyl Perebyinis) take part.
• 1932, Kyiv. Dovzhenko's first Ukrainian sound film Ivan, about the building of the Dnieper Dam.
• 1932, Kharkiv. Petrytsky paints Holod u Nimechchyni (Starvation in Germany).
• 1932, Lviv. The review Mystetstvo [Art] is published under the editorship of Pavlo Kovzhun.
• 1934, Ivan Kavaleridze's expressionist film “Koliivshchyna” (The Kolii Rebellion).
• 1939, Mykhail Semenko reads his satirical poem “Nimechchyna” (Germany) months before his arrest and execution by NKVD.
• 1939, Theatrical avant-gardist Les Kurbas is executed in the Solovki concentration camp.
• 1939, Mykhailo Boychuk and his wife Sofia Nalepinska-Boichuk are executed.
• 1939, Mike Johansen is executed in Kyiv.

Literature

• "Cubism", in Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, n.d.
• Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, "Anatomy of a Literary Scandal: Myxajl' Semenko and the Origins of Ukrainian Futurism", Harvard Ukrainian Studies 2:4 (Dec 1978), pp 467-499. (English)
• Sviatoslav Hordynsky, "Futurism", in Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1, 1984.
• Sviatoslav Hordynsky, "Constructivism", in Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1, 1984.
• Sviatoslav Hordynsky, Myroslav Shkandrij, "Modernism", in Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1, 1984; upd. 2005.
• O.S. Ilnytzkyj, "Visual Dimensions in Ukrainian Futurist Poetry and Prose", Z. Slaw. 35:5 (1990), pp 722-731. (English)
• Ukrainian Avant-garde of 1910s-1930s / Ukrajinska Avangarda 1910-1930, eds. Marijan Susovski, Tihomir Milovac and Branka Stipančić, Zagreb: Muzej Suvremene Umjetnosti, 1990, 231 pp. Catalogue. [6] (English)/(Serbo-Croatian)
• Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, "Ukrainian Symbolism and the Problem of Modernism", Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes 34:1/2 (Mar-June 1992), pp 113-130. (English)
• Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, "Symbolism", in Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5, 1993.
• Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, "The Modernist Ideology and Mykola Khvyl'ovyi", Harvard Ukrainian Studies 15:3/4 (Dec 1991), pp 257-262. (English)
• Nina Genke-Meller, Ukrainian Avant-garde Art 1910-1930s, ed. Dmytro Horbachov, Kyiv: Mystetstvo, 1996.
• Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, Ukrainian Futurism, 1914-1930: A Historical and Critical Study, Harvard University Press, 1997, 413 pp.
• Irene Rima Makaryk, Virlana Tkacz (eds.), Modernism in Kiev: Kyiv/Kyïv/Kiev/Kijów/Ḳieṿ: Jubilant Experimentation, University of Toronto Press, 2010, 626 pp. [7]
• Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, "Ukrainian Futurism: Re-Appropriating the Imperial Legacy", in International Yearbook of Futurism Studies, ed. Günter Berghaus, 2011, pp 37-58. (English)

• Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, "From under Imperial Eyes in Kyiv and Kharkiv Magazines", in The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines, vol. 3 (Europe, 1880-1940), New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp 1341-1362. [8]

• Українська світломузика, Kyiv: Open Archive of Ukrainian Media Art, 2019. Issuu. (Ukrainian)

• Myroslav Shkandrij, Avant-Garde Art in Ukraine, 1910-1930: Contested Memory, Brookline: Academic Studies Press, 2019, 202 pp, ARG. Publisher. Review: Ilnytzkyj (H-Net).

• Український авангард: перезавантаження / Ukrainian Avant-garde: Reboot, Kyiv: Antykvar (Антиквар), 2019, 117 pp. Proceedings of the forum New Generation: The artist and his Generation. [9] (Ukrainian)/(English)

• Футуромарення. Міждисциплінарний проєкт / Futuromarennia. Multidisciplinary Project. Research, Exhibition, Catalog, ed. Olha Melnyk, Kyiv: Mystetskyi Arsenal, 2023, 312 pp. Dedicated to the phenomenon of Futurism in Ukraine in the 1910s–1930s. Publisher, [10]. (Ukrainian)/(English)
• Wikipedia-UK

Experimental music

• Oleksandr Klochkov "The First Years of the Musical Underground in Ukraine: Between the Archives, Local Folklore, and Its Current Perception", Creating Ruin, 25 Oct 2019. (English)

Performance art

• 1980s-1990s: Fedir Tetyanych, Yuri Leiderman, Masoch Fund
• Into the Dark, exhibition, WUK, Vienna, 2016.

Literature

• Alisa Lozhkina, "Permanent Revolution: Contemporary Art and Politics in Ukraine 1987-2017", in Art Riot: Post-Soviet Actionism, ed. Andrey Kovalev, ABCdesign Studio, 2017, pp 156-177, HTML. (English)
  • "Permanent Revolution. Современное искусство и политика в Украине 1987-2017", n.d. (Russian)

Video art, Moving image

• https://www.shcherbenkoartcentre.com/en/video-archive/

Visual art

• Permanens forradalom. Mai ukrán képzőművészet / Permanent Revolution: Ukrainian Art Today, eds. Julia Fabényi and Viktória Popovics, Budapest: Ludwig Museum, 2018, 234 pp. Exh. curated by Alisa Lozhkina, Julia Fabényi, and Konstantin Akinsha; held 5 Apr-24 Jun 2018. Artists: APL315, Piotr Armianovski, Sergey Bratkov, Anatoly Belov, Alexander Chekmenev, David Chichkan, Mitya Churikov, Zhanna Kadyrova, Gleb Katchuk and Olga Kashimbekova, Alevtina Kakhidze, Borys Kashapov, Alina Kleytman, Taras Kovach, Daria Koltsova, Maria Kulikovska, Yuri Leiderman and Igor Chatskin, Mykola Matsenko, Boris Mikhailov, Roman Minin, Roman Mikhaylov, Natsprom (Oleg Tistol and Mykola Matsenko), Yevgen Nikiforov, Open Group, Sergiy Petlyuk, Igor Petrof, Oleksiy Radinsky, Vlada Ralko, Stepan Riabchenko, Alexander Roytburd, Oleksiy Sai, Arsen Savadov, Nikita Shalenny, Szuper Gallery (Susanne Clausen and Pavlo Kerestey), Vasyl Tsagolov, Vova Vorotniov, Stas Volyazlovsky, Artem Volokitin. (Hungarian)/(English),(Ukrainian)

• Between Fire and Fire: Ukrainian Art Now / Між вогнем і вогнем. Українське мистецтво зараз, ed. Alisa Lozhkina, Kyiv: Ukrainian Institute, and Zenko Gallery, 2019, 247 pp. Exh. curated by Alisa Lozhkina and Konstantin Akinsha; held at Semperdepot, Atelierhaus at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, 21 Sep-8 Oct 2019. [11] (English)/(Ukrainian)

• Alisa Lozhkina (Аліса Ложкіна), Permanentna revolyutsiya: Mistetstvo Ukrayini HH – poch. HHI st. [Перманентна революція: Мистецтво України ХХ – поч. ХХІ ст.], Kyiv: ArtHuss, 2019, 543 pp. Publisher. (Ukrainian)
  • Permanent Revolution: Art in Ukraine, the 20th to the Early 21st Century, trans. Nathan Jeffers, Kyiv: ArtHuss, 2020, 543 pp; rev. as Lozhkina, The Art of Ukraine, London: Thames & Hudson, 2024, 240 pp. An overview of Ukrainian art from the dawn of modernism in the late nineteenth century to the start of the Russian invasion in winter 2022. Publisher. Publisher. (English)
  • Une révolution permanente: l'art ukrainien contemporain et ses racines 1880-2020, trans. Igor Sokologorsky, Paris: Nouvelles éditions Place, 2020, 381 pp. Publisher. Reviews: Milbach (Rev études slaves), Kilesso Contant (Slovo). (French)

• At the Front Line. Ukrainian Art, 2013-2019 / La línea del frente. El arte ucraniano, 2013-2019 / На лінії фронту. Українське мистецтво, 2013-2019, eds. Svitlana Biedarieva and Hanna Deikun, Mexico City: International Renaissance Foundation, 2020, 135 pp. Exhibition. (English)/(Spanish)/(Ukrainian)

• Svitlana Biedarieva (ed.), Contemporary Ukrainian and Baltic Art: Political and Social Perspectives, 1991-2021, Stuttgart: ibidem Verlag, Sep 2021, 220 pp. Publisher. (English)

• Victoria Donovan (Вікторія Донован), Darya Tsymbalyuk (Дар’я Цимбалюк), et al., Mezhi kolaboratsiyi: mystetstvo, etyka ta Donbas / Limits of Collaboration: Art, Ethics, and Donbas [Межі колаборації: мистецтво, етика та Донбас], Kyiv: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung в Україні, 2022, 348 pp. Publisher. (Ukrainian)/{{

New media art, Media culture

Literature

• Ianina Prudenko. "Media Art in Ukraine: The state of the theory and practice". May 2011. [12] [13]
• Ianina Prudenko. "Współczesna sztuka ukraińska i nowe technologie". Sierpień/wrzesień 2009. [14]
• Aaron Moulton. "A Revolution on Standby. Author Aaron Moulton tries a 72 Hours jump into Kiev's Contemporary Art scene". August 2007. [15]
• Katya Stukalova, "In Expectation of Reloading: Ukrainian Media Art", 2005. (English, Czech, Spanish). [16] [17]
• Galina Miazhevich, "Recent Developments in the Post-Soviet New Media: Ukraine and Belarus", presented at the F3 RuNet in a Global Context conference, 2011. [18]
• Ianina Prudenko, "Ukrainian Media Art: Twenty Years of Experience", 3/4 27/28, 2012. (English/Slovak)

Independent culture

Cities

Kyiv, Lviv, Uzhhorod, Dnipro, Odessa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Lugansk, Kherson

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