2. The ARTS
in our LIFE
Understanding ARTS
When you say art you think about something beautiful , that delights your
heart and mind ,something that EVERY PERSON understands in his or her
own way . The arts are a subdivision of culture ,composed of many
disciplines . Trying to give a DEFINITION of the arts I found out one given
by the free dictionary : "imaginative , creative and nonscientific branches of
knowledge , considered collectively , esp. as studied academically " . While the
singular term of art refers to a beautiful object created by an artist , that
produces a stimulating experience . We can say art is the process of creating a
product (work/piece of art ), examined by experts in the field of the arts or
just admired by the audience. It must also be said that the term of art
usually refers to visual arts but the arts include literary and performing arts
too . Now let's take a look at the two main classes : FINE arts and
PERFORMING arts .
3. FINE ARTS
Fine art describes a form of art that
develops more as a concept than a real
object . If we take a look back in the
history THE GREATER FIVE FINE
ARTS were : painting , architecture ,
sculpture , music and poetry but today
some new ones appeared such as
photography , dance or calligraphy .
The word fine doesn't really refers to
the quality of the piece of art but to
THE PURITY OF THE DISCIPLINE .
Now let's take a look at every single
classes of FINE arts.
4. 1 . ILLUSTRATION
An illustration is usually
used to elucidate a story or
a newspaper article by a
visual REPREZENTATION
(drawing , painting ,
photograph) . The
EARLIEST FORMS were
the cave paintings , then
manually done by people
and after that the
printing press was
invented .
3 . COMICS
In comics images go
one after another
telling a small story in a
humorous way . The
ORIGINS of comics can
be found in Trajan's
column. Later they
could be found in
weekly and daily strips
or even in small
booklets or comic
books .
Drawing is a two-dimensional art , one of the best known
visual art and uses tools as crayons, graphite , charcoals ,
pen and ink etc . THE SUPPORT is , in most of the times ,
paper .When we say drawing we think about LINES .
They can be monochrome or coloured , these drawings
going more and more to the boundary of painting .
Painting means applying paint , pigment or color, usually
using a brush on a support surface such as a wall , paper ,
canvas , wood or glass .
5. 4 . MOSAICS
A mosaic is made of small pieces of glass or
stone which create an image with a
functional or decorative role . It's mostly
known by it's USAGE IN TEMPLES or
CHURCHES but it can also make a good
impression in a vintage garden or even in
a home . 5 . PRINTMAKING AND IMAGING
As you can suspect these two ARTS refer to
creating IMAGES using the help of PRINTING .
They produce multiple copies of the same piece by
transferring ink from a matrix to paper or some
other surface .
6 . CALLIGRAPHY
Calligraphy is a visual art also known as the art
of fancy lettering . It refers to giving life to
letters and decorating them so that the reader
would enjoy his lecture much more . It is not
as simple as it looks because it needs a lot of
CONCENTRATION and PASSION. It was done
by the monks for giving life to the Scripture .
6. 8 . PHOTOGRAPHY
It's the process of creating still or moving pictures
using a film or electronic image sensors . For
obtaining a usable exposure , one must use a few
CONTROLS to make sure the picture is clear ,
sharp and well illuminated , such as focus ,
aperture , shutter speed , white balance or ISO
speed .
7. SCULPTURE
Sculpture is considered
one of the plastic arts as
well as a three-
dimensional one . It's
created by shaping hard
or plastic material such
as stone , wood or metal .
It is a BIG PART of the
public art because
sculptures are mostly
found on the streets, in
parks or public gardens.
10 . ARCHITECTURE
Architecture is about creating objects that are at
the same time functional , good looking , well
introduced in the city skeleton and good for
the environment . It is one of the OLDEST
ARTS , as people had also wanted to have a
roof over their head . ARCHITECTURE means
everything you see everyday on the streets so
one must never doubt the architect's role in
the world.
9 . CONCEPTUAL ART
It is a harder to understand
form of art , based on the
usage of ideas, of concepts
trying to express the artist's
FEELINGS and EMOTIONS .
After the 1990's it's also
known as a synonym for
contemporary art .
7. PERFORMING ARTS
These arts assume the presence of a human being that is performing an
ACTIVITY or captured in a form of art . It involves the USAGE OF ALL
SENSES - people use their eyes , nose , ears and sometimes mouth skills to
better understand the IDEA created by the art .
1 . DANCE
Dance is all about
body movements
on music
rhythms, as a way
of expression or a
way people can
interact . It has
various
subcategories as
REGIONAL
dances or the
ones performed
for a TRADITION
or special event.
2 . THEATRE AND
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The origins of theatre can be
found in the ancient Greek or
Roman DRAMAS but today it can
be expressed by comedy or
tragedy . It is all about live
performing and combining acting
with music or dance or other fine
arts .
We can also include here
cinematography which is the art of
making lightning and camera
choices when recording images for
the cinema .
8. ART in Ukraine
Painting
ARTISTIC TRADITIONS OF UKRAINE have a very ancient history. The
oldest surviving paintings are FRESCOES AND MURALS found on the
northern Black sea coast, where they were preserved on the walls of
tombs FRAGMENTS OF FRESCOES from the medieval Rus period have
been found in the Cathedral of Transfiguration in Chernihiv (11th
century) and the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (early 11th century).
PORTABLE ICONS were already being painted in the 10th and 11th
centuries, but NONE SO OLD HAVE SURVIVED to our time.
9. In the 15th and
16th centuries
there appeared a
Galician school of
ICON PAINTING.
During the
RENAISSANCE
icons gradually
lest their rigidity
and became more
realistic. In Ukra-
ine PORTRAIT
PAINTING as a
separate genre
emerged during
the RENAISSANCE
(16th century)
and was strongly
influenced by the
ICON TRADITION.
Many Ukrainian painters were attracted to
the newly ESTABLISHED ACADEMY OF ARTS
IN ST. PETERSBURG (1757). The emigration
of the UKRAINIAN ARTISTS to St. Petersburg
deprived UKRAINIAN PAINTING of its most
creative talents. THE EXCEPTION was
T.SHEVCHENKO, who devoted most of his
painting (like his writing) to Ukrainian
interests.
In the last few decades of the 19th century
UKRAINIAN PAINTERS studying ART in
Russia were influenced by the Peredvizhniki
society, formed in 1870 is St.Petersburg.
Artists of Ukrainian origin who became
active in the society were I.Repin,
I.Kramskoi, R.Kuznetsov, K.Kostandi and
many others.
10. During the brief period of Ukrainian independence the UKRAINIAN STATE
ACADEMY OF ARTS (1917-22) was established in Kyiv. In 1920s in Soviet
Ukraine a variety of styles flourished. CUBO-FUTURIST PAINTING were
produced by V.Yermilov in Kharkiv and O.Romazov, V.Pavlov and
A.Petrystsky in Kyiv. In the 1930s all AVANT-GARDE ACTIVITIES in Soviet
Ukraine came to a halt with THE INTRODUCTION of socialist realism as the
only literary and artistic method permitted by the communist regime.
Changes brought about in the second half of 1980-s resulted in greater
CREATIVE FREEDOM and a proliferation of styles and manners of depiction.
Many painters showed great INVENTIVENESS, including H.Romanyshyn
from Lviv, R.Popov from Kharkiv, O.Tkachenko from Dnipropetrovsk and
R.Tetianych, V.Budnykov, H.Heiko and O.Babak from Kyiv. After decades of
restraint and isolation ARTISTS IN UKRAINE are now FREE to continue the
DEVELOPMENT of various artistic traditions.
11. KATERYNA BILOKUR
(1900 – 1961)
KATERINA BILOKUR is an highly original
Ukrainian folk artist. Her beautiful pictures of the
colorful UKRAINIAN NATURE are a significant
landmark in the history of Ukrainian folk art.
Katerina Bilokur's life was not easy. She was born
December 7, 1900, in the village of bohdanivka,
Kiev region, into the family of a POOR PEASANT.
She had no possibility to study at school and only
her THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE helped her later to
fill up the gaps in her education. Gradually, love for
art forced out all the other flames. Her PARENTS'
attempts to distract her from that "good-for-
nothing" pursuit were in vain.
12. The first works of Bilokur (1920s – early 30s) were AMATEURISH.
They were the portraits of her relations and villagers executed with
charcoal and self-made vegetable paints.
The second half of the 1930s was en IMPORTANT PERIOD in her
creativity. Then she took to drawing STILL-LIVES . Even her earlier
works – The Birch (1934), Flowers by the Fence(1935), Flowers
(1936) and some others clearly showed her EXCEPTIONAL
CREATIVE ABILITIES. Ingenuity of selection of subject matter,
vitality, fanciful composition and harmony of colors characteristic
of these pictures became the main FEATURES of all the work of the
artist.
13. Bilokur's paintings were first displayed at the POLTAVA REGIONAL
EXHIBITION in 1940 end then at a NATIONAL EXHIBITION IN KIEV. They
were highly appreciated by ART-LOVERS end ART-CRITICS. Inspired by
this success, the artist went to Kiev and Moscow "to see real paintings by
real masters" and afterwards created a series of wonderful compositions
permeated with love FOR HER NATIVE LAND and its industrious PEOPLE.
Unfortunately, all of the works displayed at the POLTAVA EXHIBITION in
1941 perished during the Second World War. Only SOME WORKS of the
period, which were not entered in the exhibition, have been preserved
(Flowers and Birches at Eventide, Flowers in Fog, Dahlias, Field Flowers).
The two years spent on fascist-occupied territory were the most trying in
the life of Katerina Bilokur. Only a few pictures were made in this period –
Flowers and Flowers at Eventide (1942), and Flowers (Lilies) which she
finished by the end of 1943.
14. After the liberation of her native village, Bilokur creates
NEW COMPOSITIONS. Luxuriant Vegetation, Decorative
Flowers (1945), Bounties of Nature (1946) and her
famous canvas Ear the King which is unrivaled as
regards its ESTHETIC and EMOTIONAL IMPACT.
The 1950s were the most productive years in Bilokur's
artistic career. She made such original and BRIGHT
STILL-LIVES as Apples and
Tomatoes, Breakfast (1950), Watermelon, Carrots and
Flowers (1951), In Shramkivka District of Cherkassy
Region (1955-1956), FIowers and Crapes (1953-1958)
which are distinguished for their FRESHNESS and
VERVE. Through the ARTIST'S FANTASY the flowers,
vegetables in these pictures turn into a canto glorifying
nature, man and his deeds, into symbols of beauty. Being
faithfully depicted, each detail in Bilokur's pictures is
perceived as a really existing one. Their realistic
representation is to no lesser degree sustained by the
artist's subtle sense of color. LIGHT AND SHADE
smoothly wavering into each other and a soft gamut of
colors are typical of all her works. The main effect is
produced by the use of PURE COLORS which is
characteristic of folk decorative art on the whole.
15. In one of her letters K. Bilokur wrote: "You
may not like my work as I paint only flowers.
But how can I not paint them if they are so
beautiful! When I begin a picture of flowers I
think sometimes: when I finish it I'll do
something from the life of the people. But by
the lime I finish it, my imagination already
draws new pictures, and all of them –
flowers. That's the long and the short of it.
"When spring comes around, and the fields
turn green, and flowers begin to bloom, each
prettier than the others... My God, I forget
everything, and again fake to painting
flowers. "Don't be angry with me, my close
and distant friends, for me painting flowers,
because the pictures with flowers are
beautiful."
Katerina Bilokur rightfully occupies a
leading place in the history of Ukrainian folk
art. Bilokur's art is based on her profound
knowledge of nature and folk art traditions,
and the impact her canvases produce is
really unforgettable.
