Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts

Abstract

The article deals with the formation of avant-garde as an alternative to the academic artistic paradigm in the Kharkiv Art School. The contribution of Kharkiv artists to the world culture is determined primarily by the avant-garde art. Its agents, who steadily carried the baton of modernization of artistic culture, were V. Yermilov and B. Kosarev. During 1915–1916 a group of artists, The Union of Seven, was formed at the Art School; their work reflected the diverse palette of changes that accompanied the formation of Cubo-Futurism in Kharkiv. Fundamental changes took place in the artistic culture of Ukraine in the 1920s. The initiative to transform Kharkiv Art School into an Art Technical School with the rights of an institution of higher education in 1921, is attributed to Yermilov (it actually became an institute in 1927). In the 1920s–1930s his teaching team was joined by such artists as Mykola Burachek, Ivan Padalka, Oleksander Khvostenko-Khvostov, Anatol Petrytsky, and Borys Kosarev. Studios were established: easel painting (Mykhailo Sharonov), monumental (Lev Kramarenko), and theatrical (Oleksander Khvostenko-Khvostov). From 1922 to 1934 Yermilov led the graphics studio (together with Padalka starting in 1925). The key figures in the creation process of artistic avant-garde culture in Kharkiv after the 1930s were V. Yermilov and B. Kosarev, who influenced the formation of the next generation of artists. Yermilov’s work in Kharkiv (including teaching at Art Institute) had an impact on the creative features of O. Shcheglov, V. Platonov, V. Savenkov, and defined the horizon of effective development of design in the region. Among those who continued Yermilov’s design traditions are M. Molochynsky, І. Krivoruchko, V. Lesnyak, O. Bojchuk, V. Danilenko, O. Veklenko. Launched by the latter International Environmental Forum of Eco Poster “The 4th Block” has found quite a resonance in the world. “Yermilov’s Mansard” appeared on Kharkiv cultural space as an artistic centre and an original example of artistic design in the spirit of Bauhaus. Due to B. Kosarev a constellation of talented artists appeared in Kharkiv artistic culture and defined its uniqueness. Among his students in the theatre and decorative department there were such people as a teacher Konstantinov; a theater artist, a Doctor of Architecture, corresponding member of the AAU V. Kravetz; the Main artist of Kharkiv State Academic Ukrainian Drama Theater named after T. Shevchenko T. Medvid; theatre artists M. Kuzheliev, G. Nesterovska, P. Osnachuk, L. Pisarenko, N. Rudenko-Krayevska and others. Among the artists, whose creative work shaped under the influence of B. Kosarev, were Honoured Artist of Ukraine, member and Vice President of AAU V. Sidorenko, and Honored Artist of Ukraine, famous graphic N. Myronenko.