ЖІНОЧІ ОБРАЗИ У ТВОРЧІЙ СПАДЩИНІ МИКОЛИ ПИМОНЕНКА

Abstract

Ukrainian realistic painting became a symbol for the embodiment of the features of the traditional culture of the second half of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century. Mykola Pymonenko was one of the most striking painters among the outstanding artists who in their work turned to the development of themes and motifs from the everyday life of the peasantry. He skillfully depicted the color of the Ukrainian village, transferring the features of the profane and sacred times into traditional culture. His creative activity was closely connected with observation, and therefore the works demonstrate a high level of accuracy and reliability in the reproduced elements of material and spiritual culture. One of the important aspects that can be studied from Mykola Pymonenko’s paintings is the image of a woman in traditional culture. Pymonenko paid a lot of attention to depicting the feminine experience within the established system of social life in the Ukrainian village. Various age categories of women with different social status in individual contexts are presented among his creative works. The high level of the artist’s skill and his commitment to the standards of realistic painting allow us to compare the female images embodied in art with the realities of that time, showing, in parallel, a visual picture of a woman’s life in traditional society. Pymonenko reveals such aspects as family and relative ties, socialization, work, holidays and others, actually covering all components of human life. At the same time, detailing the elements of material culture allows to supplement the received information and form a clearer picture of a woman in traditional Ukrainian culture. Mykola Pymonenko managed to form a stable image of a woman in his work, at the same time, preserving its variability and demonstrating the uniqueness of each of them. Taking into account the fact that in traditional culture women often played a passive role, had to obey the patriarchal attitudes of the society of that time, Pymonenko in his works focuses mainly on female images, trying to reveal them as multifaceted and extraordinary.