Maria Rayevska-Ivanova. Pages of Memoirs

Abstract

M. Rayevska-Ivanova (1840–1912), born in Kharkiv region, was the first female artist in the entire Russian Empire. For five years (1863–1868) she studied the art profession abroad, in particular from Dresden Professor L. A. Ergardt. Being well guided in the then directions of the development of art education and understanding the role of the movement of arts and crafts, in 1869 she opened the only art-industrial school on the Ukrainian territory, in Kharkiv. She constantly kept in touch with another enthusiast of this time-demanded type of art education from St. Petersburg – Dmytro Grygorovych. For over 27 years she taught free of charge at her school, making it public. She prepared about 900 pupils. Her significant contribution to the development of art education in Ukraine is still underestimated. However, the National Art Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv preserves the insufficiently studied and unpublished memoirs of this ascetic, which represented a unique document of that era, revealing the spiritual world of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, its ideals and aspirations. Some fragments of these memoirs are offered below, which can become a serious addition to the study of the role and place of Maria Rayevska-Ivanova in the history of Ukrainian art. As confirmation, some reproductions of educational works of students of Rayevska-Ivanova’s school are given, which are preserved in the library of the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts. I used the embroidery “Landscape” by S. Yarotsky from my family archive, which is indirectly related to the artistic environment of Rayevska-Ivanova, in order to draw attention to the support of crafts as one of special merits of the school founder.