Monumental and Decorative Painting in the Temples of Kharkiv Region of the Modern Era (Features of the Figurative and Plastic Language).

Abstract

The article describes the features of the figurative and plastic language of monumental and decorative painting preserved to our time in the churches of Kharkiv region of the modern era. Created by the selfless work of many outstanding artists at the turn of the 19th — 20th centuries, in the wave of the inclusion of Ukrainian art in the European cultural context, paintings of churches in Kharkiv region have come down to us in small numbers: most of them were lost due to the destruction of religious buildings under the Soviet regime; some were considerably mutilated or whitewashed by new owners of the buildings when the latter were not used for their intended purpose; the other ones suffered due to non-professional “restorations” of the second half of the 20th — beginning of the 21st century, when modern artists have made their corrective even in the plot iconographic compositions, relentlessly redefining the work of their predecessors. It is shown that the period of the end of the 19th — the first quarter of the 20th century. Was very fruitful for the development of the architectural industry in the region. Both public, residential and sacred buildings were erected at a very rapid pace. The number of the temples doubled (60 instead of 30). The newest style trends spreading across Europe did not bypass Kharkiv either. It is no coincidence that this is where the style, called Ukrainian Modern, was born. However, during this period, the East of Ukraine, including Kharkiv, was part of the Russian Empire, the state ideology of which was built on the basis of the theory of “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality” as the antithesis of the motto of the Great French Revolution “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”. The artistic life of the Empire was regulated by the actions of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, which was part of the royal court and the only higher educational art institution in the entire vast state. In such conditions, the creators of the projects of outstanding sacral buildings in the East of Ukraine and interior design were most often graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. The canonicity of the sacred Orthodox architecture in the East of Ukraine and the need to adhere to the Byzantine cross-domed scheme, however, did not prevent the penetration of the latest trends into the temple architecture of Kharkiv region thanks to the participation of talented