Resilience and resistance: Ukrainian art under martial law

Today’s culture presents new important challenges for the education system. The transformation of cultural norms and standards and the movement of social consciousness towards tolerance require the formation of a new ideal of "cultural human". The value of professional knowledge implies a strong connection with the moral upbringing of future professionals and their orientation towards general cultural values. For its part, actual educational paradigm focuses on the principle of complexity and interdisciplinarity, integration of different scientific methods. This is appropriate for the studying and teaching the art disciplines. Of course, art has always been considered in close connection with the cultural and historical context, because art cannot exist outside it. Today, however, the search for new perspectives in interdisciplinary research is relevant in the field of culture and the arts, as in humanities and social sciences in general. This is also due to the transformation of the concept of art in today’s world, which requires the search for new vectors of analysis, addition and expansion of traditional tools of art’sanalysis. The objectives of this study are to analyze the educational and work programs and textbooks of the History of Fine Arts (the History of Arts) of the last five years; to determine what scientific culturological methods are most commonly used in the development of today’s educational and methodicalliterature (textbooks, manuals, educational programs) of “The History of Fine Arts ("The History of Arts"); to identify what other methods should be appropriate to include in the toolkit of studying and teaching the art history; to present the interaction between the teacher and students as a "cultural dialogue"; to reveal the role of cultural approach in the spiritual and aesthetic education of future artists.The researchers’ interest in the cultural aspects of the pedagogical process in today’s Ukrainian studies is increasing. O. Malanchuk-Rybak, I. Pyatnitska-Pozdnyakova, O.Shevnyuk, N. Kovaleva, Yu. Solovyova and others consider the cultural aspects of studying art history and teaching art disciplines. The cultural approach to analyzing the evolution of the world's art systems is demonstrated by the textbooks of the last decade, including “The History of the Arts” by O. Shevnyuk (2015), “The History of Arts” by K. Tregubov (2015), “Ukrainian Art in the Historical Dimension” (Yu. Solovyova, O. Mkrtichyan, 2017), etc. As well asthe research has determined the culturological orientation of educational and work programs in last five years: “The History of Arts” (Trofimchuk-Kirilova T., 2017), “The History of Fine Arts”(O. Kirichen-ko, 2019), “The History of Fine Arts and Architecture” (Panasyuk V. 2015), “The History of Fine Arts” (Panyok TV, 2016), etc. The article deals with the cultural aspects of the study and teaching of the art on the basis of these educational and methodological publications. For this purpose the following methods are used in the article: descriptive method, method of system analysis, axiological approach and socio-cultural analysis.The analysis of these textbooks and work programs made it possible to formulate the subject, purpose and main objectives of the course “The History of Fine Arts”. The aim of the course is to form students' systematic knowledge of the development of fine arts from archaic times to the present.In this context the culturological orientation of teaching "The History of Fine Arts" makes it possible to solve the following educational problems: forming a complex of knowledge about the essence of art, its functions in culture and society; moral and aesthetic education and involvement in cultural values; revealing the general patterns of evolution of the world art systems; forming an artistic picture of the world through mastering the system of artistic knowledge; understanding of the historical and cultural conditionality of aesthetic canons in art; mastering the basic principles and forms of communicative experience of art as a means of transmitting socially meaningful cultural meanings; development of critical perception and interpretation of works of art, ability to navigate in artistic styles and movements; involvement of artistic and creative artifacts in the fulfillment of various socio-cultural tasks. Thus, future artists not only learn to solve immediate professional tasks, but also accumulate the ideological and artistic experience of the past, acquire the ability to interpret it and make certain predictions, in particular in thetoday’s art market. Domestic researchers believe that the synthesis of methods of art studies and cultural studies is relevant in teaching the course "The History of Fine Arts". It was found out that systematic analysis, diachronic and synchronic methods, socio-cultural approach, biographical method allow revealing the content of the course most completely. Semiotic analysis and gender approach can also open up the new perspectives of the studying and teaching of art history in today’s humanitarian discourse.

Russian aggression against Ukraine has generated global interest in Ukrainian brands. This study analyzes and compares existing folk design approaches in Ukrainian art. The purpose of the article is to analyze and compare existing popular design approaches in Ukrainian art. Methods: theoretical research methods, such as analysis, synthesis, content analysis of scientific literature, and the axiological method, are primarily used. The results showed that Ukrainian art is revealed through various design approaches that help creative people to express ideas, convey emotions, and contribute to the development of culture. In particular, the current direction is ethnodesign, which promotes the maintenance of traditions and national identity, ecological design is aimed at sustainable development, the technological design integrates modern technologies into art, and emotional design attracts and makes art personal for each viewer. Scientific novelty: it is proven that Ukrainian designers are looking for new approaches, using motifs of folk art and synthesizing Ukrainian color, models, and patterns to create original works of clothing, architecture, brands. The conclusions emphasize that ecological design, technological design, and emotional design are promising directions for the development of design approaches, which will become important in the future.

The mission of the discipline "History of Fine Arts" in the education system of the Republic of Moldova is based on the study of the world history of fine arts, as well as multifaceted events and issues related to the history, criticism and theory of art. The lectures of the discipline also aim to focus on artistic trends and valuable works of Ukrainian culture that would have a significant impact on the ethnic, artistic and aesthetic vision of the younger generation. Based on the context of contemporary socio-cultural and geopolitical challenges and our own experience of pedagogical practice, we propose to implement the artistic and cultural theme of Ukrainian art within the course "History of Fine Arts" (national art and world art history). As an argument for the above, we cite a number of historical and cultural facts related to the culture of the Ukrainian people, which fit perfectly into European and universal culture. Ukrainian art is distinctive and rich, it was formed over centuries, reflects the spiritual world of Ukrainians, their mentality, and has a significant moral and aesthetic potential. The best examples of Ukrainian Baroque painting are the church frescoes of the Pechersk Lavra in Kiev. The Ukrainian genius Taras Shevchenko is honoured all over the world, wherever there is a large Ukrainian diaspora, including the Republic of Moldova and Romania ("Kobzar" is known everywhere). The ethnic symbol of Ukrainian culture is a gift icon with the face of a Cossack. Boichukism ("boychukism") is a cultural phenomenon in the history of Ukrainian art of the 1910s and 1930s, marked by a monumental and synthetic artistic style. It is important to study Ukrainian art from its inception to the present day (architecture, painting, sculpture, graphics, decorative art, etc.) and to consolidate it in the educational process, in the process of obtaining pre-university and higher art education in the republic.

The purpose of the work is to examine the basic principles and activities of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (hereinafter – NUAU) and the Kyiv Organisation of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (hereinafter – KONUAU) at the present stage, to identify relevant issues related to the development and popularisation of Ukrainian art, in particular during the period of full-scale war. The research methodology is in the application of systematic and cultural-historical approaches, combined with such methods as art history, analysis, synthesis, generalisation, description and comparison, which together help to achieve substantiated research results. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time a brief analysis of the activities of the NUAU and KONUAU was revealed in the context of an unfolding full-scale war was considered and presented, and the cultural and axiological potential of the union’s activities and the promotion of the achievements of contemporary Ukrainian artists, the affirmation of national identity, Ukrainian culture and art, which in times of war is not only a unifying factor, but also a means of expressing a civic position. Conclusions. Based on the analysis of creative events, exhibitions, and other cultural practices of the NUAU and KONUAU, the article reveals the cultural and axiological potential of the union's activities, which manifests itself in the transmission of artistic and cultural values inherent in Ukrainian art, which, especially during the war, through the efforts of the artists of the NUAU and KONUAU, is aimed at uniting civil society in the fight against Russian aggression, as well as in matters of practical volunteer activity, which is an extremely important component in the formation of national consciousness and patriotism.
 Key words: National Union of Artists of Ukraine, Kyiv Organisation of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, Ukrainian art, national school of painting, thematic painting, historical painting, war, military aggression, artists.

The article is dedicated to the interpretation peculiarities of the impressionistic trends in Ukrainian art. Impressionism as the first modernist style has a huge impact on world art, been marked in it both by new purely formal, plastic and also world-view features. Ukrainian art hasn’t also avoided it and attracts its experience to the search for a new artistic language of the turning point in the artistic development of the period of the late 19th – early 20th century in its own way. Although impressionism hasn’t formed a definite exact trend in Ukrainian art, its ideas, in particular, the individualization of artistic vision, subjectivity of perception, colour expressiveness mark a new stage of its development and keep their relevance for a long time. The sources of impressionistic influences in Ukrainian painting at the turn of the 19th – early 20th century, the contradictions of its interpretation by critics and artists, the peculiarities of impressionism significance in the works of avant-garde artists (D. Burliuk, O. Bohomazov, K. Malevich) are considered in the article. A great importance of a large exhibition Impressionism in Ukraine in the phenomenon representation is emphasized. The event has been held on December, 2009 – March, 2010 at the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyiv. A range of impressionistic interpretations in Ukrainian painting of the late 19th – early 20th century is submitted for the first time. An attitude to the trend during the next periods of the history of Ukrainian art, namely in the post-revolutionary 1920s, 1930s – 1950s, 1960s – 1970s, is analyzed in the article. These are the periods, when impressionism as a bourgeois artistic trend has been “deleted” from the Soviet art because of the establishment of socialist realist doctrine. It has been returned gradually into the artists’ creative practices in the following years. Impressionism has preserved its attractiveness until the 1970s due to the peculiarities of the art development in the Soviet conditions (isolation from the world experience, shortage of extensive information about Ukrainian art of the pre-Soviet times) despite its historicity and close connection with art of the turn of the 19th – 20th century.

It has been investigated that Ukrainian art history in its historical development has followed a path characteristic of European artistic thought. The tasks faced by Ukrainian art history at the beginning of the 20th century are considered. During 1905–1917, art history in Ukraine acquired signs of structure, the directions of research were quite clearly defined. Based on the analysis of art studies of the 1920s, it was determined that they are characterized by a combination of clear retrospective vision, methodically correct handling of iconographic sources. The fact that the problem of national peculiarities of Ukrainian art history, its origins, driving factors, and priorities is of fundamental importance has been revealed. The article states that the Soviet totalitarian regime initiated a new stage of the «state» approach to the development of national inversions of science, literature and, in particular, art history. It was found out that specific conclusions regarding the national style were removed from many works of domestic art researchers by censorship. The need to organize and harmonize with the national historical concept of chronology and periodization of Ukrainian art history remains an equally urgent task. In this regard, the publication is supplemented with tables with a chronology of cultural events and publications of art-historical publications. It was found that Ukrainian art history actively developed in the context of the general national revival. With the beginning of totalitarian repressions and the liquidation of literary and artistic associations in the Ukrainian SSR (1932), the development process moved to western Ukrainian lands, primarily to Lviv. It was noted that in the post-war period, after well-known socio-political and socio-cultural changes, art history, art criticism, as well as artistic creativity throughout the territory of Ukraine, were united under one ideological slogan of socialist realism. It is emphasized that an important role in this difficult period was played by Ukrainian figures of culture, science and art of the diaspora. It is revealed that Ukrainian art history of the second half of the 20th century developed in difficult socio-political and cultural conditions. It has been found that the second half of the 20th century, marked by the repeated "revival" of the socialist realist method, nevertheless proved the continuity of the development of the national concept in the field of art history. A new stage logically began during the years of independent Ukraine. It is highlighted that the national concept of the historical development of Ukrainian culture and art has become the leading one in the domestic humanitarian field. It is important that the revival of Ukrainian art criticism has begun.

The purposes of the research are to analyse the interaction between creativity and charity in the Ukrainian theatres’ activities under the martial law, to highlight the role of performing arts in the consolidation of society and solving social challenges in crisis conditions. The research methodology is based on a complex interdisciplinary approach and includes the following methods: analysis (to research of the content of theatre productions, charity events and projects), case study (an analysis of specific examples of theatres that combine creativity and charity), and comparative analysis. The scientific novelty consists in identifying and analysing the forms of combining charity and theatrical art in Ukraine under the martial law (2022–2024); highlighting the roles of theatres as socio-cultural agents that preserve stage art in crisis conditions as well as participate in supporting the military and civilian population; the analysis of innovative approaches to the organisation of theatre activities during the war period, in particular, changes in the format of performances, the use of alternative stage spaces. Conclusions. The martial law contributed to the transformation of theatrical art: mobile performances appeared in military units, hospitals, shelters for displaced persons, charity performances and interactive artistic initiatives. Theatres were actively involved in volunteer activities, organised fundraising to support the military and the civilian population. Theatrical groups changed the traditional space for performances, moved to alternative stage venues, used online platforms and other means of communication with the audience. Thus, theatres today have preserved their artistic mission and become a key tool of social interaction, charity and support of the national spirit, demonstrating their ability to adapt and influence social processes.

The essay discusses the state and the prospects of Ukrainian art history and its relationship with the so-called ‘Art studies’. It offers insights into the origins of the notion of art studies imposed by the Soviet authorities to replace the ‘bourgeois’ theory and history of art which flourished at the beginning of the 20th century in Ukrainian universities. The introduction of art studies meant the growth of the rift between Soviet scholarship and the rest of the world. This first shift was followed by acts aimed at provincializing Ukrainian scholars through censorship and limited access to publications and fellowships. The long-awaited independence of Ukraine has changed much neither in approaches to teaching the history of art at art schools and academies nor in the methodology of scholars. The science of art in Ukraine remains to a large extent outdated, rooted in connoisseurship and formal analysis and sometimes even confused with art criticism. Ernst Gombrich’s lecture of 1966 pointed to the importance of tackling political, social and economic circumstances that impacted artistic development while teaching art history. His conclusions despite seeming obvious are still to be taken into account in Ukrainian realities as the attitude towards history in art academies remains rather superficial and condescending as to a ‘science of facts’, which completely ignores the last decades of methodological pursuits of historians and art historians. Going back to the notion of theory and history of art as a discipline that should be taught and researched as well as tackling linguistic obstacles and re-inventing methodology might help to overcome the divide between Ukrainian scholarship and their foreign peers and make research conducted in Ukraine and/or by Ukrainian art historians visible to the European and global art community. It, too, will mean the beginning of another science of art in Ukraine.

V. O. Bohdanov – an outstanding researcher of the history of wind art in Ukraine: his life and creative career

In this study, we analyze the development conditions of and trends in Ukrainian scientific art during the ongoing war with the Russian Federation. Based on our own experience, we demonstrate how the emphasis, values, and goals of scientific art shift under martial law. We also highlight the challenges and difficulties faced by Ukrainian artists and researchers who found themselves in the occupied territories. Our own experience involves the promotion of the scientific and artistic project “Nanoart. Science is art” and its transformation into a socio-patriotic project “Nanoart. New symbolism of science.” We use this example to show how trends in art, culture, and science change very quickly under critical conditions. Art during the war has military and liberation themes, while artists and scientists during the war are warriors on the cultural and scientific fronts.

The development of the art of the domra playing in Ukraine in the context of the revival of folk musical-instrumental culture at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries

The purpose of the article is to provide systematization and synthesis of data concerning the history of the separate directions of musical art in Ukraine in the XX century. Methodology. General scientific methods of research, analytical, typological, semantic, and comparative analysis - are applied to the terminological definition of a conceptual framework of the history of musical art and justification of its theoretical art criticism application. The scientific novelty consists in consideration of musical art in Ukraine in the XX century as a certain welfare community. Conclusions. The article considers the history of certain areas of musical art in Ukraine in the twentieth century. It was established that at the stage of the emergence of musical art in Ukraine, the initial music of a syncretic nature developed. This trend consisted in the fact that music, dance, song, and poetry were in constant unity and, accompanied both ceremonies, rites and rituals, and everyday life. During the twentieth century, Ukrainian music in a significant variety of genres and forms is widespread in our country and beyond. Ukrainian artists actively mastered classical European instrumental genres, including the Baroque suite, chamber sonata, trio, quartet, quintet. It was at this time that the aesthetics of the Art Nouveau era dictated an appeal to the style of impressionism, expressionism, and other directions of Art Nouveau (in association with traditional genres, forms, and means of musical expressiveness). This has had an appropriate impact on the field of music education. The development of Ukrainian professional music is associated with the evolution of Ukrainian statehood, which only in the 20th century received the driving forces for formation. This state dynamics influenced the development of Ukrainian culture (and musical art) as an integrated system that is necessary for the active development of the society of Ukraine and the international community as a whole. Speaking about the interaction following the results of the ХХ century of innovations and traditions (archaics) in the musical art of Ukraine, it should be pointed out that any tradition is an innovation in the past, and any innovation is potentially a tradition in the future. In addition, it is important that novelty and archaic in the composer's work should complement each other. It is through this trend that innovations in musical art differ significantly from innovations in technology, where a return to archaic cannot be considered an innovative development.
 Keywords: art, music, musical works, music schools, the ХХ century, directions, development innovations.

This essay is a response to the «Reflections on the teaching of the arts in art schools. A lecture delivered on January 4, 1966» by E.H. Gombrich. It reviews his own methods of teaching art history, as well as encouraging the student to learn. I have been teaching the history of Ukrainian art at the Lviv Academy of Arts for more than 10 years, primarily for art critics (“mysteztvoznavtzi”). This year I taught it to students from creative industries (artists) for the first time and it made me rethink the way I have been doing it and adjust it. In order to motivate artists to study art history, I believe it should be taught as a process happened in very particular historical circumstances. The influence of East and West should be also taken into account as Ukrainian art did not develop in a vacuum. Ukrainian art has always been at the crossroads between East and West. Despite common misconceptions, it has not been just in the margins of Western European tradition. We still have artworks and monuments analysed through the lens of this hierarchy though. When teaching the history of Ukrainian art, I aimed at changing the way students perceive it, comparing it with Eastern and Western traditions, and analysing its strong and weak points without any reservations. And of course, I recreated the historical background behind the artworks as it is crucial to me. The context is a kind of wire that brings all artistic phenomena together. For example, when lecturing about the art of the Kyivan Rus, I tried to avoid clichés and present pre-Christian and Christian art as equally important traditions that shaped medieval Rusian art. Or, when exploring Renaissance in Ukraine, I examine how Ukrainian, Italian, Polish and German traditions were interwoven at courts, universities, cities and so forth. Another important point in teaching and researching the history of Ukrainian art is presenting it without excessive rhetoric and Soviet clichés.

The purpose of the article is to study the development of the directions of Ukrainian book art, the formation of new creative features in the European cultural space. The research methodology consists in the application of general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction) and methods of art history (comparative, typological, descriptive). The scientific novelty lies in the study of book art, which has always been important in Ukrainian art. Conclusions. Today, we have a large amount of fine works in the genre of book illustrations. These works reflected both the history of the Ukrainian literature, history of the national graphic art, as well as the history of cultural progress of Ukraine in general. Thus, book art is an extremely fruitful object of study, an intersection point, where the complicated process of interaction of socio-political, spiritual, cultural and artistic and aesthetic factors is underway. Thus, Ukrainian book graphics in different periods reflected all European trends – modernism, symbolism, neo-primitive art, futurism, cubism, expressionism, constructivism, realism, surrealism, Art Deco, neoclassicism. The originality of the artistic language emerged through the use of traditional motifs and vanguard image creation tools. Keywords: research, culture, illustration, book, art, national traditions.

The article discusses the shift from the methodology of the Soviet totalitarian period in Ukrainian art history to the modern methods that are more appropriate for the interpretation of contemporary Ukrainian art. The analysis showed that, during the Soviet period, art and art history in Ukraine were under strict ideological and political control. Art history and criticism were widely used as a means of ideological propaganda, and therefore art studies could not fully represent and interpret art. A considerable part of the art phenomena was ignored by researchers due to the hierarchy of trends and genres of art established in the USSR; art historians had to assess the “validity” of an artwork or an artist according to the official ideology. The variety of methods and research instruments was limited and insufficient for the research of contemporary Ukrainian art, including feminist art. The creative work of the Ukrainian female artist Alina Kopytsa is shown as an example in order to demonstrate the expedience of modern approaches, which are still not common for Ukrainian art history. Thus, a wider range of methods and approaches is regarded as the means to develop an effective methodological background, and to provide a better understanding of contemporary Ukrainian art.