Strategies of Representing Christian Imagery And Motives in the Art of Kharkiv in the Late Soviet Period

Abstract

The aim of the study is to define the multiplicity and specificity of the approaches of the Kharkiv artists of the 1960s — 1980s to the visualization of Christian imagery and motives.
 Research methodology is based on the combination of general scientific methods of systematization, classification, synthesis, and specialized ones, related to the field of art history, namely formal and comparative, iconological and compositional analysis.
 Results. The paper is focused on the specificity of functioning of the religious theme in the fine art of Kharkiv of the 1960s — 1980s. It’s emphasized that, due to the trajectory of political discourse of that time, Christian imagery in the Ukrainian late Soviet art was largely marginalized and existed mainly in the veiled, latent form. A significant number of easel paintings, graphic and photographic works by Kharkiv artists, who belong to the circles of unofficial and “allowed” art, was analyzed. The historical context of the creation of those works is outlined. Its development was defined by a vast presence of the state control. It is shown that the authors’ perception of the given problematics was characterized by the inclination towards reflecting social reality through irony and deconstruction of the familiar sacred images and iconographic schemes (Crucifixion, Madonna, Pieta, eschatological motives). It is emphasized that such approach was often realized through the methods of collage and citation, which amplify the split between the mundanity and the Sublime.
 Novelty. The study attempts to give a comprehensive overview of the development of the religious motives and characters in the Ukrainian late Soviet art.
 The practical significance. The key points of the paper can be used both for further study of the representation of the category of sacred and transformation of its role in the Ukrainian culture in the second half of the XX — beginning of the XXI century, and its practical application in the educational and exhibition projects.