THE ARTIST AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY: THE FEATURES OF PETRO LEVCHENKO’S ARTISTIC STYLE

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the little-studied creative work of the Ukrainian artist Petro Levchenko, and namely, to the identification of historical and cultural grounds for the quality changes in the stylistic features of his artistic manner, beginning from earlier stages of his formation, to the period of his mature mastery. The present study explored and analyzed the main artistic courses and styles of the period (end of 19th – beginning of 20th centuries), when the artist’s views on the aims and tasks of painting art underwent certain transformation, and it directly influenced the evolution of the master’s artistic search, his artistic “handwriting”. In this work certain parallels were made between the personality traits and human fate of the artist (based on the many memoires of Petro Levchenko’s life path) and his acceptance of the latest trends in the artistic life of the age contemporary to him, valid conclusions are made regarding the connection of his personal qualities and creative preferences with susceptibility to new trends in art and the new philosophy of impressionism. The article explores all the genre richness of Petro Levchenko’s heritage – the landscapes, the plein air etudes, the interior paintings. The analysis of technical, compositional, coloristic characteristics of Petro Levchenko’s creations, which were the most distinctive for understanding the evolution of the artist’s style, allowed to demonstrably confirm the conclusions made in the article. As a result of the research, which was conducted in this article, the unique style characteristics of Petro Levchenko’s art were discovered, as well as his innovative accomplishments in painting, which, in the aggregate, have the traits of an artistic phenomenon in the culture of Ukraine. The author of the article emphasizes the importance of the perspective of studying Petro Levchenko’s works, as it is a phenomenon which belongs to the Ukrainian artistic heritage as well as to the world one, and demonstrates the connection and interpenetration of Ukrainian and worldwide tendencies in the artistic culture.