Traditions and Innovations in the Works of Oleh Mashkevych

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the works of the Honored Artist of Ukraine Oleh Mashkevych exemplified by the collection of the National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art. The collection consists of 37 carpet products, 2 sketches for carpets and 9 embroidered pillow-cases, made according to the artist’s sketches by the craftswomen of the Kharkiv Region Embroiderer crew. The time range of the works is from 1951 to 1992. The development of artistic and stylistic changes in the artist’s works has been traced, the influence of traditional carpet ornamentation and the search for innovative solutions in the elaboration of compositions, plots, technical methods, coloristics have been revealed. During the artist’s lifetime, his significant creative heritage hasn’t been studied and appreciated properly. The works of O. Mashkevych are investigated in the article. They are described in the context of the development of Ukrainian carpet making. The 1970s – 1980s are considered as the heyday of the Ukrainian carpet, which, along with the innovative trends, demonstrates a close connection with traditional folk art. The use of the artistic heritage of the past is palpable in the early works of the artist. Preserved traditions have been of a great significance in the transition from ordinary carpets of industrial production to the development of a unique woven panel – a tapestry, basing on the experience and methods of execution of the predecessors. In the period from the 1980s to the 1990s the Ukrainian tapestry has experienced the way from a classical plane ornamental carpet to a texture and relief one with textile structures, in the creation of which weaving methods, picturesqueness and voluminosity are used simultaneously. At the late 20th century various artistic and stylistic trends have been developed in this genre of Decorative and Applied Arts. The search for new means of expression has been continued, the rhythms of linear and color combinations are changed, new compositional solutions appear. Cossack Mamai – True Soul (1991) and Black Pain (1992) are such tapestries in Oleh Mashkevych’s heritage. Their thematic orientation is clear: the beloved image of a national hero and the pain from the consequences of one of the greatest industrial disasters of humanity in Chornobyl in 1986. The artist builds the composition and colour according to the theme. The artistic heritage of the master has become rightfully an integral part of the history of Ukrainian Decorative Art.