TRANSFORMATION OF THE KYIV MURALS AND MOSAICS AT THE TURN OF THE 1950–1960S AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE MONUMENTAL PAINTING DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

During twentieth century monumental painting has undergone numerous changes in iconography, stylistics and figurative-plastic language itself. An important milestone was the turn of the '50–'60s. When the artists resorted to active decorative searches and the ways of plane expression.In the 1930–50's, socialist realism became the main pointer for the monumental artist, which was the dominant artistic method at that time. For the most effective use of this method, the artists have been oriented on the realistic and academic principles, filling classical forms with Soviet meaning. Panels become burdensome and suffocated by architectural decoration, the expressiveness of the monumental painting was lost.However, at the end of the '50s monumental painting began to move away from realistic tendencies. A search of new ways of expressions have been proceeded. A search of new ways of expressions proceeded. The impetus for rethinking styling was widely known resolution of November 4, 1955 "About the elimination of redundancies in design and construction. "The document became the peculiar starting point in Soviet architecture as well as monumental painting.According to this resolution aesthetical side had to be solved by organically linking the architectural form to the purpose of the building and established proportion. The task of architects was to work on the creation of standard buildings in simple economic forms.Thus, new opportunities for development in the monumental painting appear. With the formation of new architecture, murals and mosaics are gaining ground for experiments both with materials and figurative-plastic solutions.At the turn of the 60's significant projects were created in Kyiv, among them Kiev River Station (1961), Kiev Bus Station (1961), Shulyavska Subway Station (1963), Metro Restaurant (1963), interior design at The Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics, NAS of Ukraine (1962), exteriors of the Institute of Plant Protection of the UAAS (1962).