Ethnic images in the creative work of Valery Geghamyan

Abstract

Purpose of the article. The article aims to identify and analyze ethnic images as one of the main characteristic segments of the corpus of paintings by Ukrainian artist of Armenian origin Valeriy Geghamyan. The methodology consists of the use of historical, biographical, complex, comparative methods as the main elements of art criticism tools.  The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the author makes a first attempt in the domestic science of art to cover individual pages of life and work of V. Geghamyan, having analyzed the ethnic images to which the artist turned throughout almost the entire creative path, to highlight the style-forming factors that took place in the formation of this imagery. Conclusions. Among the main ethnic images of the artist are Armenian and Ukrainian, less – Russian, which corresponds to the main periods of creative work of V. Geghamyan – Armenian, Russian and Ukrainian (the latest, the longest). Occasionally, the master turned to the images of the Kurds, African, Spanish types, but the dominant throughout the creative path was the colorful characters of those who personified the historical homeland of the artist (Armenians), and those who personified his second homeland, Ukraine, where he settled since the 1960s.