WWII in Work of Front-Line Artists through the Prism of Military Events of the Present

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to supplement the understanding of the works of Kyiv front-line artists of WWII against the background of the events of the war launched by Russia against Ukraine in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of 2022; to show the formation of the worldview of the artist-soldier, whose life truth of war was transformed into the artistic truth of the created images. The attention is selectively focused on artists whose works became iconic in the Ukrainian fine arts of the second half of the 20th century. The research methodology is based on the application of such scientific methods as historical, similarities, observation, comparison, as well as the method of artistic cognition of reality. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the systematisation and generalisation of the topic of the WWII from the perspective of the current Russian-Ukrainian war and the reflection of military events by artists who participated in WWII. The self-sacrifice and heroism of the individual became the basis for the disclosure of their chosen theme by means of artistic expression and can be seen as a projection for the future disclosure of the war theme in a new generation of artists, our contemporaries. Conclusions. During WWII, Ukrainian artists fought and worked between battles on the frontlines and in army units. Their memories, mostly written on the basis of diaries, reflected the personal experience of each author. Memoirs, short-term sketches testify to the impressions, experiences, thoughts, and aspirations of young artists – patriots who defended their native land with arms, but remained artists in the content of their spiritual life.

Key words: truth of life, artistic truth, war, artist, worldview, painting.