Neo-Baroque in Oleksandr Tsuhorka’s Icon Paintin

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyse the icon painting works of the leading Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Tsuhorka; to identify their stylistics, based on artistic-semantic, figurative-compositional, historical-cultural components. The research methodology. The article uses a comprehensive approach that includes general scientific (empirical – observations, description), theoretical (analytical, historiographical, comparative, biographical), special (artistic and cultural) methods. A comprehensive research approach allows the author to determine the main iconographic, iconological, figurative-compositional features of icon painting, its type and specificity in the context of architectural-pictorial synthesis, which allows the author to clarify the artist’s creative approaches to creating a specific sample. Scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that it is the first time in Ukrainian art history that the iconographic work of the leading Ukrainian artist O. Tsuhorka in the Baroque and Neo-Baroque system is examined. It is proven that O. Tsuhorka’s icon painting represents a stylistic direction of Neo-Baroque, which continues in modern conditions the national artistic tradition formed in the 17th–18th centuries. Conclusions. In the author’s manner of O. Tsuhorka, Neo-Baroque has a significant range of historical directions, corresponds to the stable format of exaltation of the highest values of existence and, at the same time, demonstrates an original figurative-compositional solution and interpretation of biblical themes in the vein of modern ideas. The transmission of feelings in the format of ‘from sacred to profane’ in his icon painting occurs through empathy with life events and trials of fate, in the characteristic ‘colouring’ of baroque dramaturgy. The artist’s self-expression is traced through self-awareness of himself as a representative of the Ukrainian ethnic community, manifested in baroque culture. The artistic reinterpretation of the historical heritage of the Baroque in O. Tsuhorka’s iconography reflects the connections with the traditions of Byzantium, which organically entered the religious painting of the Ukrainian Baroque, the humanistic heritage of the Renaissance, mastered in Ukraine (western lands), and the military culture of the 17th–18th centuries. An important aspect is the formal and compositional side of O. Tsuhorka’s icon painting, which is associated with the academic culture of neoclassicism, which was reflected in the artistic and semantic, figurative and compositional, stylistic, and historical components. Based on the analysed O. Tsuhorka’s works, it is proven that the interpretation of images in Neo-Baroque iconography is closely related to the creative rethinking of the Baroque theme in its socio-historical progress at the modern stage, as well as to the dominant academic traditions. The results obtained contribute to the further study of this direction of painting, including the analysis of the sources of their origin and references to the historical past, the ethno-national origins of Ukrainian culture, and the traditions of the professional academic art school.