Kharkiv Art School in the History of One Family’ Three Generations

The present article covers the materials about studies and teaching in Kharkiv educational institutions – the predecessors of the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts (KSADA), participation in the educational process during the 1920s–1950s and the creative achievements of the architect Georgy Ikonnikov (1896–1981), his stepson, printing artist Roman Selivachev (1914–1995), as well as G. Ikonnikov’s granddaughter, Yelena Ganenko (born in 1945). The oldest of our characters studied in the 1910s at the Central School of Technical Drawing (now the Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design) in the 1910s, then participated in the Civil War and in WWI. During the 1920s and 1930s he designed about thirty Kharkiv buildings in collaboration with A. Molokin, P. Krupko, V. Bogomolov. Among his works there are such landmark objects as “Lopan Stairs”, student dormitory “Giant”, National University of Construction and Architecture (former building of the State Insurance), Research Institute of Experimental Veterinary, A. Pushkin Drama Theater, M. Skrypnyk House of Culture, etc. G. Ikonnikov taught in the art schools, headed the architectural and construction department of Kharkiv research institute for industrial projects, which created a number of important enterprises for India, China, Syria and other countries. R. Selivatchov studied at Kharkiv Art Institute (1929–1932), designed the expositions of the Svyatogorsk Museum, and later the “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” Reserve, and worked in printing. In 1941 the student of the Kyiv Civil Engineering Institute was drafted into the army. After the war he graduated from Moscow Polygraph Institute. The first and subsequent editions of Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedias, branch encyclopedic reference books, “History of Ukrainian Art” in six volumes, “Dictionary of Artists of Ukraine”, “Shevchenko Dictionary”, other projects of national importance were designed under his leadership. A lot of them were awarded by the diplomas of International, All-Union and republican book competitions. Among R. Selivatchov’s followers there are graduates of Art and Architectural universities in Leningrad, Kharkiv and Kyiv, members of the National Artists’ Union of Ukraine. However, the desire to be an artist is not always realized. Encouraged by her grandfather, O. Ganenko from childhood posed for his students and dreamed of becoming an artist. One of her portraits decorated the lobby of Kharkiv Art Institute for many years. Finally, she preferred mathematics, taught at Kharkiv University, but remembers unforgettable moments related to Kharkiv Art school.