The knight of energetism Alexander Rychkov-Galaktionov

В статье рассматривается творчество ленинградско-петербургского художника Александра Николаевича Рычкова-Галактионова (р. 1948), живописца и графика, выпускника Института имени И.Е. Репина Российской академии художеств (1973). Особенностью его творческого пути стало обоснование им в 1990 году собственного творческого метода, названного «энергетизм», и изобразительной манеры «еxtantion». Его творчество условно делится на три периода, первый из которых — нащупывание своего авторского «я» (1970–1980-е годы). Второй период связан со временем исторической эпохи «перестройки», некоторые стороны которой художник стремился передать метафизическим изобразительным языком, отходя от прежней реалистической живописной манеры. Этот период может быть назван переходным к следующему, полуфигуративному этапу творчества, на котором художник окончательно формулирует свое творческое кредо. The article examines the work of the Leningrad-Petersburg artist Alexander Rychkov-Galaktionov (b. 1948), a painter and graphic artist, a native of the I.E. Repin Institute of the Russian Academy of Arts (1973). A feature of his creative path was the substantiation by him in 1990 of his own creative method, called “energetism”, and the pictorial manner of “extantion”. His work is conventionally divided into three periods, the first of which is the groping of his author's self (1970s – 1980s). The second period is associated with the time of the historical era of "perestroika", some aspects of which the artist strove to convey in metaphysical pictorial language, departing from the previous realistic painting manner. This period can be called a transitional to the next, semi-figurative stage of creativity, at which the artist finally formulates his creative credo.

“Dovzhenko as a graphic artist” by V. N. Myslavskyi: Unknown milestones of famous Ukrainian director’s art

Book review: Dovzhenko as a graphic artist / [introduction is compiled and written by V. N. Myslavskyi]. — Kharkiv: Tochka, 2021. — 315 p.

Příspěvek k salašnickému hospodaření na Moravském Valašsku. Ovčín na panské salaši jako zapomenutý objekt tradičního stavitelství na Moravě

Carpathian shepherding, i.e., seasonal mountain cattle farming is an inseparable part of life in the highland of eastern Moravia and Silesia, regardless of the debate as to its origins and extent. It is possible to observe not only the blending of what were essentially mountain practices with the domestic peasant tradition, but also the use of this method of farming across social groups. In one lithograph by the well-known Moravian painter and graphic artist František Kalivoda (1824–1859), in the sheep pasture above Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, there is an unusually large structure, which is presumed to be a sheepshed. This has not yet been reflected in the ethnography of these lands. The research, which was based primarily on archival, ethnological and archaeological research, complements the well-known but very fragmentary facts about mountain farming under manorial management and reconstructs the architectural form of the building and its functions.

Nicolae Macarenco - representative artist of satirical graphics

A prominent figure in the field of satirical graphics in the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Macarenco, throughout his artistic career, conceived with great skill and dedication book illustrations for literary works signed by Aureliu Busuioc, Evgeniy Kopylov, Iosif Gherasimov, Alla Grekul, posters and aesthetically expressive and semantically valuable caricatures. Prodigious, talented, persevering and devoted to his profession, the protagonist is one of the established artists who, through his vocation and talent, marked an entire era in the satirical art of the Republic. Working successfully, especially in the genres of satirical-humorous graphics, the graphic designer gave birth to works that were frequently published in important periodicals such as the satire and humor magazine Chipăruş, the magazine Femeia Moldovei, the newspaper Tinerimea Moldovei and others. The study highlights both the thematic aspects of the artist’s creation and the determined, systematized, mirrored artistic options of the protagonist. Having examined the artist’s works, the author pays increased attention to problems of compositional image, the particularities of plastic representation through shape, line, tone of human characters, psychological states of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic characters. At the same time, the analytical approach is supported by highlighting the role of color in the process of amplifying expressions and messages generated by satirical works created by the graphic artist.

In Love With the Virus: Reducing Harms, Promoting Dignity, and Preventing Hepatitis C Through Graphic Narratives

This article describes a process of creating an ethnographic comic about injection drug use and hepatitis C, based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Norway. The project and the graphic publication titled The Virus were a collaboration between a social anthropologist, a graphic artist, and individuals who inject illegal drugs and are aimed at reducing bodily, social, and narrative harms related to drug use. The article argues that structurally informed interventions, such as this project, which account for the social, economic, and epistemological inequalities, benefit from taking phenomenological perspectives seriously. In our case, that attitude meant including participants’ positive associations with their current or former heroin and injecting drug usage, their stigmatized desires, and their emotions—such as love—related to the disease. The article describes the narrative, conceptual, aesthetic, and practical choices encountered in making The Virus to confront the dominant, authorized narratives in the field of drug use and hepatitis C. We sought to make choices that ultimately would not contribute to the (re)production of the very object of the prevention—stigma related to hepatitis C—but instead would create a new narrative(s) that forged a sense of purpose, recognition, and humanity.

A Manuscript Waiting for its Reader: “A Word About Alma Mater” by Leonid Chernov

The goal of the article is to draw attention of the art community to the little‑known memoirs of Leonid Chernov (1915–1990), a famous Ukrainian graphic artist, professor of Kharkiv Art and Industrial Institute. These memoirs are called A Word about Alma Mater and exist as a 120‑page self‑published book. They provide an opportunity for modern readers to learn firsthand how art education was organized in Kharkiv Art College and Kharkiv Art Institute in the 1930s–1950s. The original text is kept in the artist’s family and exists only as a single typewritten copy. In recent decades, about a dozen scholars have had the opportunity to get acquainted with the literary heritage of L. Chernov. Only some theses from this unique text have been quoted in individual academic papers. Chernov’s memoirs are valuable both in terms of literary merit and in terms of truthful testimony about the aspirations and feelings of the author himself and the people close to him, about real historical facts and personalities with whom his fate and the fate of his home university were closely related. L. Chernov wanted to publish his memoirs in the form of an illustrated photo album, back in the 1980s. However, something then thwarted his intentions. At this stage, with the permission of the artist’s family, one of the fragments of such valuable material – the author’s theses to the memoirs and the first section of the main text is published. Unique photo documents from the artist’s albums are published together with the text.

Hryhoriy Bondarenko and His School

Through his work and pedagogical activity, an outstanding Kharkiv graphic artist, professor of Kharkiv Art Institute Hryhoriy Bondarenko connected today’s artistic practice with the great traditions of art, to which he belonged. In the 1910s, H. Bondarenko studied at the Odessa Art School, with K. Kostandi; in 1915–1917 – at the Academy of Arts; and in 1923–1927 at Leningrad VKhUTEIN with K. S. Petrov-Vodkin and V. M. Konashevich. A chain of artistic tradition was formed in VKhUTEIN: K. Petrov-Vodkin – V. Serov – I. Repin – P. Chistyakov. With his pedagogical activity Chistyakov poses the problem of the creative method, and Repin – of the art form. Serov approaches its solution in the idea of projection drawing. Petrov-Vodkin supplemented it with an understanding of picture plane as space. Bondarenko synthesized all these aspects. His creative method is considered on the example of a number of his graphic works. It is based on three main points. The first is a double understanding of the picture plane on which the image is made. It is thought of, on the one hand, as a projection plane and, on the other hand, as space. The second is a combination of projections. The third is the understanding of the image as a way of processing the surface of the sheet. Among the students of H. Bondarenko, perceived this creative method, there were such well-known masters as V. Kulikov, V. Lenchin, V. Nenado. Each of them developed those aspects of the method that were organic to them. The universality, harmony and consistency of the analyzed creative method are shown in the article. It is based on a holistic worldview. Two great traditions, the successor, contemporary and continuer of which he was, merged together in H. Bondarenko’s creative activity and pedagogical work: the classical art of the 19th century, and new art of the 20th century, which itself has become a new classic and a new tradition.

Ձևն ու բովանդակությունը քաղաքական ծաղրանկարում

Քաղաքական ծաղրանկարում առաջնայինը գաղափարական բովանդակությունն է: Նման տեսակետը հիմնավորված է համապատասխան բանաձևով: Թեմայի պատկերավորումն իրականացվում է հայտնի սիմվոլների ու նշանների համադրման և հակադրման միջոցով, որոնք շախմատի ֆիգուրների օրինակով կազմում են սրամիտ խոսքով կամ սրամիտ արտահայտությամբ համակցված աննախադեպ կոմբինացիաներ՝ անտրամաբանական, հումորիստական ու ֆանտաստիկ: Անկախ կիրառված միջոցներից ու բազմապիսի հնարքներից, նյութի հեղինակը առաջին հերթին պետք է դրսևորի հրապարակախոսի, քաղաքական մեկնաբանի, հետո նոր՝ գրաֆիկնկարչի հատկանիշներ: In political caricature, high priority is given to the ideological content. This statement has its theoretical background. The illustration of a topic is being created by way of juxtaposing and contraposing of the established symbols and signs, which, like the pieces in a chess game, form ambiguous combinations – quick-witted, fantastic and comical, supported with a sharp word or remark. Irrespective of the variety of ways and means, employed to fulfill the conception, the originator of the subject must be a competent publicist and political observer, in the first place, and a satirist and graphic artist, in the second.

Reimagining cultural memory of the arctic in the graphic narratives of Oqaluttuaq

The Greenlandic oral story-telling tradition, Oqaluttuaq, meaning “history,” “legend,” and “narrative,” is recognized as an important entry point into Arctic collective memory. The graphic artist Nuka K. Godtfredsen and his literary and scientific collaborators have used the term as the title of graphic narratives published from 2009 to 2018, and focused on four moments or ‘snippets’ from Greenland’s history (from the periods of Saqqaq, late Dorset, Norse settlement, and European colonization). Adopting a fragmentary and episodic approach to historical narrativization, the texts frame the modern European presence in Greenland as one of multiple migrations to and settlements in the Artic, rather than its central axis. We argue that, in consequence, the Oqaluttuaq narratives not only “provincialize” the tradition of hyperborean colonial memories, but also provide a postcolonial mnemonic construction of Greenland as a place of multiple histories, plural peoples, and heterogenous temporalities. As such, the books also narrativize loss and disappearance—of people, cultures, and environments—as a distinctive melancholic strand in Greenlandic history. Informed by approaches in the field of cultural memory and in the study memorial objects, Marks’ haptic visuality and Keenan and Weizman’s forensic aesthetics, we analyze the graphic narratives of Oqaluttuaq in regard to their aesthetic dimensions, as well as investigate the role of material objects and artifacts, which work as narrative “props” for multiple stories of encounter and survival in the Arctic.

Satirical graphics in the creation of the plastic artist Iurie Rumeanțev

d cultural barometer, it highlighted the perception and plastic reflection of events and changes typical of the weather. Quite a few plastic artists contributed to this, among whom the graphic artist Iurie Rumeanțev. The artist showed skill, artistry and originality in the perspective of emphasizing some interesting facets of everyday life. During his creative activity, the artist creates numerous satirical sheets that see the light of day in various publications, including the satire and humor magazine "Chipăruș", the magazine "Femeia Moldovei", the newspaper "Tinerimea Moldovei", etc. Frequently participating in international exhibitions, Iurie Rumeanțev is appreciated with diplomas and medals both for his caricatures and for his book graphics. Artistically reflecting the social life of the era in which he worked, Iurie Rumeanțev managed to create valuable graphic sheets in which, situations, frequently encountered in everyday life, are mirrored in an ironic way. At the same time, the artist excludes distortions of shape and hideousness in the representation of the characters, emphasizing the artistic revelations of the human essence. Simultaneously with the satirical graphics, Iurie Rumeanțev also manages to persevere in book graphics by making reference works.