The themes and the images of Ukrainian sich riflemen (Ukraiinski sichovi striltsi) in the creative work of Ivan Ivanets (to the problem of the development the battle genre in the Ukrainian art of the rst third of the XX century)

Статтю присвячено аналізу батального жанру в живописній і графічній творчості талановитого українського художника І. Іванця (1893 – 1946), активним поштовхом для якої стала героїчна історія Українського січового стрілецтва часів Першої світової війни. Відповідно, досліджуються сюжетні, композиційні, стилістичні особливості творів І. Іванця, з’ясовуються джерела творчих вражень та інспірацій, а також вплив модерністських художніх напрямів і течій на формування його особистості та авторської творчої манери. У висновках наголошено на ролі художника у процесі відродження та переосмислення батального жанру в українському мистецтві першої третини ХХ ст.Статья посвящена анализу батального жанра в живописном и графическом творчестве талантливого украинского художника И. Иванца (1893 – 1946), активным импульсом для которого стала героическая история Украинских сечевых стрельцов периода Первой мировой войны. Соответственно, исследуются сюжетные, композиционные, стилистические особенности работ И. Иванца, определяются истоки творческих впечатлений и инспираций, а также влияния модернистских художественных направлений и течений на формирование его личности и авторской творческой манеры. В выводах подчеркнуто роль художника в процессе возрождения и переосмысления батального жанра в украинском искусстве первой трети ХХ века.The article is devoted to the analysis of the battle genre in the painting and drawing of the talented Ukrainian artist I. Ivanets (1893–1946). The heroic history of the Ukrainian sich riflemen (Ukraiinski sichovi striltsi) has become the active impulse for his creativity. The artist’s artistic heritage has been studied a little and accordingly his creative figure has not been outlined enough clearly in the current Ukrainian art history. The artist’s biography and creativity, which are closely connected with the First world war and the national liberating movement in the Western Ukraine, had been practically closed for the researchers. The adepts of the soviet totalitarian system have eliminated the great part of the creative works by I. Ivanets. Those works of I. Ivanets that have been kept give us the opportunity for the special research of the battle genre in the Ukrainian art of the first third of the XX century. Objectives. The creative works of I. Ivanets have become the object of the scienti c interest only during the present phase of the Ukrainian art history. Defining the problem of the research, we should to accentuate that the publications on the topic of the study are very scarce. Some aspects of the I. Ivanets’ creativity are analyzed in the articles of L. Kuzma, R. Jatsiv, M. Mushynka, O. Kis-Fedoruk, O. Pelenska. However, these researches are not comprehensive. This fact shows the relevance of our study. The aim of this study is to determine the peculiarities of the becoming and the development the battle genre in the creativity of Ukrainian artist I. Ivanets in the context of the national liberating, cultural and artistic processes in Galicia in the first third of the XX century. The main objectives are to find out the specificity of the creative process inside the artistic environment of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen; to define the sources of the themes and the images, the stylistic priorities and the composite structures characteristic for the creative works of I. Ivanets. Methods. The study has used the methods of formal, stylistic and comparative analysis. Results. The results of the research prove that I. Ivanets was very skillful in the battles depiction. The national liberating movement in Western Ukraine at the beginning of the XX century and the events of the First World War have become one of the main sources of the artist’s inspiration. Before the First World War I. Ivanets for two years studied painting in the Lviv private school of the polish battle artist S. Kachor-Batovsky and in Lviv artistic and industrial school. For guidance S. Kachor-Batovsky he expertly learned to draw the horses in different poses and to reproduce the dynamic of the battles. In 1914, I. Ivanets was mobilized to the Ukrainian Sich Ri emen. He has become the initiator of foundation and the member of the artistic grouping of the Ukrainian Legion. I. Ivanets explained the concept of his battle artworks in the article “The battle painting”. The character of the battles has changed during the First World War. First of all the great span of the struggles has been disappeared. The gray unnoticeable clothes have replaced the previous bright uniforms of the soldiers. All these factors were important in changing the role of the battle artist. During the war, I. Ivanets liked to depict the local fragments of the military confrontations or the images of the soldiers. He combined the concrete observation of reality with the generalized way of the images’ interpretation. The artist was interested in depiction the dramatic events and the casual life of soldiers. In such works as “The horses’ army”, “The fighting”, “The riders” he tried to represent the plastic intensity of the dynamic battle compositions. I. Ivanets often used the neatly appointed rhythms and spatial intervals to represent the dynamic character of the actions. The stylistic principles of impressionism and postimpressionism exerted the great influence on the I. Ivanets’ creativity. He used such impressionistic features as the dominating role of the colour, attention to the representation of the spatial environment, the vibrant brushstroke. However, the specific character of the battle genre needed the peculiar instrumentalities of the artistic expression. That’s why the artist used the pictorial resources of the expressionism such as dimmed colours, black outlines, expressive shapes and dynamic lines. I. Ivanets created his own original artistic manner by the combination of different stylistic attributes. In the 1920-30-th I. Ivanets became one of the initiators of the publishing house “Chervona Kalyna” foundation. He was the main illustrator of the foundation’s books and magazines. The main task for him was the graphic reconstruction of his own memoirs and impressions. Conclusions. We conclude that the contribution of I. Ivanets into the development of the battle genre in Ukrainian art was inseparable from his participation in the national liberating struggle in Galicia in the first third of the XX century. The specificity of the artist’s creative work in the field war conditions as the member of the artistic grouping of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen predetermined his peculiar approach to the interpretation of the battle scenes. He moved away from the complicated compositions with many figures and grandiosity, which had been traditional for the battle genre of the end of the XIX — the beginning of the XX centuries. In return, I. Ivanets depicted small laconic scenes of the military collisions. He focused the main attention to show the expressivity and intensity of the battles. According to this objective, the artist used the principles of the composite and the colour solutions of his works. He tried to express the dynamic moves of the soldiers by the intensive rhythm of the shapes and lines, balanced combination of the colour spots. The artistic manner of I. Ivanets combined the impressionistic approaches to the problems of light and colour with the expressionistic expressiveness. Such stylistic manner was the unique distinctive feature of the artist