The dissertation is the first comprehensive research of Vladimir Orlovskii’s life and work in the context of landscape painting of the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The artistic processes and the formation of the landscape genre in the Russian Empire of the designated period are described. It was a turning point in the development of stylistic tendencies, when in painting, instead of the established traditions of academism, a new realistic direction comes with its own specific ideological platform, the main postulate of which was the social orientation of art. These trends also reflected in the landscape genre because of the reflection of national identity, nationality, and realism. In place of idealized landscapes, a peculiar portrait of a real area comes.
The characteristic features of the artistic environment of Petersburg, as a leading artistic center in the second half of the nineteenth century, are explored. This period is marked by the confrontation between the academic principles formed by the Petersburg Academy of Arts and new views on the tasks of art, which were argued by representatives of the new artistic association of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. For the first time, the Academy loses its role as an artistic hegemon, is forced to adapt to new trends, to fight for the return of lost authority, and therefore for the adherence of the contemporary audience.
The study of artistic and educational processes in Kyiv in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At this time the artistic life of Kyiv is reviving. The Drawing School of M. Murashko, Art School were created, traveling exhibitions of wanderers, exhibitions of Kyiv artists, works of private collections were held. Ukrainian philanthropists and collectors are activating their activities.
The conditions of the creative personality of Vladimir Orlovskii are revealed. The specifics of the landscape works of the artist of the time of study at the Academy of Arts and retirement abroad are researched. It was found out that such outstanding personalities as I. Soshenko, M. Chalii, T. Shevchenko played a significant role in the initial stage of the formation of professional skills of the artist. The teacher on the specialty at the Academy was O. Bogolyubov, an artist who introduced his students to the trends of European art. Familiarity with the Babrbizon school during a retirement trip had a significant impact on the artist's further creativity. The attentive attitude to nature, the objective truthfulness of its reproduction will become a characteristic feature of Orlovskii's creativity.
The creative heritage of the artist is analyzed and systematized. The evolution of stylistic peculiarities and specificity of the artistic style of his works of the second Kyiv period is determined. Considerable attention is paid to works from Ukrainian museums. After returning to Kyiv, the stylistics of artist’s works evolved significantly from academic background to pleneric painting, a realistic reproduction of nature. In landscapes, the artist recreated the emotional image of landscapes, he was interested in various light effects, complex transitional states of nature. Wide was the thematic range of his works. With equally high skill, the artist wrote sun-filled wheat fields, rivers and lakes, which reflect the sunset or stormy clouds, sea views at various times of the day or in the seasons. In his portfolio of epic panoramas, chamber landscape motifs, a significant number of sketches, which, in their completeness, may qualify for independent existence.
