The scientific objective of the presented research is to study the creative and social activities of the Sixtiers artists, to evaluate their cultural intentions for the advance of national art. The paper conducts theoretical revising of the phenomenon of the Sixtiers, its cultural aspect in the literature, and specifies the concepts. The paper justifies classification of the analyzed literature into conventional periods, the so-called official and unofficial sources, published works before and after the independence of Ukraine. It is stated that the material published during the Soviet period is biased, has a more political than artistic assessment. Therefore, official sources of information, such as “History of Ukrainian Art: in 6 volumes” cover the “sixties” in the socialist realist doctrine. An objective assessment of this phenomenon is given in the literature by its representatives, who understood the very concept of the “sixties”, the reasons for its appearance and operating conditions, the consequences for the history, culture and art of Ukraine. The study found that the main companion of this movement and the idea professed by the artists was the revival of Ukrainian culture. This revealed the civic position of artists, their creative priorities, worldviews.
The source base of the dissertation is represented by epistolary heritage, archival and factual materials of museums, scientific publications, monographs, reference books and dictionaries containing biographical materials about artists, researches examining artistic and cultural processes of Ukraine of the XX century, creative and public activity of the Sixtiers. It is substantiated that in this period cultural centrism was the cause and influence of the context of artistic pursuits of the Sixtiers, which is significant in the meaning and formation of graphics, other arts. A review of scientific works devoted to the study of the creative heritage of Boychukists and artists of the sixties, their influence on the development of national art and culture. The activity of the Ukrainian cultural intelligentsia in the context of the national-cultural revival of 1917–1921 is studied. The complex and contradictory aspects that appeared during the revolutionary period are highlighted. The ideological and artistic factors of the revival of national culture in the crisis periods of 1920-1930 and the late 1950s - early 1970s, the role of the cultural potential of artists in this are determined.
The paper characterizes phenomenon of the sixties in the artistic sphere. The need to single out those artists who tried to continue the development of national art, referring to its origins, to represent in the works features and diversity of signs and meanings of Ukrainian culture, and thus contributed to its preservation by updating the category of cultural memory. At the same time, it is emphasized that researchers of the theme of the Sixties often bring together artists who were inconsistent with the official art. The author explicated mixed notions of those who followed informal art expressing the freedom of their vision, inner experiences and those who, in addition to the desire for self-expression, also tried to imitate Ukrainian national art, but through their search and generation of new forms.
The author reasoned a role of the "Executed Renaissance" in the intensification of the Ukrainian theme in the graphics of the sixties artists; characterized factors influencing the progress of Ukrainian art in the early twentieth century, among which folk art occupied an important place. The author showed the influence of the principles of folk art on the worldview of artists belonging to Ukrainian modernism, in particular Boychukists, in whose activities the nation-building potential of art is expressed. It is proved that the national trend became one of the main in Ukrainian art of the early twentieth century and affected the works of M. Boychuk, V. and F. Krychevsky, G. Narbut, J. Strukhmanchuk, O. Slastyon, M. Burachek, F. Krasytsky, O. Saenko, S. Nalepynska-Boychuk, I. Padalka, V. Sedlyar, O. Pavlenko, T. Boychuk, P. Ivanchenko, M. Rokytsky, M. Zhuk, A. Manevych, A. Monastyrsky, O. Kulchytska, etc.
