The thesis is devoted to the problems of genres of figurative folk painting of Central Ukraine in the first half of the twentieth century. The main objective of this work is to explore the genre specificity and stylistic diversity of folk picture, portrait painting by H. Ksionz and P. Yarmolenko. Figurative folk painting in modern art history is not sufficiently systematized, its artistic-stylistic and formal-plastic features are not exhaustively studied, the modern theoretical provisions of naive art, kitsch, amateur art, with painting in the discourse, are not sufficiently covered. In order to solve the above problems, works were systematized by genre, the genre specificity of the folk picture was described, the thematic circle of interests of folk masters was revealed, the influence of professional painting and photography on their creative work is established.
In the process of studying scientific sources, it was established that at the beginning of the twentieth century, K. Sherotskyi studied folk painting in its entirety, while analysing the decoration of dwellings of peasants and townspeople, which reflected the culture and way of life, as well as ideological values of the inhabitants (1914). Works in the portrait genre were studied by D. Shcherbakivskyi and F. Ernst (1925), P. Biletskyi (1981), V. Ruban (1984). Research into traditional folk art has been revived since the 1970s, with the inevitable, gradual democratic transformations, thanks, in particular, to V. Vasylenko (1974). It was proved that the term primitive was outdated, lost its generalized meaning, and referred exclusively to primitive art. Such Ukrainian researchers as O. Klymenko (1996), O. Naiden (1996), O. Korsakova (2008) worked in the paradigm of the definition of primitive art. O. Naiden coined the term market picture (1996). As for the term naive, it was developed and outlined by O. Bihalji-Merin (1984). He also introduced the definition of insite art. P. Tilmani (1984), on request of M. Fourny, a collector of naive art, carried out one of the most extensive studies of naive art in France. An article by D. Benedetti (2000) is devoted to the problems of applying the terminology of non-institutional art in the United States. L. Orel (2003), V. Starchenko (2007), N. Brodska (2007), D. Kan (2014), and O. Bohomolets (2015) tend to apply the term naive to the art of self-taught persons. M. Selivachov (2022) is devoted to naive art, from the point of view of terminological vocabulary.
T. Hundorova carried out a fundamental study of kitsch (2008); her observations were supplemented by O. Mukha (2013) and O. Chaplynska (2014). The scientific intelligence of L. Karpova (2013) was devoted to amateur art. Comparison of the interpretation of terms was carried out according to reference, encyclopedic, and lexicographic editions of Ukraine, countries of Western Europe, Canada, and the United States. The depictive principles and genre diversity of folk picture was investigated based on the materials of domestic and foreign publications.
The scientific novelty is provided by unknown works of folk painting from public and private collections in a wide genre and stylistic diversity introduced for the first time into scientific circulation. They complement the idea of folk painting as a phenomenon.
The work analyses in genre, stylistic, and thematic diversity the picturesque folk pictures from the leading museum institutions of Ukraine, in particular, the Ivan Honchar Museum National Centre of Folk Culture, the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine, the Poltava Art Museum, National Historic-Ethnographic Reserve ‘Pereyaslav’, as well as from many private collections, which in general forms a fairly holistic idea of folk painting of Central Ukraine in the first half of the 20th century.
Stylistically, the folk picture has features inherent in naive art, kitsch, decorative and applied art, amateur art. In the scientific work, the collection of works by H. Ksionz from the Myrhorod Local Lore Museum, individual works from the Poltava Art Museum and the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine, as well as archival materials devoted to the life of P. Yarmolenko, from the archives of Kyiv Region, the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine, from the expeditionary museum notes of H. Shchupak, the head of conservation for the Ivan Honchar Museum National Centre of Folk Culture, were first published and introduced to scientific circulation.
The research work carried out can be used in scientific research art history practice, scientific and methodological, exposition, exhibition, collection-accounting museum work; for further museum and private collection; for pedagogical and lecture work; for the development of modern painting in formative and axiological aspects, the acquisition of Ukrainian ethnic identity and national identity, as well as in other advanced studies of folk painting.
