The dissertation is a comprehensive art history study of the national and regional characteristics of the formation and development of various forms of artistic life in one of the oldest parts of Slobozhanshchina, which is the Sumy region, from Cossack times to the present day - during martial law in Ukraine. Throughout this period, with its fateful upheavals, this was reflected in the Ukrainian artistic environment, where, at various stages of opposition to Russian imperial ideology, art again and again embarked on the path of its national revival, focusing on its national traditions.
The aim of the study was to identify national and regional characteristics of the artistic life of the Sumy region from the 18th to the first quarter of the 21st century. The object of the study is the artistic life of Ukraine from the 18th to the first quarter of the 21st century. The subject of the study is national and regional characteristics of the artistic life of the Sumy region from the 18th to the first quarter of the 21st century.
This dissertation traces the artistic life of the Sumy region from the 18th century to the first quarter of the 21st century in the context of national and regional characteristics. The methodology encompasses both general scientific and specialized research methods. The source base consists of professional literature, archival documents, artworks from museum and private collections, albums, and digital resources.
The scientific novelty consists in the systematization and analysis of professional literature and visual sources on the stated problematic, in the description of the development of sacred art in the Sumy region during the period of the Ukrainian Cossack Baroque, Ukrainian Art Nouveau, as well as its current state, the analysis of stylistic changes and the evolution of technical and technological means in the artistic work of the masters of the Sumy region and the introduction into scientific circulation of their unknown works, the analysis of fly-exhibition activities, the development of art education and the creation of art associations. The main trends in the development of artistic life in the Sumy region during this period are clarified. The understanding of the artistic style of contemporary Sumy masters and a number of their works is expanded.
The first section presents the results of an analysis of historiography and professional literature, provides a source base, and substantiates the research methods. The historiographic analysis revealed that the topic of artistic life in the Sumy region from the 18th to the first quarter of the 21st century, in the context of national and regional developments, has not yet been studied in modern art criticism and has only been touched upon in fragments.
In the second section, by introducing into scientific circulation a number of new archival documents and their analysis, new names of masters and their works in the Sumy region of the Ukrainian Cossack Baroque period are revealed, and significantly expands the information on Ivan Svtenko, a prominent Slobozhanshchina master of sacred painting.
The third section is dedicated to the work of prominent Sumy natives, namely Vasyl Krychevsky, the creator of the Ukrainian Art Nouveau style, and Serhiy Tуmoshenko, who continued his work, as well as Stefan Taranushenko, one of the founders of the Kharkiv School of Art History, which was destroyed during the Stalin era.
The fourth section examines the activities of art and local history museums in the Sumy region, particularly during the years of military intervention in Ukraine, as well as the development of art education and the activities of art associations.
The conclusions demonstrate that the artistic life of the Sumy region from the 18th to the first quarter of the 21st century, in the context of national and regional characteristics, emerges as a unique phenomenon in the artistic and cultural development of our country. Based on new archival documents, the significance of the Okhtyrka Intercession Cathedral in the history of Ukrainian sacred stone architecture during the Cossack Baroque period is revealed. The role of the master of sacred painting, Ivan Svyatenko, in the development of this artistic field in Ukrainian Art Nouveau is substantiated.. Trends in the further development of artistic life in the Sumy region today are revealed.
