BOICHUKISM. PROJECT OF THE “GRANDIOSE ART STYLE”

Boichukism is a landmark occurrence in the history of the twentieth-century art; it gave the world a new artistic vision which was distinct from previous art styles in technical and contextual sense. Tempera was used instead of oil paint and team effort instead of individual work; revival of old-age customs replaced the move away from tradition, and the focus was placed on developing an art form as opposed to recreating nature.

In a sense, Boichukism became the last effort to implement in Ukraine a national style of painting on a grand scale. Mykhailo Boichuk began by developing a comprehensive artistic model which reflected the spirit of the times. The empires lay in ruins giving birth to new political nations which developed their respective nation states and supported development of national culture. It is only natural that similar historical milieu bore strikingly similar artistic styles: Boichukism and Maxican mural painting. At the start of his career, Boichuk gained support from the Ukrainian intellectuals who worked to lay the foundations of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. Although their efforts failed, they continued to pursue their ideas within the Bolshevik official polisy of “supporting native cultures” and later on engaged in developing Ukrainian culture in the 1920s, thus becoming part of the great socialist experiment. It was a conscious decision which served as compensation for failing to establish an independent state.

This publication is a catalogue of key materials collected in the course of developing the exhibition BOICHUKISM. Project of the “Grandiose Art Style.” The catalogue reflects on the current status of research and development of Boichuk’s legasy in the context of systematic studies carried out by art critics, historians, and cultural studies experts; the catalogue is structured to reflect the exhibition’s subject matter. 

Mystetskyi Arsenal. Kyiv, 2018