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Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Volodymyr Olkhomiak

Basic information

ID: Olkhomiak-36
Author: Volodymyr Olkhomiak
Name: Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
Technique: photograph (printed on paper)
Place: Yavoriv town, Lviv region

Additionally

Genre: landscape
Provenance: Volodymyr Olkhomiak's archive

Information about author

Author: Volodymyr Olkhomiak
Artist's lifetime: 1929–2018
Country: Ukraine
Biography: Volodymyr Olkhomiak was born on November 25, 1929, in the village of Dobuzek, Tomaszow County (Poland). He was Ukrainian by nationality and came from a family of employees. In his autobiography, Volodymyr Olkhomiak noted: "By 1939, I had completed three grades of a Polish school (there was no Ukrainian school). In 1939, with the arrival of the Red Army in our village, we moved to Soviet Ukraine, Kirovohrad. During the occupation, we lived in the same city. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, when my father returned from the battlefront in 1945, we moved to Lviv, where I have been staying to this day" (Archive of Lviv National Academy of Arts. Description 2-л. File 425. Personal file of senior laboratory assistant Olkhomiak Volodymyr Fedorovych. Page 4). From 1945 to 1949, he studied at the painting department of the Lviv Art School of Applied and Decorative Arts (he dropped out of the fourth year). From 1944 to 1945, he worked at the Kirovohrad Brewery. From 1950 to 1967 – at the Lviv Historical Museum (6 Rynok Square). From 15.05.1962 to 02.06.1963, he held the position of senior laboratory assistant at the Department of Drawing (evening classes) at the Lviv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts (he resigned due to excessive workload at his primary place of work). An essential part of his creative and archival heritage is connected with his work as a photographer at the Lviv Art Gallery (1967–1977). In addition, Volodymyr Olkhomiak is the author of numerous photographs of both the architectural and historical environment (for example, his photographs were included in Volodymyr Vuitsyk's publications) and the recordings of artists' personal creative archives (in particular, sculptural plastic, medal design, and graphics by Yurii Dvornyk). After the photographer's death (18.01.2018), on April 19, 2022, Volodymyr Olkhomiak Museum-Archive opened at the Lviv Regional Scientific and Pedagogical Library. Volodymyr Olkhomiak's works demonstrate an astute approach to composition, searching and highlighting the most expressive angles and visual characteristics. This is equally evident in his photographs of architectural objects, landscapes, works of fine and decorative arts, and portraits of national cultural figures. Thanks to Volodymyr Olkhomiak, images of numerous historical structures in their authentic state before and after reconstructions have been preserved. These photographs are a valuable part of the Gallery's archive. Due to the professionalism and expertise of this photographer, we have the opportunity to see these objects in the context of time, which, over the past half-century, and in some cases even earlier, have undergone significant, and often irreversible, transformations.

Object description

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Yavoriv town. In their variability and ethnographic specificity, the monuments of national wooden architecture are invaluable examples of material culture, visualisation of worldview, its key accents, conservatism, and historical transformations. One of the peculiarities of wooden architecture is its vulnerability, as considering fires, vandalism, or local communities' indifference, dozens of monuments have been irreversibly lost or damaged and overhauled over the past thirty years. Therefore, photographs are often the only visual source of information that researchers and enthusiasts can use to reconstruct and restore these "living history" monuments.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

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