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Symbols of Skovoroda I

Yaroslava Muzyka

Basic information

ID: ФМз-Г-IV-149
Author: Yaroslava Muzyka
Name: Symbols of Skovoroda I
Date of creation: 1971
Country: the USSR
Technique: linocut
Material: paper
Dimensions: 26.8 x 24.9 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: symbolic art
Provenance: Yaroslava Muzyka Fund

Information about author

Author: Yaroslava Muzyka
Artist's lifetime: 1894–1973
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ukrainian SSR, now Ukraine
Biography: Yaroslava Muzyka (Stefanovych) was born in Zaliztsi in Ternopil region on January 10, 1894. She died on November 24, 1973, in Lviv. She was an artist of diverse preferences and talent. She turned to graphic art – linocuts, woodcuts, drypoint, monotype; painting – oil, tempera, gouache, encaustic; mosaic and enamel, on glass, grattage on gold or silver foil, batik, embossing on leather, embossing on metal. She studied drawing and painting at Leonard Podhorodecki Free Academy of Fine Arts in Lviv and André Lhote Academy in Paris. In 1928, she trained as an art restorer at the Central State Restoration Workshop of Ihor Grabar in Moscow. She also worked at the National Museum in the restoration workshop. Yaroslava Muzyka was one of the founders of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists (AIUA), a Ukrainian public art organization that operated in Lviv from 1931–1939. In 1937, the artist learned the difficult technique of burning enamel objects by attending Mariia Dolnytska classes in Lviv. In addition, she studied on her own using French and German enamelling manuals. The artist worked in the technique of bulk (scenic, painted) and cloisonne enamel. Her favourite subjects in the enamel works were Hutsul demonology, pagan mythology, beliefs of ancient Slavs, the works by Taras Shevchenko, images of animals, and female portraits.

Object description

The "Symbols of Hryhorii Skovoroda" series of graphic works was created by Yaroslava Muzyka in 1971. The series consists of 7 works made in the linocut technique. The works are the author's interpretations of Hryhorii Skovoroda's philosophical doctrine of "three worlds": the great (space, nature), the small (man), and the symbolic (God). The first sheet in the series depicts the vast world of space, represented as an unbroken white circle within which are two spikelets of grain on a black background. They symbolise the infinity and regularity of life. The composition is placed inside a black rectangular frame.

Inscriptions

On the reverse side, at the top, there is a pencil inscription: "Y. Muzyka 'Symbols of Skovoroda I', No. 381/1".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery