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Illustration for a Fairy Tale

Petro Andrusiv

Basic information

ID: Г-V-2175
Author: Petro Andrusiv
Name: Illustration for a Fairy Tale
Technique: watercolour
Material: paper Indian ink pen watercolour
Dimensions: 15.5 x 19 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: illustration
Provenance: Purchased from D. Semchyshyn, 1988

Information about author

Author: Petro Andrusiv
Artist's lifetime: 1906–1981
Country: Ukraine, the USA
Biography: Petro Andrusiv (2 July 1906, Kamianobrid – 29 December 1981, Riverhead) was a Ukrainian and American artist, teacher, and public figure. Co-founded the Ukrainian art group "Spokii" in 1927 and was a co-founder of the Association of Ukrainian Artists in America in 1952, and since 22 March 1980, was a member of the Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society in the United States of America. The artist was born in the Yavoriv region into a large family. Began painting at the age of six. In 1915, during the occupation of his native village, he lost his parents. The boy was taken to Russia, where he lived in orphanages in Moscow and Riazan. While in Riazan, P. Andrusiv recorded details of his daily life in an album with pencils and also composed certain historical allusions from the books he read. In 1918, his drawings caught the attention of Polish officers who had been taken prisoner. After their release, they helped the boy move to Warsaw, where he ended up in a shelter for young craftsmen run by the American Committee for Aid to Polish Children, headed by Herbert Hoover. Hoover assisted the boy in transferring to the Warsaw State Gymnasium, named after Władysław IV. Between 1920 and 1922, while studying at the gymnasium, he also attended a school of applied arts, and for the next six months, he took evening classes at the Art School. In 1922, he visited Kamianobrid for the first time, where he met his family. In 1927, he graduated from the gymnasium and in 1927–1930 and 1934–1936 studied at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts / Warsaw Academy of Arts (teachers M. Kotarbiński, F. Kowarski, T. Pruszkowski, B. Lenart). From 1934, P. Andrusiv worked as a teacher in secondary schools and art schools in Galicia. During his studies, he received financial support from Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi and the wife of the then Prime Minister of Poland, Janeta Składowska. From 1936 to 1938, he taught art history and technical drawing at the Higher School of Construction in Warsaw. In 1937, he visited Paris. After meeting with Ukrainian literary brothers Anatol and Yaroslav Kurdyk, he became involved in Ukrainian artistic life. When the artist came to Lviv, he designed the covers for the Lviv literary and scientific monthly "Dzvony", illustrated books from the Children's Library, and decorated with drawings the magazines "Nash Pryatel", "Dzvinochok", "Vovchenyata", "Svit Dytyny", "Zyz", "Nedilia", "Nasha Sprava", etc., and designed the covers of these publications. Lived in Vorokhta for some time, then worked as an art teacher at the Craft School in Warsaw. With the outbreak of World War II, he lost all his property and artistic works during the bombing of Warsaw. With the arrival of the Germans, P. Andrusiv was sent to a labour camp. From 1944, he was in Germany, where he ended up in a camp for displaced persons. He taught at an art studio in an American military hospital in Frankfurt am Main. He then stayed in a camp for displaced persons in Mainz-Kastel on the Rhine, from where he moved to Philadelphia in the United States in 1947. In the early 1950s, he founded the "Self-Reliance" aid committee, which later evolved into a financial center for Ukrainians in the United States. He was a co-organizer and member of the editorial board of the magazine "Notes on Art", one of the founders, and from 1952 to 1972, a teacher at the Ukrainian Art Studio in Philadelphia. From 1955, he worked as a draftsman and graphic artist at an architectural firm in Philadelphia. From 1927, he participated in art exhibitions of the “Spokii” group and, from 1929 to 1939, of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists in Warsaw, Lutsk, Rivne, Kremenets, and Lviv; in exhibitions of Ukrainian graphic art in Prague and Berlin in 1933, and in Helsinki; in 1946–1947 – in camps for displaced persons in Wiesbaden and Mainz-Kastel in the American occupation zone of Germany. While living in the United States, he exhibited in Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Toronto, and other cities. Petro Andrusiv worked in the realms of easel painting (he painted everyday scenes, landscapes, portraits, historical and battle scenes) and monumental painting, icon painting, book, easel, newspaper and magazine graphics. The following paintings stand out: "Bohdan Khmelnytskyi", "In the Courtyard of Hetman Rozumovskyi", "The Betrothal of Anna Yaroslavna" (1970), "The Prince's Pier in Kyiv in the 12th Century" (1975), "The Meeting of Hetman Mazepa with Kost Hordiienko", "The Battle of Konotop" (both 1977), "French Envoys at Prince Yaroslav the Wise" (1978), and "The Baptism of Rus-Ukraine" (1981). Author of portraits of prominent figures (active and honorary members) of the Shevchenko Scientific Society for the gallery of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in the United States, including Ivan Franko (1957) and Mykhailo Hrushevskyi (1958) and many others. He painted everyday scenes and landscapes, created the iconostasis for the church in the Polish village of Gdeszyn (1940), and the polychrome decoration for St. Josaphat's Church in Philadelphia. He also illustrated many Ukrainian publications. Author of articles in the press on art and cultural topics, author of the book "Art and Politics" (Philadelphia, 1970). Collaborated with many Ukrainian publishers. Books featuring his illustrations have been published, including F. Kokovskyi's "For Ukraine". Lviv: Svit Dytyny, 1930; F. Kokovskyi "For the Native Land". Lviv: Svit Dytyny, 1934; Yu. Ihorkiv "A Heartfelt Wreath (A Bundle of Holiday Wishes) for Ukrainian Children". Lviv: Svit Dytyny, 1931; Bohdan Lepkyi "Three Fairy Tales". Lviv: Ridna Shkola, 1931; Bohdan Lepkyi, "About the Evil Stepmother. A Fairy Tale for Children". Lviv: Ridna Shkola, 1931; M. Hohol, "The Lost Letter". Lviv: Svit Dytyny, 1932; A. Kurdydyk "Little Fighters. Stories from the Recent Past". Lviv: Svit Dytyny, 1932; L. Liasevych "Practical Radio Amateur. A Guide for Everyone with Illustrations by the Author". Lviv: Published by "Ukrain-Radiia", 1932; M. Pigidnyi, "A Fairy Tale about the Proud Boyar Mark Putiatych". Lviv: Svit Dytyny, 1932; A. Lototskyi, "Once Upon a Time in Ukraine"; T. Donchak, "A Strange Change. A Prose Fairy Tale". Lviv: Svit Dytyny, 1935; Z. Topelius "Stories and Legends". Lviv, 1938. He designed the series "Historical Stories" (1934–1937) for the publishing house "Nash Pryiatel" in Lviv. Illustrated A. Lototskyi's book "Princely Glory" (Kraków-Lviv, 1942; Toronto, 1976). Petro Andrusiv illustrated numerous Ukrainian books for children and young people in Toronto, Philadelphia, New York, and Winnipeg. In 1972, after retiring, he lived in the town of Riverhead, New York. He died in Riverhead on December 29, 1981. Buried in the St. Andrew's Cemetery in South Bound Brook.

Object description

The rectangular drawing is done in black ink and watercolour. It depicts a body of water and one of its banks, near which a burly man stands in the water on the right, dressed in a light shirt and rolled-up black trousers, with a landing net in his hands. He is pulling small fish out of the water. Behind the landing net, a giant fish with whiskers and a huge open mouth jumps out of the water. On the right, on the shore, there is a fragment of a tree – a willow. In the background, the other shore of the pond is stylised with dense thickets of trees. Near the man, water lilies float here and there on the surface of the water.

Inscriptions

Underneath the drawing, on the right, in pencil: "9 cm"; followed by an illegible Polish inscription.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery