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Sirko's Grave

Viktor Tsymbal

Basic information

ID: Г-V-2160
Author: Viktor Tsymbal
Name: Sirko's Grave
Technique: drawing
Material: paper Indian ink pen
Dimensions: 15 x 28 cm (height x width)

Additionally

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

Information about author

Author: Viktor Tsymbal
Artist's lifetime: 1901–1968
Country: Ukraine, Argentina, the USA
Biography: Viktor Tsymbal (16 April 1901, Stupychne village, Katerynopil district, Cherkasy region, Ukraine – 28 April 1968, New York City, USA) was a Ukrainian painter, graphic artist, and book illustrator. According to other sources, he was born on May 1, 1902, into a family of schoolteachers. Due to his arrest for the so-called "Mazepism" (a derogatory Russian/Soviet label for Ukrainian independence aspirations), his father was unable to return to teaching, so the family was forced to move to Kyiv. There, he found work at a candle factory. Viktor received his primary education at home. From 1912 to 1917, he studied at the Second Kyiv Gymnasium named after the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. In 1917, he joined the Student Kurin, whose members gathered at the "Rodyna" club on Volodymyrska Street. When the students were sent to fight at Kruty, his father refused to let him go. Viktor later completed his studies at the gymnasium and received his certificate. The ceremony for awarding certificates to the first graduates of the gymnasium took place in June 1918 – it was the first graduation of a Ukrainian gymnasium in the Ukrainian State. While still in secondary school, Viktor Tsymbal attended evening classes taught by Professor V. Menko at the Kyiv Art School. He later enrolled in the Kyiv Art School, where he studied under the renowned Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Murashko. However, due to the war, he was forced to interrupt his studies. The artist volunteered for the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, was assigned to a military unit in Kamianets-Podilskyi, and enrolled in the Senior Officers' School, where he participated in battles until November 1920. After the forced retreat of the UPR Army beyond the Zbruch River and the defeat of the national struggle, Viktor Tsymbal found himself in Polish camps for interned Ukrainian soldiers, where he remained from 1920 to 1922. Despite the difficult conditions, V. Tsymbal painted portraits, decorations, and caricatures in camp publications and created a series entitled "Types of Internees", which was published in the newspaper "Ukrainian Tribune", edited in Warsaw in 1921–22 by Ukrainian publicist Oleksandr Salikovsky. Viktor Tsymbal was active in the camp publications "Veselka", "Blocha", and "Koliuchky". In 1923, Viktor Tsymbal crossed the border and settled in Prague. There, he studied at the Art and Industrial School, which he completed in 1928 with an award, a one-month scholarship to Italy. He then studied at the Ukrainian Studio of Plastic Arts in Prague under Professor Serhii Mako, Ivan Mozalevskyi, and Professor Karel (graphic techniques). The young artist gained recognition after winning a competition for the best graphic design (an image of the Czech patriot and historian Polacký), which was held under the patronage of the Czechoslovak government. Tsymbal's work received the highest rating despite significant competition. In 1928, Viktor Tsymbal relocated to Argentina, where he immersed himself in work as a book illustrator, creating graphic images and collaborating on advertising projects for companies in both Argentina and the United States. He collaborated regularly with the Ukrainian publishing house "Svit Dytyny" in Lviv. Thanks to his talent and inventiveness in advertising and industrial graphics, Viktor Tsymbal gained fame not only in Argentina but also throughout South America, as well as in the United States and Europe. Leading advertising agencies lined up with their orders. Among the well-known corporations for which the artist created advertisements were General Motors, Ford, Coca-Cola, Shell, Kodak, Martini, Opel, Nestlé, and many others. At the same time, he also created paintings. His first solo exhibition opened at the Müller Gallery in Buenos Aires in September 1936. The artist presented a series of oil paintings, mostly landscapes. His landscapes were complemented by realistic and fantastical images of people and animals. Viktor Tsymbal was actively involved in public and cultural life. In particular, the artist organised various celebrations among the Ukrainian diaspora, initiated the creation of a school for Ukrainian children, contributed to Ukrainian magazines, and designed a large number of Ukrainian newspapers and magazines: "Pluh i Mech", "Ukrainske Slovo", "Perelom", "Nash Klych", the "Prosvita" calendars, and Mykola Arkas’s “History of Ukraine”. After World War II, he was one of the organisers of the Committee for Aid to Refugees, supported Ukrainian émigré artists, and organised the first Congress of Ukrainians in Argentina. Many of Viktor Tsymbal's works are dedicated to Ukraine, a country he never forgot, and he closely monitored local events. The artist's works encompass a wide range of events in Ukraine, from the glorious past to the tragedies of that time, caused by the Soviet regime. The artist expressed his grief for his countrymen destroyed by the Holodomor in 1932–1933 in the painting “The Year 1933”. He also created a series of caricatures of communist figures involved in the genocide of the Ukrainian people. Viktor Tsymbal's work is strongly influenced by symbolism: oil compositions "Three Souls", "Cataclysms", "The Year 1933" (Famine in Ukraine), and landscapes from Patagonia. The artist created graphic portraits of Taras Shevchenko, Volodymyr Lypynskyi, Thomas Edison, Arturo Toscanini, Pavlo Skoropadskyi, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, Ivan Mazepa, and others; numerous political cartoons for the humorous magazine "Mitla" in Buenos Aires (together with Borys Kryukov); satirical works ("In Lukomorye", "Repatriation"). Viktor Tsymbal is one of the pioneers of the “scratch technique”. Numerous exhibitions of the artist's works were held in Buenos Aires (1936, 1948, 1956, 1959). After moving to New York in 1960, the artist exhibited there twice (1960, 1961) and twice in Detroit (1961, 1963). Viktor Tsymbal died on 28 May 1968 in New York at the age of 67 from an illness of unknown origin. He was buried on 1 June in the Ukrainian cemetery near the Memorial Church in Bound Brook. In 1970, a monument based on the artist's own drawing was erected on his grave.

Object description

A pen drawing in black ink, depicting a gravestone in the centre of a white background. It consists of a vertical slab and a horizontal pedestal. On the vertical slab is an image of a cross within a circle, accompanied by an inscription in Old Slavonic script below. Behind the pedestal, against the black background of the crypt, a ribbon with an inscription is displayed at the top: on the left, "Koshovyi's grave", and on the right, "Ivan Sirko’s grave".

Inscriptions

At the foot of the grave, on the left, there is a white letter: "В"; on the right: "Ц". Under the drawing, in the centre, there is a pencil inscription: "8 ст".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Sirko's Grave

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