HUDPROM: The Ukrainian Art and Design Journal

Volodymyr Patyk: the Formation of the Author's Style, Artistic Explorations, and Inspirations of the 1940s–1960s

Roksolana Patyk — 2025-12-31

The existing Ukrainian studies on the formation of Volodymyr Patyk’s (1926–2016) personal style, artistic explorations, and sources of inspiration during the 1940s–1960s is analyzed. It is noted that today there remains a shortage of systematic research devoted specifically to this period of Patyk’s creative development, which underscores the need for further scholarly inquiry, analytical expansion, and systematization of this phenomenon, as well as the study of its impact on the formation of the Lviv school of painting of the 20th and early 21st centuries. The artist’s creative trajectory and personal formation are examined through the prism of the historical and artistic context of Lviv and the cultural influences of the mid-20th century, based on the analysis of collected written sources. Patyk’s artistic achievements are structured and systematized by chronological periods. The analysis of his graphic and pictorial works begun by individual researchers is supplemented, and artworks held in museum and private collections throughout Ukraine are examined. Particular attention is paid to the impact of teachers of the Lviv school of painting on Patyk’s development. His works created between the 1940s and the 1970s are reviewed. The formation of V. Patyk as an artist is considered within the broader artistic environment of Lviv in the second half of the mid-20th century, and a range of previously unpublished biographical and historical information is introduced into scientific circulation. Characteristic features of his easel and monumental painting are identified, while the thematic orientations, compositional approaches, and pictorial techniques of selected works are analyzed. Instances of Patyk’s interaction with various artistic contexts are also discussed. As a visual supplement to the article, fragments of iconic works by V. Patyk, created during the 1940s–1960s, are presented. According to the author, these works illustrate the artist’s searches, inspired by renowed Ukrainian and international artists, and embody the concentrated efforts, skills and abilities of a young artist studying at the Lviv Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts. They also reflect the methodological principles and artistic characteristics of the Lviv school of painting and its leading postwar instructors. The text is based on archival materials from the Lviv National Academy of Fine Arts and the private archive of Volodymyr Patyk.

Small Graphics by Boris Pianyda

Oleksandr Shylo — 2025-12-31

The small form is usually regardered a subsidiary of the large easel format. Yet it represents an autonomous field of artistic creativity. This observation fully applies to the small-scale graphic works of the renowned ceramic artist, Borys Pianyda (1935–2020) – Honored Artist of Ukraine and leading master of the Budyansk Faience Factory, widely known for his paintings on faience. Pianyda turned to small-form graphics in his mature period, when his creative outlook had already been shaped by years of engagement with the material and spiritual culture of his environment. The poetics of the small form is rooted in the distinction between creative life and artistic production; it is actualized precisely as an expression of the artist’s inner creative being. The concept of the small form encompasses, on the one hand, a reduced physical format and, on the other, a scale commensurate with human perception. In the context of the crisis of the “grand picture” as an artistic form and modernism as a mode of artistic thinking, the small form became both a testing ground and resource for seeking new directions. Today, small form continues to stimulate the development of plastic thinking of both the artist and the viewer. Within the small form, the artist’s organic nature finds its most authentic manifestation. In his small-scale graphic works, B. Pianyda turns to deeply personal, inwardly experienced imagery, developing his core creative theme: human life within its traditional natural and cultural environment. This theme unfolds into a mythological cycle of life and being, of action and image. Through these works, the artist created a personal mythology – a symbolic universe reflecting his spiritual and emotional world. Despite their apparent heterogeneity these works are united by the personality of the author’s individuality, by the integrity and organic nature of his emotional, psychological and volitional sphere. Pianyda’s small-form graphics fully reveal the nature of his artistic language and plastic thinking. Though these works have not yet acquired museum status, they remain an essential part of the artist’s creative heritage – one that deserves preservation and recognition in our turbulent times.

Sacred Images in the Creative Visions of Kharkiv Painter Valentyn Hrytsanenko

Viktoriia Bohdanova-Naidenko — 2025-12-31

The article examines a little-studied aspect of the creative legacy of Valentyn Hrytsanenko (1945–2022) – an Honored Artist of Ukraine, culturologist, and member of the art group Burime – focusing on his original artistic interpretations of sacred themes. At the core of the study lies the artist’s reimagining of biblical narratives and Christian symbolism within the broader framework of contemporary Ukrainian art. The origins of Hrytsanenko’s artistic vision are traced to his childhood environment, aesthetic preferences, and fascination with monuments of material culture, and collecting practices, all of which contributed to the development of a heightened sensitivity to texture, symbolism, and the plasticity of artistic forms. It is emphasized that an important factor in shaping the artist’s worldview was his pilgrimages to sacred places, which inspired him to create landscapes imbued with expressive sacral symbolism. Hrytsanenko’s painting practices acquired the character of a meditative ritual, reminiscent of the experience of icon painting yet liberated from strict canonical constraints. For the artist, the act of painting became a process of spiritual self-immersion and the search for a personal harmonious intonation. Based on the analysis of selected paintings, the study identifies the specific features of Hrytsanenko’s individual style – one developed outside the framework of formal academic art education and combining elements of hyperrealism, metaphysical landscape, and symbolism. This synthesis enabled the artist to create a distinctive pictorial atmosphere in which biblical motifs received new interpretations. The article highlights his original use of color (particularly ochre and golden tones), calligraphic inscriptions, and biblical artifacts that together form a new visual language – one that echoes the intonation of icon painting while remaining free from canonical closure. In this context, sacred imagery is considered a key to understanding the philosophical depth of Hrytsanenko’s artistic vision, in which the real and the transcendent, the visible and the invisible, are harmoniously united. The study emphasizes the need for further research into the sacred dimension of Hrytsanenko’s art – a topic that has not yet been the subject of focused art-historical inquiry but holds significant importance for understanding current processes in contemporary Ukrainian art.

The Metaphysical Space of the Game: Chess as an Attribute of Memento Mori in Works of Fine Art

Maryna Ponomarenko — 2025-12-31

This article examines the motif of chess as a metaphor for life and death in medieval fine art. The works presented in the article are analyzed within the framework of the religious worldview of the Middle Ages, including Rogier van der Weyden’s altar triptych The Seven Sacraments (1440–1445), the fresco Death Playing Chess (1480) from the church in Töby (Sweden), and the graphic composition Death Checkmates the King by Master BR (late 15th century). Two main motifs are identified in Memento mori artworks featuring chess: the chessboard itself and the chess match between man and Death. A connection is traced between ancient board games and chess as a conceptual model for understanding cosmological order and the transition to the afterlife. The article argues that the conventional interpretation of chess symbolism – based solely on the contrast between black and white – only partially captures the depth of its meaning. An alternative interpretation of chess symbolism is proposed, grounded in the medieval cosmological concepts of the four-part world – Forma Quadrata Mundi (“the square form of the world”) and Mundus Tetragonus (“the quadrangular world”) – which enriches and expands the understanding of chess symbolism. This reinterpretation approaches the motif of “playing chess with Death” through the lens of theocentrism – the foundation of medieval thought – in which all things are governed by divine will, religion, and Church doctrine, and truth is revealed through Scripture, whose interpretation stood at the centre of medieval spiritual culture. The dual symbolism of the chessboard and pieces, as well as the game of chess itself, is examined in the context of late medieval religious doctrine, which viewed the game both as a spiritual exercise promoting the cultivation of virtues, common in (vita religiosa (religious life)), and as a sinful pastime fostering vice. The study focuses on the metaphysical nature of chess, known from its early history as a game, once used to divine the will of the gods. The findings presented here open prospects for further research and may serve as a foundation for future theoretical studies on the iconography and symbolism of memento mori imagery in the visual arts.

Between Tradition and Modernity: The Continuity of Garden Motifs in Chinese Art of the 1940s–1970s

Wengang Lyu — 2025-12-31

The article examines the transformation of the garden motif in Chinese painting from the 1940s to the 1970s in the context of the dynamic interplay between traditional imagery and modernization processes. The analysis begins by considering the garden in Chinese culture as a deeply symbolic space associated with philosophy, literature, and spiritual experience. Particular attention is given to the methods of preserving and reinterpreting classical iconography amid the cultural, ideological, and aesthetic shifts of the mid-twentieth century. Special emphasis is placed on the work of two iconic artists – Fu Baoshi and Yan Wenliang – who represent contrasting visual strategies for renewing the garden theme. In the work of Fu Baoshi, who develops the tradition of East Asian painting, the garden appears as a metaphysical space in which nature, architecture, and human presence merge into a unified philosophical landscape. The artist formulates his own iconography of the “landscape garden with a hermit.” Fu Baoshi reinterprets traditional imagery by introducing innovative techniques and asymmetrical compositions dominated by dense ink masses, improvisational line and dynamic texture. In his painting, the garden becomes a site of inner enlightenment, a refuge for the mind and soul, combining cultural memory with modern reflection. By contrast, in Yan Wenliang’s landscape painting, the garden emerges as a modernized space of artistic experience. Educated within European artistic practices, Yan Wenliang approaches the garden as a tangible, urban, and contemplative environment. Influenced by Impressionism, he turns to plein-air painting, capturing the play of light, seasonal transitions, and everyday scenes. His works from the 1950s to the 1970s demonstrate the evolving image of the garden: from classical motifs to a “buffer space” mediating adaptation to new socio-cultural realities, and later to an intimate, personal landscape full of emotional depth and lyricism.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Thematic Issues and Form-Making in Visual Art (Based on the Works of Andrii Petrovskyi)

Olena Yakymova — 2025-12-31

The article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – an event that profoundly affected global art communities – on the transformation of studio glass art, with particular attention to the technical, aesthetic, and organizational aspects of artistic practice. The research analyzes how glass artists adapted their creative processes to pandemic conditions, including shifts in thematic focus, the increasing reliance on digital forms of communication, and strategies adopted to overcome economic challenges. The closure of over 70% of glass studios, the shutdown of Murano furnaces, and restrictions on collaborative work in hot-shop environments compelled artists to turn to individual techniques such as casting, kiln-forming, lampworking, and cold-working. These circumstances fostered a new creative trajectory, characterized by the emergence of small-scale, intimate works that reflect experiences of isolation, psychological tension, and renewal. Aesthetically, pandemic-era glass art engaged with themes of fragility, transparency, separation, and biomorphic forms, as demonstrated in works by Luke Jerram, Angela Palmer, and a range of interdisciplinary installations. The Ukrainian context – illustrated through the work of Andrii Petrovskyi – reveals a shift toward a therapeutic colour palette and large, monolithic forms that symbolize inner transformation and hope. Petrovskyi’s practice exemplifies the resilience and innovative capacity of the glass art community during this unprecedented global crisis.

Multi-figure Composition as a Form of Dialogue in Portrait Painting: Historical Evolution, Theoretical Principles and Modern Interpretations

Kostiantyn Cherniavskyi — 2025-12-31

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of multi-figure compositions in portrait painting as a universal and historically contingent form of visual dialogue. The object of the study is the group portrait in the context of its artistic, social, and communicative functions, while the subject is the visual dialogicity as a structural principle of compositional organization. The aim of the research is to identify the historical development, theoretical foundations, and contemporary interpretations of the multi-figure composition as a form of artistic communication. The methodology combines historical-artistic, phenomenological, and hermeneutic approaches, drawing upon Mikhail Bakhtin’s philosophy of dialogue, Hans Belting’s concept of the image as encounter, and Gernot Böhme’s aesthetics of atmospheres. The study applies comparative stylistic analysis and the principle of polyphonic reading of pictorial space. The article traces the historical development of the genre – from the harmonious ensembles of the Renaissance to the expressive scenes of the Baroque – and examines the transformation of multi-figure structures in Ukrainian modernism (M. Boichuk, T. Yablonska) and postmodern art (V. Sydorenko, O. Roitburd, I. Chychkan). Special attention is given to contemporary artists of the 2020s, including Zhanna Kadyrova, Alevtyna Kakhidze, and Oleksii Sai, who reinterpret the group composition through the lenses of social memory and digital communication. The scientific novelty of the research consists in conceptualising the multi-figure composition as a model of polyphonic thinking that unites character, space, and viewer within an ethical act of visual communication. The practical significance lies in the potential application of the findings to art education, curatorial practice, and interdisciplinary studies of visual culture.

Modern Stained Glass Installation in the Context of Public Art

Yevheniia Sylka — 2025-12-31

The article explores how artistic stained glass is actively evolving under the influence of contemporary art. Moving beyond the framework of traditional architectural glazing, stained glass is increasingly turning into an art object or installation, embraced by contemporary artists around the world. Their works are characterized by experimentation with material, the incorporation of modern technologies, and the search for an original artistic language that departs from previous practices. Recently, stained glass installations have increasingly emerged as significant elements of public art, integrating into public spaces and engaging with their surroundings. Public art expands the realm of modern creativity, allowing artists to showcase their works outside conventional exhibition venues. The contributions of contemporary artists and studios – such as Tom Fruin, Sarah Hall, Alessandra Rossi, WGS, SWON Design, Pae White, Liz West, Anda Munkevitsa, Kostas Varotsos, Danny Lane and others – demonstrate that stained glass installations in urban environments serve not only aesthetic purposes but also social, communicative, and identity-forming functions. These works help establish a sense of place, encourage viewer interaction with the environment, and enhance local identity. The article analyzes the artistic and technological aspects of using colored, monochromatic, transparent, and mirrored glass in public installations. It highlights how color in stained glass acts as an active mediator between architecture, light, and the viewer, creating dynamic optical and emotional effects. Meanwhile, transparent and mirrored glass introduces new illusory strategies, altering perceptions of physical space. Particular attention is given to the relationship between artistic imagery and engineering solutions in large-scale glass installations, where modern technologies – such as tempered and laminated glass, LED lighting, and alternative energy sources – become integral to the artist’s vision. The conclusion drawn is that stained glass installations in public spaces are open, dynamic structures capable of transforming urban environments, activating social processes, and expanding the boundaries of contemporary glass art.

AMBIENTE as a Mirror of Innovation in Design

Alexander Boichuk — 2025-12-31

This article examines a range of contemporary issues in design theory and practice related to defining main design directions, assessing environmental feasibility, and evaluating the aesthetic quality of industrial household products. It analyzes modern quality criteria for industrial products through examples drawn from commercial products exhibited at AMBIENTE, an international exhibition. The text highlights the important role of design innovations in increasing consumer value and improving quality of life. It reveals the significance of sustainable design (Sustainable Design / Nachhaltig) within global design and artistic culture. As part of the interpreting ecological aesthetics, it discussed views of well-known specialists on regulating human consumer needs, preserving natural resources, utilizing renewable energy sources, and employing optimal form-making technologies in contemporary design practice.

AMBIENTE functions as an international platform for the exchange of advanced experience in designing home and office interiors, as well as household goods and other objects within the inhabited environment. The role of design startups as effective commercial projects for bringing innovative products to market is emphasized. The article references innovative works by leading designers of our time, such as Karim Rashid (USA), Ron Arad (UK), Tobias Magnussen (Denmark), alongside world-renowned manufacturing companies from various countries. National features in design are considered through examples from Scandinavia and Japan, highlighting their enduring relevance amid increasing unification and standardization. The importance of advertising, strategic planning, and the organization of pavilion space at exhibitions for optimal product demonstration is noted. Copyright protection and plagiarism prevention in design are also addressed, with concrete examples provided.

The Samaritan Script in the Context of Aramaic Palaeography and Type Design

Oleksii Chekal — 2025-12-31

The article is devoted to highlighting the genesis of Samaritan script, focusing on its graphic and aesthetic distinctions from the Hebrew script (k’tav ashurí). The study also aims to clarify the evolutionary framework of letterform transformations, analyze the retrospective development of Samaritan script in manuscripts, assess the current state of Samaritan type design, and to outline prospects for its further application in cultural and academic projects. The research methodology involves the collection and analysis of Samaritan manuscript corpora, a comparative study of diverse handwriting styles through an inductive approach, the systematization of scholarly sources, and the application of art-historical methods. The study further employs comparative analysis techniques, the creation of a specialized database of Samaritan paleography, and the organization of empirical materials derived from it. For the first time in Ukrainian scholarship, a comprehensive study of Samaritan script and type design has been undertaken. Drawing on bibliographic sources, manuscript imagery, and printed editions from various historical periods, the research presents a holistic perspective on the genesis and transformation of Samaritan letterforms. The study reveals the distinctive interaction between the Samaritan calligraphic tradition and European typographic practices, particularly in shaping the visual identity of Samaritan publications and their broader visual culture. In addition, new calligraphic models and training guidelines were developed, forming the foundation for the Samaritan Gerizim typeface – designed in the style of twelfth–thirteenth century manuscripts and intended for use in scholarly publications.

Time as a Marker of Visual Transformations in Design of Integrated Design Systems

Nataliia Skliarenko — 2025-12-31

The study offers a theoretical justification of the essence and role of time in the design of integrated design systems. In the context of globalization, rapidly changing environments, and acceleration of information flows, the concept of time – which enables the formation of adaptive design systems – acquires particular significance. The methodological foundation of the research is a systematic and transdisciplinary approach that demonstrates the coherence between the humanities and experimental natural sciences. The use of structural-functional, artistic and semiotic analysis, along with temporal modelling, provides a comprehensive examination of the concept of time and the temporal nature of contemporary integrated design systems. The research demonstrates that the behaviour of integrated visual and communication design systems, understood as a complex of interconnected elements and processes, is determined by the time criteria. It has been proven that time serves as a formative parameter that activates and modulates visual transformation of design systems and enables their dynamical development in interaction with people and the environment. The study systematizes groups of temporal interactions that describe and help predict the behaviour of heat-sensitive materials (temperature–time), variable colour and texture (humidity–time), photosensitive surfaces (light–time), living and bioactive elements (biochemical reactions–time), the influence of climatic and anthropogenic factors (external factors–time), and the effects of anthroposocial processes (society–time). Temporal interactions generate short-term or long-lasting visual changes within design systems, thereby transforming the very paradigm of design. Temporal design operates with processes and events unfolding in time and space, focusing on systems whose appearance, structure and functions are in continuous transformation. Designers now create not static objects but interaction scenarios in which temporality becomes an inseparable component. The study emphasizes that time, as a marker of visual transformations, functions as a universal methodological principle for creating adaptive visual and communicative design systems. Thus, the essence of temporal design lies in its ability to organize processes, shape developmental scenarios for design systems, and establish new principles for their study and perception within a constantly changing environment. The research enables the introduction of temporal parameters into design practice, which can significantly expand the range of design solutions capable of self-organization, predictable transformation, and sustainable functioning.

Dmytro Hordyeyev as a Researcher of Georgian Art (Based on the Materials of Correspondence with Oksana Berladina, 1925 – 1960)

Lyudmyla Sokolyuk — 2025-12-31

Representatives of the Kharkiv school of art history, Dmytro Hordyeyev (1889–1968) and Oksana Berladina (1894–1960), which was suppressed during the Stalin period, were trained as scholars at the Kharkiv University under the guidance of the outstanding Byzantine specialist Fedir Schmidt (1877–1937). Inspired by their mentor’s ideas about the connection between medieval Ukrainian artistic culture and the art of the peoples of the Caucasus in the Christian era, both researches directed their academic efforts toward this region. After F. Schmidt’s departure in 1921 – first to Kyiv, and in 1925 to Leningrad – they continued the line of research he established in Kharkiv, considering it a continuation of the Byzantine direction in local art historical studies. D. Hordyeyev, having assumed leadership of the Kharkiv group of Caucasian scholars, lived in Tiflis (as Tbilisi was then called), while O. Berladina remained in Kharkiv, serving as secretary of this scientific society. Among its members were other students of F. Schmidt, including O. Nikoleka, T. Ivanovska, M. Leiter and others. To date, their research from this period, as well as their contribution to the study of the art of the Caucasian peoples in the Christian era, has not yet become the subject of a dedicated academic investigation. At the same time, the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art in Kyiv preserves the correspondence between Dmytro Hordyeyev and Oksana Berladina, dating from May, 25 1925 to June 1950 – the year of Berladina’s death – which has not been specially studied by any researcher. These letters reveal not only their fate as victims of the totalitarian regime, under which Byzantine studies – perceived as a class-hostile tendency in art history – was suppressed in Soviet Ukraine, but also portray them as living individuals, witnesses to the political and intellectual realities of their time. This unique body of correspondence sheds light on the spiritual world of the Ukrainian scholarly intelligentsia, which, despite internal opposition to the ruling regime, remained faithful to the ideals of the Ukrainian national Renaissance and the best traditions of the Kharkiv school of art history. It retains particular relevance today, when the Ukrainian people are defending their freedom in a struggle against Russian aggression.

13th International Blown Glass Symposium in Lviv: Traditions, Innovations, and Prospects

Mykhaylo Bokotey — 2025-12-31

The 13th International Blown Glass Symposium took place in Lviv on October 5–15, 2025, bringing together nearly two dozen artists from Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, the United States, and Ukraine. This article continues the exploration of this international event as a unique phenomenon in the cultural and artistic life of the country, as well as its direct impact on processes and tendencies within the international studio glass movement. Founded in 1989, during the Soviet period, the Lviv symposium preserved certain traditions in its organizational structure, program content, and technological approaches to working with glass furnaces up until the beginning of the war. It is no coincidence that the Lviv forum is regarded as the world’s only uninterrupted and longest-running symposium dedicated to glass artists. At the same time, the realities of martial law have necessitated significant adjustments to its implementation, affecting not only organizational aspects but also the artistic outcomes of the participants. The article examines the creative features of the works presented at the final exhibition of the thirteenth symposium. It analyzes the characteristic differences between the pieces produced by foreign artists during the event and those created by Ukrainian participants in their home studios. Particular emphasis is placed on the latest technological upgrades introduced in the glassblowing workshop of the Glass Art Department at the Lviv National Academy of Arts, which significantly enhanced the quality of the works produced during the symposium.

The study also outlines the program structure of the event and the specificities of its realization under wartime conditions. It is noted that the symposium was carried out with the financial support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, a factor that considerably improved the overall quality of its organizational processes. Importantly, the 13th International Blown Glass Symposium in Lviv also included a series of initiatives aimed at supporting the rehabilitation of veterans of the Ukrainian–Russian war and their families – activities that will continue in the near future.

Aesthetics of Postcolonial Photography in the Projects of Candida Höfer and David Goldblatt (Illustrated by Documenta–11 and Documenta–12 projects)

Volodymyr Tarasov — 2025-12-31

The purpose of the article is to examine postcolonial photography as an important trend in shaping the repertoire of contemporary conceptual art, focusing on the projects of Candida Höfer and David Goldblatt, as exemplified by Documenta-11 and Documenta-12. The study employs historical-chronological and comparative methods, which make it possible to identify and interpret the Documenta photographic projects as an autonomous field of inquiry. For the analysis of specific projects and individual works, methods of figurative-stylistic, compositional, and semiotic analysis were applied. The research demonstrates that the aesthetics of postcolonial photography in the projects of Candida Höfer and David Goldblatt during the 2000s exhibits a distinctly authorial orientation. On the one hand, this feature is a direct consequence of the conceptual nature of the projects. On the other hand, the projects of Höfer and Goldblatt address sociocultural issues that cannot be explored without foregrounding a subjective perspective and articulating a personal artistic position. A defining feature of Documenta-11 and Documenta-12 was their focus on presenting diverse art schools, individual trends and phenomena in the development of contemporary art. The photographic projects of representatives of the Düsseldorf School of Photography at Documenta-11 (2002) – Bernd and Hilla Becher, as well as their student Candida Höfer – became an important element in the chain of retrospective narratives that shaped the curatorial concept of Documenta-11. Equally significant within the evolution of photographic art at Documenta were the postcolonial themes explored in David Goldblatt’s projects (Documenta-11 and 12). His work exemplifies the sociocultural mission of art as a communicative practice capable of reaching the most marginalized and isolated communities. Goldblatt’s projects brought issues of segregation and apartheid to the forefront, while Höfer’s participation expanded the possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration between photography, sculpture, and installation. The results of the study can be used both in the educational and research fields.

Printed Educational Materials for Students of Creative Faculties in Ukrainian Universities in the Context of the Ban on Russian-Language Sources: Problem Statement

Bogdana Pinchevska — 2025-12-31

The article addresses the problem of re-evaluating of art history textbooks published in Russian. In light of new legislative restrictions – specifically, the Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Concerning the Prohibition of Information Sources from the Aggressor State or the Occupying State in Educational Programs, as well as in Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activities – this problem necessitates: 1. a thorough revision of existing bibliographies; 2. the development of new art history textbooks or the translation of authoritative works from other languages, authored by both Ukrainian and international specialists. Art history textbooks that require review and restructuring for use in contemporary creative higher education institutions may be tentatively divided into three categories: 1. Works authored by specialists of the Soviet period, many of whom received their artistic education before the October Revolution of 1917 – for example, N. Punin, M. Alpatov, N. Konrad, and other scholars whose twentieth-century publications are now regarded as classics. 2. Publications by modern art researchers related to Russia, who were educated abroad and produced noteworthy Russian-language studies of European and/or modern art, such as B. Groys. 3. Lectures and textbooks by respected Ukrainian art historians published in Russian, such as a textbook by V. Klevaiev, V. Dzhulai, etc. The Ukrainian art community should collectively determine its position regarding the scholarly legacy of Soviet art historians who systematically researched and taught the history of European and Eastern art. It is essential to reach conclusions about whether to: translate the works of established Soviet art historians into Ukrainian; identify and adopt publications by scholars from other art-historical traditions – such as Polish or Italian – whose research on European art merits attention; or develop entirely new, contemporary Ukrainian textbooks on European art history.

Military Objects, Symbols, and Signs in Textile Ornaments

Myroslav Melnyk — 2025-12-31

The article examines traditional textile ornamentation as a form of visual language whose symbols and signs encode and convey contemporary meanings. It explores how motifs associated with war have been reflected in the traditional textile ornaments of various peoples, the narratives these motifs communicate, and how their perception evolved in peacetime. The study describes how, in the 19th century, wounded soldiers created ornamented patchwork blankets from the remnants of the military uniforms belonging to their fallen enemies or comrades, thereby artistically documenting their personal participation in battles, showcasing their patriotism and pride, and expressing their desire for a happy, peaceful post-war life. The article provides examples of Japanese agitation textiles from the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, which served as propaganda tools for national mobilization, as well as textile works created under the influence of the Vietnam and Afghan wars. In these contexts, artisans used textile production as a means of preserving cultural traditions and surviving amid occupation forces. The article also analyzes how, from the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war – particularly after the full-scale invasion – the symbols and signs of war have been reflected in contemporary Ukrainian artistic textiles. These works demonstrate the transformation of artistic practices and the search for new, relevant methods of reinterpreting traditional visual language, forming new metaphors and symbolic frameworks, and integrating personal experience with collective traumatic memory. It is revealed that war-related symbols in textile ornaments have played a role in cultural preservation and in strengthening national identity. Military ornamentation is considered both a means of understanding historical experience and an instrument of resistance. The evolution of its perception and interpretation at various stages of the war, both within and outside the countries engulfed in conflict, is examined. The article concludes that military ornamentation constitutes a complex and multifaceted commentary on wartime events. The images of lethal attributes embedded in these textiles serve as reminders that, to maintain peace and prosperity, protect culture, and safeguard the nation, vigilance must never be lost.

Mykhailo Bokotei's Innovative Work: Ukrainian Studio Glassmaking in the Context of the Global International Studio Glass Movement

Zoya Chegusova — 2025-12-31

Bokotey, M. (2025). Studiine sklo v Ukraini [Studio Glass in Ukraine]. ArtHuss. [In Ukrainian].