Ukrainian Graphic Art of the 1900s – 1930s

Relevance. Ukrainian graphic art of the 1900s – 1930s played an important role in the process of the general development of fine arts of the 20th century. Despite the fact that these years in Ukrainian history were a difficult period of collapse, famine, repression and suppressed the independent development of art, Ukrainian artists were engaged in the search for new forms and techniques, combined elements of folk motifs with the European avant-garde (cubo-futurism, constructivism), and formed a unique national graphic school. The topic of the history of the development of Ukrainian graphics and the emergence of new artistic trends of the mentioned historical period is extremely relevant today in the conditions of the national and cultural revival of Ukraine. Aim of the research. To investigate the work of Ukrainian graphic artists of the specified period and analyze the process of rethinking the role of Ukrainian graphics as a form of art, its rebirth into a full-fledged author’s form of creative expression. Methods. The historical method of studying the main sources and publications published by Ukrainian scholars in the field of art history in recent times was applied. Additionally, information and reference publications on the history of Ukrainian art of the 20th century were involved. Comparative historical and systematic analysis of historical sources was used to reconstruct the events and processes that took place at the beginning of the last century in European art, which had a significant impact on the development of art in Ukraine. Results. The activities of Ukrainian artists are characterized. graphic artists who combined modern trends with national tradition, folk art, and the latest aesthetic ideas in their works. Among them are prominent masters of graphic art: Heorhii Narbut, Vasyl Krychevskyi, Mykhailo Boichuk, Orest Novytskyi, and others. Working in a difficult historical period, experiencing persecution and repression, Ukrainian artists found ways to give Ukrainian graphics a deep national meaning and a free revolutionary spirit, and raise it to a high level of monumental art. Conclusions. Ukrainian graphic art of the 1900s – 1930s testifies to the union of the special national cultural traditions of Ukrainians with the pan-European artistic process. The synthesis of national symbolism with decorative elements of modernism was characteristic of most masters of Ukrainian graphics of this period. They sought to revive the spirit of folk art, interpreting it through the prism of new stylistic trends. Thanks to the tireless creativity of Ukrainian artists, a process of rethinking the role of graphics as a form of art took place: from an auxiliary or applied genre, it begins to acquire the features of a perfect original form of the author’s idea. In the 1900s – 1930s, graphics in Ukraine became not only a direction of artistic activity, but also an important phenomenon of cultural modernization, which contributed to the establishment of the national style, the expansion of the aesthetic horizon and the strengthening of the visual identity of Ukrainian art.