30/12/2025
𝘖𝘬𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘗𝘢𝘷𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘬𝘰, 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘬, "𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴" (𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘬𝘺, 1925)
Just before the New Year, here’s a bit of Ukrainian mass revolutionary art—now available online via the Museum of Boichukism, which has only very recently launched: https://boychukists.com/ (in Ukrainian but one can use automatic translation)
From 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 channel (https://t.me/marx_and_hist):
Boichukism is a distinctive style of revolutionary art developed by Mykhailo Boichuk together with his students. It took shape between the 1910s and the 1930s, growing out of an unusual synthesis: Byzantine and Kyivan Rus’ ecclesiastical traditions, the Proto-Renaissance, European modernism, and popular folk ideas of beauty. Many of the Boichukists were arrested and executed in 1937.
What makes the movement so striking is how it fused the ‘native’ with European modernism: it revived older techniques—fresco and mosaic—and carried them into a new artistic language. And they did not limit themselves to painting alone; they also worked in design, textiles, and ceramics.
Here’s how Pavlenko recalled Boichuk’s understanding of the relationship between the particular and the universal in art:
𝘔𝘺𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘰 𝘓𝘷𝘰𝘷𝘺𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘭. 𝘐𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘪𝘭, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘺—𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵—𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦.
By the way, Pavlenko was a member of the village council in Novi Petrivtsi at the time when the Boichukists were running the Mezhyhiria Art and Ceramics Technical School there. The sketches for "Women delegates" were probably made there.
Happy New Revolutions!
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