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Theatrical art in the works of Volodymyr Fedorov (1920-1986) on the occasion of World Theatre Day

World Theatre Day was initiated in 1961 by the IX Congress of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) and is celebrated annually on 27 March.

Kirovohrad region is fairly considered “the cradle of Ukrainian professional theater", because the opening night of "Natalka Poltavka" in 1882 is considered the official start of Ukrainian theater (as opposed to the activities of individual theater companies).

Thus, it is not surprising that the theater has always been not only an object of pride for the citizens, but also a cultural landmark of our region. That is why various artists, including painters often dedicated their works to theatrical art.  

Among the latter there was the artist Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Fedorov born in our city on 7 Feb. 1920. From the childhood he was interested in drawing, modeling, and playing the piano.

Familiarity with the family of our countryman, musician Heinrich Neuhaus, where Volodia’s grandmother worked as a housekeeper, had a great influence in shaping his world outlook. It was the Neuhauses, who took care of the child, taught him to play the piano and encouraged to draw.  He could have been a good musician, but opted for painting.

Volodymyr Fedorov is a brilliant representative of realistic painting, which, given the specificity of the time, is often called socialist realism. But the artist's works were never formulaic. On the contrary, they are distinguished with psychological insight and brilliant reflection of the era in which the artist had to live and work.

Volodymyr Fedorov was an active participant of regional, republican, all-union and international art exhibitions. In 1978 he became a member of the Union of Artists of the Soviet Union.

Volodymyr Fedorov was an all-rounder. He had an encyclopedic knowledge, was interested in literature, history, world art, freely oriented in the artistic movements and was versed in music.

Another his love was theater, to which the artist has devoted much of his work, among them a picture “Coryphaei of Ukrainian Theater" (1976) by Volodymyr Fedorov, which depicts leading figures of the theater against the background of the theater building, built in 1867, under the guidance and on the money of an colonel engineer Trambytskyi. In the picture, you can see the original look of the theater, not affected by "the struggle against bourgeois culture", numerous repairs, restoration, etc. This picture also clearly illustrates an interesting fact about the artist: sometimes, for the desired effect, Fedorov resorted to some deviations from reality. Thus, in this picture, for example, the artist brought together various natural cycles. It is well known that the blooming of lilacs and irises do not coincide in time, but they bloom together on the canvas.

The picture “Lev Tolstoy with Maria Zankovetska” by Fedorov is one more talented work on theatrical themes of the artist, in which he captures a touching scene of the meeting of two outstanding personalities that remain symbols of Russian and Ukrainian culture forever. However, in this case the artist became a hostage of ideological cliches of that time. Therefore, he drew the Russian writer slightly higher than the prima donna of Ukrainian theater, in real life it was vice versa though.

The evidence of the artist's love to theater was also a series of portraits made with pencil of actors of Kirovohrad Regional Music and Drama Theater in stage costumes.

The artist left several albums of drawings depicting actors during their performances because he was a frequent visitor of backstage, rehearsals, performances.

Heroes of the portrait gallery performed with pencil were particularly Biletskyi spouses, Lidiia Timosh, Hrygorii Riabovol, I. Marat, T. Shyrokova, Savytskyi and others.  Most of the presented graphic works depict actors during the performance of the play “Mykola Dzeria".

All presented works are currently a part of the stock collection of Kirovohrad Regional Art Museum thanks to the artist's wife Nina. This is the woman who for the life of the artist was for him his wife, his friend, muse, and his guardian angel. After her husband’s death she donated to the art museum about a thousand of his work, making thus an invaluable gift to all lovers of fine art in general, and to Fedorov’s fans in particular.

 

 

Tetiana Kostenko - research assistant

of Kirovohrad Regional Art Museum’s department –

Petro Ossovskyi Picture Gallery “World & Homeland”