Oleksandr Murashko (1875 – 1919) is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding Ukrainian artists. Like many other Ukrainian artists, he paid with his life for his work. But let’s start from the very beginning.
The boy was born out of wedlock in 1875. His mother, Maria Krachkovska, gave him her last name at birth. Oleksandr spent his childhood in Chernihiv region, where his grandmother told him a lot about the Cossacks, and the boy learned Ukrainian traditions, which were many in rural life at that time. Later, his mother married Oleksandr Murashko, who had an icon painting workshop. And his stepfather’s brother was a famous artist and teacher Mykola Murashko. Young Oleksandr was actively involved in creative work in his stepfather’s icon painting workshop.
A little later, the family moved to Kyiv, where it settled on Mala Zhytomyrska street and our hero’s stepfather received an order for priming of walls before paintings, gilding and production of church furniture for the newly built Volodymyr Cathedral. It was while working on the decoration and paintings of the Volodymyr’s Cathedral that young Oleksandr Murashko met Adrian Prakhov (art critic, archaeologist, professor at St. Volodymyr’s Kyiv University and head of the artistic group that painted the Volodymyr’s Cathedral).
However, the young man’s talent was noted by everyone, except for his stepfather, who did not want his stepson to be engaged in painting. He insisted that Alexander stay in his workshop. But Mykola Murashko, who had his own drawing school, intervened in the matter. Finally, in 1894, Oleksandr Murashko got the opportunity to go to study in St. Petersburg (at that time there was no opportunity to get a higher art education in Kyiv, the Academy of Arts appeared only in 1917). There he became a student of Ilya Repin (although it is long past time to change the transliteration to Ripyn, because Ilya Ripyn is a Ukrainian artist, originally from the Ripa Cossack family). It was in this workshop that Murashko mastered the skills of portrait painting and the basics of realistic painting.
During 1901-1903 Oleksandr Murashko traveled in Europe. Such journeys were the norm for artists, an opportunity to get acquainted with the paintings of old masters (among whom Murashko was perhaps most impressed by the Spaniard Diego Velazquez) and to see new artistic trends. Thus, Oleksandr gets acquainted with impressionism in Paris, and with modernism in Munich.
In 1906, Murashko’s painting «Carousel» received a gold medal at an international exhibition in Munich (this often happens with «provincial Ukrainian art»). Later, this painting will be bought by the Museum of Fine Arts of Budapest. This picture is full of dynamism.
Three years later, he had a personal exhibition of 25 paintings in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Cologne, and in 1911-1912 he was participating in the exhibitions of the Munich Secession.
But after such worldwide recognition and a breakthrough career, Oleksandr Murashko faced difficult revolutionary events. In 1917, Murashko together with Heorgiy Narbut, Fedir Krychevsky, Mykhailo Boychuk and other artists founded the Ukrainian Academy of Fine Arts in Kyiv. Murashko had his own workshop there, where he taught students. He was only 44 years old when he was brazenly and treacherously killed by employees of the Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage). The official version was a robbery and a bandit attack. His wife Margarita Murashko wrote about these tragic events in the life of Oleksandr Murashko and the last weeks of his life in her memoirs.
Returning to the work of Oleksandr Murashko, I especially want to highlight his portraits. The people he painted, remained people first and foremost. These were not ceremonial portraits, which were quite popular among the nobility in previous years. The end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century was a period of change in the interpretation of the portrait image.
Murashko painted one of his most famous paintings in Paris, «Girl in a Red Hat» (1903). This is, without a doubt, one of the best Ukrainian portraits of the 20th century. The picture is painted with broad strokes. The pure red colors of the hat and the girl’s blush are balanced by the deep black tones of her clothes. The piercing look of the girl literally mesmerizes the audience.
Another fine example of Murashko’s portrait is the portrait of his wife Marharyta («Portrait of Marharyta Murashko» 1909). Mrs. Marharyta is sitting at a table covered with a snow-white tablecloth, she is wearing a white blouse with a blue sheen. In the background is a window through which you can see the garden. In this portrait, one can read home comfort and incredible tenderness towards his wife.
In 1905, Oleksandr Murashko painted the picture «Winter», which depicted two young people in coats against the background of a winter landscape. The painting has a Ukrainian flavor, which was well known to Oleksandr since childhood.
«Annunciation» (1909) is one of the artist’s best artworks. The picture was painted under the influence of impressionism, which we can see in the interpretation of light. However, the image of Mary looks like a real portrait. The fact that Maria is kneeling in front of the embroidery (as if she is Ukrainian, not Jewish) is also non-canonical in this composition. However, here it is worth mentioning the image of the Annunciation in St. Sophia of Kyiv, where Mary holds a red thread in her hand. The picture makes an incredible impression due to its bright yellow sunlight, which plays the role of a golden background, which was characteristic of mosaics in Ukrainian (and generally Christian) churches.
In 1917, Murashko painted «The Flower Sellers». This picture is close to every Kyivan who visits city bazaars in spring, summer or autumn. This is such an incredibly warm urban story. The painting is definitely worth seeing in the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU).
You can read more about the paintings of Ukrainian artists in the article 10 most famous paintings of Ukrainian artists in the blog of the art studio «Lihtaryk». And you can try to reproduce the paintings of Ukrainian and European artists with your own hands at oil painting workshops in the cozy «Lihtaryk» art workshop. In addition, you can order a gift certificate for all creative master classes and art lectures.
У меня синдром Стендаля сегодня. Утром ходили в Падуанский баптистерий. Смотрели фрески Менабуя. А после обеда у нас было посещение каппелы Скровеньи. Теперь я понимаю , что сделал Джотто для мира. Очень меня все это впечатлило в живую. Привет передала.
Мир прекрасен. Падуя очень понравилась:) спасибо за лекции Света!
Lily Golovchak
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