2024-04-16
The Ukrainian territories were occupied by Russia in the 19th century. As "the victors write history". It is sad to say that many painters of Ukrainian origin still function in Russian dictionaries as exclusively Russian artists (for example, Ilya Repin). One of the famous figures who fought for Ukrainian independence all his life is the famous poet, painter Taras Shevchenko.
The 19th century was the time when portrait painting flourished and when realistic tendencies in art began. Artists started to paint landscapes, they also created genre scenes. Pieriedvizhniki (Society of Touring Artists' Exhibitions) - an artistic group established in St. Petersburg, bringing together Russian and Ukrainian artists opposed to academism, its members clearly strove for realism.
Taras Shevchenko is now considered a national hero of Ukraine. He promoted the independence of the country and spent most of his life in prison and in exile. He wrote novels and dramas in Russian and poetry in Ukrainian. Shevchenko's artistic oeuvre includes genre scenes, portraits and landscapes.
Russian scholars have presented Ilya Repin as an important figure in Russian art for many decades. They overlook the fact of his Ukrainian roots and the presence of Ukrainian motifs in his paintings. "Repin himself mentioned that he came from the Cossack family of Riepa, a surname that was Russified to Riepin under Russian rule", as Svitlana Kravchenko wrote in her academic article.
His paintings related to Ukrainian themes include works such as Ukrainian hut (1880), Ukrainian peasant, Ukrainian women (1880), Head of a Cossack, and Zaporozhian colonel (1880).