Of the Transavant-Garde in Ukrainian and Polish Artistic Traditions

• Authors: Iryna Soliarska-Komarchuk

Abstracts

EN

The article analyzes the artistic processes that emerged in the world in the second half of the twentieth century, after the Second World War. One of the most striking phenomena of that period was the transavant-garde, and the reasons for its emergence in many European countries and the United States are determined - Arte Cifra or la transavanguardia in Italy, Figuration Libre in France, New Image Painting in the United States, Neue Wilde in Germany, Nowa Expression in Poland. This diversity of transavant-garde manifestations in the context of national artistic systems is explained by the peculiarities of ethnomentalities that were formed on the basis of certain archetypes and universals. An important feature of the world transavant-garde is the artists’ appeal to expressionism. There is a rethinking and renewed interpretation of expressionism, which actually gave it the name «neo-expressionism». Considering the reasons why artists from different countries turned to expressionism, it is concluded that it was the analysis of inner experiences and the desire to express them as vividly as possible that caused such a «global» commitment. Closely related to this is the process of creating individual mythologies, which, through certain images (the use of linearism, dissonant color juxtapositions, deviations from the true image, the use of different techniques and materials in one art object), encouraged the viewer to experience certain affects. At the same time, the Ukrainian and Polish artistic systems of the time, as well as social and political life, were closely controlled by the Soviet system. The situation was especially difficult in Ukraine, where alternative views on art could be paid for with imprisonment or even life. However, in both Poland and Ukraine, there were artists who were engaged in aesthetic resistance and belonged to opposition movements such as counterculture and non-conformism. It is under these conditions that neo-expressionism gets its unique forms of development in both Polish and Ukrainian art. The New Expression movement has been developing in Poland since the early 1980s. Artists, turning away from official cultural institutions, spontaneously created alternative structures. The Polish New Expression, which officially declared itself and kept in touch with foreign colleagues, was a legitimate part of the global movement, and martial law did not allow Polish artists to enter the international scene. Using the creative methods of neoexpressionism, the artists fought for political freedom with inspiration. The artists, ridiculing the absurd world around them with the help of grotesque, used simplified composition and strong contrasting colors. Aesthetic resistance in Ukraine was deeply underground. Nonconformist artists could not organize exhibitions or communicate with their foreign colleagues. Therefore, the names of Ukrainian artists were not known to the world, as well as to most of their fellow citizens. Tight control by the authorities influenced the maximum reflection of opposition artists and determined the symbolic and metaphorical language of their works. After all, expressionism was despised and not supported within Soviet art.

Keywords

EN

ethnomentalism; archetype; artistic thinking; counterculture; non-conformism; expressionism; new expression in Poland and Ukraine

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Pomiędzy. Polonistyczno-Ukrainoznawcze Studia Naukowe
• Year: 2023
• Issue: 8(1)
• Pages: 57-62

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Iryna Soliarska-Komarchuk

• National Academy of Management Personnel of Culture and Arts

• https://orcid.org/0000000232299153

References

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Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/PPUSI.2023.01.05

Biblioteka Nauki

23050990