Works by Ukrainian artist Ivan Novobranets digitised

Dear friends,
As part of the project History Preserved in Digital Form, work continues to digitise our painting collection. Today, we want to discuss the paintings by the artist Ivan Novobranets, which are a valuable asset to our museum.

Ivan Yakovych Novobranets was born on May 2, 1939, in the village of Berezotocha, located in the Lubny district of the Poltava region. Since childhood, he was fond of drawing and music and combined the talents of an artist, poet, bandura player, lyre player and master of making folk instruments. His first teacher was Ivan Padalka, a student of Opanas Slastion and Mykhailo Boychuk.

Initially, Novobranets painted in the style of realism. Subsequently, the artist discovered the traditions of folk painting, characterised by the use of vibrant pure colours and a departure from depicting three-dimensional objects. In addition, he chose contrasting colours to give his artwork energy and emotional power. Researchers of his work note that the artist wanted to distance himself from the Soviet artistic canons of that time and even burnt about 200 of his early paintings.

Ivan Yakovych dedicated a triptych to the Holodomor theme, consisting of the paintings: “Oh, in the Year 33…”, “The Village of Berezotocha”, “Oh, Those Little Crows Flew In”, which were created in 1988. The artist’s family experienced the horror of the Holodomor of 1932-1933, which took the life of the artist’s older brother. As Ostap Hanko notes, with his painting, “Oh, in the year 33…” Novobranets wanted to say: “We must neither forgive nor forget a single Ukrainian who died of hunger, not a single shot, not a single destroyed person.”

Another painting from this triptych is “Oh, Those Little Crows Flown In.” The artist frequently uses the image of the crow in his paintings. In this same work, he conveys the deep sorrow of a mother and the horror of losing her son because of hunger. Crows are symbols of the sadness and grief that engulfed the Ukrainian land.

At 85 years old, Ivan Yakovych continues to be a prominent figure in Ukrainian culture. His creative work has earned him recognition through the Samiilo Velychko and Vasyl Symonenko awards. Additionally, the state has honoured him with the title of Honoured Artist of Ukraine.