FEATURES OF PLEIN AIR PRACTICE AT KHARKIV ART TECHNICAL SCHOOL (KATS) IN THE 1950s–1970s

Abstract

Plein air practice at Kharkiv Art Technical School (KATS) in the 1950s–1970s played a significant role in the professional training of students of various specialties. These paintings represent the features of plein air painting of the Kharkiv art school of the specified period. Plein air practice facilitated the development of the following skills among young artists: creative imagination, the ability to stylize and generalize natural motifs, and finding custom solutions to the motif. The specifics of 1950s–1970s archival architectural landscapes contain the main features of the Kharkiv academic art school, such as classical manner of execution, impressionism, monumentality of the solution, and tempera technique. Artworks are distinguished by perfect harmony, sincerity, poetry, and a relaxed manner of painting. The students' etudes of the 1950s–1970s at Kharkiv Art School reflect the teaching specifics at KATS's painting and scenography departments, which were completely led by the outstanding artist pedagogues B. V. Kosarev and S. F. Besyedin of the given period. The artworks are dedicated to the ensemble of Sofiyivsky Park in Uman (main entrance, 'The Pink Pavilion', 'The Chinese gazebo'), Lviv sacred buildings – The Church of the Holy Eucharist, the catholic church, the yard of the Ethnographic Museum, the interior of the train station hall, Lviv urban landscapes, etc. Chiaroscuro effects of evening and morning lighting became the subject of lyrical interpretation of landscape motifs. Maximum simplification of compositional algorithms and hyperbole of architectural forms encouraged young artists to perceive the image of nature as a sensual tuning fork of time and form a new attitude towards the landscape. It is outlined that educational painting of the 1950s–1970s is characterized by realistic principles of spatial representation of reality, figurativeness, brevity of compositional decisions, and laconic silver coloring. The preserved paintings demonstrate the best traditions of the Kharkiv realistic school and are also 'classic' examples of the teaching methodology of the fundamental discipline at the art university.