Art of caricature drawing
Jubilee exhibition of Kyiv Caricature Club “Archihum” opened in the House of Architects
The club is celebrating its 30th anniversary. This time the exhibition features not only the art works of the club members, but also those of the fellow caricaturists from Russia: world-famous artists Viktor Bogorad, Vasilii Aleksandrov, and collector of caricatures Sergei Samonenko.
Historians believe that the origin of the caricatures as a form of pictorial satire dates back to the 14th century, but only with the development of mass media comic images of famous people or ordinary citizens has become widespread and popular. Today, caricature and cartoons became no less popular than masterly made realistic portrait, especially if it’s a face of a celebrity.
Caricature Club “Archihum” was created in Kyiv on April 1, 1983. It received its name because the backbone of the club were the architects. There is also another version of the origin of the name: archihum as super humanism. The club brought together young artists who could not work in the style of “socialist realism” and, therefore, created their own method of “alternative” caricature. The organizing committee of the club included Viktor Kudin, Anatolii Kazansky, Yurii Kosobukin, and Volodymyr Kazanevsky. Their caricatures are also presented at the exhibition. Sadly, Anatolii Kazansky and Yurii Kosobukin are no longer with us. However, Kazansky and his sharp drawings (by the way, still relevant) are well known to the readers of The Day and continue to appear on the pages of the newspaper. Cooperation with caricaturist remains an important and bright page in the history of the newspaper. The Day even published an album of Kazansky’s art works.
“Our club has never been formal. Caricaturists have been active in the life of the city and the entire country. The art works of the artists became a calling card of new comic Ukrainian culture,” said Volodymyr KAZANEVSKY, famous caricaturist, member of “Archihum” Club. “In the 1980s the most popular entertainment program on Ukrainian television was the program ‘Five Minutes of Deliberation.’ The film set of the program became a meeting place for artists, a form of activity of our club. Another regular place for artists’ communication was Andriivsky Uzviz. During the celebration of the Day of Kyiv at the annual fairs of artists members of the club presented their art works to the public. But most importantly, every year on April 1, and it already became a tradition, we opened an exhibition of caricatures here in the House of Architects.”
Viktor Kudin, organizer of the exhibition, chairman of the Kyiv Caricature Club “Archihum” told The Day that “after the collapse of the Soviet Union nearly half of club’s members emigrated – some to the United States, others to Israel, Canada, and Australia. But the club activity did not stop. We organize exhibitions both in Ukraine and abroad. For example, we had 10 exhibitions of club members in Germany. In 1991 a book of caricatures titled Karikatura. Sowjetische Karikaturen im Zeichen von Glasnost was published in Germany. And in 2000 we published a book in Kyiv which had the name Archihum. We also prepared a brand new book for the anniversary of the club.”
Photo and photo replica by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day
