“European orientation and national features”

The exhibition at the Lviv National Museum features the retrospective of the artist’s creative work over almost 50 years. Director of the National Museum Ihor Kozhan spoke about it at the opening ceremony. Landscapes, portraits, self-portraits, still lifes, scene painting, and themed compositions by Hrehoriichuk are presented at the exhibition. The majority of canvases are about Lviv and the Hutsul country. Works created during Hrehoriichuk’s travels, and grotesque paintings which he was especially fond of making, were included in the exposition as well. “The artist left behind a great heritage. One must possess a genuine gift to be able to accomplish that. Hrehoriichuk did possess it, and his works show that,” Kozhan said.

Art historian and professor at the Lviv Academy of Arts Roman Yatsiv stressed the broad range of artistic interests and handling a rich inventory of expressive means: “The sum total of Petro Hrehoriichuk’s contribution to art suggests that Ukrainian painting preserved its pro-European orientation and national features in the conditions of totalitarianism.”

Let us remind that the outstanding Ukrainian artist, master of easel painting, and author of monumental murals and decorative panels Hrehoriichuk (b. 1914 – d. 1990) began his dynamic artistic path in 1940. The artist, who strove for universalism, worked in various genres including the psychological portrait, landscape, or still life. He put a lot of work into genre and themed canvases, eagerly worked with historical themes, and enthusiastically experimented with shape and color in abstract composition.

He had worked fruitfully and obsessively for over 50 years, and received recognition as one of the typical representatives of the Lviv painting school, with its characteristic quest and peculiarities of color pallet and was guided by the contemporary Western European traditions.

Art critics consider Village Wedding (1945) to be the culmination painting of 1940s, in which traditions of the artist’s native Pokuttia are portrayed. In 1950 Hrehoriichuk moves to Yurmala, where he creates a series of atmospheric landscapes and sketches, which are later accumulated in the painting Latvian Fishermen. The 1950s for the artist were full of playing with color and enchantment with south Crimea’s scenery, Hurzuf and Yalta in particular. During the 1960s he painted his family, the mountain landscapes of Kosmach, and Hutsuls with special fascination and love. In the 1970s Hrehoriichuk was inspired to create new works by his travels in the Carpathians. His 1980s works were characterized by admiring his beloved Lviv.

Starting from 1943, Hrehoriichuk lead an extensive exhibition activity in Ukraine and abroad, which added up to a total of 58 exhibits. In 1985 the artist gave about 100 paintings to the Lviv Picture Gallery, and over 100 to the Andrii Sheptytsky National Museum.

The exhibition of paintings dedicated to Hrehoriichuk’s centennial birthday anniversary can be visited at the Andrii Sheptytsky National Museum (20 Svobody Avenue). It is open for admission till November 29.