The Day met Volodymyr Priadka at the 5th all-Ukrainian exhibit Ukraine from Trypillia to this Day in the Pictures of Contemporary Artists. Mr. Priadka’s oeuvre, which includes dozens of pictures and sculptures, icons, relief mosaics, stained-glass windows, tapestries, and even the choice of color for Kyiv’s Troieshchyna neighborhood buildings, also holds a place for historical painting which is still keeping a low profile in independent Ukraine.
Volodymyr Priadka turned 70 on March 4. We used the jubilee as an occasion for discussing Ukrainian art, including the one that has not yet been fully exposed to society.
You have been working in different genres and fields, so how did you manage to combine all this in your oeuvre, for each of the works displays your own vision?
“An artist should be multifaceted. I owe my vision to my spiritual mentors: the kobza and bandura players Nykon Prudky from Cherkasy and Heorhii Tkachenko. I once took a great interest in folk music. I first learned from Prudky and then from Tkachenko. In 1964 I even made a badura of the old, so-called Zinkiv, design. I am still awfully proud of having been a friend of these people, for they shaped my spiritual essence. I seemed to be programmed to serve my people.
“After graduation, I worked with the decorative and applied art master Ivan Lytovchenko. In particular, we would make relief mosaics: I would mold a sculpture and he would show how to paint it over. Lytovchenko and I also made a very complex, multi-figured, and modern relief mosaic for the Luhansk Coal Company. Then I took to painting. My wife and I executed two tapestries, Rus’ and The Dawn of a Revolution, for the Museum of the History of Ukraine. That was my first encounter with historical themes – I began to enthuse about them, especially about the period of Kyivan Rus’.”
You paint icons and work in temples. Was it difficult to switch to religious themes after the period of atheism and socialist realism in Soviet art?
“I have an impression that all I was doing in the Soviet era – and I did very much – was a road to the temple. In the 1990s I executed my first icons, including ‘The Holy Trinity’ to the 17th-century standard. In 1998 we began to work at St. Michael’s Cathedral. It was very difficult: I soaked up reams of printed wisdom, spent a long time in archives in search of any possible information. Then we began to work at St. Barbara’s Chapel. Baroque really ‘gave us the works’: we had to sink into books again, studying old prints, especially illustrations, the nature of lines, and choosing the right color. It took us three years to work on St. Michael’s Cathedral. We have been working on the Holy Assumption Cathedral for four years now, and the end is not yet in sight.”
Contemporary art exhibits are being advertised and given media coverage. Stars and top officials keep visiting them. Why do you think things are not so good with historical painting?
“Big money is being invested in pseudo-modern art. But, instead, the state should support the art that directly concerns the life and history of the people. I wonder why the Russians managed to establish a major school of historical painting back in the 19th century: Vasnetsov, Surikov, and then other artists. Bilibin, too, made a lot of good works, but we should not forget that he received support from Tretiakov himself. Conversely, we had neither ideological nor financial support.
“I insist that the state must support the art that glorifies, asserts, and strengthens it. Unless this is done, there will be no full-fledged state. Take, for example, Jan Matejko who has created a lot of wonderful examples of historical painting. An exalted idea that receives material support can produce an excellent result. But, in the absence of commissions and funding, both the idea and the results will dwindle in size.”
Do you remember the early-20th-century debate on what is the vital mission of an artist – to serve art or the people? Where do you think must be the borderline between the former and the latter in the life of an artist?
“Artists are those whom God gifted and decreed that they serve the people. It is a vocation. Serving the people is an eternal idea. You know, I once felt a profound shock. We had always considered the older generation of prominent muralists – Kyrychenko, Bondarenko, Lytovchenko, Zadorozhny, and Storozhenko – as our role models. They were the luminaries who had been establishing artistic ideals and making it possible for our, Ukrainian, art to exist even in the Soviet straitjacket. Then these masters suddenly began to depart at a rapid pace, and we, their followers, were becoming ‘senior.’ We thus became aware of the great responsibility that we should bear – who else but us? I began to address congresses and write articles, I organized the National League of Folk Art Masters. There were extremely talented masters – carpet-makers, embroideresses, and woodcarvers – who lived neglected far away in the provinces. Our league has in fact assumed the function of protecting these people. I had chaired the league for 15 years before I resigned from this office in 2005.”
As far as I know, you did not just resign – you went on to teach…
“Yes, at the Boichuk State Institute of Decorative and Applied Art and Design in Kyiv. The situation was very complicated because the institute was subordinated to Moscow. I managed to make a speech in the Kremlin and urge them to return what was then a secondary educational institution to Ukraine. Luckily, we won. Then we faced another problem: the old masters had begun to go, but we had not yet taught the new ones. This in fact dealt a blow to a major segment of national culture. And one of our first steps was to try to restore decorative and applied art. Fortunately, we achieved this and resumed training young masters.”
To what extent do you think young people managed to artistically conceptualize the past of their people?
“There were some interesting works at the historical painting biennale. First of all, it is a pedagogical exploit of teachers. For example, Hontariev is making tremendous efforts at the Kharkiv Academy – he managed to breathe new life into the studies and fill the students’ souls with what helped them paint really good pictures. I can say the same about Mykola Storozhenko.
“In my view, we have failed to bring up a new generation over the 20 years of independence to meet the requirements of our people. Love for the Ukrainian language and song, respect for our traditions should be inculcated in the minds of children at a very early age. Some students are saying that if invaders came from Europe, they would immediately give themselves up. Does this not show the measure of the decline and fall?”
