The exhibition is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Lviv National Academy of Fine Arts (LNAFA) department of sacred art. It displays icons painted by the school’s students, which continue a long tradition of the Ukrainian sacred art.
We were told at the Lviv National Academy of Fine Arts that the event aimed to present contemporary sacred artworks that relayed profound artistic images of the Eastern Christian tradition. “This event is a milestone in the artistic life of Lviv since most of the works will be exhibited for the first time, after a long stay in the department’s collection,” the organizers of the exhibition told us.
Let us recall that the LNAFA’s department of sacred art was founded in 1995 at its faculty of fine arts and restoration. This is the only Ukrainian university department to train specialists in sacred art. Its founder and designer is incumbent head of department Professor Roman Vasylyk.
It was developments related to the restoration of independence of the Ukrainian state, rehabilitation of religion, legalization of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church that posed new challenges to artists as well. It was necessary, in particular, to revive the interrupted process of training experts in sacred art. This was difficult, because most of society had lost contact with the traditions and spiritual heritage of previous generations because of the powerful onslaught of the former ideological system. It applied not only to lay people, but also to religious leaders, including priests, often bishops, and some artists as well.
The Lviv Studite Monastery’s abbot Father Sebastian (Dmytrukh) and the LNAFA’s teachers joined forces in 1990 to found an icon painting studio at the monastery which survived for three years. Meanwhile, Vasylyk initiated establishment of the department of sacred art at the LNAFA. The development of educational programs for training experts in sacred art emphasized ideological and theological intentions behind this kind of creative art. The founders based development of icon painting on the sacred art of Kyivan Rus’, the art of the 14th-16th centuries, and achievements of Galician artists who flourished in the first half of the 20th century.
Since the department’s foundation, experts in sacred art have been trained by leading industry experts Roman Vasylyk, Karlo Zvirynsky, Mykola Bidniak, Mykola Krystopchuk, Volodymyr Ovsiichuk, and Father Laslo Puskas.
