Kateryna Antonovych about herself, family and her surroundings (memories and archival documents in reconstruction of biographical world)

Abstract

The aim of the research is the reconstruction of the biographical world of Kateryna Mykhailivna Antonovych and actualizing her figure in the scientific domestic discourse. The research methodology is based on strategies and scientific approaches of interdisciplinarity, which are provided via an array of methods namely source analysis, historical and biographical reconstruction, culturological criticism. Scientific novelty is found in reconstructing Kateryna Antonovych's biographical world as a personal cultural space, which appears as the embodiment of her self-presentations and the crossroads of self-identifications. The diversity of the biographical world is revealed through the actualization of personal memories in a variety of contexts of the epoch, challenges of emigration, cultural transformations. Kateryna Antonovych's archival autobiographical documents, together with memoirs published in exile, bring us closer to understanding her character, worldviews, artistic and aesthetic preferences. These documents show how the concepts-symbols "places of generations" and "memorable places" provide a convenient mechanism for reconstructing the compositional model of the biographical world. It is noted that talking about herself, family and her surroundings, Kateryna Antonovych captures the key events of her life, that mark her priorities of self-identification, namely being the representative of the Serebriakov / Antonovуch family and a painter. Conclusions. The reconstruction of Kateryna Antonovych's biographical world shows a system of identities formed under the influence of family traditions, Ukrainian intellectual environment, intergenerational solidarity, as well as art trends and cultural spaces of Kharkiv, Kyiv, St. Petersburg, Munich, Prague and other European art centres. "Places of generations" – ancestry, family houses, family stories and traditions are the embodiment of moral and ideological imperatives of Kateryna Antonovych. At the same time cultural loci in her autobiographical perception points to especially important "memorable places" on the way to mastering artistic skills and self-realization.