Letters of Antonina Ivanova to Oksana Pavlenko from 1965 to 1971

Abstract

The aim of the article is to put into circulation and publish letters (the period from 1965 to 1971) of artist Antonina Ivanova, a representative of the Boychukists artist movement; the article is presented with the introductory part and comments. The artist’s epistolary heritage is stored in the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine. We selected letters from the 1960s and 1970s from several archival files, and after that, when it was possible, we determined the dates when the letters had been written, if they were not indicated. The letters were arranged according to the chronology we propose, all addresses and dates on the stamps of envelopes and postcards are indicated in the comments to them. The methodology of the study lies in the usage of historical methods, art study analysis methods and empirical perception methods. The scientific novelty. For the first time, epistolary of the talented Ukrainian artist Antonina Ivanova to Oksana Pavlenko during the period of 1965–1971 is offered for publication; the main subject of the artist’s letters regarding her creative and working problems, details of her everyday life and biography were determined. Until now, it seems impossible to write an extensive biography of Antonina Ivanova, as there are many unknown facts from the artist’s work, it is still impossible to compile a more or less complete register of her works for various reasons, and as a consequence – to carry out their scientific attribution. The publication of letters is one of the steps in the study of the artist’s creative path. Conclusions. The materials proposed for the publication – the epistolary of Antonina Ivanova – give us the opportunity to expand our understanding of her creative work and personality and to fill gaps in the creative biography of the artist. Antonina Ivanova's letters make it possible to trace at all levels the emergence and arising of interest to the Boychukists movement artists in the 1960s and 1970s and its studies. The artist records almost every mention of the the Boychukists, illustrations, articles, sections of publications about them, names of art critics and exhibitions, which exhibited the works of the Boychukists. From Antonina Ivanova’s epistolary we learn about the details of many artists biographies, in particular about S. Kolos and his wife G. Gizler, about V. Sedliar, Bela Uitz, I. Padalka, V. Kasiyan, Ye. Povstianyi, T. Boychuk, M. Rokytskyi, Rivera, Siqueiros and others.