Collection

On the Sea Shore

Roman Selskyi

  • On the Sea Shore 2
  • On the Sea Shore 3
Basic information
ID
Ж-5783
Author
Roman Selskyi
Name
On the Sea Shore
Date of creation
1969
Country
Ukraine
Culture
Eastern Europe
Technique
oil painting
Material
canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
81 x 100
Additionally
Information about author
Author
Roman Selskyi
Artist's lifetime
1903–1990
Biography
Roman Selskyi (1903–1990) is a renowned Ukrainian artist, the founder of the school of "Ukrainian colourism". Born in the Sokal region, he moved to Lviv in 1905. He received his first art lessons at the Lviv Gymnasium with Leon Dołżycki, visited the Free Academy (1918–1921) as a gymnasium student, where he first met Margit Reich. At the same time, Roman Selsky studied at the studio of Kazimierz Sichulski. Throughout the year, he visited the workshop of Oleksa Novakivskyi. From 1921 to 1922 studied at the Lviv Art and Industry School. Afterwards, he joined the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, where his teachers were Kazimierz Sichulski, Jozef Mehoffer, Jozef Pankiewicz, and Felician Kowarski. In 1925–1926 he made his first trip to France with Roman Turin to the studio of J. Pankiewicz, where he meets Margit Reich and attends the Fernand Léger Académie Moderne. In 1928–29 travels between Paris and Corsica with Roman Turin and Margit Reich. In 1929 he becomes the first president of the Artes Artistic Association and participates in its exhibitions. In 1931 he married Margit Reich. He was a member of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists from 1932 to 1939 and participated in its exhibitions. In 1937 he leaves for the last time with his wife for Paris. Since 1947 he teaches at the Lviv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts, in 1966 he became a professor. From 1940 to 1975 he takes part in exhibitions of the Union of Artists. 1969 – Exhibition "Artes" in Wroclaw. In 1976 he had his first personal exhibition in the Lviv Art Gallery. Roman Selskyi, being a teacher at the institute, had over twenty graduates of the institute's students in various fields. It is difficult to single out any particular style in the artist's work, there are influences of post-impressionism, mystical realism, surrealism, avant-garde and colourism. His plenary motifs have a special atmosphere – these are landscapes from the Carpathian Mountains, Crimea, Hel, the suburbs of Lviv. The artist had a remarkable talent as both artist and teacher, and not only for his students, but also for the many like-minded people who still call themselves "apprentices" without being his actual students. 
Object description
The Selski family also travelled through the south of Ukraine. These southern motifs are characterised by particular colours of peace of mind, the blue-violet sea, red, sunlit roofs of houses, coloured spots of people relaxing on the shore, or architectural monuments in the setting light. In contrast to Hutsul landscapes, more space appears in southern landscapes. In "On the Sea Shore" Roman Selskyi depicts the figure of a woman lying under a grey overhang against the background of the sea. At the woman's head on the left is a greyish-yellow umbrella, a red drapery hangs from the canopy, on the right hangs a grey dress, slightly behind - a yellowish with a purple hat. In the background, in the centre, two seated nude figures are depicted against the sea, on the right is a boat with a man sitting in it. Above the bluish sea, the strip is a greyish-greenish sky, on which a purple ellipse-shaped cloud is depicted, with seagulls in the background. Note that the artist turns to depict silhouettes, which, like Matisse's works, are delimited by a contour line.
Inscriptions
On the left bottom there is author's signature "Selskyi R."