Collection

Girl with a Book

Antonina Ivanova

Basic information

ID: Ж-5131
Author: Antonina Ivanova
Name: Girl with a Book
Country: Ukraine
Culture: Eastern Europe
Technique: tempera painting
Material: cardboard tempera
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 12.8 x 10.2

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: narrative art
Plot: Girl with a book
Provenance: Donated by the All-Union Art Combine in Moscow, 1977. The Heritage of Antonina Ivanova
Exposition: Lozinski Palace

Information about author

Author: Antonina Ivanova
Artist's lifetime: 1893–1972
Biography: According to Antonina Ivanova's 1949 autobiography (materials of the archive of the Moscow branch of the Union of Artists, description-1, file 423, published by the researcher Viktor Kotliarov), the artist was born in 1893 in the village of Kaharlyk, Kyiv province (russian empire), studied in St. Petersburg (from 1914 – Petrograd), in particular, according to the scholar Yaroslav Kravchenko, at the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (among the teachers were painters and graphic artists such as Ivan Bilibin, Mstyslav Dobuzhynskyi, and Mykola Rerikh) and at the New Workshops of N. Yakovliev. According to V. Kotliarov, Antonina Ivanova was also an exhibitor at the World of Art (1918).
Based on the archival materials of the Moscow Department of the Union of Artists, the researcher V. Kotliarov claims that after returning to Kyiv, the artist taught at a village school. However, according to the preserved certificate of 16.11.1919, Antonina Ivanova held the position of a teacher at the Shubiv school (according to the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine). According to researcher Oksana Storchai, at the same time as teaching, the artist studied at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts in the class of Mykhailo Boichuk and was a member of the first graduating class together with Oksana Pavlenko. According to the preserved photographic materials, in particular, from the Gallery's archive, Oksana Pavlenko, Tymko Boichuk, Serhii Kolos and Robert Lisovskyi studied with Antonina Ivanova.
Based on the materials published by V. Kotliarov, the artist went to Moscow in 1923 to enrol in the VKHUTEMAS (Higher Art and Technical Studios). The rector at that time was Volodymyr Favorskyi, a painter and graphic artist who was close to Mykhailo Boichuk in many theoretical aspects, especially in his attention to ancient Russian and Byzantine sacred art, Italian duecento, trecento and quattrocento, as well as the potential of folk art, the need to develop a new visual language in accordance with the ideas of "reverse perspective". Antonina Ivanova was unable to enter the university but continued to work in the city. In particular, she worked in the Mosekkust office. According to the researcher Oksana Storchai, Yevheniia Prybylska, a researcher and artist whose interests included folk art, especially textiles, was probably involved in Antonina Ivanova's employment. Also, according to V. Kotliarov, "for a decorative composition at the International Exhibition in Paris (1925), the artist 'qualified for a gold medal' was awarded a silver medal". Despite the Liste des récompenses. Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, Paris (1925), Antonina Ivanova's name is not on the list. However, most likely, she was one of the creative groups that received awards due to the exhibition (for details: Liste des récompenses / Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, Paris 1925. – S. 62 // https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3154628/f95.item). According to the researcher Yaroslav Kravchenko, Antonina Ivanova's membership of the Union of Revolutionary Art of Ukraine (1927–1930) falls into this period, which is confirmed by her autobiography of 1949 (Archive of the Moscow Department of the Union of Artists, description-1, file 423).
In addition to her main activity in Moscow, Antonina Ivanova regularly went on artistic trips. She painted murals in the Peasant Sanatorium named after the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee (VUTsVK) in Odesa (according to a certificate of continuation of work signed by Mykhailo Boichuk in 1928, documented by the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine). According to the documents preserved in the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine for the period 1928–1929, Antonina Ivanova maintained active working communication with the All-Ukrainian Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, the Painting and Exhibition Complex of the Art Fund of the USSR, the Ukrainian Union of Art and Industrial Cooperatives "Ukrkhudozhprom", and the Department for the Study of Art of the Peoples of the USSR at the State Academy of Art Sciences. The artist notes in her autobiography, "At the end of the 1920s, I worked in the Department for the Study of Folk Art of the State Academy of Art Sciences" (Archives of the Ministry of Culture, description–1, file 423).
In addition, an important period of the artist's activity is connected with the creative cooperation with her husband Mykhailo Lezviiev (1895–1937), a student of Mykhailo Boichuk (Khorunzha, H., & Maksymiv, M. Boychukist Mykhailo Lezviiev: unknown heritage (Works from the collection and archive of Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery). Obrazotvorche Mystetsvo [Fine Arts], 3–4, 94–98. Kyiv, 2022; 1–2, 82–85. Kyiv, 2023). We are talking about the period of 1934–1937, particularly about the complex design of objects on the territory of the Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Oblast (the name was in force from 1922 to 1936). For example, in the city of Nalchik (Pioneer Palace, Pedagogical Institute, Hotel, and Lenin's Educational Campus) and the neighbouring village of Verkhniy Akbash. In addition, from 1934 to 1957 (according to the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine), Antonina Ivanova carried out artistic works in the field of fine and decorative arts based on agreements, contracts and orders with the workshop of the People's Commissariat of Education of the Ukrainian SSR, the Moscow Branch of the Union of Artists of the USSR, the State Academic Maly Theatre (Moscow), the Painting and Exhibition Production Plant of the Art Fund of the USSR, the Fabric Painting Workshop of the Painting and Exhibition Production Plant of the Art Fund of the USSR, and the Combine of Decorative and Applied Arts (Moscow). In general, it was during this period that Antonina Ivanova's artistic activity in painting, graphics, decorative and applied arts, especially silk painting, began. Antonina Ivanova was also a member of the USSR Garment Workers' Trade Union from 1932 to 1940.
Due to a complicated illness (Personnel Files-1 F No. 355, Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine, documents from 27.12.1924 to 11.02.1956), Antonina Ivanova had physical limitations that made it difficult for her to carry out creative and scientific work (this was also the cause of her death in 1972). However, she participated in exhibition activities in the USSR and abroad and, as noted by the researcher Y. Kravchenko, organised personal exhibitions in Kyiv (1936) and Moscow (1935 and 1970).
Correspondence with H. Ginzler, S. Kolos, H. Kolos, O. Pavlenko (a significant part of which has been published by the researcher O. Storchai, see in detail: http://sm.etnolog.org.ua/zmist/2020/1-2/107.pdf; and http://sm.etnolog.org.ua/zmist/2020/1-2/119.pdf), M. Trubetska, M. Yunak, and others (these materials are available in Personnel Files F No. 355, Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine).

Object description

The background of the small painting "Girl with a Book" is in grey tones, resembling monumental art. A chest-length image of a girl reading a book. She is wearing a grey headscarf and the folds of the scarf are in yellow and ochre tones. On the right side of the book is the inscription "PEACE".

Girl with a Book

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