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Drawings of Genre Scenes

Yulian Zaiats

Basic information

ID: Ф-З-Арх-ЛГМ-7/7
Author: Yulian Zaiats
Name: Drawings of Genre Scenes
Date of creation: 25.04.1962–12.05.1962
Country: the Ukrainian SSR
Technique: drawing
Material: paper pencil Indian ink
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 20.4 x 28.5

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: genre art
Provenance: Received from Nina Zaiats

Information about author

Author: Yulian Zaiats
Artist's lifetime: 1880–1971
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Second Polish Republic, the USSR
Biography: Yulian Zaiats (May 30, 1880, Bohutyn, Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Pomoriany district, Lviv region – September 2, 1971, Lviv, Ukrainian SSR) was a Ukrainian artist, lawyer, scholar, bibliographer, and cultural figure. According to some sources, he was the son of a Greek Catholic priest.

He initially studied at a gymnasium in Lviv (graduating with honours in 1899). The artist then enrolled in the law faculty of Lviv University, but for political reasons transferred to the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (1901). At the same time, he enrolled in the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied under Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (11 April 1852 – 27 December 1936). According to researcher Oleh Kupchynskyi, he was actively involved in research work. In 1902, he submitted his scientific work, "Usus fructus nominis", to the historical and philosophical section of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, which was published in the "Journal of Law and Economics." It should be noted that, based on the results of this work, Julian Zayats defended his doctoral dissertation in 1907. He then worked as a lawyer in the State Treasury Prosecutor's Office (Lviv). In addition, in 1909 and 1912, he improved his legal qualifications in Berlin, where he prepared a scientific work entitled "Jus iurandum in litem." According to researcher Oleh Kupchynskyi, he attended lectures at the Berlin Academy of Arts by the renowned German painter and graphic artist of Jewish origin, Max Liebermann (July 20, 1847–February 8, 1935). However, during this period, the artist did not teach regularly at this institution and was only appointed to the Senate of the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1912.

It should be noted that after World War I, Yulian Zaiats worked as an employee of a private law firm in Komarne (now the centre of the Komarne municipal community in the Lviv region), and later as a lawyer in Lviv. Yulian Zaiats also taught Roman law at the Ukrainian Secret University and was a permanent legal advisor to Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi. He joined the Legal Commission of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and became a member of one of the key parties in the region at that time, the Ukrainian National Democratic Union. During the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939), Yulian Zaiats authored appeals to the League of Nations and the Vatican regarding the violent measures against Ukrainians within the framework of military-police terror, the so-called “Polish pacification”, initiated by the leader of this state entity, Jozef Pilsudski. At the same time, in the 1920s, he was invited to work at the Lviv branch of the Financial Prosecutor's Office of the Polish State Treasury. Later, before the annexation of the western Ukrainian lands to the Ukrainian SSR, he was a judge of the Supreme Administrative Tribunal of Poland in Warsaw (1939). From 1941, he was president of the Court of Appeal (Lviv).

After the end of the Nazi occupation, he was arrested as a person who could have been involved in the crimes of the occupiers. At the request of the intelligentsia (according to documents from the archives of the Security Service of Ukraine, first published in the works of scholars Mykola Kobyletskyi and Lesia Trepak), in particular, Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi, and the head of the National Museum, Ilarion Svientsitskyi, the criminal case against Yulian Zaiats was closed. In 1945, he began teaching at Lviv State University, and from 1946, he worked as a bibliographer at the Scientific Library of the V. Stefanyk Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1951, the artist failed to pass the certification due to a lack of professional qualifications, but with the permission of the Certification Commission, he held the position of librarian from 1953 until his retirement.

During his time as a bibliographer, Yulian Zaiats produced a number of bibliographic works: “Materials for the Bibliography of M. Voznyak” (1946), “Bibliography of the works of M. P. Drahomanov” (1947, co-authored), “Bibliography of the history of the city of Lviv” (parts 1–2, 1948) – however, none of them were ever published. He was into collecting art and old books, and did some painting and drawing. Participated in art exhibitions in Lviv (1929–1932, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1943; National Museum and Ukrainian Society of Art Lovers), in Warsaw (Polish Society of Art Lovers in the “Zachęta” Salon), and other cities. Among his well-known works are “Lady in Blue”, “Daughter”, “Self-Portrait”, “Boy”, “Church in Krasne”, “Church in Kryvchytsi”, Flowers”, and “The Kaminka River”, which were highly praised in the press and exhibition catalogues of the time.

Additionally, he possessed a distinctive vocal talent and a powerful tenor voice. According to researcher Oleh Kupchynskyi, he graduated from the Lviv Conservatory (class of Nestor Nyzhankivsky). However, from 1928, Nestor Nyzhankivsky (August 31, 1893–April 10, 1940) taught at the Mykola Lysenko Higher Music Institute in Lviv. Also, according to Oleh Kupchynskyi, Yulian Zaiats performed solo concerts in Lviv, Warsaw, and other cities and participated in annual holiday programs for Shevchenko Days in Galicia. Between 1920 and 1926, he served as the leader of the “Muse” singing society. As for the artist's legacy, thanks to the efforts of Ilarion Svientsitskyi, a significant collection of his works is housed in the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv, and some works are in the art department of the Lviv Library of the Vasyl Stefanyk National Academy of Sciences. According to researchers Mykola Kobyletskyi and Lesia Trepak, twenty works by Yulian Zaiats were purchased by the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

An important part of Yulian Zaiats' creative legacy is a series of graphic works currently stored in the Archive of Artists and Cultural Figures of the Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, which provide valuable insights into the specifics of the educational process as well as the priorities in more conservative artistic circles focused on developing a realistic visual language through careful study of nature and the creative work of artists of past eras, especially those who practised the faithful reproduction of people and the world around them.

Object description

The sheet presents a group of sketches made with analytical interest in characters from the works of European and Soviet artists of different eras. It is a kind of visual study of characters, in which the author seeks not only to capture the external features of faces, but also to convey the psychological tension, grotesque or dramatic expressiveness inherent in the sources. Among the identified images are Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as interpreted by Honoré Daumier with the master's characteristic mixture of satire, humanism, and tragic irony. Both characters are read not only as figures from a literary work, but also as generalised images of people on the verge of the comic, tragic, and heroic. Next are the characters of Paul Gavarni (the first in the front row on the left and the last on the right in the second row). The line here is lighter, poster-like, with elements of graphic stylisation close to the illustrative tradition. The image is conveyed with sympathy, some detached irony, and attention to detail, particularly in the work on the plasticity of the man's body, the curve of his neck, and the position of his shoulders. The third block consists of fragments from compositions of the Soviet period, in particular, a portrait of a red-bearded (in the original) man in a fur coat from Borys Johanson's famous painting "Soviet Court". The author interprets the image not as part of a genre scene, but as a self-sufficient character. The figure, which likely belongs to Oleksandr Harasymov's work, is drawn in the same manner. Perhaps these are types of peasants or collective farmers, characterised by a monumental calmness and a rigid, stoic build. The second-to-last figure is a portrait of an unknown character, probably from the works of an artist of the late 19th to early 20th centuries (the name is unclear, possibly "K(P)...yuka"). The portrait is intimate in nature, possibly with elements of realism. Light hatching and sparse lines only allow the anatomy of the face to be outlined, but the gaze retains its individuality. The manner of drawing is generally clear and confident, with slight variations in line depending on the source. In the case of O. Domier and P. Gavarni, the style is slightly lighter and more graphically decorative, whereas in the case of Soviet images, it is heavier, with an attempt to convey volume and tonal mass. It remains clear that these drawings are not exercises in copying, but rather reflections on the language of the image in different cultural and historical contexts. The author works consciously, using these types to study the characteristics of the visual code from satirical to monumental, from romantic to everyday. The captions under some of the images testify to the systematic nature of the work (dates: 1962, identified names), which allows us to consider the letter as part of a broader cycle of graphic explorations by the artist in his mature years, with an emphasis on the study and reconstruction of artistic languages of different eras.

Inscriptions

In the centre, under the images, there are inscriptions: "From Gavarini"; "10/5 62"; "From Johanson"; "25/4 62"; "From Harasymov"; "25/4 62"; "From Domier"; "11/5 62"; "From (illegible)"; "12/5 62"; "From Gavarini"; "10/5 62".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Drawings of Genre Scenes

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