Children's Theatre

Antin Manastyrskyi

Basic information

ID: Г-V-2161
Author: Antin Manastyrskyi
Name: Children's Theatre
Date of creation: 1920s
Country: Ukraine
Technique: drawing
Material: paper pen Indian ink
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 20 x 33.5

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: illustration
Provenance: Purchased from D. Semchyshyn, 1988

Information about author

Author: Antin Manastyrskyi
Artist's lifetime: 1878–1969
Biography: Anton Ivanovych Manastyrskyi (02.11.1878, Zavaliv, Ternopil Region – 15.05.1969, Lviv) – painter, graphic artist. Father of Witold-Yurii Manastyrskyi. People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1957). In 1888, the Manastyrskyi family moved to Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk), where the teenager began working in a printing house. He graduated from the Lviv School of Applied Arts (1894–1899) and the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts (1900, 1905; teachers: J. Fałat, F. Cynk). Participant in art exhibitions from 1890. In 1900, the “Society for the Advancement of Ruthenian Art”, of which Antin Manastyrskyi was a member, organised an exhibition of his first paintings. Member of ГДУМ (Group of Ukrainian art workers) (1922–1931) in Lviv, active participant in the Group’s exhibitions. Solo exhibitions – in Lviv (1952, 1958), Ternopil (1963). In the history of fine art, Antin Manastyrskyi emerged as a portraitist, landscape painter, author of genre scenes, and creator of works on historical and folklore themes, as well as book graphics and thematic sketches. He is the author of historical narrative paintings, in particular on Cossack themes (“In the Steppe”, “By the Well”, “At the Watering Place”, reproduced in the 1910s–1920s on postcards), portraits and landscapes, compositions based on the works of T. Shevchenko (reproduced on postcards), drawings on Ukrainian folk song themes (1915–26), including “Oh, Under the Grove” (1917), “Oh, the Girl Walked Along the Bank” (1926). He created his renowned painting “The Zaporozhian” in 1932. The thematic range of the artist’s book graphics is extremely wide. One of the first books he illustrated, together with Olena Kulchytska and Osyp Kurylas, was “The First Reading Book for Ukrainian Children”, published in Lviv in 1922. He also illustrated works by I. Franko, M. Hohol, school textbooks, and children’s editions. A. Manastyrskyi is the author of 53 illustrations for the Bible, published in Lviv in 1926. His most fruitful cooperation was with the publishing house Svit Dytyny (1919–1939). Among the works published with his illustrations were didactic stories by Y. Vilshenko “The Sorcerer from Chornohora” (1921), I. Blazhkevych “Dear Booklet” (1928), animal fables for children (Osyp Makovey “The Adventures of the Sparrow” (1922), “Stories from the Life of Animals” (1922), A. Lototsky “The Grasshopper and the Snail” (1923), Y. Vilshenko “The Tale of the Shoemaker Kopytko and the Drake Kwak”), fantastic fables (R. Zavadovych’s stage adaptation “The Tale of the Prince and the Underground Princess” (1924)), and others. Antin Manastyrskyi also illustrated some fairy tales and stories in the magazine Svit Dytyny in the 1930s. Another striking example of cooperation with the publisher was the edition of D. Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”, translated by Y. Shkrumeliak in 1929. The artist’s collaboration with publisher M. Matviichuk is also well known: in the series “The Golden Library of the Ukrainian Child”, in 1930, the book by Did Modest “Evil with Fire” was published with his illustrations. Manastyrskyi also successfully executed external book design, including vignettes, lettering, and tailpieces. He created covers for the serial publication of the repertoire of the children’s theatre Zustrich (1925). During his life the artist created icons and iconostases for many churches, among them: the iconostasis in the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Bilshivtsi (1920–1930); the deacon’s row of the iconostasis (1923) and altar icons in the side chapels of the Virgin Mary and Christ (1936) in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Komarno; the side altar of St Demetrius in the Church of St Demetrius in Myljatin (1935); the iconostasis in the Church of Simon the Stylite in Nahachiv (1909); the iconostasis in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Sudova Vyshnia (1935); altar images of the Virgin Mary (1927) and Jesus Christ (1928), the high altar painting of John the Theologian (1938) in the Church of St John the Baptist in Sukhovolia; the deacon’s icons in the Church of St Andrew the First-Called in Lviv; the icons “The Last Supper” and “Christ Pantocrator” in the Church of St Paraskeva in Kavsko; icons in the Church of Archangel Michael in Komarno; the iconostasis in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Berezets (1931); icons in the Church of St Archangel Michael in Smerkiv; the iconostasis in the Church of St Archangel Michael in Solova (1929); altar icons in the Church of St Paraskeva in Velyki Birky. Well-known are his murals for the Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Zhovtantsi (1914–1930s), in particular the apse paintings and thematic polychromies “St George the Dragon-Slayer”, “Christ with Children”, and “The Giving of the Commandments to Moses”. Manastyrskyi also created works for churches in the villages of Sukhodil, Tustanovychi, Husakiv, Povitno, Lozova, Koropuzh, Khodakiv, Zheniv, Novyi Yazhiv, Nove Selo, Zymna Voda, and Vyzhniany. Among his paintings of everyday life are works from the first third of the 20th century: “Peasant in a House” (1900), “Portraits of Peasants” (1920s–1930s), “Grandfather from Moskalivka” (1929), “Beggar”, “Two Friends” (1920), “Sacristan”, where the artist focused on the inner state of the person. Much later, Antin Manastyrskyi turned to plein-air motifs, for example, “The Old Man from Smerekiv”, where the theme of outer – solar – and inner – spiritual – light is dominant. The artist’s favourite genre was the landscape. In it, A. Manastyrskyi took his first steps, debuting as an artist at the 1900 exhibition of the Society for the Development of Ruthenian Art with two works, “The Road” and “View of Mount Parashka”. Among his early landscapes was the series “Native Roof” of the 1900s, with motifs of the Galician village, on which the artist worked for almost three decades. His early landscapes, particularly in the 1920s–1930s, are characterised by restrained harmonisation of colours, sustained in a soft, bleached range of silvery-grey, blue, and ochre shades. He devoted great attention to village motifs and folk architecture. Under the influence of the beauty of folk architecture, he created the series of sketches “Old Folk Architecture”. In the 1920s, his landscapes were lyrical, with motifs of “the road” and “the path”. In the 1930s, the palette became much warmer. In his landscapes, Manastyrskyi sought to create a generalised image of ideal nature. In portraits A. Manastyrskyi sensitively grasped human psychology, endowed characters with profound inner feelings, skilfully captured the most characteristic features of the face and expressive physiognomic moments: “Portrait of the Artist’s Mother” (1907), “Portrait of Wife in a Black Dress” (1912), “Self-Portrait” (1919), “Portrait of Father-in-Law” (1911), “Portrait of Roman Nahirnyi” (1903). Also masterfully painted are “Portrait of an Elderly Man”, “Portrait of the Writer H”, “Portrait of an Elderly Woman” (all three – about 1919), “Portrait of F. Shkribliak, a Famous Hutsul Woodcarver” (1929), “Portrait of the Writer M. Yatskiv” (1919), “Portrait of the Artist A. Pylykhivskyi” (1932). “Self-Portrait” (1919), “Portrait of Prof. J. Chernetskyi” (early 1930s), and others. Stylistically, these portraits are rooted in realist art. The main task the artist set himself in portraits was to reveal what was characteristic of a person, and he adhered to this principle until the end of his life. The work of Antin Manastyrskyi is a unique phenomenon in Ukrainian art, combining high culture and profound national sentiment. The artist positioned himself as a realist painter, a subtle and thoughtful chronicler of the life of his native land, its unique charm, and its heroic history. On 15 May 1969, the artist died in Lviv. He was buried in the family tomb at Lychakiv Cemetery.

Object description

The drawing is executed in black ink. The composition is rectangular in form, depicting six children among toy structures and toys. On the left is a girl seated on a cube, turned to the right, dressed in a folk costume, holding a doll in her hands. Behind her stands a girl in folk costume trying on a theatrical mask. Next to her lies a boy, turned to the left, holding a kobza in his hands. Before him lies a sheet of paper. In the centre, on a cube, sits a boy with a small rectangular easel, turned three-quarters to the left. In his right hand, he holds a pencil with which he is evidently determining the proportions of the girl with the doll. Behind him stands a boy in a long shirt, holding a pendulum in his left hand. On the right are two boys, turned to the left, launching a toy aeroplane. The boy in the foreground kneels on his left knee, raising his right hand to point at the aeroplane. Behind him stands a boy holding a book in his left hand, with his right hand raised upwards, pointing out the direction of the aeroplane’s flight. In the background on the left is a stylised image of a theatre. On the pediment, in the centre, the inscription: “Children’s / Theatre”. The drawing is outlined with a black geometric frame.

Inscriptions

In the lower right corner of the drawing, there is the author's signature in pencil: "A. Manastyrsky". In the centre, under the drawing, there is a signature in pencil in Polish: "V okladze 18.5 cm szerok obrazy".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Children's Theatre

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