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The Windmill

Ivan Trush

Basic information

ID: Ж-4824
Author: Ivan Trush
Name: The Windmill
Country: Ukraine
Culture: Eastern Europe
Technique: oil painting
Material: plywood oil
Dimensions: 18.5 x 15 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: landscape
Provenance: Unknown origin
Exposition: Lozinski Palace

Information about author

Author: Ivan Trush
Artist's lifetime: 1869–1941
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ukrainian SSR, now Ukraine
Biography: Ivan Trush (January 18, 1869 – March 21, 1941) was a famous Ukrainian impressionist painter, master of landscapes and portraiture, founder of the realistic trend in Ukrainian painting, public and cultural figure, art critic, editor, and publisher. Between 1891 and 1897, he studied at the Krakow School of Fine Arts under Leon Wyczolkowski and Jan Stanislawski. During the change of leadership of the Krakow School of Fine Arts, Ivan Trush decided to try his hand in Vienna; in 1894, he enrolled as a non-degree student at the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademie der bildenden Künste). In the final year of his studies at the Krakow School of Fine Arts, after receiving a state scholarship, he arrived in Munich in 1897 and entered the private school of Anton Ažbe. In the same year, he returned to Krakow where he was awarded one bronze and two silver medals for his best works. After returning to Lviv, Ivan Trush became an active member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society; on their orders, he performed various works, including portraits of prominent figures. In 1898, together with Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, he founded the Society for the Development of Ruthenian Art, the first art association, and organized three of its exhibitions. In 1905, he initiated and organized the Society of Friends of Ukrainian Science, Literature and Art (1905), as well as its first "Exhibition of Ukrainian Artists". Ivan Trush founded the magazines "Buduchnist" (1899) and "Artystychnyi Visnyk" (1905); the latter one was edited together with Stanislaw Ludkiewicz. In 1901, he taught at the Kyiv Drawing School of Murashko. Ivan Trush's legacy comprises more than 6,000 works, including psychological and academic portraits; among his works, there are many portraits of Ivan Franko, a friend and colleague of the artist. In search of new impressions and to replenish his palette with color and light, the artist traveled a lot in Dnieper Ukraine (Kyiv, Kaniv, Hadiach in Poltava region, and Hutsul region), Croatia (Lovran and Opatija in 1901), Crimea (Alupka, Alushta, Balaklava, and Sevastopol), the Kingdom of Italy (Rome in 1902 and Venice in 1908); with the financial support of Tadei Solovii, his family doctor, he visited Egypt and Palestine in 1912. Ivan Trush created the whole series on the basis of his favorite motifs. Thus, one of the first was a series of landscapes of the Dnipro River, with the topmost painting "Dnipro near Kyiv" made in 1910. Later, he dedicated a series of paintings to a solitary pine tree, painting it at different times of the year and day. Meadows, fields, an old mill, and the tree stumps attracted the artist with their mysterious beauty, that is why the cycle "Life of Stumps" appeared. The Hutsul life, their customs, and colorful attire fascinated the artist in the genre painting; all this inspired the artist to create compositions against the backdrop of mountain landscapes, namely "Hahilky", "Easter Procession", "Trembita Players", "Hutsul Woman with a Child", and "Hutsul Boy". Public and creative activity of Ivan Trush played an important role in the formation of the Ukrainian cultural environment. The Gallery's exposition presents the artist’s works from its own collection, such as "Dnipro River", "Windmill", and "Near the Sea".

Object description

In his works, be they small sketches or monumental landscapes, Ivan Trush remained faithful to the principle of the mood of the painting, in which the smallest details of the landscape are emphasised. During his career, the artist created more than 6000 sketches. In "The Windmill" sketch the artist favours the foreground motif, which, with skilfully recreated subtle colouring and impressively used light and air effects, creates the poetic mood of the painting. The main "character" of the painting is the windmill itself against a stormy sky, surrounded by a spacious view with a field of yellow flowers and a strip of forest on the horizon.

Inscriptions

At the bottom left, there is the author's signature in dark brown paint: "I. Trush"

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

The Windmill

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