Opanas Zalyvakha's authorial postcards: main points, contexts, visual images (based on materials from private archives)

Abstract

The main goal of the research. Realization of general characteristics of epistolaryheritage of the well-known artist-sixtier Opanas Zalyvakha and arrangement of postcardsfrom private archives as text and visuals sources. Outlining the specifics of the authorialpresentation of graphic images of postcards, identifying of semantic accents in the textwith the help of lettering. Methodology. The author applied a systematic approach, deductionmethods, historical and typological methods for a general analysis of the artist'sepistolary in the context of the research of the sixtiers' correspondence. In the course ofthe research, a structural-typological method was used to systematize and study textualand visual sources, and an iconological method was used to outline the figurative andsymbolic content of postcards images. Scientific novelty. Opanas Zalyvakha’s epistolarywas outlined as a valuable historical and artistic source. A part of the artist's authorialpostcards from private archives was introduced into scientific circulation and the historicaland cultural context of the time of their creation was comprehensively cleared. Theinterpretation of graphic images of postcards and accentuation of meanings in the textualmaterial of the artist's autographs was comprehensively analyzed. Conclusions. Thearticle is the first attempt to systematically consider the aesthetic, philosophical, and semanticmeanings which are reproduced in the texts and images of the authorial graphicpostcards of Opanas Zalyvakha. The postcards’ textual information deepens these informationalfacts about the personalities who lived in the sixties and is a testament of thedeep psychological introspection of the artist. These postcards allow us to understandthe peculiarities of the artist’s existence in totalitarian conditions and the specifics oftheir work. Postcards’ visual images have powerful spiritual and aesthetic contents. Thesepostcards allow us a more accurate understanding of the importance of intellectual andartistic heritage of the sixties in the formation of cultural and artistic national worldviewof the second half of the 20th century.

Keywords

• opanas zalyvakha, sixtiers, national revival, epistolary, recusance,graphic, postcards.