Touches to the portrait of Andriy Kotska. What was the artist reading? (+PHOTOS)

Andriy Kotska, painter, graphic artist, honored and people’s artist of Ukraine, is one of the most prominent fugure of the Transcarpathian school of painting.

He is a representative of the second generation of Transcarpathian artists who created the local painting tradition, he graduated from the Public School of Painting, founded by Erdelyi and Bokshayi.   Today, not only his works, but also details of his life and creative career are kept in the Memorial Museum, which is located on Vinnychna street in Uzhgorod. Personal things, paintings, of course, a garden, as well as household items and the library are all witnesses to the outstanding artist’s life. Those include the collection of periodicals. The museum workers told us what journals the artist Andriy Kotska was reading.

Valentina Chervenyak, Senior Researcher at the Memorial House-Museum of the People’s Artist of Ukraine A. A. Kotska, prepared a reasearch about it.

"Obviously, there is no need to explain the importance and significance of the record of periodicals. The periodicals preserve for us the chronicle of the past events, their perception by contemporaries, polemics in discussing certain events. The art periodicals have their own history of origin and today they occupy their own niche in the modern media.

In the Memorial House-Museum of the People’s Artist of Ukraine A. A. Kotska on Vinnychna street in Uzhgorod, we systematized the periodicals that the artist was subscribed to. Here you can find art studies from 50s to 80s from different countries. These are publications such as Bildende Kunst (Germany), Muveszet (Hungary), Sztuka (Poland), Umeni a remesla, Vitvarny zivot, Vytvarne umeni, Vytvarna kultura (formerly Czechoslovakia), Izkustvo (Bulgaria), as well as periodicals of the countries of the former Soviet Union, and Ukraine in particular – Obrazotvorche mystetstvo. This journal is the oldest professional art publication of our country. 

There are examples of brilliant theoretical works in the history of art culture. One of such famous art historians is G. Ostrovsky, an art critic, writer, author of a large number of scientific and journalistic articles, which were published very often in various journals. The article "A graphic artict from Uzhgorod" in the journal Tvorchestvo, 1987, "Man in the world" in the journal Tvorchestvo 1974. Or another famous art critic V. Tseltner – the author of articles on popular science topics, in particular, the article "Landscape" in the journal Obrazotvorche mystetstvo, 1967.

"Now this is inexhaustible source of information not only for those who are interested in art, but also for those who carry out research work. Here you can find information on the history of art, the biography of great artists, customs and ordinances of ancient and modern peoples, art criticism, detailed analysis of works. Arts-related journals have long been an integral part of the art process. Because they form public opinion, set cultural trends, make obscure contemporary art more clear", – Valentina Chervenyak wrote.

And, once again, we remind: you can visit the museum of Andriy Kotsky, which was opened in 1990 and preserved the atmosphere of the artist’s life and his creative quest… The Memorial House-Museum of Andriy Kotska is open every day, except for Sunday and Monday, from 9.00 to 17.00, at: Uzhgorod, Vinnychna st., 20.