Oleksandr Murashko

File:Oleksandr Murashko-1905.jpg

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Murashko ({{langx|uk|Олександр Олександрович Мурашко}}; {{OldStyleDate|September 7|1875|August 26}}{{snd}}June{{nbsp}}14, 1919) was a prominent Ukrainian artist, widely known for his unusually expressive paintings.

Life and career

Murashko was born in Kyiv. His stepfather, Oleksandr Ivanovych Murashko, had an icon-painting workshop and worked on the interior of St Volodymyr's Cathedral.[http://memorial.org.ua/education/draw/15/1.htm "Митець свiтового рiвня Олександр Мурашко (1875–1919)"] Українська культура 1 (1999) 25–26, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070305223258/http://memorial.org.ua/education/draw/15/1.htm archived] at the Wayback Machine, March 5, 2007 {{in lang|uk}}Oksana Onoprii︠e︡nko, "Oleksandr Murashko (1875–1919), Painter, educator, public figure", in Vydatni dii︠a︡chi Ukraïny mynulykh stolitʹ: memorialʹnyĭ alʹmanakh / Outstanding Ukrainian Personalities of the Past: Memorial Anthology, Zoloti imena Ukraïny, Kyiv: I︠E︡vroimidz︠h︡, [2001], {{ISBN|9789667867058}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Iq0rAQAAIAAJ&q=Oleksandr+Murashko+came+from+a+Kyiv+art+family.+His+father+ran+an+icon-painting+studio%2C+took+part+in+painting+St.+Volodymyr+Cathedral+in+Kyiv.+His+uncle%2C+Mykola+Murashko p. 379].

In 1894, with recommendations from several prominent artists, he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. In 1896, he became a student of Ilya Repin; he is one of those depicted in Yelena Makovskaya-Luksch's group portrait, Repin's Students.Anna Novakov, Play of Lines: Anton Ažbe's Art Academy and the Education of East European Female Painters, San Francisco: Fibonacci Academic Press (Lulu.com), 2011, {{ISBN|9781257373321}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NR3LAQAAQBAJ&dq=Oleksander+Murashko&pg=PA50 p. 50]. In 1901, he travelled abroad, visiting Germany, where he studied with Anton Ažbe in Munich, Italy, and France, where he was greatly influenced.

Murashko became a successful artist; he has been called "the most important Ukrainian artist of the turn of the century".Semion Gurok and Boris Lobanovsky, tr. Anne Staros, Kyiv, Architectural Landmarks and Art Museums: An Illustrated Guide, Leningrad: Aurora, 1987, {{OCLC|17202963}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aZtMAAAAYAAJ&q=In+contrast+to+the+narrative+character+of+the+canvases+mentioned+above+the+paintings+of+Alexander+Murashko%2C+the+most+important+Ukrainian+artist+of+the+turn+of+the+century%2C+are+distinguished+by+extraordinary+expressive+power.+A+student+of+Ilya+Repin%2C p. 75]. His painting Carousel won the gold medal at the Munich Exposition in 1909, and he exhibited in Venice, Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, and Düsseldorf.

From 1909 to 1912, Murashko taught at the Kyiv Art School. In 1913, he opened his own studio in the Ginsburg skyscraper,Igor Aronov, Jewish Art 21/22: Eastern Europe 1 (1995/1996) [https://books.google.com/books?id=wpVJAQAAIAAJ&q=Alexander+Murashko+also+taught+at+the+Kyiv+Art+School+%281908-1912%29%2C+and+then+opened+his p. 130]. where many young Jewish artists were trained, including Mark Epstein.Jews in Eastern Europe 1993, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9ksuAQAAIAAJ&q=Alexander+Murashko p. 13].Myroslav Shkandrij, "National modernism in post-revolutionary society: the Ukrainian renaissance and Jewish revival, 1917–1930", in Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands, ed. Omer Bartov and Eric D. Weitz, Bloomington: Indiana University, 2013, ISBN [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xam0fUlrXfkC&q=Murashko&pg=PA519 pp. 445–46]. He had a great influence on Kazimir Malevich.Gerry Souter, Malevich: Journey to Infinity, Temporis Collection, New York: Parkstone, 2008, {{ISBN|9781780429267}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TYvQ_ltQY3EC&dq=Murashko&pg=PA47 p. 47].

File:Founders of the Ukrainian academy of arts.jpg, Oleksandr Murashko, Fedir Krychevsky, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Ivan Steshenko, Mykola Burachek. Standing: Heorhiy Narbut, Vasyl Krychevsky, Mykhailo Boychuk.]]

He was a patriotic Ukrainian, one of the adherents of the "Young Muse" movement which was started in 1906 by Modernists who drew on developments elsewhere in Europe to make Ukrainian art more progressive.Andrew Wilson, The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation, New Haven: Yale University, 2000, repr. 2002, {{ISBN|9780300093094}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4f324_LVBL4C&q=Young+Muse&pg=PA375 p. 135]. He founded the Association of Kyiv Artists in 1916Bert Cardullo, Theories of the Avant-Garde Theatre: A Casebook from Kleist to Camus, Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow, 2013, {{ISBN|9780810887046}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7qE53ri6EbYC&dq=Oleksander+Murashko&pg=PR38 p. xxxviii]. and the following year co-founded the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts.

In 1909, Murashko married Marguerite Kruger, a notary's daughter. In 1910, after his father's death, he bought a small house in the Kyiv suburb of Lukyanivka. He was taken away from the house, apparently by a street gang, and shot from behind on June 14, 1919. His funeral was well attended and he was buried in the Lukyanivsky Cemetery.

Works

Originally a realist in the style of the Peredvizhniki, Murashko later painted in a "refined", Impressionist style influenced by his time in Munich and Paris.Shevchenko Scientific Society, Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopaedia, ed. Volodymyr Kubijovyc, Volume 2, Toronto: Ukrainian National Association, University of Toronto Press, 1971, {{ISBN|9781442673199}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uZoYAAAAIAAJ&q=Alexander+Murashko p. 564].Ivan Katchanovski, Zenon E. Kohut, Bohdan Y. Nebesio and Myroslav Yurkevich, Historical Dictionary of Ukraine, Historical Dictionaries of Europe 45, Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow, 2013, {{ISBN|9780810853874}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-h6r57lDC4QC&dq=Oleksander+Murashko&pg=PA376 pp. 376, 430].Philip L Wagner and Zarko Bilbija, University of Chicago Division of the Social Sciences, Aspects of Contemporary Ukraine, Subcontractor's monograph, HRAF-20, New Haven, Connecticut: Human Relations Area Files, [1955], {{OCLC|4299203}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CudBAAAAYAAJ&q=Modern+Western-European+influence+on+Ukrainian+impressionism+is+particularly+noticeable+in+the+works+of+Alexander+Murashko+%281875-+1919%29+and+Ivan+Trush%2C+well-known+for+his+paintings+of+the+%22Shores+of+Dneper%22+and+of+Crimea. p. 314]. His Modernism in turn influenced later Ukrainian artists in the Socialist Realist period.Wilson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4f324_LVBL4C&q=influence+of+Ukrainian+Modernists+such+as+Oleksandr+Murashko&pg=PA375 p. 144]. His works are less often narrative and unusually expressive for Ukrainian paintings of the time.

=Selected list of paintings=

File:Girl in a Red Hat - Oleksandr Murashko.jpg

Portrait of Nikolai Petrov, 1897–98
Portrait of Helen Murashko, 1898–99
Portrait of Olga Nesterov, 1900
The Funeral of the Chieftain, 1900Serhy Yekelchyk, Stalin's Empire of Memory: Russian-Ukrainian Relations in the Soviet Historical Imagination, Toronto: University of Toronto, 2004, {{ISBN|9781442680166}} , [https://books.google.com/books?id=IzSEEqjp9vUC&dq=Murashko%2C+funeral&pg=PA225 p. 145].
Parisian. At the Cafe, 1902–03
Girl in a Red Hat, 1902–03
A Girl with a Dog. Portrait of T. Yazevoyi, 1903–04
Portrait of Professor Adrian Prahova, 1904
Winter, 1905
At the Embroidery Frame. Portrait of Helena Prahova, 1905
Carousel, 1906
In the Stern. Portrait of George Murashko, 1906
Sunspots. Portrait of George Murashko, 1908
Portrait of Marguerite Murashko, 1909
The Annunciation, 1909
Portrait of Ludmilla Kuksin, 1910
Portrait of Vera Dytyatinoyi, 1910
Portrait of Vera Yepanchin, 1910
By the Pond. Portrait of Marguerite Murashko, 1913
Peasant Family, 1914
Washerwoman, 1914
Portrait of an Old Woman, 1916
Woman with Flowers, 1918
Self Portrait, 1918