Katerina Bilokur(1900-1961)

10th formCreated by @Alla Kolosai

Katerina Bilokur  is a highly original

Ukrainian folk artist. Her beautiful pictures of

the colorful Ukrainian nature are a significant

landmark in the history of Ukrainian folk art.

Katerina Bilokur's life was not easy. She was

born on December 7, 1900, in the village of

Bohdanivka, Kiev region, into the family of a

poor peasant. She had no possibility to study at

school and only her wish for knowledge helped

her later to fill up the gaps in her education.

Studying attentively nature, she gradually

enriched herself with new impressions and

penetrated into the mysteries of painting.

The first works of Bilokur (1920s –

early 30s) were amateurish. They

were the portraits of people made

with charcoal and self-made

vegetable paints. The second half

of the 1930s was an important

period in her creativity. Then she

began drawing still-life. Even her

earlier works – “The Birch”, “

Flowers by the Fence”, “Flowers”

and some others showed her

creative abilities.

Vitality, fanciful composition, harmony and sense of colours in the pictures became the main features of all her works. Being scrupulously and faithfully depicted, each detail in Bilokur's pictures is perceived as a really existing one. The main effect is produced by the use of pure colors which is characteristic of folk decorative art on the whole.

Bilokur's paintings were first displayed at the Poltava Regional Exhibition in 1940 and then at the National Exhibition in Kiev. They were highly appreciated by art-lovers and art-critics. Unfortunately, all of the works displayed at the Poltava exhibition in 1941 perished during the Second World War. Only some works of the period, which were not entered in the exhibition, have been preserved (“Flowers and Birches at Eventide”, “Flowers in Fog”, “Dahlias”, “Field Flowers”).

In the 1950s Bilokur made her first

attempts in water-colour painting.

Her best works of the period (“

Bohdanivka Village in September

”, “Beyond the Village”, “

Early Spring”, “Autumn”) are noted

for their extraordinarily emotional

expressiveness. During the last

years of her life, which were

dimmed by serious illness,

Katerina Bilokur created a number

of notable pictures such as “

Dahlias”, “Peonies”, “Bohdanivka

Apples”, “Bunch of Flowers” and

others.

Katerina Bilokur died on

June 9, 1961. She was given

the honorable title of

People's Artist of the

Ukrainian SSR and awarded

the Badge of Honor and a

diploma of the Supreme

Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.

In her native village a

monument was erected in her

honor. At all times of the year

its pedestal is covered with

flowers which she so

admired.

In one of her letters K. Bilokur

wrote: "You may not like my works

as I paint only flowers. But how can

I not paint them if they are so

beautiful! When I paint flowers I

forget about everything in the

world. Don't be angry with me, my

close and distant friends, for

painting flowers, because the

pictures with flowers are beautiful."

Bilokur's art is based on her

profound knowledge of nature and

folk art traditions, and the impact

her canvases produce is really

unforgettable.

3. Answer the questions.

•What genres did the painter work in?

•What did she paint?

•Why was she fond of painting flowers?

•Why did she choose still life?

•Do you like / dislike her style of

painting? Why?