THE THEME OF SPORT IN UKRAINIAN FINE ARTS

Abstract

After Ukraine gained independence, sports themes in the visual arts gradually emerged from under the pressure of Soviet ideological clichés. This raises the question: how does the modern interpretation of physicality relate to the ‘physical culture and sports’ of the Soviet era, the non-conformist tradition, and the artistic explorations of modernism and the avant-garde of the early 20th century? For a long time, there was almost no systematic work on the study, archiving, and popularisation of sports themes in art. Only in recent years has there been a resurgence of interest in physicality that goes beyond purely sports themes and takes on contemporary interpretations, particularly in the context of gender identity. This study does not claim to be comprehensive and is only one ‘brick’ in the development of the little-studied and unstructured topic of sport in the visual arts of Ukraine. The publication concisely outlines the key stages in the development of this theme – from entertainment and public events (circus acts, horse races) at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries to the renewed plasticity of the avant-garde and the subsequent ideologemes of socialist realism. It highlights changes in the interpretation of the theme of sport after Ukraine gained independence – artists’ attempts to avoid figurative poster clichés and loud slogans, focusing on the artistic component – the expressiveness of the composition, colour, and energy of the work as a whole. Further research into the theme of sport in the work of Ukrainian artists of the early 21st century is proposed. The identification, systematisation and analysis of visual material will not only allow us to define the place of sporting themes in the history of national visual art, but also to generalise the idea of physicality at the level of Ukraine’s spiritual and visual history.