Maria Prymachenko
Encounter the Ukrainian folk artist and national treasure whose colorful paintings captured the beauty of the Ukrainian countryside
Maria Prymachenko by Maria Prymachenko Family Foundation/FacebookCFC Big Ideas in association with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy
Prymachenko became a classic of naïve art during her lifetime. Her works were exhibited in Paris, Warsaw, Montreal, and Prague.
Maria Prymachenko was born in Bolotnia, Ukraine, in 1908. She was born with a hearing impairment and started painting at a young age as a way of communicating with the world around her.
Her works were first exhibited in 1936 and quickly gained international acclaim. She was awarded the Shevchenko National Prize in 1966.
Maria Prymachenko by Maria Prymachenko Family Foundation/FacebookCFC Big Ideas in association with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy
Prymachenko's paintings are bright and full of colors. The colorful bestiary has it all: lions and elephants, a cat’s king and birds as "Ukrainian dancers", a red beast with eight tiny legs, sharp fangs, a thin beard, and a long tongue called Threat of War.
She was a prolific artist and produced over 3,000 paintings. Her work is now exhibited in museums all over the world.
Maria Prymachenko by Maria Prymachenko Family Foundation/FacebookCFC Big Ideas in association with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy
The world Prymachenko created in her works was harmonious with her ideas about life. The artist always reproduced and referred to them in her works.
Prymachenko was a survivor of the Holodomor, the artificially-made Soviet famine of 1932-1933. She lost many family members during this time, but she continued to paint as a way of coping with her grief.
Unfortunately, the museum of the outstanding artist, Maria Prymachenko, was destroyed by the Russian invaders in Ivankiv, Ukraine, on February 25, 2022.
Based on text by Borys Filonenko
Original text from the album of the Prominent Ukrainians project, published jointly by Pictoric Illustrators Club, Pavlo Gudimov Ya Gallery Art Center, Artbook Publishing House and Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Photo:
Maria Prymachenko Family Foundation
