Kateryna Bilokur

Kateryna Bilokur Катерина Бiлокур
Born	December 7 [O.S. November 24] 1900 Bohdanivka, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	9 June 1961(1961-06-09) (aged 60) Bohdanivka Yahotyn Raion, Kiev Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
Nationality	Ukrainian
Awards	People's Artist of Ukraine

Kateryna Vasylivna Bilokur (Ukrainian: Катерина Василівна Білокур; December 7 [O.S. November 24] 1900 – 9 June 1961)^[1] was a Ukrainian folk artist born in the Poltava Governorate. Her birth date is unknown but 7 December is used as her official birthday. After an unpromising start, her works became known in the late 1930s and 1940s for their interest in nature. She was named People's Artist of Ukraine.^{[citation needed]} It is said^{[by whom?]} that Pablo Picasso saw her work exhibited in Paris and commented, "If we had an artist of this level, we would make the whole world talk about her."^[2]

Biography[]

Born November 24th (December 7th) year 1900 in a village of Bogdanivka. At the age of 6-7, Katerina learned to read. Her family has decided not to send her to school to save money on shoes and clothes. She started drawing since a young age, though her parents frowned upon this hobby and wouldn't let her do it. Kateryna continued drawing secretly, using old rags and coal. "I stole a piece of white canvas from my mother and took a piece of coal... I shall draw something on one side of the rag, then I enjoy what I created, then I draw something on the other side... And this one time... I didn't draw something I saw, but rather some birds I imagined... My soul felt so happy because of what I could make up! I stared at my drawing, and laughed like crazy... That's when my parents busted me. They tore up my drawing and threw it in the oven... "What are you crazy? What are you doing? What would happen if other people saw you doing this? What devil will agree to marry you after this!.." But wherever I go, whatever I do - I have an image in my had that I simply have to draw, it follows me... I'm offended by the Nature, it was cruel to me, by giving me this enormous love to holy drawing, and then took away any chance to create this marvelous work to the whole wide extent of my talent!"^[3] She would draw decorations for a local drama club, organized by her neighbor and a distant relative - Nikita Tonkonog. Later, Kateryna would perform on the stage of this theater. In the years 1922-1923 Kateryna has found out about a Mirgorod professional school of artistic ceramics. She embarked on a journey to Mirgorod, having two drawings on her: a copy of some painting and a sketch of her grandfather's house, both on actual paper that she bought especially for this occasion. But she wasn't accepted to the professional school as she had no documents about finishing a 7-year local school, so she returned home by foot. The desire to draw never left her, later she started attending a drama class organized by a married couple of teachers Kalita. Her parents have agreed to her participating in plays, but on condition that her acting won't interfere with her house work. In 1928 Kateryna Bilokur found out about a Kiev Theatrical professional school and decided to try her luck there. But the situation repeated itself: she was rejected for the same reason. In the Autumn of 1934 she committed a suicide attempt by drowning in the river Chumgak, and got her feet damaged by the cold. After the suicide attempt, cursing her, her father finally agreed to let her draw.

Creative Period[]

In the spring of 1940, Kateryna heard on the radio a song “Or was I not the viburnum on the meadow” performed by Oksana Petrusenko. The song impressed Bilokur so much that she wrote a letter to the singer, enclosing a drawing of a viburnum on a piece of canvas. The drawing struck the singer, and she, after consulting with friends - Vasily Kasiyan and Pavel Tychina - turned to the Folk Art Center. Soon, an order was received in Poltava - to go to the Bogdanivka village, find Bilokur and inquire about her works.

Vladimir Khitko, who then headed the artistic and methodological council of the regional House of Folk Art, came to visit Bogdanivka. He showed several paintings by Kateryna Bilokur in Poltava to the artist Matvey Dontsov. In 1940, in the House of Folk Art in Poltava, a personal exhibit of the self-taught artist from Bogdanivka opened, which at that time consisted of only 11 paintings. The exhibition was a huge success and the artist was awarded a trip to Moscow. Accompanied by Vladimir Khitko, she visited the Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum. In 1944, Vasily Nagai, the director of the State Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Arts – has visited Bogdanivka, and acquired a number of paintings from Bilokur. It is thanks to him that the Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Arts has the best collection of Bilokur's works.

In 1949, Kateryna Bilokur became a member in the Artists Union of Ukraine. In 1951 she was awarded the “Badge of Honor” and received the title of Honored Art Worker of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1956, Bilokur received the title of “People's Artist” of the Ukrainian SSR. In subsequent years, the works of Kateryna Bilokur were regularly exhibited at exhibitions in Poltava, Kiev, Moscow and other cities. Three paintings by Bilokur - "Tsar Kolos", "Birch" and "Kolkhoz Field" were included in the exposition of Soviet art at the International Exhibition in Paris (1954). Here, they were seen by Pablo Picasso, who spoke about Bilokur as follows: "If we had an artist of this level, we would have made the whole world talk about her!"

Soon the artist found many friends: artists and art critics, who understood and respected her. Beside meetings with them, she carried a long correspondence with them from her village - Bogdanivka. Among such pen pals are the poet Pavel Tychina and his wife Lydia Petrovna, the art critic Stefan Taranushenko, director of the Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Arts - Vasily Nagai, artists Elena Kulchitskaya, Matvey Dontsov, Emma Gurovich, and others. In Bogdanivka, she has started teaching students: Olga Binchuk, Tamara Ganzha and Anna Samarskaya.

Final years[]

In 1948, the artist's father Vasily Bilokur dies. Katheryna has lived with her sick mother for a while, and later - her brother Grigory with his wife and 5 children moved in with them. In the spring of 1961, severe pain in the stomach joined the pains in Bilokur's legs. Home remedies did not help, and village pharmacy did not have the necessary medicines. In early June 1961, the artist's 94-year-old mother dies. In the same year, Kateryna was taken to the Yagotynsky regional hospital. On June 10, she underwent an operation that did not bring any result, and on the same day Kateryna Bilokur passed away. The artist was buried in her native village of Bogdanivka. The author of the tombstone is a sculptor - Ivan Gonchar.

Paintings[]

Mostly, Kateryna Bilokur was painting flowers. She would often combine spring and autumn in a single picture - such a picture was drawn from spring to autumn. 6 dahlias in the painting "The collective farm field" were painted for three weeks. In addition to flowers, Kateryna Bilokur painted landscapes and portraits. Several times she would try depicting a story of a stork bringing a child, but abandoned this idea due to surprise and misunderstanding from others.

She didn’t work a lot with watercolor and grey pencil because she was more attracted to oil paints. “I made brushes myself - I took hairs of the same length from a cat's tail. Each paint has its own brush. I figured out the canvas priming technique by myself.”

Tribute[]

On December 7, 2020, Google celebrated her 120th birthday with a Google Doodle.^[4]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Katerina Bilokur.

In English[]

• Kateryna Bilokur - 54 artworks - painting - her paintings on WikiArt
• Ukraine gateway
• Katerina Bilokur on Ukrkolo.com

In Ukrainian[]

• Картинна галерея Катерини Білокур
• Дарина Горова Минуло 105 років від дня народження Катерини Білокур. «Україна Молода», № 234, 2005
• Сто видатних імен в Україні