ICONOGRAPHY AND STYLISTICS IN THE SERIES OF ARTWORKS OF "PASSIONS OF THE CHRIST" BY VASYL KURELEK

Art Criticism is a young field in Ukraine and is just beginning to grow into maturity. Many topics have been adequately studied and scores of names have been recognized, but hundreds of worthy artists are waiting to be registered and feted in the national discourse. The history of the 20th century was such that artists of Ukrainian heritage often found themselves creating outside the borders of their native land. However, regardless of the geographic locale in which the art was created, it always had at its nucleus the traditions of the artist’s native land. One such artist, well known and respected in Canada, but very poorly known in Ukraine, was William Kurelek (1927–1977). In Canada, he is known as “The Bruegel of Manitoba”, in London – “The Canadian Bosch” or “Van Goh of the Prairies”. It is difficult to disagree with these assessments, so let us familiarize ourselves with him. The theses discuss one of the fundamental themes in the works of the famous Ukrainian Canadian artist William Kurelek – “The Passion of Christ”. Attention is paid to the meaningful role played by the only verse-by-verse illustration of the Gospel According to Matthew in the world. Described are the mechanics of illustrative portraiture and the thematic structure of sacred subjects. Obviously, the story of Christ’s suffering had been retold many times in various formats by various voices earlier, but new artists were always attempting to retell it in their own way, each focusing on what was important to them. William Kurelek was aware of these works by earlier artists. However, his version of “The Passion” is to a large extent a mirror if his own life and calling. William Kurelek first had the idea of creating a series of paintings about “The Passion of Christ” in 1956. Of the four Gospels, he chose the one according to St. Matthew, saying that it had the most easily understandable details and provided the best dramatic qualities. Kurelek created 160 paintings, illustrating verse for verse, building from sketch to completed painting. His very long-term plan was to illustrate the entire Gospel according to St. Matthew – a series of 800 paintings. However, he only managed to complete 30 works. His plan was cut short by his untimely death. In order to be able to create a more perfect reproduction the events of the final three days of Christ, Kurelek travelled to the Holy Land in 1959, where he made hundreds of, sketches, took hundreds of photos, and collected historical and geographical information about the places where Christ lived. This precious knowledge laid the foundation for Kurelek’s series, which he began at the start of 1960 and completed in 1963. In the 160 paintings, we see the various styles and approaches used by Kurelek – some are created in a natural/primitivistic method, while others are exemplars of the highest form of detailed precision. Kurelek spent three weeks in the Holy Land, walked from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and took hundreds of photos – on which he would base his depictions of location and landscape. The formal language of the series “The Passion” discloses an ongoing attempt to unite traditional and personal thought. The artist had his own take on religious painting. His iconography became a form of synthesis of eastern (Byzantine), northern-renaissance, and Mexican styles. Kurelek was interested in the use of light, colour, and techniques of depiction of the static form, its deconstruction and composition in freeform, and the relationships between line, form, and shade in general. In the series we find many works of various scope – mass or individual. Therefore, the series can be separated into two groups: those which multiple figures, and those with only one or two – again dictated by what the artist wanted to emphasise. Kurelek paid great attention to detail, investing in serious study of history, tradition, and architecture of the land of Israel in the time of Jesus. An analysis of the stylistic character of the works will show a synthesis of the influences on Kurelek. We know that he often drew on the works of his favourite painters, emulating the greatest achievements in the world of art. The series “The Passion of Christ” is not the result of detached artistic calculation, but rather an honest, moving declaration of faith. It is a proof that even today religion continues to be an inspiration for cultural expression. This series was an explicit act of conversion of a practicing atheist to devout Catholic – an ascent from depths of personal suffering and torment, to a fulfilled spiritual life. In the words of the artist, in his work he positioned point vs counterpoint – love vs hate, creation vs destruction, faith vs superstition [5, p. 30]. Kurelek believed that he was given his artistic ability in order to serve God. He considered himself His servant, and his art was a tool of God’s will – not his. <strong>Results. </strong>The phenomenon of William Kurelek first absorbed the best from the classics of the old world, then matured in the ashes of personal psychological traumas, suffered, proceeded to be was washed in faith, and finally became whole. The result was the creation of a thousands strong army of masterpieces, armed with deep meaning and symbolism. The artist created monuments on canvas to multiple ethnic groups of immigrants to Canada and illustrated “The Passion of Christ” from the Gospel according to St. Matthew verse by verse, yet he continued to strive for more. Having exchanged outlook from clinically depressed to theologically-metaphysical, he created a rich, enduring legacy of prophetic, mysterious, and religious art. <strong>Novelty. </strong>“The Passion of Christ” is one of the most significant works in the history of religious art. This series is a symbolic thanks to God from the artist for his spiritual salvation. His creativity continues to remain an open field in the search for the Eternal.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.