“I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian!”, Pablo Picasso once said.
When? Around 1935.
Where? During a painting exhibition in Paris.
But why? Because of Maria Prymachenko unique style.
Maria Oksentiyivna Prymachenko (January 1909 – 18 August 1997) was an Ukrainian folk art painter, pioneer of the naïve art style.
Living her early life as a countryside girl, she was a self-taught artist who worked in painting, embroidery and ceramics.
Her name came back to light few days ago, after The Ivankiv Historical and Local History Museum was set on fire in Ukraine. Containing 25 of her original works at the very least.
Prymachenko’s works were inspired by Ukrainian (and in particular Polesian) folk traditions. The artworks reference both the natural world and the folk fairy- tales.
Nature and its radiant colours, which surrounded Maria in her early life, was the force that moved her to create art.
Feeling shapes and lines in the most essential way, her bold and expressive linework developed to a great extent, combining traditional Ukrainian motifs in new ways. Mostly typical flowers interlaced with semi- fantastic beasts, in unrealistic flat surroundings.
Although much celebrated nowadays, in the period of 1960s to 1980s she was killing it: Prymachenko developed an increasingly vibrant colour palette in her paintings, perfectly in line with the aesthetic of that time. Adding to the artistic movements as a pioneer (knowingly or not).
Recently, Prymachenko has inspired a young talented artists collective, also from Ukraine, to make an illustration influenced by her style.
Tubik Studio, works in illustration, design and Interface Animation, states “The more you dive into art, the deeper it feels like a sort of endless and impressive universe with each artist presenting a particular star or even galaxy full of amazing discoveries.”
Their digital piece also features Ukrainian embroidery, sunflowers, and a big lion, which is the symbol of Lviv city and widespread in all the country.
Those vibrant colors that Prymachenko firstly envisioned when she was a young country girl drawing on the sand, make a full circle in the contemporary artist’s group here.