Interesting Facts about Kateryna Vasylivna Bilokur, People’s Artist of Ukraine

Search engine giant Google celebrates 120th birthday of Ukrainian folk artist Kateryna Vasylivna Bilokur (Катерина Василівна Білокур), known as People’s Artist of Ukraine, with Doodle on December 7, 2020.

Here is a look at the life and work of Ukrainian folk artist Kateryna Bilokur (Катерина Білокур).

Personal

• Birth name: Kateryna Vasylivna Bilokur (Катерина Василівна Білокур)
• Birthdate: December 7, 1900
• Birthplace: Bohdanivka, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire
• Died on: 9 June 1961
• Dead place: Bohdanivka Yahotyn Raion, Kiev Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
• Nationality: Ukrainian
• Known as: Folk artist, painter
• Notable Award: People’s Artist of Ukraine

Interesting Facts about Kateryna Bilokur (Катерина Білокур)

• Kateryna Bilokur (Катерина Білокур) is an exceptionally original Ukrainian folk artist. Her delightful photos of the colorful Ukrainian nature are a significant landmark in the history of Ukrainian folk art.

• She was born December 7, 1900, in the town of Bogdanivka, Kyiv district, into the family of a poor worker. Her birth date is obscure however 7 December is used as her official birthday.

• Kateryna Bilokur had no likelihood to learn at school and just her hunger for information caused her later to top off the gaps in her education. Continuously, love for art constrained out the wide range of various flames.

• Her parents’ attempt to distract her from that “good-for-nothing” interest was to no end. Concentrating mindfully on nature, she progressively enhanced herself with new impressions and entered into the secrets of painting, design, and drawing lines.

• The first works of Kateryna Bilokur (the 1920s — mid-30s) were unprofessional. They were the representations of her relations and townspeople executed with charcoal and independent vegetable paints.

• The second half of the 1930s was a significant period in her inventiveness. At that point, she took to drawing still-lifes. Indeed, even her prior works — The Birch (1934), Flowers by the Fence (1935), Flowers (1936), and some others clearly indicated her excellent inventive abilities.

• After an unpromising beginning, Kateryna Bilokur’s works became known in the late 1930s and 1940s for their interest in nature.

• Kateryna Bilokur’s paintings were first shown at the Poltava Regional Exhibition in 1940 and afterward at a national exhibition in Kyiv. They were highly appreciated by art-lovers and art-critics.

• Inspired by this achievement, the artist went to Kyiv and Moscow “to see real paintings by real masters” and a while later made a series of superb compositions pervaded with love for her native land and its enterprising individuals.

• Tragically, the entirety of the works showed at the Poltava exhibition in 1941 died during the Second World Wаг.

• The two years spent on the extremist involved domain were the most difficult in the life of Kateryna Bilokur. Only a few pictures were made in this period — Flowers and Flowers at Eventide (1942), and Flowers (Lilies) which she wrapped up before the finish of 1943.

• After the liberation of her native town, Kateryna Bilokur makes new compositions, Luxuriant Vegetation, Decorative Flowers (1945), Bounties of Nature (1946), 30th Anniversary of the October Revolution (1947), and her renowned canvas Ear the King which is unrivaled as respects its esthetic and passionate effect.

• The 1950s were the most beneficial years in Bilokur’s artistic career. Kateryna Bilokur made such original and bright still-lifes as AppIes and Tomatoes, Breakfast (1950), Watermelon, Carrots, and Flowers (1951), In Shramkivka District of Cherkassy Region (1955—1956), Flowers and Crapes (1953—1958) which are recognized for their freshness and verve.

• During the 1950s, Kateryna Bilokur made her first attempts in water-color painting. Her best works of the period — Bogdanivka Village in September, Beyond the Village (1956), Early Spring (1958), Autumn (1960) — are noted for their exceptionally passionate expressiveness.

• During the last years of Kateryna Bilokur’s life, which were diminished by serious sickness, Kateryna Bilokur made various eminent pictures, for example, Dahlias (1958), Peonies (1958), Bogdanivka Apples (1959), Bunch of Flowers (1960), and others.

• In 1954, three paintings by Kateryna Bilokur were shown at an international exhibition in Paris where, among others, they were highly praised by Pablo Picasso.

• In 1956, Katerina Bilokur was named the “People’s Artist of Ukraine,” an incredibly high honor. The picture was additionally issued on a Ukrainian coin.

• Kateryna Bilokur (Катерина Білокур) died on June 9, 1961. It is likely her great work will live on for centuries to come and be considered among the most eminent show-stoppers of the world.

• Her inventiveness has won her general recognition. She was given the respectable title of People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and awarded the Badge of Honor and a diploma of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.

• In her native village, a monument was raised in her honor. Consistently of the year, its platform is covered with flowers which she so respected.

• Kateryna Bilokur legitimately involves a leading place in the history of Ukrainian folk art. Bilokur’s art depends on her significant information on nature and folk art traditions, and the effect her canvases produce is truly remarkable.

• Her work is preserved at the National Museum of Ukrainian Decorative Folk Art. Albums of her paintings were published in Kyiv in 1959, 1975, and 2010.

• On December 7, 2020, Google recognized Kateryna Bilokur’s 120th Birthday with Google Doodle.