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Ukrainian Underground Art
Album of the woodcuts made in Ukraine, in 1947—1950 by artist of the Ukrainian underground Nil Khasevych -“Bey-Zot” and his disciples.
49 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
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About the author
Nil Khasevych
1 bookBorn in 1906, the son of a village clerk in a little village of Volynia, Ukraine, Nil Khasevch had a hard boyhood. There was little that was joyous about life in a big, poverty-stricken family of a small farmer who from time to time performed some minor ecclesiastic office in a local Orthodox church. At eight years of age, little Nil suffered an accident which crippled him permanently. While riding with his mother in a cart to a neighboring town an on-coming train stuck them as they crossed the tracks. The mother was killed instantly while Nil, severely injured, was taken to the hospital. The surgeons saved his life but a leg was lost.
The accident and death of his mother were terrible blows to the little boy, but loss of his leg paved the way for his art career. His injury made it certain that he would never become a valuable laborer in his father's fields. He felt useless at home, an unnecessary eater of bread which was so scarce. The father, however, had no intention of allowing him to live in idleness and tried to give the boy an education. The odds were against the boy: the First World War came with all its hardships and his native Volynia became a battlefield for the million-men armies of the great powers. The Ukrainian Liberation War (1917-1921) followed. Volynia was ceded to Poland (1920), and conditions remained unsatisfactory for getting a regular education
In 1926 Khasevych registered at the Academy of Arts in Warsaw. There he studied painting and later graphic arts. The Warsaw Academy was a good art
school, and he progressed rapidly despite the fact that he had to make up the defects in his early education. In 1932 he finished the course and received the diploma of an art teacher. But being a Ukrainian, he could not
hope to get an adequate position in school. So he began specializing in woodcutting and Ukrainian calligraphy.
Soon Khasevych became a master of Ukrainian letters and of ex-libris. He became acquainted with the latest developments in this field and this resulted in an award in 1937. He won the third prize in the International Exhibition of Woodcuts in Warsaw (1936-37) for four book plates. As a prize-winner he became known in artistic circles, and this encouraged him to develop his specialty and to produce some excellent works in the 1937-1939 period.
The hour when Khasevych attained artistic maturity was one of the most pregnant in the history of Ukraine. It was the time when two great powers again contended for Ukraine. Neither of them was willing to grant any concessions to the Ukrainian people and the latter, not willing to submit, sought to take advantage of the conflict. The Ukrainians organized the force of their own - the UPA (Ukrainian Povstancha Armia - Ukrainian Insurgent Army) - which fought the Nazis in the recent war and still is engaged in warfare against the Soviets. Its purpose is to win national freedom and independence for Ukraine.
Along with thousands of other Ukrainians, Nil Khasevych found his way into the UPA in 1943. We are able to show some of his woodcuts made in the underground from 1947 to 1950. In them we can see how his engravings in wood have helped disseminate the ideals for which the UPA fights. As an artist influenced by his surroundings, Khasevych expresses in a realistic manner the deeply-felt experiences of the Ukrainian people under Soviet subjugation. His woodcuts, including subjects of every sort from illustrations of underground publications to satirical pieces, have a direct, almost primitive realism which strikes in a truly incomparable manner at the enemy of the Ukrainian people.
As an underground artist he undertook and completed his series of designs, mostly with highly-wrought landscape backgrounds of his native land. A portrait series belongs to this group. A series of productions entitled, "Collectivization" is an indictment of the Russian "kolkhoz" system forced upon Ukraine - the
The accident and death of his mother were terrible blows to the little boy, but loss of his leg paved the way for his art career. His injury made it certain that he would never become a valuable laborer in his father's fields. He felt useless at home, an unnecessary eater of bread which was so scarce. The father, however, had no intention of allowing him to live in idleness and tried to give the boy an education. The odds were against the boy: the First World War came with all its hardships and his native Volynia became a battlefield for the million-men armies of the great powers. The Ukrainian Liberation War (1917-1921) followed. Volynia was ceded to Poland (1920), and conditions remained unsatisfactory for getting a regular education
In 1926 Khasevych registered at the Academy of Arts in Warsaw. There he studied painting and later graphic arts. The Warsaw Academy was a good art
school, and he progressed rapidly despite the fact that he had to make up the defects in his early education. In 1932 he finished the course and received the diploma of an art teacher. But being a Ukrainian, he could not
hope to get an adequate position in school. So he began specializing in woodcutting and Ukrainian calligraphy.
Soon Khasevych became a master of Ukrainian letters and of ex-libris. He became acquainted with the latest developments in this field and this resulted in an award in 1937. He won the third prize in the International Exhibition of Woodcuts in Warsaw (1936-37) for four book plates. As a prize-winner he became known in artistic circles, and this encouraged him to develop his specialty and to produce some excellent works in the 1937-1939 period.
The hour when Khasevych attained artistic maturity was one of the most pregnant in the history of Ukraine. It was the time when two great powers again contended for Ukraine. Neither of them was willing to grant any concessions to the Ukrainian people and the latter, not willing to submit, sought to take advantage of the conflict. The Ukrainians organized the force of their own - the UPA (Ukrainian Povstancha Armia - Ukrainian Insurgent Army) - which fought the Nazis in the recent war and still is engaged in warfare against the Soviets. Its purpose is to win national freedom and independence for Ukraine.
Along with thousands of other Ukrainians, Nil Khasevych found his way into the UPA in 1943. We are able to show some of his woodcuts made in the underground from 1947 to 1950. In them we can see how his engravings in wood have helped disseminate the ideals for which the UPA fights. As an artist influenced by his surroundings, Khasevych expresses in a realistic manner the deeply-felt experiences of the Ukrainian people under Soviet subjugation. His woodcuts, including subjects of every sort from illustrations of underground publications to satirical pieces, have a direct, almost primitive realism which strikes in a truly incomparable manner at the enemy of the Ukrainian people.
As an underground artist he undertook and completed his series of designs, mostly with highly-wrought landscape backgrounds of his native land. A portrait series belongs to this group. A series of productions entitled, "Collectivization" is an indictment of the Russian "kolkhoz" system forced upon Ukraine - the
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