Vasil Sedliar Teofanovich

Biography

Vasyl Teofanovych Sedlyar was born on April 12, 1899 in the Khristivka farm, Zinkivka county, Poltava province. He belonged to a family of Ukrainian peasants. He received primary four-grade education at a local school.

In 1915-1919, he studied at the Art School in Kyiv. After that, he continued his education in the workshop of monumental art of professor Mykhailo Boychuk at the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts (1919-1923).

Vasyl Sedlyar was one of the founders and ideologues-theoreticians of the Association of Revolutionary Art of Ukraine (ARMU). He was also a member of the artistic association "Zhovten" since 1930. He worked as a teacher and director of the Mezhyhirya Art and Ceramic Technical School (1923—1930) and the Technological Institute of Ceramics and Glass in Mezhyhirya (1928—1930). Later he taught at the Kyiv Art Institute (1930-1936).

Creativity

Sedlyar worked in various genres: monumental and easel painting, easel and book graphics, decorative and applied art. He participated in the creation of murals for the Mezhyhirsky Art Ceramic Technical College (1924) and the Chervonozavod Theater in Kharkiv (1933-1935), which were destroyed.

Among the preserved works of Sedlyar:

• "At the Lyknep School" (1929)
• "Portrait of Oksana Pavlenko" (1926—1927)
• "On the move"
• "Shooting" (1927, damaged)

His portraits differed in orientation towards fresco monumental painting with generalization of forms and flatness. Sedlyar's ink drawings resembled ceramic paintings. He also created illustrations for "Kobzar" by Taras Shevchenko together with V. Weisblat (1931 and 1933). In addition, Sedlyar worked in the field of artistic ceramics: earthenware, majolica (1924-1929), and produced cardboard for thematic carpets (1936). He also illustrated books by V. Mayakovsky, H. Shkurupia, I. Franko and A. Golovko.

Stalin terror and death

Vasyl Sedlyar became a victim of Stalin's terror. He was executed by the NKVD authorities of the USSR on July 13, 1937 in Kyiv. After his death, he was rehabilitated by the Bolshevik regime on February 1, 1958.

A saddler in modern Ukraine

In 2009, the Kyiv publishing houses "Spirit and Litera" and "Oranta" published the edition of "Kobzar" by Taras Shevchenko with illustrations by Vasyl Sedlyar. In 2012, the book was republished in black and white.

The first personal exhibition of Vasyl Sedlyar's works was held at the National Museum of Fine Arts of Ukraine in September 2009.

In 2019, Ukrposhta issued an anniversary envelope in honor of Vasyl Sedlyar. Also in 2019, the monograph by Artur Rudzytskyi "Illustrator of "Kobzar" Vasyl Sedlyar and his time" was published. In 2020, a new edition of "Kobzar" was published with all illustrations by Vasyl Sedlyar.