Representation of Taras Shevchenko as an Artist in the Art of China

Abstract

Стаття доводить, що в Китаї Тарас Григорович Шевченко в першу чергу відомий як геніальний поет. Протягом усього20 століття, поет Шевченко і революціонер Шевченко по суті затьмарили художника Шевченка. Його спадщина привернула увагу китайських вчених лише на рубежі 21 століття, коли між Китаєм та Україною виникли нові соціально-політичні та культурні відносини. Зазначається, що в сучасному мистецтвознавстві Китаю Т. Шевченко трактується або за аналогією з радянською наукою як "культурний революціонер", або як колективний образ українського народу, зазвичай недооцінений.

The article proves that in China Taras Grygorovych Shevchenko is primarily known as a genius poet. Throughout the entire 20th century, Shevchenko the poet and Shevchenko the revolutionary essentially overshadowed Shevchenko the artist. Shevchenko’s artistic legacy attracted attention of Chinese scholars only at the turn of the 21st century, when new socio-political and cultural relations emerged between China and Ukraine. It is noted that in contemporary art criticism of China, T. Shevchenko is interpreted either, by analogy with Soviet science, as a “cultural revolutionary”, or as a collective image of the Ukrainian people, usually unappreciated. Based on the analysis of articles and works of Chinese scholars in varying degrees involved in comprehension of artistic heritage of T. Shevchenko, it is shown that absence of a common understanding of the historical development of Ukrainian art in Chinese art history often prevents Chinese scholars from realizing the role and place of Shevchenko the artist in Ukrainian art. For Chinese scholars, he remains a lyricist and a “poetic” artist (“literary painter”). The portrait genre is recognized as the most “convenient” for analysis by Chinese art critics due to national specifics of creative activity of T. Shevchenko. Within its framework, special attention is paid to self-portrait, which to a certain extent corresponds to Chinese understanding of T. Shevchenko as a “literary artist”. The analysis of female images in artistic heritage of T. Shevchenko is important and corresponds to the primary perception of Kobzar as a “poetic” artist and lyricist.