In search of the meaning of the image…
A triumphant cultural and artistic event took place at the Artist Art Gallery, which represents the Kyiv organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. Maria Levitska, the stenographer and chief artist of the National Opera of Ukraine, celebrated her creative achievements in recent years with a retrospective exhibition entitled "Dressing the Opera".
The creative path of this talented artist is filled with outstanding achievements that reveal her cultural and artistic talent. The future artist was born in the capital of Ukraine, passed the educational path in the walls of the Kyiv State Art Institute, the department of scenography, which was headed by Professor Danylo Lider.
M. Levitska - People's Artist of Ukraine, laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, full member of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, awarded the Order of Princess Olga (II century), Theater Prize " Kyiv Pectoral ", Man of the Year - 2000 awards. She was awarded the highest state award of the Italian Republic, which can be awarded to foreign citizens - the Order of the Star of Italy.
In the portfolio of the artist of several professions, she initially worked as a production designer and costume designer at the Film Studio. O. Dovzhenko. And since 1989 she was invited to the National Opera and Ballet. T. Shevchenko to the position of chief artist, where Levitskaya still works today.
To understand the full range of created artistic images, you need to dive into the repertoire of the leading theater of Ukraine. The artist has created sets and costumes for more than 160 performances, including operas "Cinderella" by G. Rossini, "Love Drink" by G. Donizetti, "Zaporozhets on the Danube" by S. Gulak-Artemovsky, "Aleko" by S. Rachmaninoff, "Love to three oranges "by S. Prokofiev," The Tale of Tsar Saltan "by M. Rimsky-Korsakov," Mazepa "," The Queen of Spades "by P. Tchaikovsky," Turandot "," Bohemia "by G. Puccini," Ball Maskrad ", "Macbeth", "Nabucco" by J. Verdi. A number of leading ballets: "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", "Nutcracker" by P. Tchaikovsky, "Magic Dream" by M. Lysenko, "Coppelia" by L. Delib, "Corsair" by A. Adan, "The Night Before Christmas", " Vikings ”by E. Stankovych,“ Firebird ”,“ Parsley ”by I. Stravinsky,“ Wedding of Figaro ”by V.-A. Mozart and others.
In 1983, the artist received a diploma "For Best Work" at the International Festival "Prague Quadrinale", for sketches of costumes and scenery. She has participated in more than thirty art exhibitions, including solo exhibitions in Ukraine, Japan, Canada, Poland, and Israel. M. Levitska's paintings are stored in the State Museum of Theater, Music and Cinema of Ukraine, Theater Museum. O. Bakhrushin (Moscow), in private collections of Canada, Poland, Slovenia, Germany, Israel, Ukraine.
The exhibition hall houses several locations where sketches of theatrical costumes and sketches for performances from the theater's repertoire of recent years, paintings, graphics, batik are presented. The outfit, created for the star of the world stage by the owner of the unique soprano People's Artist of Ukraine Lyudmila Monastyrska for the opera Giorgio Verdi "Nabucco", became the center of the exhibition, near which guests took selfies. The author of the article also did it.
A series of paintings entitled "My Magic Garden" reveals not only the beauty of the surrounding nature, but also the original painting style of the artist, full of space, light, soft light and shadow gradations of the harmonious palette. In my opinion, flower arrangements are similar to musical chords, in which the special power of artistic perception, such as mallows, roses, lilies, irises, daisies, meadow grasses…
For me, stenographer is a separate mysterious profession. It combines several separate areas, which in combination serve to enhance the imagery of the hero of the play. Be it ballet, musical, opera. First, the artist studies the textual material, then creates a script, and finally takes into account the play of the actor, who conveys the image to the viewer. The synthesis of emotional perception of the performance is complemented by musical accompaniment, all these components flow into a single artistic space, which must be taken into account by the screenwriter. The spectator goes on a journey of past epochs, experiences a story that takes place among the scenery and the play of actors in costumes that speak the language of drama.
But this is not a complete list of components that the theater artist faces, there is another important category - the modern mentality of society. Therefore, the appearance of such a person as Maria Levitskaya is a significant phenomenon in the cultural and artistic field of the capital. Behind the triumph of victories is daily creative work, inquisitive study of history, culture, world-class artistic tastes. What we saw at the retrospective exhibition gives us an idea to feel the significance of the artist's creative achievements, which continues the high bar set by Danylo Lider and Fedor Nirod.
"We try to organize exhibitions of leading members of KONSHU, bright creative personalities, because their works influence the education of modern society. That is why such a project is a decoration of our joint activity, ”shared in the conversation the director of the gallery, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine Karina Kravets.
The jubilee was congratulated by a colleague from the creative department, art critic Professor Doctor of Arts O. Fedoruk, First Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy R. Karandeev, Chief Director of the Taras Shevchenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater A. Solovyanenko, Deputy Chairman of KONSHU painter R. Kutnyak. The performances noted the unique creative gift of the artist, the desire to create their own art world in which high professionalism, deep knowledge of world history, culture and art, incredible vitality. In this synthesis of achievements, the search for artistic expression reveals the intriguing, original creative style of M. Levitskaya.
Valentyna Yefremova is an art critic, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine