Architect Ivan Levynskyi – the Creator of the Ukrainian National Style

Why is it that at the end of the nineteenth century Lviv became the cradle of the Ukrainian national style? How did its first architectural seeds originate in architecture and fine art and what was Ivan Levynskyi’s role in this movement? The speaker will try to provide answers to these questions. The lecture looked at the life and artistic journey of Ivan Levynskyi (1851-1919), the renowned Ukrainian architect, artist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and social activist. At the turn of the nineteen and twentieth centuries, in a period of fervent national self-consciousness, he assembled clusters of his students and followers in order, for the first time in Galicia, to realize the idea of reviving the Ukrainian spirit in bright, integrated artistic works. In them, masterfully interpreted were the motifs of national art of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains, which allowed for a discussion of the wide-spread phenomenon of "Hutsul Secession."

Particular attention was paid to structures that were executed by Levynskyi’s firm throughout all of Eastern Galicia and on productions from his famous factory of building materials and artistic majolica.

Lecture is a part of the lecture series "Opening the World of Art".

Credits
Cover Image: Vul. Ruska, 20. Maiolica tiles with Hutsul Secession style ornaments that are placed under the 3rd floor windows, 2013 / Ihor Zhuk