Background
Mykola Pymonenko was born on March 9, 1862 in Priorka (a suburb of Kyiv), Ukraine. He was the son-in-law of Volodymyr Orlovsky.
Mykola Pymonenko was born on March 9, 1862 in Priorka (a suburb of Kyiv), Ukraine. He was the son-in-law of Volodymyr Orlovsky.
Initially, during the period from 1878 to 1882, Mykola studied at the Kyiv Drawing School. Finishing the school school, he went on to study at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he stayed until 1884.
Mykola started to work as a teacher in 1884 at the Kyiv Drawing School, a post he held until 1901, when he accepted a teaching position at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, where he stayed for the rest of his life. Since 1906 Mykola also taught at Kiev Art School, which he helped to organize.
The painter took part in decorating St. Volodymyr's Cathedral in 1897.
The works of the painter made in 1885—1887 are quite diverse thematically. From the end of the 1880s and on, the life of Ukrainian peasants became the main theme in his creativity. Scenes of various rites prevail in paintings done in the late 1880s-early 1890s: Fortune-Telling on Christmastide, Wedding in Kyiv Gubernia, Matchmakers and others. With great authenticity, and often poetically, these works, as well as others done during the same period, reflect rural customs typical of the time.
Because of somewhat monotonous technique of painting, the state and mood of nature are not conveyed expressively enough in the canvases of the 1890s. But from the very beginning of the 20th century, Pymonenko began treating most of his works in a different manner. Their colour gamut became richer, and painting technique freer. The landscape became more inspired and the role it played in the emotional system of a picture conspicuously increased. At the same time the importance of a subject worked out in detail and meant to reveal the content of a picture diminished. The subject as such became simpler.
Mykola painted portraits as well, depicting mainly the members of his family and his acquaintances. The best of these speak of the artist as an experienced master who could expertly convey the age, appearance and character of a sitter.
During all his life Pymonenko worked much, taking an active part in the artistic life of Kyiv. During the period from 1885 to 1892 his works were exhibited at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. Mykola also took part in the exhibitions of the Society of South-Russlan Artists from 1891 to 1896. Some time later, the painter started to exhibit his works abroad — in Munich, Paris, Berlin and London. A number of the artist’s works were purchased by foreign art galleries.
Buying out the Bride
Laundry
Wedding in Kiev Province
Flower-girl
A Date
Victime of fanatisme
Jealousy
Becoming the evening
Going Home
Harvest Gathering in Ukraine
Yuletide fortune tellers
Meeting at the Well
Ukrainian Night
Blind Old Woman
Conversation
At the well
Fabric trading woman
At the Shadow
Wedding in Kiev Province
Kiev Station
Go-betweens
Easter morning prayer in Malorosia
A Hen
Sheperding the Flock
Off to War
Kiev Flower Girl
Boy with a basket
Haymaking
A Girl
Fair
A Ford
Before the campaign
Maundy Thursday
Harvester
Young Woman
From the Forrest
Meeting with fellow
Idyll
At the River
Easter vigil
Ox