Ukrainian Press on the International Exhibition of Calligraphy

On September 16-21 the Repin State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture of St. Petersburg hosted the International Exhibition of Calligraphy. Ukraine was represented by four artists.

Obraz-M, a Ukrainian magazine published the following article about this exhibition.

On September 16-21, the Repin State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture of St. Petersburg hosted the International Exhibition of Calligraphy. The project was initiated by Alexey Shaburov, Director General of MVK International Exhibition Company.

The exhibition included master classes, educative lectures, and calligraphic skill-building sessions. The exhibition displayed the works of illustrious calligraphers from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Europe, USA, Israel, Jordan, Japan, China, Syria, Mongolia, Turkey, India, Australia, Brazil, Peru, etc.

Ukraine was represented by four artists: V. Chebanik, Professor of the National Academy of Painting and Architecture; V. Mitchenko, Assistant Professor of the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture; Ya. Kutz, teacher of the Lvov Printing Institute; and A. Chekal, representative of the Kharkov Academy of Design Art.

A handwritten script uniting art type and calligraphy is designed in accordance with the same laws of beauty as any other visual artwork. Unfortunately, the role of calligraphy in evolution of historic styles is understudied (perhaps, due to the originality of the art). A calligraphically designed letter in Gothic or Old Slavonic writing system is a certain code-module laying the grounds of every historic age. Popularization of calligraphy via International Exhibition of Calligraphy exercises a salutary influence over the professional typographers and those who are eager to cognize the world by laws of beauty. A graphically interpreted phrase is a peculiar bridge between inner human nature and objective reality around. The significance of the project consists in its ability to help people appreciate the world’s cultural heritage and to increase the number of people who treat calligraphy as a new colour in the diverse palette of visual art.

Vasil Chebanik. Typographic composition

Vitaly Mitchenko. Calligraphic composition

From left to right: Pyotr Chobitko, the former teacher of Kiev Art Institute (now: the National Academy of Painting and Architecture), currently the Chairman of the National Union of Calligraphers, St. Petersburg; Pavel Semchenko, Professor of the Belarus National Academy of Arts; Yaroslav Kuts (Lvov); Vasil Chebanik (Kyiv); Nikolai Taranov (Volgograd), teacher of typography in Lvov for many years.

A calligraphic performance for four hands, master class of Jean Larcher (France) and Katharina Pieper (Germany).

Master class by Hans Maierhofer

You can read a pdf of the original article here (in Ukrainian)

Source: International Exhibition of Calligraphy