REVIEW OF PUBLICATIONS. XX ALL-UKRAINIAN RATING “BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018”

In February 2019, the jubilee XX All-Ukrainian rating “Book of the Year 2018” announced its results. The solemn ceremony was held at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv and gathered the best publishers of the country. We offer you an overview of publications in the field of culture and art, which occupied high positions in the rating and received numerous positive reviews.

Publishing House “Vydavnytstvo Oleksandry Harkushi”

The book-album “Architectural heritage of Uzhhorod” entered the seven best books of 2018 according to the results of the All-Ukrainian rating “The Book of the Year” in the nomination “Visiting card”, “Local lore and tourism literature/road notes”.

As the well-known journalist, Tetiana Literati writes, “the history of this publication dates back to 1992. It was then that an architectural and restoration studio was founded in Uzhhorod, the members of which were Petro Sarvash, Ihor Brodi, Volodymyr Derkach, and Volodymyr Sibukov. That was the time when the city began to actively privatize state property, and already privatized – not less actively remodel, rebuild, and demolish. That is what prompted enthusiasts from the architectural and restoration studio to contact the city authorities of Uzhhorod with a proposal to develop a program for the protection and rehabilitation of the historical core of the city.”

Publisher Oleksandra Harkusha has worked out a thousand photos. As a result, she selected about 500 photos, which formed the basis of the three sections of the book: “Castle Hill and The Surrounding Area”, “Malyi Halahov District” and “Mansions. Villas”. Each photo in the album has a mark on how the structure depicted on it is damaged: from the white, which means that the building is now well preserved, to black – the building is completely destroyed or rebuilt to non-recognisability.

Publishing House “Laurus”

In the category “Architecture / Theater, Film / Art Studies Essayistics / Special Studies” the first position of the rating was taken by Vitalii Mitchenko's book “Calligraphy. Fonts interaction: theory and practice; Cyrillic and Latin; history and modernity”.

In the scientific publication, the author explores the historical path of the handwritten Cyrillic alphabet in Ukraine from the appearance of pre-alphabetical sign systems on its territory and now. For the first time, an analysis of the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet was conducted against the background of changing artistic styles in Europe. For a comparative analysis of the historical path of Cyrillic and Latin, the history of Latin manuscript and assembly fonts was briefly described.

The album contains about 800 reproductions, author's redrawing and schemes, which clearly demonstrate the main stages of development of font forms and the effect of handwritten fonts on assembly one. The publication is intended for scientists, students and graduates of art universities, as well as art and creative specialists who work in the field of book design, graphic design, advertising, and create modern font design, based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Publishing House “Apriori”

Luxurious three-volume book “Ukrainian book mark of the 19-20th centuries: catalogue of the collection of Stepan Davymuk” received an award in the category “Painting/Photography/Plastic”.

The publication thoroughly describes the peculiarities of the development of the Ukrainian bookmark of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, its symbolically allegorical imagery based on the research of the collection of Stepan Davymuk, which is presented in the catalogue in full. And this is  as much as – 12342 works, performed by different artists during the nineteenth – beginning of the twenty first century. Currently, the publication is the most comprehensive register of Ukrainian exlibris and is of interest to scholars, teachers of higher educational institutions, students, museum specialists, and admirers of the history and culture of the Ukrainian people.

Publishing House “A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA”

The well-known Ukrainian publishing house has won the “Publishing Image of the Year” award in the ranking, its books received the most rewards.

Considerable merit in winning the hearts of readers and prestigious awards is the emphasis on illustrations of publications and cooperation with leading domestic and foreign artists - masters of book graphics. What can one say, when the main artist of the publishing house is Kost Lavro, laureate of the National Prize of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in the field of fine art. The works of Kost Lavro have repeatedly been included in the catalogues of the most prestigious international exhibitions of the children's book, and the rights to the books illustrated by the artist have been purchased by famous world publishers from the USA, Switzerland, France and other countries.

Also, one can not ignore the publication of the pictures of the outstanding master of Ukrainian book graphics Vladyslav Yerko. One of them – coloured, illustrated by the artist Andersen's “Snow Queen” - won the title “The Best Children's Book 2006” (Andersen Foundation, USA), and the writer Paulo Coelho said about it: “This is the most amazing children's book I saw in my life.” Yerkov's “Snow Queen” was published in many countries of the world – from Great Britain and in South Korea and Australia.

In the All-Ukrainian rating for 2018 in the nomination “Adolescent and Youth Literature” illustrated by the artist Mykola Hohol's edition “Taras Bulba” received an award.

Based on materials from open sources.
© Art & Culture Foundation Brovdi Art