Viacheslav Prykhodko. Strokes to the portrait

Discovering the creativity of the classics of the Transcarpathian School, the viewer will certainly be interested in what these personalities were in life – the authors of perfect paintings, what inspired or worried them, what values they professed.  A few accents, woven into the canvas of the narration about the national artist of Ukraine Viacheslav Prykhodko, will help to recognize the outstanding artist as a man – a Man with a capital “M”.

Love to the Silver Land

When Prykhodko's family moved from Cherkasy region to Uzhhorod, Viacheslav was five years old. For a young boy in the European city, everything was new and unusual. One of the first impressions was the embarrassment of not growing sunflowers here, and he could not even imagine how one can live without them. When he grew up, his father organized to Viacheslav tour of Transcarpathia. The young man was struck by the distinctive colour of the region, fell in love with the Verkhovyna life, the picturesque sceneries of the Carpathian land, which became his second homeland. Although in the future he did not become a landscape painter, but preferred urbanistic motifs, depicting the corners of his native Uzhhorod, he showed with all his creativity the indescribable, sincere love of the nature and culture of the people of the Carpathians, which deepened in his heart.

The spirit of freedom

Viacheslav was independent in character and freedom-loving. He graduated from college as an external student and immediately entered the Lviv Institute of Applied and Decorative Art. In the 1960s, real creative life raged in Lviv, and the European bohemian atmosphere was felt at the institute. Viacheslav studied in the creative studios of talented teachers, his friends at that time were such famous artists as Minko, Puskas, Bodnar, and Medved.

Strong rejection of patterns and injustice, the spirit of freedom and creative independence, brought up by the Lviv environment, are preserved in the artist’s artistic programme for life. His principled nature and the desire to fight for the truth often led to complications in personal and creative life. The artist often had to defend alone the right to his own vision, or to stand up for the protection of historical and architectural monuments – such as, for example, the Intercession Church in Uzhhorod, which “connoisseurs” from the ideology tried to destroy.

Multifaceted talent

The theatre director Vitalii Dvortsyn noted that the great talent of the actor is lost in the artist. Viacheslav was able to talented and successfully imitate the voices, intonations, manners, gestures  of colleagues-artists. He could flawlessly, impromptu, in the form of a friendly joke, to parody Ernest Kontratovych, Shandor Petki, Yurii Hertz. It's all was very friendly, in a smiley tone.

Viacheslav Prykhodko was bohemian, had a sense of style and in his younger years belonged to the so-called “dandy”. One day, when he came to his bride's home, the artist noticed that the father of the girl (the elderly would never understand youth fashion) would tie up tomato bushes in the garden — with trendy, multi-coloured men's ties! Of course, they were all “confiscated” at once.

The artist had one more passion – music, he subtly felt the rhythm and well danced. In his youth, Viacheslav attended a dance studio and even participated in various dance competitions. His favourite dance was a very rhythmic energetic Romanian folk dance.

In his student years, he skilfully danced in the rhythms of rock and roll, for which he was repeatedly summoned to the dean's office and the administration, where he was accused of being committed to bourgeois culture.

He was also a great athlete, he was engaged in classical wrestling and won the championship in young men's competitions.

Caricature Art

One of the greatest preferences of the artist was a caricature. Viacheslav Prykhodko was fascinated by it during his studies when he became an art editor of the student newspaper “Borodach”. For more than thirty years of creative life, the artist has devoted to this genre.

During the 70's and 80's the artist worked fruitfully with periodicals. In Soviet times, the caricature was not particularly welcomed, and in the official media, mostly satirical images that ridiculed idlers, stylists, traders and imperialists were allowed. Once with the artist, there was a case when, having entered a well-known catering establishment, the director of it took him into a cellar to drink brandy with him. It was a definite sign of coaxing not to draw satirical material, because the artist’s caricature were often published in the local press.

And as a gift, he gave his friends caricatures – those that would not allow censorship of publications: both socio-psychological and erotic. They are full of vital observations and sincere human emotions.

The voice of a Transcarpathian artist to protect the work of a world-famous artist

Ernst Fuchs – an outstanding Austrian painter, sculptor, and designer created the sculpture of the Jewish queen Esther (from the Hebrew Esther) “Great  Esther” (1968 – 1973)  and presented to his friend Salvador Dali, who considered it the prototype of “Nana” by Niki de Saint Phalle. The work has decorated the courtyard garden of the theater museum in Dali in the Spanish city of Figueras.

At the beginning of the 90s, it was decided to decorate the ancient city of Freising, located near Munich with the author's repetition of the sculpture “Esther”. However, residents of the Bavarian provincial town ambiguously reacted to the appearance of the work in the architectural space: a plus-size statue with elements of oriental eroticism in a plastic decision offended the conservative views of a part of the townspeople and provoked indignation. Others defended the position of the indispensable preservation of the work of the famous sculptor. Considering this, it was organized an international art competition in defence of an outstanding work, which was of high cultural and aesthetic value.

Viacheslav Prykhodko learned about the contest from his friend and colleague a sculptor who lived in Munich, who advised a painter from Transcarpathia to take part in it. The background for his painting was the city in the colours of the Bavarian flag, and in the centre of the composition is a majestic monumental figure of the queen of Esther, which, according to the artist's design, consists of two parts: the light - the open side and the dark – the mysterious. Fuchs himself highly praised the work of the artist. And Viacheslav Prykhodko became the winner of the second prize (the first one was awarded to the artist from Germany).

Soul mates

Writer John Stevens once wrote: “It's hard for people to be happy. They lock themselves in, get into trouble. They themselves do not know what they need, and they are sad and sad... Dogs do not have such difficulties. They know that happiness is when you do something for others.”

Viacheslav Prykhodko loved animals a lot. He was in love with dogs, and they, feeling the kinship of the soul, answered him with sincere reciprocity.

The Prykhodko family always had dogs. Even his beloved bride as a first gift, Vyacheslav presented a small lapdog, which the future wife called Darling – dear, emphasizing the special values of the gift. Fulfilled with kindness and generosity, the artist without hesitation paid for the operation and treatment of other dogs who needed veterinary care.

Once in the winter in Uzhhorod, going across the bridge, he saw that in the middle of the ice, a dog was wallowing helplessly in the hole in the river and the dog whined loudly. And onlookers stand on the shore and watch the dramatic action, not daring to help. Viacheslav, instantly assessing the situation, without hesitation, rushed to rescue the dog. He himself fell into the water, seriously injured his knee, but helped the dog. People were surprised when they learned that he had saved, risking his own life, a completely alien, unknown puppy. 

Teacher and his students

When the Transcarpathian Art Institute was founded in Uzhhorod on the basis of the school, Viacheslav Prykhodko received an offer to replenish the teaching staff, because at that time he was the only national artist who had a higher education diploma, which was noted as a mandatory requirement for teachers. The artist, who did not have any pedagogical experience, initially refused because he did not represent himself as a mentor. But the rector of the newly formed art university Ivan Nebesnyk managed to persuade the artist to agree and try his hand in the field of pedagogy.

Viacheslav Prykhodko himself did not expect that there was a teacher’s talent and pedagogical abilities in him. Students of his first and, unfortunately, the only graduation the artist perceived as his family and friends. At the very beginning of training, in order to find out what artistic tastes in his students, the teacher gave everyone the task to copy their favourite work. All brought drawings that testified to the incomplete, unformed taste of beginners. However, step by step, tactfully and delicately, benevolently and unobtrusively the mentor gradually directed his pupils, forming and honing their tastes and artistic priorities, deepening their professional knowledge and personal world-view interpretations. He not only taught them art skills, but also took care of and worried about their problems in their everyday lives. The artist often financially, without advertising his actions, supported the projects of talented students.

Colour reflections

Interesting was the change of the artist's worldview through the visualization of images in colour on canvas. In the younger years, it was soft, muted, pastoral tones, close to monochrome, laconic scenic stylistics. Subsequently, since the 90's, the colours on the surface of the canvas have become more expressive, contrasting, built on the comparison of illuminated and shaded tonal planes. However, there is no hint of conflict, opposition, or collision of light and shadow. The painter strives for “reconciliation”, harmonization of the picture surface. By the way, the word “harmony” was a favourite in the artist's life. This concept was devoted to a whole series of works filled with harmony – harmony of colour, plastics and narrative canvases.

And in the early 2000s, when the atmosphere of hope, freedom, life-affirmation prevailed in the country, it echoed in the artist's inner mood: the author's canvases became more rich, filled with bright accents, in the palette of the artist appeared very rarely used by him the green colour, which is associated with optimistic feelings of renewal and fullness of life. The world has played with new colours, full of hopes for the best.

Viacheslav Prykhodko did not leave his creative studio until his last breath. On the easel, there is an unfinished canvas, an unsaid pictorial appeal…  

Text: Liudmyla Kozlovska
The basis for preparing the publication was the memories of the wife of the artist Olena Prykhodko.
Photo: from the family archive of Viacheslav Prykhodko's family
© Art & Culture Foundation Brovdi Art