About This Collection
"Jurij Hura was an inspired painter, whose skilled hands can paint several works at once, stepping away and coming back to each until his muse is satisfied with the finished work. His early preference for hard and somber colors had given way to pastels and rich warm hues. His later paintings exude warmth, movement, and fluidity through his bold brushstrokes. But the world cannot really know the deep feelings that are locked inside of him. His longings are expressed not only in the poeticized renderings of the landscapes which he paints, but also in his return to a thematic, familiar historical genre. As if in the midst of an empty vastness an oasis of familiarity appears – so, too, we can often see a stylized willow or a rising moon symbolizing the nostalgia the artist feels for that which is far away and unreachable. With him and he with it, for the code of the earth – it is in him."
From the prologue, written by Mykola Marychevsky, chief editor of The Fine Arts Journal and Artaria Magazine published in Ukraine.
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Paying Tribute to HURA
A lifetime of impact and Legacy
Volodymyr Lasowskiy: 1907 – 1975
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Volodymyr Lasovsky was a Ukrainian painter, graphic artist, and cultural activist. He studied in Lviv and Paris, participated in various art groups and exhibitions, and worked as a teacher and designer. In 1944 he emigrated to Austria where he resided temporarily in the international displaced persons camps. In 1946, moved to Paris, where he headed the Ukrainian Association of Art Patrons. In 1959 he moved to the United States of America.
Volodymyr Lasowskiy
17 October 1973
The images of Hura sometimes reflect a dominating element of epic phenomena or psychoanalytic ones. They sometimes reflect a colorful plot within a song. Using elements of song, the artist creates a vision with contrapuntal brush strokes superimposed over the image. With these dynamic strokes he creates a crystallized saturation of the whole image in a concrete, colorful atmosphere. His aim is to be an expressionistic, post-impressionist who presents the colorful richness of the palette.
Still, this does not throw light on his characteristic style. Once he found this style, he continued to polish it in his future creative work. Jurij Hura is a native painter. The ambiguous world of his works witnesses the individuality of his character. Sometimes the subjects of the artist’s research depend on Abstractionism that has been a fulcrum in his creative intention. His palette is sparkling with the pearl play of colors, and the lines and planes attract playful rhythms.
After leaving Poland, Jurij Hura became a talented member of the large family of painters of the free world. Now, his works and his unique style enrich Ukrainian art. In his pictures we see our national meditations and the dancing rhythms of mountain valleys. Yurij Hura belongs to that group of artists who find their creative energy in their native expressions through their sensual perceptions, but not through rigid formal analysis.
Ivan Keywan
20 September 1980
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The Artists Dynamic Style:
Jurij Hura‘s painting and sculpture reflect his power. They are full of emotion and the dynamics of audacious stylization. Life is strongly pulsating in his painting, and we can see a picture of risque symphony pulsating in his landscapes. These become more vivid in the sculptures of Hura. Their expressionistic character mirrors the distinguishing features of symbolism and even of abstractionism. Some of his sculptures reflect pure
symbols and others seem to be taken from the black stone of a clod of Earth. But all of them have lines of thoughtfulness and of astral phenomena. His work is closely tied to the motherland and to native themes. Jurij Hura is a modernist with a vivid Ukrainian taste. The artist enriches our heritage with his works in order to popularize our native fine arts.
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Ivan (John) Keywan
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Keywan was a notable Ukrainian artist, art critic and historian. Born in Western Ukraine and driven into exile by the events of World War II, he lived the last four decades of his life in Edmonton, Canada. In his role as art historian and critic, Keywan authored many articles, produced several monographs on Ukrainian artists, and wrote a two-volume history of Ukrainian art, of which a section has been published under the title Ukrainian Artists outside Ukraine (1996).
Leonid Rudnytzky [a] 1935 –2024)
Rudnytzky was a Ukrainian-born American linguist and professor of German, Slavic and Ukrainian studies. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and co-editor of numerous American and Ukrainian encyclopedias.
Leonid Rudnytzky, La Salle University
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Cardinal Josef Slipyj series of paintings: Josef Slipyj, the Archbishop Metropolitan of Lviv, spent 18 years as a prisoner of the Soviet regime in the Gulags of Siberia. His letters and epistles, written clandestinely and under great peril, inspired his flock and formed their belief in God. On the intercession
of President John F. Kennedy and Pope John XXIII their spiritual leader was released from captivity in 1963. Jurij Hura was commissioned by, then Cardinal, Slipyj to design the Church interior of Ukrainian Church of the Blessed Virgin of Zhyrovytsi.
No journalist, no historian has thus far been able to capture the indomitable spirit of this Confessor of Faith, who could not be broken nor bought, neither for rubles nor for dollars. Only poets and artists have revealed to us the quintessence of his inner
strength, his ability to overcome torture and privation. Among these artists is Jurij Hura. His rich paintings provide unique insight into the nature of the prisoner, who became the patriarch of his Church, and chronicle his long and arduous path.
Andrij Hurenko
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The sculptures of the contemporary Ukrainian artist, Jurij Hura are examples of the indivisible unity of the visual with the physical and their composite meaning. He penetrates through the thickness of marble or alabaster into the layers of time, looking for the expressive means of his artistic language. His works are witness to the spirituality of every manifestation of existence; they deal with the story of the indestructibility of matter in our everyday life and with the warmth of the hands, which make stone come to life. By concentrating on his message, he escapes the pitfalls of superficial adornments to bring his sculptures to the monumental status of real art for the viewer.
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The artist’s tactile analysis is evident on every surface of his sculptures. He infuses his emotions into his themes. His serious attitude to his creative work gives strength and solidity to the stone and inspires warmth. The mother and child theme is a sculptural problem in this context: how to bring human warmth out of cold stone. It is the artist’s knowledge of the world and his philosophical message, along with his emotional sincerity, which bring the necessary presence of warmth. We can see it in «Motherhood» (1992) and «Tenderness» (1993). The artist makes the marble shine in this crowning moment of happiness.
Andrij Hurenko
Ukrainian artist, 1970