Tetyana Yablonska and her talents.

Every person on earth is talented.  It means that you are able to do something better than others. And it’s not something we can achieve, it is a gift from heaven. This gift is precious because it brings joy to you and to all the other people. It’s important to find this gift and develop it. Tetyana Yablonska had a gift of a painter. And not because there weren’t talented people around her. She developed her gift as no one does despite all the obstacles from the soviet and post-soviet authorities. Being living person, she was able to preserve so much pure light and honesty in her artworks that it makes no sense to describe it in words.

Is it necessary to list her latest artworks? These pastels, which art historians define as graphic works, and she calls them “painting”. And she is right. Does it matter what we call these “windows to the world” where “world harmony embodied in a drop of dew a flower petal” lives, which everyone longs for? And it’s very important that these artworks of an ill elderly person are full of so many living forces that inspire others to live.

Tetyana Yablonska created artworks, that makes us believe in our strength, beauty, tenderness and kindness. And no one will ever defeat us, because we are not fighting against anyone or anything. These shy pastels are full of a natural vitality and fresh perspective on everything. This beauty, which she saw and described in her latest artworks, is not always obvious to the average viewer. At least I can assure you that I would never found harmony in such a random combination of impressions. And this is the light that every artist wants to achieve.  And the way you understand it is your personal choice.

One of the visitors of the last exhibition Tetyana Yablonska had while she was alive wrote the next review “Green jar is gorgeous! It’s Rembrandt!”. But we can proudly deny it. No, this is not an artwork by Rembrandt. This is a masterpiece of Tetyana Yablonska. Recently, she lived around the corner, on Marianenko Lane, is the Pechersk district.

            Serhii Mamaiev

(Passages of text from exhibition catalogue

“Tetyana Yablonska. Pastel. 2003-2005”

In the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv, 2006)

For reference:

Tetyana Yablonska (Born in February 24, 1917. Smolensk, Russian Empire. Died in June 17, 2005. Kyiv, Ukraine) – Ukrainian painter, professor (since 1967), academician of the Academy of Arts of USSR (since 1975), Peoples artist of USSR (since 1982), acting member (academician) of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine (1997-2005), laureate of the state award of the USSR (1945, 1951, 1979) and National award of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko (1998), presented with the title of Hero of Ukraine (2001).

Tetyana Yablonska and the Khmelnytskyi region:

In 1930-1933, she studied and lived with her family in Kamianets-Podilskyi. In 1949 her painting “Bread” (Width 201 cm, Height 370cm, oil on canvas, now is in the collection of Tretyakov Gallery) become incredibly famous. This painting was made in the village of Letava, Chemerivtsi region. For this artwork, Tetyana was awarded the highest state award of the USSR in 1951 and the bronze medal of the World Exhibition (Brussels) in 1958.