Ivan Trush

Ivan Trush ( _uk. Іван Труш, pronounced as "Troosh") was a Ukrainian impressionist painter, a master of landscape and portraiture, an art critic, and active community patron of arts in Galicia or "Halychyna" - a historical region in western Ukraine.

Life, art, and death

Trush was born in Verkhnye Vysotske, Lviv Oblast in 1869. His studies were undertaken between 1891-1897 at the Kraków Academy of Art under Jan Stanisławski and Leon Wyczółkowski. Trush also studied in Vienna (1894) and in Munich (1897)."Spirit of Ukraine: 500 Years of Painting." Winnipeg Art Gallery. 1991, pg. 252 ISBN 0-88915-163-6.]

Starting from 1898, Trush lived and worked in Lviv where he became acquainted with Ivan Franko, a poet and writer. In 1899, his first art exhibit was presented to the public in Lviv. It was at this time that Trush became involved with the Shevchenko Scientific Society, for which he completed "a number of works of art, primarily portraits".

Trush's travels took him to Italy, Egypt, and Palestine. When back at home, Trush founded and organized the first professional art societies in Galicia, the "Society for the Development of Rus' Art" (1898), the "Society of Friends of Ukrainian Art" (1905) and its first exhibition of Ukrainian artists, which drew participation from Kiev-based artists.

The painter's activism, vast and dynamic creative output, numbered over 6,000 works, inspired a rebirth of painting in Galicia.

Trush died in Lviv in 1941.

Contributions to arts

Ivan Trush - alongside such figures as ethnographers Volodymyr Hnatyuk, Filaret Kolessa, poet Ivan Franko, the museum's first director Illarion Svientsitsky - played a leading role in the establishment of the Lviv National Museum of Ukrainian Art. [ [http://www.lvivbest.com/Sections+index-req-viewarticle-artid-128-page-1.html The Lviv National Museum Of Ukrainian Art] . Lviv Best Portal using material from "Lviv Study. Handbook./Compiler group manager N.Vynnytska.-Lviv:AHIL,2003.- 52p. ISBN 966-7617-59-9"]

In his lifetime, Trush created a multitude of portraits of famous Ukrainians. Among these are writers Vasyl Stefanyk and Ivan Franko, poet Lesya Ukrainka, political theorist Mykhailo Drahomanov, composer Mykola Lysenko, and linguist P. Zhytetskyi to name just a few. [Kasyan, Lyudmyla. [http://www.rius.kiev.ua/korotya/trush Ivan Trush - a painter] . "Research Institute of Ukrainian Studies (Ukrainoznavstva)". Last accessed: January, 2008. uk icon]

References