Kvitky. The Great Book of House Paintings

Kvitky (flowers) is the largest printed collection to date of materials documenting Ukrainian house paintings from the first third of the 20th century. For the first time, copies of painted-house sketches and photographs of “flower-adorned” houses from the Dnipro region, Slobozhanshchyna, Zaporizhzhia, the Black Sea region, and Podillia are brought together under one cover.

Fantastic flowers, whimsical curls, and delicate hop motifs were created by women painters with no formal artistic training, but with a deep knowledge of local artistic practices and an intuitive sense of harmony and taste. This art, in turn, was studied by people with a profound passion for exploring Ukrainian culture. The book therefore focuses both on those who created the paintings and on those who documented and studied them.

Fragments of publications on house paintings created a century ago are interwoven with a visual narrative, placing this art within the historical context of its time.