Annual field research by researchers of the Preserve gives positive results. Yes, working in the village. Acquired, we learned about the original artist Varvara Vasylivna Nechyporenko. She was born on December 14, 1924 in the village. Derenkovtsi in the family of the famous master of weaving and embroidery Tetjana Fedorivna Lysenko. As a child, Varvara had a desire for knowledge, so she studied at school “excellently”. The Holodomor of 1932-1933 and then World War II shattered the dream of education. She graduated from only 5 grades of secondary school. For 39 years she worked on a collective farm as a member. Her husband worked as a builder, had almost no days off, because he helped his fellow villagers to restore housing in the postwar period. Therefore, Varvara Vasylivna had to take care of the household and upbringing of her two children on her own.
It would seem that what else will be enough strength for this concerned woman? But she had a big dream: to learn to paint pictures. In her free time she picked up a brush and painted… It is hard to imagine how it is possible to find time for painting after working all day on a collective farm, doing homework.
Barbara’s love for painting was still in school, but the difficulty with paper and paints did not allow her talent to be revealed.At school, she painted songbooks for girls from wealthy families or did her homework on drawing. For this they thanked her with a white paper, which the little artist was very happy about.
Over the years, Varvara Vasylivna herself learned to dilute the paints she bought in the village. Derenkovtsi or in Korsun at the bazaar, prime the base, make homemade brushes from long cat hair, distinguish shades of colors, group a palette of colors. She painted on plywood, boards, on white paper, as well as on canvas and canvas.She started painting with flowers she saw in flower beds, in the woods, near the house. With large bundles in jugs on the background of an ornamented path, I placed and painted each petal of dahlia, mallow, poppy, panicula, wildflowers, which are familiar to each of us from childhood. The charm of these flowers on the canvas allows a person to see the world anew. They capture the eye with their colors, sophisticated shapes, freshness.Still lifes with such flowers have become the business card of the artist, and to whom her national affiliation is felt.
Later, the artist began to recreate landscapes, create plot paintings. The source of inspiration was also Ukrainian folklore – songs, poems, legends, fairy tales, folk art. She was fascinated by painting on household items, which she was so concerned about that she added flowers to pots, makitras, etc. Captured ornaments on Ukrainian towels. As Varvara Vasylivna herself said, “when I saw the flowers on the embroidery, so bright and beautiful, my hands began to tremble to paint them with bright colors and add many shades.”And Varvara Nechiporenko loved to embroider, especially with embroidery. All the paintings on the walls of her home were topped with embroidered towels with lush, bright colors, which she recreated from her own sketches. And all this beauty was in harmony, added a good, ethnically warm mood.
Varvara Vasylivna’s achievements were appreciated at the end of her life. The entire collection of her works was exhibited in the Nabut House of Culture during the celebration of the 980th anniversary of the village. Her paintings could not leave anyone indifferent. After all, they are imbued with warmth and poetry, melody and good energy, they have a living beauty and love for their homeland.
Varvara Nechiporenko did not paint for the last 30 years of her life due to a serious illness, she died in 2017.
Only her fellow villagers were well acquainted with her work. But now, thanks to her daughter Lyudmila, who donated 9 paintings of her mother to our Reserve, visitors from different parts of Ukraine will be able to get acquainted with the work of the amateur artist and truly appreciate the talent of this talented woman from Korsun.
Svitlana Kostenko, head of the art gallery, candidate of historical sciences.