Bilokur Kateryna Vasylivna is a Ukrainian artist of the genre of naïve art, a master of folk decorative painting.
Place of Birth, Education
She was born on November 25 (December 7 according to the Gregorian calendar) in 1900 in the village of Bohdanivka, Pyriatyn district, Poltava province in a family of peasants.
She received her education on her own. During the day she worked in the field and in the garden, and in the evening, having completed household chores, she painted late at night with homemade brushes and paints. Her parents did not approve of her hobby, considering drawing to be a useless business.
Career
In the 1920s, Bilokur twice tried to enter the Art and Ceramics College in Myrhorod, and then the Kyiv Theater College, but without success due to the lack of a document on the completion of a seven-year school.
In the period from the second half of the 1930s to the 1940s, she mastered the technique of painting.
In parallel with drawing, she led a drama club in a village club and participated in performances. Her first notable works from this period include “Birch”, “Flowers Behind the Wattle”, “Flowers” and “Portrait of Nieces”.
In 1941, her first personal exhibition took place in Poltava. After that, the artist visited Kyiv and Moscow, where she first got acquainted with the works of famous artists.
In 1944, the director of the State Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art, Ukrainian Soviet art critic Vasyl Nagai, came to Bohdanivka and invited Bilokur to organize an exhibition and purchase her works. Thanks to his initiative, the Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art now owns the most complete collection of the artist’s works.
In 1949, Bilokur joined the Union of Artists of Ukraine.
In 1951, she was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor and received the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine.
In 1956, the artist was awarded the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine.
Bilokur’s works have been repeatedly exhibited in Poltava, Kiev, Moscow and other cities. In 1954, three of her paintings – “Tsar Colossus”, “Birch” and “Collective Farm Field” – were presented at the International Exhibition of Soviet Art in Paris, where they were highly appreciated by the Spanish and French artist Pablo Picasso.
In the last years of her life, the artist painted:
- “Peonies”, “Bouquet of Flowers”, “Flowers and Vegetables” in 1959;
- “Still Life” in 1960.
During this period, she was already seriously ill, suffering from the difficult conditions of rural life, loneliness and illness of her mother.
Death/Fatalities
She passed away on June 9, 1961.
