Notes

Konstantin Lomykin has been one of the most vivid representatives of the Odessa Art School realists and generally considered as the Ukrainian Impressionist in the West. Among his extremely varied oeuvre, there are portraits, genre paintings, still life, nudes, thematic and history paintings.

Konstantin Lomykin was born in Glukhovo (Sumy region, Ukraine) in 1924. He died in Odessa in 1994. Lomykin studied at the Odessa Art College from 1946 until 1951. In 1953 he In 2001 became a member of the Union of Artists. In the same year he had his first exhibition. Important shows include the All-Union Exhibitions in 1951 and 1952 in Moscow and many group exhibitions in the Soviet Union (Moscow, St Petersburg, Odessa, Kiev and Minsk) and abroad (the USA, Japan, Italy, Bulgary, Hungary, Poland, Germany and Yugoslavia). He also had several solo exhibitions, including Kharkov (1954, 1963), Hamburg (1971), Odessa (1974), Kiev (1956, 1957, 1974), Tokyo (1979), Tokomatsu (Japan, 1981), Helsinki (1982), Alma Ata (1985) and Moscow (1986). A large exhibition of Lomykins work was organised in the Marie Tak van Poortvliet Museum in Domburg, Holland with a beautiful catalogue about Russian art in general and a second part about Lomykins life and work.

Lomykin is considerd a leading Odessa realist. His canvases, usually rather small in size, show nature suffused with life and feeling. The painter devoted much attention to still lifes and portraits.  Nudes – an eternal theme in the world of art – held an important place in Lomykin’s work. He also depicted many ballet dancers of the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre. These are very often pastels, a medium in which Lomykin has achieved the hights of virtuosity.

The essence of Lomykin’s art can be estimated by the generosity with which he gives all of himself to this work and the artistic and thematic tasks that he set himself, applying all his effort to bringing out the beauty of man and nature.