Notes

Konstantin Matveevich Lomykin was a highly prolific and renowned Ukrainian impressionist and realist painter who spent most of his creative life working in Odesa. Celebrated for his exceptional mastery of color and light, he was awarded the prestigious title of People’s Artist of Ukraine in 1984.

A prominent figure of the Odesa Art School, Lomykin bridged Soviet Social Realism with Ukrainian Impressionism. His work is heavily inspired by French Impressionists like Degas, Renoir, and Monet.

He worked fluidly across oils, watercolors, and graphics, though many critics consider his vibrant pastels to be his finest achievements. The soft texture of pastel allowed him to capture movement and light with an ethereal, fleeting touch.

Known for a dynamic plein air landscape technique, he often painted with a dozen broad brushes simultaneously—one for each color—to rapidly freeze changing natural light before dusk faded.

The original large version of this composition is dated 1967; this work belongs to the three or four similar subjects that Lomykin executed later.

Lomykin studied at the Odessa Art College from 1946 until 1951. In 1953 he 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, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Germany and Yugoslavia).

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 heights 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.