Kyiv Association of Artists in the context of consolidation of the artistic forces of Kyiv in turn of the 19-20th cc.

The article is based on the statutory materials and catalogs of the exhibitions of artistic works which were held in Kyiv in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It reveals the basic principles of activity of the Kyiv artistic associations. The author focuses his attention on the main trends in the development of the exhibition activities in Kyiv during the specified period. In this article we can see the preconditions of the unifying processes in the local artistic environment, the role of the Peredvizhniki (“The Wanderers”) as well as exhibition events of the Kyiv Drawing School M. Muraskho in the public presentation of works of art by Kyiv’s artists. The author reconsiders the peculiarities of exhibition activity in Kyiv from the seldom events of the late 1870's to the exhibitions systematically led in the early 20th century. The statutes of Kyiv artistic intelligentsia associations from the 1890s-1900s ("Bakhtins", the Association of Artists of Kyiv, the Kyiv Union of Artists), the frequency and membership of their exhibitions were revealed. The author highlights the role of O. Murashko in the consolidation of artistic milieu of Kyiv, his initiative in the emergence of the Kyiv Association of Artists (KAA). Also the author carries out a comparative analysis of the Statute of the KAA and similar materials of the associations of Kyiv artists from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author shows the key aspects of the art and exhibition activity of KAA during 1916-1918 and determines the role of the KAA in the cultural and artistic life of Kyiv with the advent of Soviet occupation (1917-1918) as well as the participation of KAA members in the establishment of the Council of United organizations, the Professional Union of Artists, the All-Ukrainian Congress of Artistic Organizations, the First Congress of People Ukrainian plastic art.