Katerina Bilokur, Ukrainian artist
Childhood • Katerina Bilokur was born 7, December, 1900 in the village Bohdanivka, Poltava region, Ukraine in a peasant family. Her parents were not poor people: they had a house, a big garden and cattle. Besides Katerina, there were two boys in the family, Kate’s brothers, Hryhoriy and Pavlo. The girl did not go to school. She learnt to read and her parents decided that it was enough for their daughter.
• Katerina started painting since childhood. She had neither pencils nor paints to draw, that’s why the girl used only coal and linen.
Unrecognized Talent • Katerina’s parents didn’t approve their daughters hobby and even forbade her to draw. It didn’t stop the girl – she painted secretly, she used fruit and vegetable juice as paints. Her neighbor, Mykyta Tonkonig, noticed the girl’s talent and asked her to paint decorations for the village theatre. Katerina started acting in that theatre.
• In 1922 she tried to enter Myrhorod Art college, but failed, because she didn’t have a certificate of secondary education. So, Katerina returns home and becomes a member of a drama club founded by the teachers family Kalyta.
Dreams Come True • In 1928 Katerina tries to enter Kyiv Theatre college, but her attempt was unsuccessful again. In autumn 1934 she tried to drown herself and got very sick, that’s why her parents gave up and allowed their daughter to paint.
• In spring 1940 Katerina heard a nice song on the radio sung by Oksana Petrusenko. Katerina wrote a letter to the singer and enclosed her painting to the letter. The singer was greatly impressed by the picture, she asked advise from her friends, Vasyl Kasian and Pavlo Tychyna. It was decided to find that talented artist and soon after that a personal art exhibition of Katerina Bilokur was opened in Poltava.
• Katerina Bilokur becomes a very famous artist, she was invited to Moscow and visited Tretyakov Gallery.
• In 1949 Katerina becomes a member of artists’ union in Ukraine. In 1951 she was awarded the order of Honour and got the title of distinguished figure of Art.
• In 1959 the painter got the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine.
Painting “Village Field” • Katerina Bilokur painted mostly flowers. Very often she combined autumn and spring flowers in her canvases.
• The artist was painting six georginas for three weeks.
• Besides flowers, she also painted portraits and landscapes. K. Bilokur is the representative of the so-called “naïve art”, a group of painters, who didn’t get an academic education, but became a part of an art process.
• Three canvases by K. Bilokur (“King Spike”, “Village Field”, “Birch Tree”) were
exhibited in the International exhibition in Paris (1954). Her works of art were noticed by Pablo Picasso, he was greatly impressed by the talent of the Ukrainian artist and said, “If we had an artist of this level of skill, we would make the whole world talking about her!”
• In spring 1961 Katerina Bilokur becomes very ill, she feels pain in her legs and stomach. On the 10th of June the woman was operated in Yagotyn district hospital, but the surgery was unsuccessful and the painter died on that day. She was buried in Bohdanivka, her native village.