Klymenko M. Alexander Archipenko's art: cultural and national identity, figurative-expressive means.

In the thesis the cultural and national identity in Alexander Archipenko's art was examined for the first time; a comparative chronological table of the stages of Archipenko's ideological searches and conceptual thoughts of famous persons of Modernism was created. The issues connected with the results of Archipenko's formal and figurative thinking were clarified due to the received results of the research work. Archipenko's innovative process is widely known in the series of experiments, including the synthesis of concave and convex, the negative shape, the polychromy of the sculpture, and the use of kinetic constructions with a deep content of created objects. Their innovation of Archipenko was caused by the period of scientific and technological development and the ideological connection with the sculptor's father, Porfyriy Archipenko, an engineer-mechanic professor at the Imperial University of St. Volodymyr in Kyiv. The creative individuality of the sculptor was synthesized with a polycultural content of European cities where the artist lived and worked. The widespread ideological and theoretic thoughts of the 20th Century contributed to the famous art innovations. The effectiveness of the cultural and national identity, as a part of Archipenko's philosophy of shape, as a result of syncretic thinking was proved in the research work. Other little-known factors that influenced the artistic personality are given. The spiritual nature of the conceptual integrity of Archipenko's sculpture was shown at the beginning of his artistic career. Metaphysical connections between the material, shape, and spirit were analyzed. This synergy of the artistic codes forms symbols that were the basis for developing the artist's figurative system. The wideness of his innovations and appropriate theoretical basis was created by synthesis from national to transnational. The stages of the sculptor's becoming, from the early symbolism to different stages of experimental shape, were underlined. The scientific reconstruction of the dynamics of changes in the artist's figurative means in the context of confirmation of his individual conceptual and philosophic line in the artistic searches was done. The basic principles of archetype in Archipenko's artistic imaging were considered. The role of the archetype, as a genetically acquired universal structure in the search for the author's philosophy of shape, was analyzed. The position of the ethno-psychological component of the tradition was underlined to form the paradigm of Archipenko's artistic-aesthetic innovations. Cultural and national contents, images, and themes were of great importance to image semantics in the sculptor's works. The use of archetypes and symbols was done in the traditional visual representation, but it was synthesized with innovative searches of the artist's concepts and methods. The spiritual genetic core of Archipenko's conceptual line of searches was comprehended. A deep archetype system was discovered within a wide range of Archipenko's experiments. The artist often used archetypes and symbols organically connected with the cultural context of bearers of national tradition, rethinking them in their own ideological and plastic solutions. That's why this cultural and anthropological resource is an essential link of connections that unite Archipenko's art with ancient cultural practices of the past. The penetration into the profound substances of national spirituality has been perceptible in Archipenko's art. The basis of the author's philosophy of shape can be found in the wealth of colored and symbolized programs of Ukrainian folk arts and organic integrity, systematic folk clothing, embroidery, painted eggs, and other kinds of handcrafts and pottery. The methodology of Archipenko's art was developing in complete unity of the shape and content, the key plastic sign of which was lapidary. The ideological semantic filling of the author's plastic shape contains an inseparable unity with the aesthetic and spiritual values of the Ukrainian people. Archipenko accumulated a wide diapason of world cultural experiences, having deepened by it the inner national position of his author's aesthetic worldview. The assertion of a meaningful essence was the most clearly turned out in his adulthood during his stay on the American continent. One of the most important manifestations of his identity was the sculptor's addressing to images of Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, and Volodymyr the Great in the large-scale spectrum of his innovative experiences. Paying attention to these famous figures of Ukrainian history and cultural memory is an undoubted declaration of his native land. Archipenko's creative heritage can serve as a valuable resource in the search for modern artistic concepts. His works inspire artists – representatives of different schools and excellent conceptual priorities – to search for new opportunities for aesthetic art, which are still undiscovered.