Piskorsky, Kostiantyn

Piskorsky, Kostiantyn [Піскорський, Костянтин; Piskors’kyj, Kostjantyn], b 18 May 1892 in Kyiv, d 9 March 1922 in Kyiv. Painter and graphic artist; son of Volodymyr Piskorsky. In 1919–20 he studied at the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts under Heorhii Narbut. His paintings (mostly watercolors) evolved from flatly rendered, simplified, natural forms to original abstract compositions. They ranged from bold, stylized ornamental forms, highly reduced symbolist images, and geometricized landscapes marked by repetitions of figurative patterns (eg, Forest Fire, 1919) to nonrepresentational geometric paintings (eg, Heaven, 1919). Occasionally, he painted works based on Ukrainian folklore (eg, Kozak-Mamai, 1921) or literary works (eg, Kateryna, 1919, inspired by Taras Shevchenko’s poem). He was the author of an unpublished mystical philosophical texts ‘Biometr zhyzni’ (The Bio-meter of Life) and ‘Chas mysli’ (The Time of Thought). One of the most promising Ukrainian artists of his generation, Piskorsky died during a typhus epidemic at the age of 30. His works are preserved at the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art, the Museum of Kyiv’s History, and in his family’s private collection. An art book dedicated to his works was published in Kyiv in 2006.

[This article was updated in 2013.]