Lviv school of design of the environment 1872-1918: Theoretical principles and their implementation
Authors: Biryulov Yury 
Published: November 2023

Formulation of the problem. Teaching the design of the environment, as well as practical achievements in this field of artistic creativity of teachers, students and graduates of Lviv National akademy of arts, have a thorough basis. Lviv school design of interiors has a long history, and the chair of design of the environment of Lviv National akademy of arts is the heir to the traditions and achievements of several generations of Lviv artists. It is important to reveal the process of formation in Lviv artistic design education, the theoretical foundations of the artistic organization of the subject environment surrounding a person, to identify and compare historical levels in the development of works, their technological and stylistic changes in time, investigate the relationship between different artistic techniques and options design at different stages.
Analysis of recent research and publications. Important is the study of Alexander Noha on the theme of the Lviv design school. In his book 2001 «Ukrainian art-industrial ceramics in Galicia (1840-1940)» is considered a period of birth and development of industrial design in Lviv [10]. The activities of the architect Ivan Levynskyi and his school, especially in the art of ceramics important for the design of the environment, were covered in collective monographs: 2019 «Ivan Levynskyi. Impulse» [6] and 2020 «Ceramic code of Ivan Levynskyi» [7]. Architecture and design of public spaces in the structure of historical residential building of Lviv on the verge of the XIX-XX centuries became the object of scientific research in articles and in the candidate’s thesis Olga Lysenko [8]. Similar issues (secession design of the entrance spaces of Lviv buildings) are partially solved Yulia Bogdanova and Zhanna Komar in their 2014 book-album «Secession in Lviv» [24].
The analysis of the source base revealed that to date no comprehensive study of the development of the Lviv school of subject-spatial environment design has been carried out. This problem requires a multifaceted and synthetic approach.
The purpose of the article: to consider the forming factors, the theoretical principles of the Lviv design of the environment and their practical implementation in 1872-1918, introduce new facts to scientific space, surnames of artists and their works.
Study Results. For the first time there is a comprehensive scientific study of the stylistic evolution of the Lviv design of the subject-spatial environment – from the neo-styles of historicism to secession (art nouveau), modernized empire and early art déco. The universal essence of the secession provided it gradually, but continuously growing coverage of various types of creativity and became one of the main formative factors of a subject-spatial design in the capital of Galicia at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The article reveals the formative factors of the design of the environment, illuminates the regularities of the emergence and establishment of artistic and design education and practical activities in this area of the creativity. The emergence of theoretical principles of artistic design in Lviv is shown, starting with articles and public speeches of Julian Zachariewicz. The history of Lviv design of the environment is systematized, in many aspects the works of individual artists of different nationalities are analyzed, their previously unknown works, which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, are revealed. In particular, the creative work in the field of design of W. Sadłowski, A. Zachariewicz, I. Levynskyi and his followers, T. Obmiński, M. Olszewski is studied.
Getting to know the achievements of leading European art centers, Lviv design school has maintained its independence and originality. The peculiarity of its representatives was the complexity of the polyethnic structure, the multilayer of the topics and motives (the sources of which were diverse aspects of national life and the tradition of everyday life) and in the use of the treasury of regional cultural achievements.
Conclusions. The analysis of creativity of artists of the Lviv school design of the environment showed its artistic integrity, revealed a large socio-cultural and artistic significance of objects of subject-spatial design of the period of 1872-1918.The historical change of styles in the design of public and residential interiors of Lviv, the formative factors of design, the achievements of teachers and graduates of the Artistic and industrial school are considered. Until recently, the existing idea of the Lviv art of design was significantly supplemented, and new facts and works were introduced into scientific circulation.