The Blue Lily Studio: Foundation, Activities, Significance
Authors:   Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, Lowack Viktoria 
Published: November 2024

Introduction and Objective. The studio movement in Kharkiv in the early twentieth century was an important prerequisite for the spread of innovative ideas that turned Kharkiv into one of the main centres of the Ukrainian avant-garde in the early twenties. The leader of this movement was the Kharkiv artist Yevhen Agafonov and the Blue Lily Studio (1907-1912) he founded. The purpose of the article is to clarify the membership of the Blue Lily Studio, to analyse in detail the types of its activities, to establish the relationship between its members, and to understand the significance of the studio.

Methods. The study is based on the analysis of archival documents (correspondence, memoirs, etc.) and periodicals of Kharkiv in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Comparison and comparative analysis of the data allowed to reconstruct the evolution of the Blue Lily Studio, fill in factual gaps, and structure the activities of Yevhen Agafonov's studio by areas.

Results. The article examines the prerequisites for the appearance of the studio movement in Kharkiv in the early twentieth century and analyses in detail the activities of the Blue Lily Studio. A significant array of documentary materials is introduced into scientific circulation, which allows to significantly expand the source base of the study of the studio movement and the Blue Lily Studio in particular. The study presents the most complete list of Blue Lily members to date, creating a panoramic picture of the studio itself and its artistic practices in the context of the Kharkiv studio movement. Founded by Kharkiv artist Yevhen Agafonov as a studio, Blue Lily quickly turned into an artistic association, as its members were not only engaged in painting and drawing, but also in various artistic and cultural activities. The studio members participated in exhibitions and published a literary and artistic almanac "Blue Lily" (1911), which contained literary works and reproductions of works by the studio members. The almanac reflected the studio's engraving activities and contained the first known publication of works by the Ukrainian avant-garde artist Maria Synyakova-Urechyna. The studio became also involved in theatre, as Yevhen Agafonov was the set decorator of the first cabaret theatre in Kharkiv, the Blue Eye, and the theatre decorations for the performances of this theatre were made in the Blue Lily Studio. In parallel with the Blue Eye Theatre, the studio members had their own amateur theatre, where they performed their own plays. Despite the Blue Lily's stylistic affiliation to Art Nouveau (German: Jugendstil), the studio also has features of the avant-garde as a network, as it combined artistic, exhibition, literary and theatrical activities and became the first association on the Ukrainian territory of the former Russian Empire to feature such a synthesis of the arts. After the closure of the Blue Lily Studio, its members created the Thistle Studio, from which a left-wing group split off in 1914 and opened its own Nakos-Vykus Studio of Sosvetor Futurists. The First World War interrupted the vibrant and fruitful studio life in Kharkiv.

Conclusions. Ukrainian cultural processes in Kharkiv in the early twentieth century appear as a product of the activities of local cultural figures who relied on local traditions and were oriented towards European ideas, methods, and practices. The Blue Lily Studio combined different types of artistic activity and had features of the avant-garde as a network, becoming the first such association in Ukraine in the early twentieth century. For further research, it is important to fit the activities of the Blue Lily Studio into the European cultural process and clearly define both its European features and Ukrainian national characteristics.