Pavlo Movchan as an art researcher: word, image, sign
Authors: Vaskiv Mykola 
Published: July 2022

The subject of the research in the article is the peculiarities of theoretical-literary and art-scientific publications of the outstanding Ukrainian poet Pavlo Movchan, as well as his historical-literary and historical-artistic works. The main problem of the article was the need to reduce these features into a single concept, to determine the scientific basis of this concept. To do this, a large array of (more than fifty) articles, reviews, and essays of the research poet for the period from the mid-1970s to the second decade of the XXI century was collected from various sources and processed. The poet’s work has not been properly studied by scholars, and his theoretical-literary and historical-literary works have gone out of their attention if we do not take into account the cursory observations of O. Khomenko in one of the studies of poetry by P. Movchan. The aim of the article is to highlight the systemic nature of Pavlo Movchan’s literary views and apply them to the analysis of the works of classics and contemporary Ukrainian and foreign artists. To do this, we used the psychological method in determining the verbal and figurative essence of Movchan’s theoretical concept, historical and literary — in the analysis of his reviews and “portrait” publications, mythopoetic — in conceptualizing the oral and written word, the artistic word as a link between generations, author and recipients.

The results of the research are 1. Conditionally literary and literary-critical research of Pavlo Movchan can be divided into several blocks: the theory of words, images, art; specifics of lyrics, literary translation; development of Ukrainian poetry in the second half of the XX–XXI centuries; analysis of works of Ukrainian classics (“A Word about Igor’s Regiment”, works by T. Shevchenko, M. Gogol, romantic poets, etc.), contemporary poets; evaluation of the works of foreign writers of the West and the East; reception of paintings and cinematographic works of Ukrainian contemporary artists. 2. The basis of the theoretical and literary concept of P. Movchan was the theory of O. Potebnja about the external and internal form of the word and its content, the constant need to restore or create specific sensory meaning of the word-image in art. The wide range of meanings of the word, accumulated over the centuries, is the basis of dialogue between the author and the recipients, the link between them. The artist’s skill level is interrelated with the ability to find and revive this wide range of meaning. 3. Pavlo Movchan considers the main task of literary translation to not just be an adequate mechanical transmission of words, but a reproduction of the spirit of words, works, and uniqueness of idiosyncrasies related to the creative intentions of authors, for which the translator must thoroughly study the biography and works of the original, literary and social context, the history of writing the work, the meaning and nuances of each word, excellent command of the native language and the specifics of the original language, the mentality of the people to which the author belongs and much more, up to flora and fauna, their symbols and more. 4. Pavlo Movchan sets the same principles and requirements as a literary critic in the study of specific works or works of certain authors. This gives him the opportunity not only to comprehensively and deeply characterize the creative work of various authors but also to dominant features, to make their own original and reasoned discoveries. 5. Pavlo Movchan’s art views in the field of visual arts are organically correlated with his literary concept, testify to a deep knowledge of this field and a subtle aesthetic sense in the evaluation of works of painting and cinema.

The practical significance of the article lies in the possibility of its application in the study and teaching of literary theory and art theory, the basics of Potebnja theory, history of classical and modern Ukrainian and foreign literature, history of Ukrainian painting, and cinema of XX–XXI centuries, the uniqueness of Pavlo Movchan.