The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 4 (190), 1223—1234
UDK 76.071.1(=161.2)(477.54)”19/20″
- Received: 23.06.2026
- Accepted: 16.07.2026
- Published: ??.??.2026
THE ARTISTIC WORLD OF KHARKIV ARTIST RASHID ORUDZHEV
DENYSENKO Olha
- Art historian, Head,
- Kharkiv Art Museum,
- Department of Ukrainian Art (16th — early 20th centuries),
- 11 Zhon Myronosyts St., Kharkiv, 61002, Ukraine,
- Contacts: e-mail: artmuseum_kharkiv@i.ua
Abstract. Against the broader development of contemporary art in Kharkiv, the oeuvre of Rashyd Orudzhev constitutes a distinctive and highly original phenomenon, notable for the diversity of its imagery, stylistic approaches, techniques, and genres. Although the artist has been actively involved in the cultural and artistic life of both Kharkiv and Ukraine and enjoys recognition within the local artistic milieu, his work remains insufficiently known to a wider audience of art historians and connoisseurs. Yet his artistic legacy represents a compelling synthesis of diverse creative expressions rooted in the artist’s cultural identity, in which multiple national, cultural, religious, and intellectual traditions converge.
The present article seeks to elucidate Rashyd Orudzhev’s distinctive artistic method and to demonstrate, through selected works, how the practice of a single artist integrates the qualities of a monumental painter, an accomplished draughtsman, a sensitive lyrical colourist, an illustrator of spiritual literature, a designer of sacred interiors, and a creator of socio-political satire. Particular attention is also given to his contribution to the life of the Roman Catholic community of the Church of Our Lady of the Holy Scapular and St. Raphael Kalinowski in Kharkiv, as well as to his efforts in preserving the family archive inherited from his ancestors, members of the Polish Rechynski family of Kharkiv. The principal objective of this study is to systematize Orudzhev’s artistic output, encompassing various forms of easel and printed graphic art; to identify the major thematic and iconographic strands of his work; and to analyse the stylistic, compositional, and chromatic features that characterize his graphic language.
The subject of the research is the artist’s corpus of works.
Formal analysis has been employed in the examination of individual works, while the historical-biographical method has been used to reconstruct the broader cultural and historical context and to identify the sources of the artist’s creative inspiration.
Keywords: Kharkiv; graphic art; sacred art; vytynanka (paper-cutting art); artistic legacy.
REFERENCES
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