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« 2025. # 2 (182)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2024. № 2 (182), 295—316

UDK [391.7:746.5.011.26.02](=161.2:477.83/.86)”19″(091)

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

UKRAINIAN COTILLION OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE XX CENTURY: VARIABILITY OF TECHNICAL AND COMPOSITIONAL SOLUTIONS

FEDORCHUK Olena

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4724-3566 
  • Doctor of History (Dr. Sci.), Leading Researcher,
  • The Ethnology Institute of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
  • Historical Ethnology Department,
  • 15, Svobody Avenue, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: olena-fedorchuk@ukr.net

Abstract. The article is devoted to the beaded cotillion, which was a common element of Eastern Galicia, Northern Bukovyna and Transcarpathia traditional Ukrainian clothing during the first part of the XX century — the period of the liberation struggle of Ukrainians for their independence. The proposed article examines technical and artistic means that were used to construct the compositions which made the cotillion a popular work of folk art of that time.

As a result of the analysis of the technological features of the decoration, it was established that Ukrainians performed cotillions using beadweaving, loomweaving and embroidery techniques. The dominant technique was bead loomweaving, which made it possible to create motifs of geometric and geometrized forms. An overview of the cotillion’s compositional solutions reveals a diverse repertory that captures the psychological and emotional climate of Ukrainian society in the early 1900s. National symbols played a significant role in this repertory as a means of bringing Ukrainian society together around the concept of state independence.

The relevance of the article is due to the current interest in the Ukrainian cotillion as a socially demanded work of folk art during the liberation struggle of Ukrainians. This renewed interest was provoked by current russian aggression, which actualized the patriotic sentiments of Ukrainian society, reviving its interest in consonant historical realities, in particular, in patriotic reflections of folk art of the first half of the XX century.

The object of the study is the beaded cotillion of Ukrainians as an ethno-artistic phenomenon of the first half of the XX century, and the subject of the study is its technological, thematic, and artistic and stylistic features. 

The scientific novelty of the work lies in its meticulous visualization and comprehensive analysis of the technical and artistic characteristics of the Ukrainian cotillion of the first half of the XX century, as well as its compositional solutions’ semantics.

The research methodology is based on a systemic-historical approach and such methods as photographing artifacts, interviewing and audio-recording narratives, scientific analysis, analytical interpretation and historical reconstruction. 

The source base of the research consisted of visual and verbal information about the bead cotillion, gathered during work in state museums and ethnographic expeditions as well as received from scientific colleagues and private collectors. 

It is predicted that the analytical materials and illustrations collected in this article will contribute to the comprehension and revival of the cotillion as a unique ethno-artistic phenomenon.

Keywords: Ukraine, folk art, bead cotillion, national symbols, coat of arms, flag.

Received 7.04.2025

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