b. 1936
Ivan Marchuk
Painter, creator of “plontanism”
A painter, graphic artist and sculptor whose work the Soviet authorities refused to recognize because it did not conform to socialist realism. He created his own technique of painting with fine interwoven lines, “plontanism”. A Shevchenko Prize laureate and People’s Artist of Ukraine.
Key accomplishments
- His own technique, “plontanism” (first used in 1972)
- The overarching cycle Voice of My Soul, including the Shevchenkiana series (1982–1984)
- Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine (1997) and the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine (2002)
- The “National Legend of Ukraine” award (2021)
Who he is
Ivan Marchuk was born in 1936 in the village of Moskalivka in the Ternopil region. He studied in Lviv: in 1956 he graduated from the School of Applied Art (his teachers included Karlo Zvirynskyi), and in 1965 from the Institute of Decorative and Applied Art (his teachers included Roman Selskyi). He then moved to Kyiv, where he worked, among other places, at a monumental and decorative art workshop and illustrated magazines.
His story
Marchuk’s art did not fit within the limits of socialist realism, so the official authorities refused to recognize his work, and he himself came under pressure from the KGB. He was admitted to the Union of Artists only in 1988. In 1989 he emigrated: he lived in Australia, Canada and the United States, and in 2001 he returned to Ukraine for good.
Marchuk developed his own technique, “plontanism”: paint is applied in fine colored lines, and their interweaving creates an effect of volume and glow. He paints landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and fantastic and abstract compositions, and he groups his paintings into cycles such as Voice of My Soul, Colored Preludes and White Planet. His works are held in the National Art Museum of Ukraine, the National Museum in Lviv and the Shevchenko National Preserve in Kaniv.
Why it matters today
Marchuk shows that an artist can keep to his own path even when the authorities refuse to recognize him. He is a Shevchenko Prize laureate (1997) and a People’s Artist of Ukraine (2002). In 2026, for his 90th birthday, a large retrospective exhibition of his works opened in Kyiv.
