Layout of Panas Mirnyi's book "Chipka". Cover 1969

Curator: This sketch by Hryhorii Havrylenko from 1969 presents a layout for the book cover of Panas Mirnyi’s “Chipka,” employing ink and paper. What strikes you upon seeing it? Editor: The immediate impression is of something raw, almost unsettling in its starkness. It evokes a landscape weighted with a deep, historical fatigue, the bare trees looming over the tiny dwelling suggest hardship, a feeling emphasized by the aged paper and sketch-like quality. Curator: Indeed. Considering Havrylenko operated within Soviet nonconformist art circles, this layout can be read as a subtle act of resistance. Mirnyi’s "Chipka" explores the grim realities of Ukrainian peasantry. Editor: Right, the visual language, particularly the rough lines of the dwellings and the implied vastness of the land, could signify the weight of history, the ongoing struggle for land rights, echoing cultural memory, which, even in design, served as an assertion of cultural identity during the Soviet era. The book itself becoming a powerful symbol, the thatched roof referencing ancestral belonging. Curator: I agree. Havrylenko’s approach appears intentionally sparse, pushing back against the idealized representations often demanded by Soviet authorities, choosing to emphasize the difficult realities of rural life in Ukraine. Even the homemade quality of the paper seems a deliberate choice. Editor: Absolutely, a defiance materialized in form, using the symbols available – landscape, rural architecture – to voice dissent and invoke empathy. The symbol "Л" for "layout" reinforces this tension. Curator: So the combination of "Chipka's" story, Havrylenko’s nonconformist background and stark depiction coalesce to create an emotional pull in the viewer. Editor: It is a compelling intersection. Examining it allows us to better grasp the multiple layers of symbolism woven into even seemingly simple artistic choices during a politically fraught period. Curator: A critical reminder that art, in all its forms, functions as an act of both reflection and resistance.