Cultural and Artistic Dialogues in Galicia in the Second Half of the 20th Century

Abstract

The research aims to define the dialogical nature of cultural
and artistic processes in the historical environment of late 20th
century Galicia, and to determine a list of significant events, artist
associations, and personalities. The Research methodology is based
on the principles of combining the system approach with historical
principles, comparison, and synthesis. Historical and cultural, and
formal-analytical, approaches with elements of comparative and
descriptive analysis are used.
The mutual impact of policy and authorities on the artistic
environment and education processes is analysed for the first time.
The movement of individual artistic practices and artist unions as
the main factors shaping the artistic environment in Galicia in the
second half of the 20th century is highlighted.
We conclude that pressure from the communist totalitarian
authorities on the artistic community in Galicia, deportations,
bullying, and isolation failed to destroy the structure of artistic
dialogue. With changes in leadership and control vectors, cultural and
artistic life searched for a unique form of expression, and Lviv (being
a centre of culture and education) played an important role in shaping
many new names that would later influence the environment. After
the collapse of the Soviet Union and the appearance of independent
Ukraine, the processes to rehabilitate artistic values, based on
national form and the dialogical form of the first third of the 20th
century, took place. Artist unions and new galleries that appeared
to cater to the needs of cultural and artistic life in Galicia became
instrumental in developing new artistic ideas both in Ukraine and
beyond. Consideration of views and the importance of the creativity
of individual artists and artist associations in cultural and artistic
processes in late 20th century Galicia created the preconditions by
which to determine the importance and patterns of social and political
influences on the development of Ukrainian art in the 20th and 21st
centuries.