Maria Pymachenko

I’m a bit ashamed to have discovering Maria Pymachenko’s art only recently. Her name was in the news when many of her works, housed in a Ukraine museum, were destroyed by Russian attacks. Between global honors, accolades from Picasso, being commemorated on a coin, and an asteroid named after her clearly I’m part of a minority living in the dark. She is so recognized that even a well-known textile brand copied her.

Pymachenko, Ukraine-born in 1908 and died in 1997, was a self-taught folk artist. Bright colors and bold ornamental shapes communicate a world of symbols, mythical creatures, and fairy-tale like references to her culture and the Ukraine landscape. Through illness, loss, and war art was refuge, salvation, and expression — equal parts reality and fantasy. What an inspiration both then, and now, in sharing the beautiful interpretation of her world and giving creative hope to us all.