Matvii Dontsov

Matvii Dontsov was a Ukrainian artist who celebrated the nature of his native land in his works, creating landscapes and still lifes in an impressionistic style.

During his lifetime, he created fifteen hundred paintings. Matvii Dontsov’s paintings are exhibited in art museums in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Lebedyn, and Mykolaiv, as well as in numerous private collections.

The artist was born on November 26, 1877, in the city of Zolotonosha, Poltava Governorate, into a peasant family. When he was only one year old, his father passed away. His mother worked as a day laborer, while little Matvii was looked after by neighbors. Hoping for a better life, Matvii’s mother married a second time, but the marriage was unhappy. Hiding from his stepfather, young Matvii would run away from home to the fields or the forest, where he found solace in admiring nature.

In 1906, he was arrested for attending secret meetings and distributing proclamations, subsequently spending a year and a half in prison. He was eventually released "under police supervision," but because he was flagged as a "political" individual, he was blacklisted from employment.

In the spring of 1908, he traveled to Kyiv in search of work. There, he visited an exhibition of professional artists. At the exhibition, he met several painters, including the professor of painting Volodymyr Menk. With the assistance of Menk, he enrolled in the Kyiv Art School, graduating in 1913. One of Dontsov’s teachers at the school was the renowned Fedir Krychevskyi.

After graduating from the school, M. Dontsov attended art exhibitions and museums, and studied specialized literature. He painted extensively and persistently from life (en plein air).

In 1922, he moved to Poltava with his wife. His wife worked at an orphanage, while he served as a schoolteacher, instructing students in drawing and technical drafting.

In 1940, Matvii Dontsov met Kateryna Bilokur. Deeply moved by her talent, he helped organize her solo exhibition at the Poltava House of Folk Arts. He also petitioned government officials to provide assistance in repairing her home.

In March 1941, he retired. From 1944 to 1948, the artist worked in Zolotonosha. In September 1948, the Dontsovs moved to the city of Irpin (Kyiv Oblast), where the couple lived until the end of their lives.

Matvii Dontsov passed away in 1974.

The artwork of Matvii Dontsov was featured in republic-wide (starting in 1927) and All-Union (starting in 1937) exhibitions. In 1957, the first solo exhibition of his work was held.

He worked in the field of easel painting. Throughout his life, M. Dontsov created fifteen hundred paintings.

Among his original works are: "Interior" (1918), "At the Dacha" (1923), "To the Market" (1933), "Bulanivska Mountain" (1934), "Temple of the Air. Kislovodsk" (1935), "Morning" (1946), "Summer", "Spring Wheat", "Wind" (all 1947), "Golden Expanses of Ukraine" (1968), "Early Spring" (1970), and many others.

UFDA has digitized his 1965 work "Lilac," which belongs to the Regional Communal Museum of Local History in Borshchiv. This painting is now available for viewing on the fund’s website.

In his work, he gave preference to landscapes and still lifes. Dontsov accurately reproduced nature, but frequently employed an impressionistic style—characterized by light brushstrokes and an emphasis on light and air.

His landscapes are distinguished by their beauty and poetic quality. He was equally masterful at conveying the grandeur of vast expanses and the lyricism of quiet corners of nature. A characteristic feature of his work is the depiction of nature throughout the various seasons. The artist drew inspiration for his numerous landscapes from plein air painting.