PRESENTATION OF WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS AT CHARITY AUCTIONS ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE PROJECT “I HAVE THE HONOR!”

Abstract

The article studies watercolor paintings by contemporary Ukrainian artists presented during the Charity Auction «I Have the Honor!» held by the Ducat Auction House in 2023 in support of the 23rd separate rifle battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the fight against russian invaders. Watercolor paintings are a significant component of contemporary Ukrainian fine art. However, it is obvious that art dealers, collectors, and art historians pay insufficient attention to them. It is expedient to actualize this problem and outline further prospects for the creative work of domestic watercolorists on the example of the auction chosen for the study. The purpose of the article is to characterize the state and prospects of popularization of contemporary watercolor painting in Ukraine by analyzing the charity auction «I Have the Honor!». The results gave been generalized. The author describes that the charity auction «I Have the Honor!» in support of the 23rd separate rifle battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, held in November 2023, presented only 5 watercolors by Iryna Hresyk, Nataliia Kokhal, Viktor Sydorenko, Petro Starukh, and Nataliia Studenkova out of 127 lots (paintings, graphics, antique books, and art objects). By analyzing these works, it is summarized that contemporary Ukrainian watercolor has a strong academic base, a connection with the watercolor tradition of previous generations, and the ability to develop in line with contemporary world art trends. However, it is currently not popular enough on the art market, as evidenced by a small percentage of watercolor paintings presented at the auction concerned as one of the largest charity projects during the russian-Ukrainian war. This fact is also confirmed by the fact that at the time of writing the article, not a single watercolor auction has been held in Ukraine, despite the powerful national watercolor school and a wide range of art lovers. Therefore, there is a considerable potential for realization of such auction.