Abstract:
Статтю присвячено пошукові іконографічного прототипу народної картини «Оленка
і олень» (або «Дівчина з оленем»), сюжет якої – один з найпоширеніших у народному мистецтві,
проте не досить вивчений. Сюжетне розмаїття українського народного живопису ХХ ст. вимагає
від дослідників визначення іконографічних прототипів цілої низки сюжетів народних картин, зокрема й твору «Оленка і олень».
Ukrainian folk paintings show significant subject diversity in the XIX century. By the beginning of
the XX century the number of iconographic sources for the folk art subjects had grown, too. They included
works of fine art, literary works, various types of graphic illustrations (periodicals, calendars, perfume
packaging, etc.). Among the subjects of Ukrainian folk paintings, one of the most popular is the image of
a girl with a deer, or the so-called “Olenka and a Deer”. Such paintings show a girl holding a deer with
one hand, a hat with flowers at the girl’s feet, wreaths of flowers put on the girl’s head and deer’s neck.
Although this subject has been studied by some researchers, the iconographic prototype of this painting has
still been unknown. Various versions of an iconographic prototype of such paintings were considered, starting
from Western Europe postcards or soap wrappers, to mythological and symbolic explanations of the plot.
The article proves that the iconographic prototype of the folk painting “Olenka and a Deer” is probably the
embroidery set of the German company “Wiehler”, that was distributed in Ukraine in the XX century. The
original embroidery design shows a goat instead of a deer, but all the elements of composition are present.
Different examples of such embroideries can still be found in Ukrainian private collections and antiquity
auctions, varying in colours and minor features, like landscape details. As folk paintings “Olenka and a
Deer” have far more varieties yet bear the general resemblance to the embroidery in question, we consider
the latter to be the iconographic prototype, and not vice versa. The study included analysis of the English
and German language sources, collections of visual art, antiquity auctions, a large scope of art theory and
history publications by Ukrainian folk art researchers and collectors.
