avant-garde artist, cubofuturist, painter, film artist
Vadym Meller (1884–1962) was born into an aristocratic family. The artist's father, George Meller, was Swedish, and his mother, Helena Caruso, had Italian-Greek roots. He entered the history of Ukrainian art primarily as a constructivist scenographer and one of the organizers of the Berezil Art Association. Meller received a thorough European education, took an active part in the formation of a new European type of artistic creativity. His work stands out against the background of the works of other Ukrainian theater artists due to its artistic perfection, the combination of elegant form and exquisite composition.
In 1903, following the example of his father, the future artist entered the law faculty of Kyiv University of St. Volodymyr. While studying at the university, Meller attended the Kyiv Art School as a free student. In 1905, Meller studied in Switzerland, at the Geneva Art School. After graduating from Kyiv University (1908), he went to Germany. For several months he studied at the private school of Heinrich Knirr. In 1909, he entered the Munich Academy of Arts, where he studied in the studio of Angelo Janka. Of course, the artistic environment of Munich with its exhibitions, theaters, and galleries became a continuation of artistic education. Meller got close to the creative group of expressionist artists "Blue Horseman", hung out with the founder of abstractionism Wassily Kandinsky. After graduating from the Academy with honors, Meller moved to France in 1912. There he entered the Free Workshops, attended the class of the famous sculptor Antoine Bourdel, a student of Auguste Rodin.
In 1918, Meller returned to Kyiv and naturally gravitated to the studio of Alexandra Ekster, whom he had met in Paris. The studio served as a creative club and meeting place for artists. In 1919, Bronislava Nizhynska opened her first avant-garde School of Movement in Kyiv, which was located near Alexandra Ekster's studio. Vadim Meller was engaged in the design of choreographic compositions for the School of Movement — he made sketches that were to be "animated" by the dancers.
Meller's first scenographic works were carried out for the plays "Maitre Patlen" and "The Marriage of Figaro" in the Oleksiy Smirnov Theater (Kyiv, 1919) and the design of "Mazepa" by Yulius Slovatskyi in the First State Theater named after T. Shevchenko (Kyiv, 1920). While designing these performances, the artist did not stop creative cooperation with Bronislava Nizhynska.
From 1921 to 1923, Vadim Meller participated in the productions of the group of artists named after Hnat Mykhailichenko "The Art of Action" directed by the young director Mark Tereshchenko. Initially, it was the Central Studio, which opened in December 1920 and had different departments: music, drama, choreography. Meller headed the art department, where he actively shared the secrets of creative skill. Tereshchenko's fundamentally new artistic method was the introduction of collective creativity: the actor had to free himself from the dictates of the director, the pressure of the author and the artist, in order to become a free creator, a universal artist who defines his own performance. In 1921, under the direction of Tereshchenko, the composition "The Sky is Burning" was performed, based on the poems of Oleksa Slisarenko, Mykhailo Semenko and Geo Shkurupia. Here Meller tried himself not only as an artist, but also as a "movement leader". The composition was performed without scenery (Meller designed only the costumes), without dialogues, several groups acted on the stage, which "with certain schematic gestures imitated the process of factory, mining work, struggle and showed collective reflexes during the uprising and victory," wrote an anonymous critic in the Kharkiv to the newspaper "Visti" during the theater tours.
On March 30, 1922, Vadym Meller became a co-founder of the Berezil Art Association. Möller's skill and experience in scenography, his innovation, knowledge of Western European art inevitably led him to a creative collaboration with Les Kurbas, which spanned the years 1922–1933. Kurbas rallied around him the most talented actors of the theater business, enthusiastic about the idea of creating a theater unseen by the Ukrainian audience. A sharp sense of modernity, an understanding of the high purpose of art, professional culture and creative energy, and most importantly, a European worldview immediately made Meller one of the main figures in the new team.
The period of 1922–1924 is the golden age of expressionism in "Berezol". The first such performance was Georg Kaiser's drama "Gas", in which Kurbas made the working masses the main characters. The scenery for "Gas" consisted of various platforms for the unfolding of the action, it created a polyphony of movements, it was itself an element of rhythms of forms and structures that intensified the action.
Meller became the founder of constructivism in the Ukrainian theater. On the stage of "Birch", his designs were active characters of the stage action ("Gas", "Jimmy Higgins"). At the border of the first and second seasons, a model workshop was created in "Berezol" under the leadership of the chief artist of the theater, Vadym Meller. In the summer of 1923, Meller brought here his third-year students from the Kyiv Art Institute: Valentina Shklyaeva, Maya Simashkevich, Dmytro Vlasyuk, Yevhen Tovbin, Moisei Ashkinazi, Mira Panadiadi, A. Protsenko. It was the first school of theater artists in Ukraine, where they had the opportunity to learn the profession and practice next to the best scenographer in the leading theater of the country. The talent of young artists was formed under the influence of Möller's innovative ideas, which was of great importance for the emergence of new artistic traditions.
For eleven years, Meller together with his students staged almost all of Berezil's plays, except for two - "Fiesco's Conspiracy in Genoa" (art. Nisson Shifrin) and "Martin Borulya" (art. Borys Kosarev). If the names of young directors or artists are indicated in the posters, it is clear that they performed their work under the close supervision of their teachers.
In 1925, Vadym Meller's stage design for the MOB play "Secretary of the Trade Union" by L. Scott, directed by Boris Tyahn, was awarded a gold medal at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris. Then Meller was invited to participate in the International Theater Exhibition in New York.
В цей період Мирон Кипріян працює над виставами в театрі ім. М. Заньковецької: «Моя професія – сеньор з вищого світу» Скарначчі та Р. Тарабузі, режисер В. Сікорський (1998), «Коханий нелюб» Я. Стельмаха, режисер Ф. Стригун, композитор І. Небесний (1999), «Талант» М. Старицького, режисер А. Бабенко (1999), «Тріумфальна жінка» Н. Ковалик, режисер Ф. Стригун (2000), «Андрей» В. Герасимчука, режисер Ф. Стригун, (2000), «Маргаритка» Салакру, режисер Г. Воловецька, художник М. Кипріян, «Політ над гніздом зозулі» К. Кізі, Д. Вассерман, режисер В. Сікорський, композитор І. Небесний (2002), «Вісім люблячих жінок» Р. Томма, режисер А. Бабенко (2002), «Мізантроп» Е. Лабіш (студентська вистава), режисер Б. Козак
Серед останніх робіт сценографа в театрі ім. Марії Заньковецької: «Кайдашева сім’я» за І. Нечуєм-Левицьким (2003), «Любов і мундир» Ф. Мольнара, режисер В. Сікорський (2005), «Хелемські мудреці» М. Гершензона, режисер В. Сікорський, «Сава Чалий» І. Карпенко-Карий, Режисер Ф. Стригун, «Амадей» П. Шеффера, режисер В. Сікорський (2006), «Замшевий піджак» С. Стратієв, режисер В. Сікорський (2007), «Три ідеальні подружжя» А. Касона, режисер А. Бабенко (2008), «Історія коня» М. Розовський за Л. Толстим, режисер В. Сікорський, «Криза» О. Огородник, режисер О. Огородник, «Троє товаришів» Е. М. Ремарк, режисер В. Сікорський, «Сватання на Гончарівці» Г. Квітки-Основ’яненка (2009), «Посланіє…» Б. Козак за Т. Шевченком (моновистава), режисер А. Бабенко (2010),«По щучому велінню» М. Кропивницький, режисер В. Сікорський (2010), «Невольник» Т. Шевченко, режисер Ф. Стригун, «Останній гречкосій» О. Огородник, режисер О. Огородник (2011), «Безодня» О. Огородник, режисер О. Огородник (2015), «Поцілунок самотності» Б.Горак, режисер А. Бабенко (2017).
Мирон Кипріян за свій творчий шлях здійснив сценографію понад 300 вистав, серед яких 200 – на сцені Львівського театру ім. Марії Заньковецької. Окрім цього, будучи віртуозним колористом, митець залишив досить великий живописний доробок. Кипріян малював портрети своїх знаменитих родичів та відомих сучасників, з якими разом працював. Останні роки життя він займався публіцистичною діяльністю та видав близько двадцяти книг та репринтних видань.
Нагороди / членство:
Член Національної спілки художників України (з 1969). У 1978 році отримав Шевченківську премію разом з М. Зарудним, С. Данченком, Н. Доценко, В. Максименком, Ф. Стригуном за виставу «Тил» у Львівському українському драматичному театрі ім.М.Заньковецької. 1988 року отримав звання Народного художника. У 1998 році звання Лауреата премії імені В. Клеха (США).
Мирон Кипріян брав участь в художніх виставках від 1960-х років.
2024 — експонування творів Мирона Кипріяна в трьох виставках проєкту «Український театральний костюм ХХ-ХХІ ст. Ідентичність, контекст, ландшафт» галерея Арт центру «Дзиґа» (Львів), галереї Центру міжкультурних творчих ініціатив «Rozdroża» (Люблін), Музей театрального, музичного та кіномистецтва (Київ). Проєкт за підтримки УКФ та Українського Інституту
2020 — «Мирон Кипріян. Життя проведене в театрі» у Національному музеї у Львові ім. А. Шептицького. Це спільний проєкт музею та Національного театру ім. Марії Заньковецької
2005 — виставка творів Мирона Кипріяна у Національному музеї у Львові ім. А.Шептицького
1994 — персональна виставка сценографічних праць, живопису і графіки Мирона Кипріяна
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