Recently at an auction in London Paintings Vasil Hmelyuka "lawyer" was bought for 50 thousand pounds sterling. In Paris, the artist's works are estimated at around 15 thousand euros.
(NAME HMELYUKA returned to Ukraine art historian Alexander Fedoruk. He has found documents showing that a young guy Basil Hmelyuk immigrated first to Poland, where he studied for over a year at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, and then to Prague - the elder brother. There he enrolled at the local university the Faculty and in parallel studied painting in the studio of Plastic Arts named Sergei Mako).
The artist, whose works are in the best museums of the world, was born in a village near Berezovka Zhmerinka. He lived in Paris, where he became the representative of the French school of painting. His name at home until recently, few people knew, though today for painting Hmelyuka hunted by collectors throughout Europe.
In 1939, some collector Hmelyuka invited to Switzerland to work. But in 1943, famous gallery of Durand-Ryuel ", opened in XIX century, offered him a lucrative contract. Cooperate with the gallery on the street Lafite is honored Gauguin and Picasso. Therefore, for the artist it was a gift of fate. Gallery provided him a stable income. A comfortable life continued until 1972, while "Durand-Ryuel" does not become bankrupt. After its closure Hmelyuk depressed. In 1986 the artist died.
Brother Hmelyuka Ilko also lived in Paris. And his wife managed the famous bookshop near the Luxembourg Gardens, where Parisians come specifically to buy books and maps.
The artist in Ukraine were brothers and sister, who survived the Famine due to the fact that Basil from Paris sent via Torgsin their products. Village Berezovka - birthplace of the wizard - was included in the boundary Zhmerinka, but kept the house where he was born. And in a local school created a small museum.
Archive Hmelyuka after his death was unavailable. The wife of a Spanish-only closed for a few days with his body and did not come near to him, and hid the archive. And only recently, after her death, the heirs of the master was an auction near Paris, which sold its legacy. With this many of Hmelyuka are now in Ukraine, as well as at the auction were many representatives of our country.
(Adapted from Komsomolskaya Pravda Ukraine)
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