Sculptor of lyrical images Oksana Zhnykrup
Oksana Leontiivna Zhnykrup (1931-1993), member of the National Academy of Arts (1963). She graduated from the Odesa Art School named after M. Hrekov (1952, teacher M. Kipnis).
At the KECAF during 1955-1987 she created mainly small porcelain plastics, souvenir miniatures, sometimes - tableware forms ("V.I.K" teapot, 1976). She also worked as a painter: she developed drawings for decals, painted the works of other sculptors of KECAF, in particular, compositions for the exhibitions of H. Moldavan "Blackberries" (1957), O. Rapai "Lovers" (1959). She made many works in co-authorship with V. Shcherbyna ("Adagio", 1955; "Nazar Stodolia", 1965, etc.).
The artist's name is associated with a diverse embodiment of the theme of female beauty in porcelain: in the images of the heroines of fairy tales and literary works by A. Pushkin, N. Gogol, T. Shevchenko, H.-H. Andersen, representatives of theatrical and stage art (dancers and ballerinas), characters of scenes of modern life ("Morning", "Bathing Woman", "By the Water") and Soviet history ("Education"). The works of O. Zhnykrup are characterized by the clarity of the silhouette, melodious lines, laconicism of modeling the form and lyrical mood. They marked the heyday of the production of small porcelain plastics at the KECAF and in Ukraine as a whole.
Small plastics by O. Zhnykrup were produced at the KECAF and other porcelain factories. And some popular compositions: "May Night", "He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not", "On the Skating Rink" (all - 1956) - were produced in mass circulation for decades. The works took part in republican, all-Union, international art and industrial exhibitions since 1957, received awards, were exported; now they are kept in leading museums.
