Michael Berkos
Michael Berkos was born September 3, 1861 in Odessa, by nationality he is Greek. He studied painting at the Odessa School (graduated in 1877) and the Academy of Arts of St. Petersburg in the class of painting under the guidance of M. Klodt and V. Orlovsky (in the years 1878-1889).
Berkos as a senior student became a prominent figure who participated in exhibitions and competitions of artistic works. He was decorated with small and large silver medals (1884-1886), with gold medal for the painting "View
of one of the oldest parks in St. Petersburg" (1887), with a large gold medal - for the painting "Landscape. The forest in the Swamp". He became friends with future artists from Slobozhanshchina: Serhiy Vasylkivsky, Mykhailo Tkachenko, Konstantyn Kryzhitsky, Mykhailo Samokysh. While being on vacation Berkos with his friends arrived in Kharkov, he was painting landscapes, in particular, the study "Poppies in Flower" (1885). He graduated from the academy with the rank of classroom artist of the first degree and the right to a four-year trip abroad at public expense. Traveling through Europe, Michael studied scenic treasures of the Museums of France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. He wrote a lot that perfected the technique of drawing, he has been influenced by the plain air paintings (as a method of artistic reproduction of the world directly to the free space with the use of color and light the achievements of Impressionism). After the pensioner's life M. Berkos lived some time in St. Petersburg, presented his paintings to the exhibition of the Society of Artists.
Since the second half of 1890, he lived and worked in Kharkov. With his family (a wife and two children) he was living in the estate at Small Danilovka, now Sortirovochnaya station. Beeing in this picturesque village, the artist wrote sketches, some of them still remain: "Landscape with a Church" (1897), "Greenhouses" (1895). Besides painting Berkos practicing teaching. Since 1904 he taught at the Kharkiv city school drawing and painting. In 1912 he was elected the first director of the Kharkov Art College. In the development of Ukrainian culture participated in the commission of the Kharkov Art-Industrial Museum, he has provided considerable assistance in the formation of its art department. In the early 1900's, Berkos became an active member of the architectural and artistic department of the Kharkiv-based literary and artistic circle, he took part in painting the premises. During this period (about 1907), artists of Kharkov, including Berkos, were proposed to issue in the national style interior house of Poltava zemstvo. As chairman of the Society of Kharkov artists (from 1906) and member of the literary and artistic circle M. Berkos leaded a lot of work to popularize Ukrainian painting, landscape, historical paintings of local history, exhibitions of works of art.
Artworks of M. Berkos regularly presented at exhibitions, competitions and exhibitions and sale of the Academy of Arts (1890, 1892-1894), the St. Petersburg Society of Artists (1894-1903 ), the Russian Watercolour Society (1894-1898, 1900 -1905, 1907, 1910, 1914), the southern Russian Artists, Artists of Kharkov (1893, 1894, 1912, 1914-1917), the National Russian Exibition (1896, Nizhny Novgorod), the World Exhibition in Paris (1900 ), etc. Vital solo exhibitions the artist had been organized in 1906, 1908 (Kharkov Art-Industrial Museum).
In 1911 there was an exhibition of paintings of Berkos and M. Vasylkivsky in Kiev. In October 1938 the State Art Gallery (Kharkov) exhibited for public some of 120 paintings created by the artist in the years 1890-1919. In the Kharkiv Art Museum have been arranged exhibitions of his paintings in 1962, 1990 and 1996. The exhibition "Outstanding Masters of Ukrainian landscape" (1990) is represented by 28 paintings and three drawings from the museum and private collections.
Almost all legacy of M. Berkos (350 paintings, sketches) was kept at his home, were lost after his death. But the legacy left in the museum collections of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ulyanovsk, Stavropol, Alupka, North Ossetia, Germany, France, Switzerland, shows the greatness of his talent and inspiration embodied in the beautiful paintings of the artist.
The main theme of the artist's art throughout his career was Ukrainian landscape, specific features of nature, the nature of the vegetation. Berkos liked to write at Blossoming of nature. Village streets with white cottages and lush trees and blooming fields of flax and buckwheat - favorite motifs of master: paintings "Flax Blossoms "(1893), "Buckwheat Blossoms"(1894), "July. Poppies Bloom" (1913 ), "Apple Blossoms" (1919) etc. His studies "Poppies in Flower" (1885), "The Valley", "Flax" (1893) marked the completion, well balanced composition, the freshness of color, special refinement.
Created by the artist landscapes "Rome", "Sorrento" (1899), becoming a romantic painting of the past thanks to
reproduce the pure blue sky, bright sunlight, rich color shades of green tall trees, flowing enamel painting. Etude "Harbour. Amalfi" (1899), painted in light improvisational style, elegant paintings, steeped in a dynamic movement. Color system landscape "Winter" (1907), written in Poltava, decorated in blue and white palette with a rosy glow, accented decorative painting.
In landscapes of Michael Berkos shows a typical corner of East Ukraine province, turned into a generalizedimage of Ukraine. In the product "Street in Uman” (1895) with great certainty reflected pattern provincial Ukrainian town, its roads, winding streets, houses and old houses and churches.
Berkos - singer of "estate" of culture - the white houses with columns, surrounded by flower beds with lush flowers, covered with old garden, greenhouses with a bluish-gray-blue cabbage ("Summer Day. In the courtyard", "Lilac Blossoms").
M. Berkos died in December 20, 1919 in Kharkov, having left beautiful works of high culture. Paintings by artist appreciated by his contemporaries, including artists of the Kharkov school, public Kharkov, historian and social activist D. Bagaliev. And today you can see the artist's paintings, filled with a sense of optimism and joy of communion with nature.
