Nikolay Havrylovych Shmatko (; 17 August 1943 – 15 September 2020) was a Ukrainian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. He was born in the

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

region of Ukraine.

Biography

Shmatko became a sculptor at the age of 33, having previously been a firefighter. During all his creative development Nikolai Shmatko created more than 750 various monuments and about 500 pictures. He worked in

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

, inspired by European culture and art. His studio and gallery contain 100 sculptures (more than 70 of which are made of Ural and Italian marble); 30 plaster casts; and about 300 pictures (including paintings, graphics, and architectural designs). In total, there are approximately 750 pieces, ranging from simple decorations to

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

and

high relief High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

busts and sculptures. Some of these pieces are sexually explicit and even pornographic. Shmatko also worked in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, and had a design for a penis-shaped high-rise building. In 2004, for his work "Sviatohorska Blessed Virgin" - a statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

(

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' ( Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-beare ...

" Hegumenia") for Sviato-Uspenskyi Sviatohorskyi Monastery - Shmatko was awarded the order of Nestor Letopisets by

Volodymyr Sabodan Metropolitan Vladimir (Volodymyr; secular name Viktor Markianovich Sabodan, , , 23 November 1935 – 5 July 2014) was the Metropolitan of Kiev and the Exarch of Ukraine in the Patriarchate of Moscow, and, ''ex officio'', the head of the ...

, the

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Metropolitan, and all of Ukraine. In the autumn of 2005 the Transfiguration church was opened in the village of Keleberda, Poltava region. Exclusively for this church, the sculptor created a marble sculpture "The Crucifixion". In autumn 2012, at the invitation of oligarch

Viktor Baloha Viktor Ivanovych Baloha (, born 15 June 1963) is a Ukrainian politician and a former emergency situations minister. Early life and education Viktor Baloha was born on 15 June 1963 in the village Zavydovo, Mukachevo district, Zakarpattia O ...

, Shmatko moved with his family to the city of

Mukachevo Mukachevo (, ; , ; see name section) is a city in Zakarpattia Oblast, western Ukraine. It is situated in the valley of the Latorica River and serves as the administrative center of Mukachevo Raion. The city is a rail terminus and highway junct ...

Exhibitions

* 2007: Biennale di Firenze 2007,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

; received 4th place award in sculpture and installation * 2009: Biennale di Firenze 2009,

; Participating Artists 2009 * 2012: ArtMonaco 2012,

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

; Exposants - Exhibitors, Art Monaco 2012 (page 160)

Works in public collections

* Shmatko's bust of Ivan Maksymovych Soshenko is stored in the museum of Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko

Imperial Academy of Arts The Imperial Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov, the founder of the Imperial Moscow University, under the name ''Academy of th ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Svyatogorsk.jpg, ''Sviatohorska Blessed Virgin''
Sviato-Uspenska

Sviatohirsk Lavra The Holy Mountains Lavra of the Holy Dormition (, Sviatohirsk Lavra or the Sviatohirsk Cave Monastery) is a major Monastery#Orthodox Christian monasteries, Orthodox Christian monastery on the steep right bank of the Donets, Siverskyi Donets River ...

Sviatohirsk Sviatohirsk (, ; , ), formerly Slovianohirsk (), is a city in the northern part of Donetsk Region in Ukraine. It stands on the banks of the Siverskyi Donets River, from the city of Sloviansk. The population is The 16th-century Sviatohirsk L ...

, Ukraine Shmatko-statue.jpg, ''Foreplay''
Ural marble, 66 x 125 x 67 Soshenko.jpg, ''Ivan Soshenko'' Shevchenko Taras.jpg, ''

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University The Luhansk University, officially the Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University (, ) or Lugansk State Pedagogical University (), is the oldest university in Donbas region and has a reputation as one of Ukraine's most prestigious universiti ...

References

External links

Official website

Official website of HRH Princess Basmah Bint Saud

Sculpture Gives Yulia Nude Treatment

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shmatko, Mykola 1943 births 2020 deaths People from Krasnohorivka 20th-century Ukrainian painters 20th-century Ukrainian male artists 21st-century Ukrainian painters 21st-century Ukrainian male artists Sculpture galleries in Ukraine Soviet painters Soviet sculptors Ukrainian modern sculptors Ukrainian male sculptors Ukrainian male painters People from Reichskommissariat Ukraine 20th-century Ukrainian sculptors 21st-century Ukrainian sculptors Erotic artists