Painters and muralists · Kyiv to New Jersey
Three generations of artists, from the art schools of Ukraine to a studio in New Jersey.
The family
Leonid Titulenko is a Ukrainian-born painter and muralist. His grandparents trained at an art school in Ukraine, one in sculpture and the other in embroidery. His father, Vladimir, became a monumental artist who worked in sculpture, murals, mosaics and stained glass. Leonid carries that tradition into homes in New Jersey, where he paints murals and canvases and teaches children to draw.
Their story was recorded in a 2014 documentary, The Dynasty of Artists Titulenko. This site gathers it in one place and points to where Leonid's paintings can be seen today.
History
The documentary follows the family back through its generations. This is the outline it gives.
First generation
Vladimir's parents met at an art school. His father came from Ukraine and his mother, Zoya Fedorovna, from Kaluga. The war separated them for a time. Later, war and army service ended his father's work in sculpture and woodcraft, a field in which he was a master.
His mother kept to what she had studied, embroidery. She worked as a professional seamstress and loved working with children. Vladimir calls this the family heritage.
Second generation
Vladimir studied at the art school in Dnipro, then spent six years at the Kyiv Art Institute, now the Academy of Arts. He made a large body of mosaics and wall paintings tied to the architecture and setting of each building.
His own heroes came from the school of realism, among them Valentin Serov and Ilya Repin. In later paintings he turned to allegory, such as bulls in party-coloured bandanas trampling everything in their path.
With his wife, Lydmila Nikolayevna, he helped build a gallery and cultural space in about half a year. Its exhibition, People of Our Land, shows portraits of older people drawn from old photographs and conversations. Such people, he says, are rarely shown.
Third generation
Leonid grew up inside his parents' studios, mixing paint and cleaning brushes. His father's monumental work ran from large sculpture and murals to concrete carving, mosaics and stained glass, and Leonid followed him into the field. He earned a master's degree in monumental art at the Kyiv Art Academy 18:34, along with a second master's in finance.
After the Soviet Union broke apart he moved his family to the United States around 1998, looking for a happier place for his son 17:02. In New York he worked as a video editor and visual effects creator for production companies, including effects for celebrity projects 20:13. In the end he decided fine art was his way of life.
Today he paints in a second-floor studio at a large plant nursery and sculpture garden in New Jersey, and teaches children in a room of their own 17:31.
Mural is an absolutely different approach than canvas. Leonid Titulenko, from the documentary
Times link to the moment in the documentary where Leonid says it.
If you feel art inside you, find any spare minute and make something, even if it is only for yourself and you are afraid to show it. Keep going, and you may end up with a big show in New York City.
Murals
Two murals from his interview show what he means by painting for a room instead of a frame.
The documentary
A 29-minute documentary made by Anastasiya Sytnikova as her final project for the BA in Communication, Culture and Media at Coventry University. It meets Vladimir in Ukraine, then Leonid in New Jersey in April 2013.
The first half is in Russian with English subtitles. Leonid's English interview begins about 17 minutes in.
Behind the film
Anastasiya Sytnikova made the documentary as the final project of her Communication, Culture and Media degree at Coventry University. It is also a family story. Vladimir Titulenko is her grandmother's brother.
Her great-grandfather was a master of woodcraft and sculpture, her great-grandmother a professional seamstress, and her grandmother a dancer who still sews.
She planned the shoot as two trips: first to Ukraine to film and interview Vladimir, then to the United States to meet his eldest son, Leonid, with questions that echoed his father's answers. Vladimir was used to interviews and came prepared. Leonid was shyer, so she drew him out with leading questions. About 50 minutes of Vladimir and 40 of Leonid were cut to roughly 13 and 12.
In the edit she trimmed the footage, laid paintings, photographs and archive pictures over the interviews, added transitions, an opening and credits, and subtitled about 13 minutes of Russian speech for British viewers.
Screenshots from the filmmaker's blog. Select one to enlarge.
The paintings
Leonid's paintings are shown and offered through batsuk.art. Visit the collection to see the work and get in touch.
https://batsuk.art/
Questions about paintings, murals or lessons go through Eugene B. Batsuk, who presents Leonid's work at batsuk.art.
Brand
One idea runs through the name, the colours and the tone: the halo. It comes from the angels painting at the top of this page. The family paints saints and children, walls and still lifes, and treats each as work worth a halo.
The wordmark is set in Fraunces Light with a gold halo floating above it. Keep clear space equal to the height of the halo on every side. Use the monogram where the name will not fit, such as profile pictures.
Colours come from the angels painting and the studio walls. Azure and sky carry links and buttons. Halo gold is for rings, rules and small accents, never for long text.
#11222BText, dark grounds#EDF2F0Page ground, light theme#1B6684Buttons, bands#7DBAD1Links and buttons on dark#D1A93CThe ring, rules, accentsDisplay
A soft old-style serif for names and headlines. Light weight at large sizes, italic for quotations.
Text
A clear humanist sans for paragraphs, captions and buttons. Small uppercase labels get wide spacing.
Name the wall, the paint, the year. Short sentences, no hype.
Credit the generations before Leonid. The story is a line of teachers and students.
Speak like a person showing you around the studio. Let Leonid's own words carry the humour.
Every button leads to batsuk.art, where the paintings are shown. Use verbs that say what happens next.