Oleksandr Ferapontovich Saenko is a Soviet Ukrainian decorator. People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1975).
For Oleksandr Ferapontovich Saenko, sight was the only means of communication with the outside world. This is clearly recorded in his works. All of them are full of unusually expressive rhythm and dynamics. Even the simplest ornaments on cabinets and screens are imbued with a living pulse, an elusive inner movement. Alexander Sayenko was able to distinguish dozens of tones and half-tones of reeds – from light matte to deep dark rye.
The most famous work of Sayenko is a large decorative painting “Cossack Mamai”. Vigor, swift contours emphasize the strength and power of the hero. Mamai sits in his traditional pose, broad shoulders, strong large arms, a focused face. Nearby is a hot horse – a constant companion of the Cossack in harsh campaigns. All panels interpreted concisely, collected, whole – all this gives it even greater expressiveness.
The figure of Taras Shevchenko occupied an important place in the life and work of Sayenko. One of the artist’s best monumental works is the panel “Wheat stings in the corvee …” (1920).
The artist has always been attracted by the history of Ukraine. He paid special attention to his fellow countryman, a native of Borzna – Semyon Paliy. Expressive drawing, clear colors create a convincing image of Paliy in the works “Semyon Paliy”, “Meeting Semyon Paliy after the Battle of Poltava”.
Oleksandr Ferapontovich Saenko is a kind of innovator in the use of straw for highly artistic household items and furniture. He proved that straw is quite suitable both for interior decoration and for creating generalized monumental images.
Today Sayenko is called the author of a special artistic technique. And his works, which once adorned houses of culture and hotels, disappear without a trace. So during the privatization of one of the buildings on Khreshchatyk in Kiev, a monumental panel disappeared.
Memory
November 5, 1996 in Borzna, in the former estate of Sayenko, the artist’s museum was opened – the Borznyansky art-memorial museum “Estate of the People’s Artist of Ukraine Alexander Sayenko”. The museum collection includes paintings, compositions, highly artistic household items and straw furniture.
