Sheet 'K' from the album 'Ukrainian alphabet' 1917

This page, 'Sheet K' from the album 'Ukrainian alphabet', was created by Heorhiy Narbut. It's a printed image, probably a lithograph, with a very controlled palette of earthy browns, greens, and blues. I like to imagine Narbut in the studio, totally absorbed in the world he’s constructing, patiently building up the layers of color and detail. It's like he is thinking what does the letter 'K' *feel* like? The texture is really smooth and flat, giving it a crisp, graphic quality. Look at the way the horse’s leg lifts up, the arc of its neck. That communicates a feeling of elegance and dynamism. The whole scene vibrates with the history of the region. I feel that it's connected to a long lineage of artists exploring themes of identity and cultural memory. It reminds me of a childhood book. All artists are in an ongoing conversation, you know, riffing off each other’s ideas across time. What the artist is really doing here is inviting us to look at the world in a new way. It doesn’t offer fixed meanings, but opens up to multiple readings, depending on who’s looking.