Introduction

Taras Shevchenko was an important Ukrainian literary and artistic figure in the mid-19th century, and almost 200 years after his death, he still remains very relevant to modern-day Ukraine. Many parallels can be drawn between modern-day Ukraine’s current relationship with Russia, and the problems faced by the Ukrainian people. After learning about Taras Shevchenko’s life, body of work, and his relationship to today’s crisis in Ukraine, we sought to do further research into Shevchenko’s influence on contemporary 19th century Ukrainian authors and artists, as well as his predecessors that influenced his thoughts and ideas.

With regard to his literary output, we chose to focus on the founder of the Brotherhood of St. Cyril and Methodius, to which Shevchenko belonged, Nikolay Kostomarov. Kostomarov’s pioneering work and his Ukrainian nationalism were evident influences on the development of Shevchenko’s thoughts and attitudes towards Ukraine’s relationship with the Russian Empire. For his art, we focused on the artists Ivan Shoshenko, Karl Briullov, and Alexey Venetsianov. Perhaps the most important facet of the relationships among all of these artists’ outputs was their role in the transition from academism to neoclassicism, as well as their respective influences on each movement. Shevchenko’s role in the development of Ukrainian modernism movements in both literature and art is evidenced through his relationships with his contemporaries, predecessors, and followers, and this is what makes him one of the most important Ukrainian minds of his time.