Hanna Sobachko-Shostak is a Ukrainian artist, a master of folk art who worked on the border between traditional culture and modern art.

She was born on December 15, 1883, in the village of Skoptsi (now Veselinivka, Kyiv region). She finished only two classes of the parish school, but her talent was revealed thanks to the support of Anastasia Semigradova and Yevgenia Prybylska, who noticed Anna’s unique vision.

Since 1911, Hanna worked in a carpet and embroidery workshop, creating imaginative flower compositions that were characterized by dynamics, brightness, and abstract motifs. Her works were exhibited in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Paris, Berlin and New York, but in Soviet times, the artist was called a “master of folk art”, belittling her contribution to the artistic avant-garde.

In the 1930s, she worked at a textile factory near Moscow, where her creativity was limited to applied works. Only in 1964, thanks to journalist Hryhoriy Mestechkin, her first and last personal exhibition “Flowers of Ukraine” in Kyiv.

Hanna Sobachko-Shostak died in the fall of 1965, leaving a legacy of works that inspired generations of Ukrainian artists and are now considered an important part of the Ukrainian avant-garde.

She said about herself:

“I started painting in 1916, when I was an embroiderer of decorative products in the Skopets workshop. At first, I painted paper towels for sale. When I was invited to paint in the workshop, I got good foreign paints and paper and started looking at books on ornaments – my work went better, although I did not redraw. I felt that I was growing. Every week, Yevgenia Ivanovna and I drew on the floor, and I had to judge myself whether I had time to do it or not. At the end of 16, I was left alone. I had paints, paper, and ornament books opportunity to work every day, and I saw growth.”