Gonchar, Ivan
Gonchar, Ivan Tarasovich
Born 1888 in the village of Krishchentsy, in present-day Vinnitsa Oblast; died 1944. Master Ukrainian folk sculptor in ceramics.
Gonchar was taught by his father, a potter. Having begun at the age of 16 to decorate the lids of his vessels with modeled figurines, he moved on gradually to create sculptural groups and figurines of acutely grotesque rhythms (for example, One with Plow—Seven With Spoons, Budenny’s Men, and The Whites Flee in the 1920’s, and Monkey Musicians in 1936—now all in the Museum of Ukrainian Folk Art in Kiev). From 1935 to 1941, Gonchar was in charge of instruction at the experimental workshops of the Kiev Museum of Ukrainian Art.