Inna Bychenkova

Inna Valentynivna Bychenkova (Биченкова Інна Валентинівна; 5 June 1941 – 16 January 2023) was a Soviet and Ukrainian theater and film artist and teacher. Honored Artist of Ukraine (2003).

Early life and education
Inna Bychenkova graduated from the Kyiv State Art Institute (1967, workshop of Mykola Dukhnovsky).

Career
Bychenkova worked in the field of painting, scenography, and cinema. Among her principal works are: Theatrical still lifes (1979–82), Birth of an Image (1979), Illusion (1981), Every Evening (1982); series – Provincial Life (1980–83), Autumn Motifs (1995–96), Dreamy Still Lifes (1996–98), Unforgettable Past (1999).

Bychenkova staged more than sixty performances in various theaters in Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine. She worked as an associate professor and teacher at the Art Institute and participated in the creation of several dozen films and television series.

Bychenkova was a member of the National Union of Theater Actors of Ukraine (1971), the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (1976), and the Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers (1989).

The film Raspad (1990), in which Bychenkova was a Production Designer, about the accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and its consequences, received two film awards: the gold medal at the IFF in Venice and the grand prix at the IFF of environmental film and television films in Santander (Spain).

Style
The artist herself often suffered from depression, which affected her creativity. We can see the manifestations of this in strict, somewhat geometric compositions, performed in a restrained color with the presence of certain canonical symbols. According to her daughter's recollections, Bychenkova tried to commit suicide during her second year at the institute, but doctors managed to save her life. After that, there was a particular jump in the development of the field of art.

The beauty of the environment, which Bychenkova tried to notice despite everything, she reproduced on complex canvases, combining painting and theatrical principles. Bychenkova's paintings, which she generously shared with friends, and demonstrated at annual exhibitions, are characterized by exceptional lyricism, eroticism, and a profound experience of the existential nature of being.

Controversies
During the presidential elections of 2004, Bychenkova actively supported Viktor Yanukovych. The “Ukrainska Pravda" journalists suspected her of receiving funds from the then-ruling Party of Regions for campaigning. However, Bychenkova herself, at that time, denied everything. Later, after the events of 2014, she admitted this and publicly apologized to Ukrainians.

Personal life
Bychenkova's daughter Yulia, son-in-law, and grandson Platon also devoted themselves to art, working as graphic artists and living in the USA.

As a Costume Designer

 * 1984 – Two Hussars (directed by Viacheslav Kryshtofovych)
 * 1985 – Volodya the Great, Volodya the Little (directed by Viacheslav Kryshtofovych)
 * 1986 – The Kings and the Cabbage
 * 1986 – Guard Me, My Talisman

As a Production Designer

 * 1984 – Captain Fracass (TV movie, 2 episodes, co-authored with Maria Levitska)
 * 1986 – The Golden Chain
 * 1987 – The Red Fairy
 * 1988 – Self-portrait of the Unknown
 * 1988 – The Meadow of Fairy Tales
 * 1990 – Raspad (co-authored with Vasyl Zaruba)
 * 1993 – Hetman's Kleynods – Golden Knight Prize of the International Conference of Slavic and Orthodox Peoples (1993) for the best pictorial solution
 * 1995 – Helly and Knock
 * 1997 – The Seventh Route
 * 2000 – Black Council (9 episodes)
 * 2012 – Mom, I love the pilot...