“The Geometry of Spirit” poster exhibition has officially opened at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the legendary Heorhiy Narbut.

The Academy recently hosted an important event for the artistic community — the opening of an exhibition celebrating the 140^th anniversary of Heorhiy Narbut, the great master, the founder of Ukrainian graphic design and the creator of the national visual style. This exposition is not merely a reflection on the past, but a living dialogue between eras.

The exhibited works were created by Master’s students of the “Visual Communication Design” educational programme. The project was guided by a true maestro of Ukrainian design — Volodymyr LESNIAK, Professor of the Graphic Design Department and Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. Thanks to his professional expertise, students not only adopted Narbut’s legendary techniques (his famous typography, ornamentation, and laconic style), but also reinterpreted them through the lens of contemporary visual language.

The exhibition demonstrates how Narbut’s ideas, which laid the foundation for Ukrainian branding over a century ago, continue to live on today. The students’ works showcase typographic experiments based on Narbut’s “Abetka” (Alphabet), symbolism characteristic of the Art Nouveau style, and contemporary poster minimalism combined with elements of the Ukrainian Baroque.

For the students, this exhibition was an opportunity not just to honour the master’s legacy, but to personally experience the power of the Ukrainian graphic school.

We invite all admirers of graphic art to visit the exhibition and witness how the new generation of designers reinterprets classical heritage.

Photo report: Fedor TSELUIKO, Davyd PONOMAROV