The graphic heritage of Mykola Yaroshenko is very significant. These are mainly sketches of future compositions and images, drawings from nature, a large number of student and work albums. Only in the Poltava Art Museum (Art Gallery) named after Mykola Yaroshenko 17 albums are preserved, which contain 443 sheets with drawings. The number of the drawings themselves, which are often made on the front and back sides, or several on one sheet, is much greater.
Chronologically, the artist’s albums from the museum collection cover almost the entire period of his work – from the 1860s to the 1890s. They are a weighty basis for the study of the artist’s heritage, allowing us to clearly trace the stages of his creative growth. And in some places they remain the only opportunity to create an idea of works that have not come down to our time.
The graphic works of M.O. Yaroshenko were made using various techniques and means – pencil, pen, fusain, watercolors, wet sauce, gouache, and sometimes using multi-colored paper.
He almost never parted with his albums, he always had a blank sheet of paper at hand for drawing, but he did not often work in graphic techniques.
Among his graphic works there are, first of all, portraits, in particular, P.A. Strepetova, M.P. Yaroshenko, K. D. Kavelin, I.M. Kramskoy and others, which today constitute the golden fund of national graphic art.
