THE UKRAINIAN AVANT-GARDE SCENE
On June 8th the Mystetskyi Arsenal opens a new project – the Ukrainian Avant-Garde Scene. The exhibition looks back to that era of socio-political flux – the early 20th century – which ushered in a revolution in the arts and culture. Ukraine – its folkloric dynamism and vibrant aesthetic responding to a general European pursuit of form and content – would provide the cradle of the avant-garde. Ukrainian artists of the day stood out – key figures on the international arts scene – their names going down in history.
The exhibition features 100 singular works by 20 of the leading proponents of the Ukrainian avant-garde.
The Ukrainian State Museum of Theater, Music, and Cinema has provided scenographic projects by Oleksandra Ekster, Anatole Petrytskyi, Vadim Meller, Oleksandr Khvostenko-Khvostov, and Boris Kosarev. These artists are acknowledged internationally as reformers of scenography as we know it. They not only spurred expressivity, depth, and motion in theatrical sets, but they altered the approach to the use of the stage itself.
The National Folk Decorative Art Museum has loaned work by native folk artists Hanna Sobachko-Shostak, Maria Prymachenko, Vasyl Dovhoshia, and Yevmen Pshechenko, pieces which echo remarkably with the designs of their more “urban” avant-garde contemporaries.
Works by Vasyl Yermylov, Viktor Palmov, Maria Synyakova, Oleksandr Bogomazov, Solomon Nikritin, and Oleksandr Arkhypenko have been thoughtfully provided from the private collections of Ihor Dychenko, Ihor Voronov, and Dmytro Gorbachov.