Larissa Ciupka

Ten years after The Spirit of Ukraine captured our imaginations, The

Phenomenon of the Ukrainian Avant-garde, 1910 - 1935 features works rescued

from the Spetsfond (special collection), and never before seen outside

Europe. This artistic legacy was uncovered only after Ukraine's

independence in 1991 and tells the story of the rarely-acknowledged

contribution of Ukrainian artists to twentieth-century art.

Exploring for the first time a critical period in the history of Ukrainian

art - the 1910s through the 1930s - the exhibition presents a body of work

that is startling in its originality and remarkable in its internationalism.

This period witnessed extraordinarily fruitful years both for the pluralism

of its artistic environment and for the confluence of intellectual ideas and

debates. Contributions made by Ukrainian artists to the international

twentieth-century movements of Cubism, Constructivism, Suprematism and

Futurism are highlighted through the work of such artists as Kazimir

Malevich, Alexander Archipenko, the Burliuk brothers and El Lissitzky. The

central role played by these artists within an international context has

been rarely acknowledged and here is examined in depth for the first time.

Between 1937-39, some 2,000 works were confiscated by the Soviet government

and placed in the Spetsfond (special collection) created especially for

works of art deemed harmful and ideologically hostile. Countless other

works were destroyed, and artists were exiled, forced to flee, or executed.

Works in the Spetsfond were not only deemed unfit for exhibition, their very

existence was expunged from all records and even art historians were unable

to view them. During the Nazi occupation of Kyiv in 1941, the contents of

the entire Spetsfond were shipped to Germany. After the Second World War,

only 300 works were returned. About a quarter of the works in the current

exhibition are taken from the surviving Spetsfond works, while others are

borrowed from the permanent collection of Kyiv's National Art Museum of

Ukraine, the Ukrainian State Museum of Theatre, Music and Film Arts, and

from private collections.
 
 

The Phenomenon of the Ukrainian Avant-garde, 1910-1935 is presented by AIM

Funds Management Inc., and is organized and circulated by the Winnipeg Art

Gallery with financial assistance from the Department of Canadian Heritage,

Museums Assistance Program. In Hamilton, the exhibition is generously

supported by premiere sponsor Northland Power. Local media sponsors are CH

and 102.9 K-Lite FM. Admission to the Gallery - and this exhibition - is

free, courtesy of Orlick Industries Limited.