aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- [aaus-list] Ukrainian art exhibit opening in New York tomorrow,Apr. 12

["Vitaly Chernetsky" <chernev@muohio.edu>]

Dear Colleagues,

Those of you who are based in the New York area or are attending the ASN
convention that starts tomorrow might be interested in attending a new
exhibition that will be on view at the Ukrainian Museum. The opening
reception for the exhibition will be held tomorrow, April 12, from 6 to 9
p.m.; the invite to the reception is attached. The exhibition will open to
the general public on April 13; the press release for the exhibition is
below.

Please direct all inquiries to the Ukrainian Museum at the coordinates
listed at the end of the press release.

Best wishes,

Vitaly Chernetsky

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Works from the Estate of Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky

from the collection of Zorya Fine Art gallery

at The Ukrainian Museum

New York, March 23, 2007.  An exhibition entitled Works from the Estate of
Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky will open at The Ukrainian Museum, 222 East
6th Street in New York City on April 13, 2007. The works-–oil paintings
and watercolors by the artist--are from the collection of Zorya Fine Art
gallery in Greenwich, CT. The exhibition will run through June 3, 2007.

Vasyl Krychevsky (1873–1952) is considered one of Ukraine's outstanding
public figures of the 20th century--architect, artist, scholar, and
educator whose remarkable accomplishments impacted greatly on the
country’s cultural development in the early part of the century. A
Renaissance man in effect, he was dynamic and innovative in his
creativity. He pioneered a distinct Ukrainian style of architectural
expression and brought new trends to the art of book design. He made
notable contributions to scholarship, to the applied arts, theater
production designs, and was distinguished as an art director in the
Ukrainian film industry.

As one of the principal organizers of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts
in 1917 (later its name was changed to the Kyiv Art Institute), its first
president and a professor on the staff, Krychevsky played a major role in
educating a generation of exceptional Ukrainian architects and artists

Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky was a celebrated artist. The collection of
his paintings from the Zorya Fine Art gallery is presented in a most
timely fashion – to run concurrently with the critically acclaimed (The
New York Times) exhibition "Crossroads: Modernism in Ukraine, 1910-1930,"
presently on view at the Ukrainian Museum and showing until April 29th.
Here, Krychevsky’s paintings can be viewed within the context of one of
the most exciting and innovative periods of art in Ukraine – the period of
modernism, which is so aptly discussed in the “Crossroads” exhibition.
Krychevsky, along with such illustrious contemporaries as David Burliuk,
Alexandra Exter, as well as fellow faculty members of the Ukrainian
Academy of Art – artists Oleksander Bohomazov, Abram Manevych, Hryhorii
Narbut, Vadym Meller, and Kazimir Malevich among others, represented the
vibrant voices in the Ukrainian world of art of that day.

A 112-page bilingual exhibition catalogue published by Zorya Fine Art
contains a comprehensive essay on the life and work of Vasyl Krychevsky by
Valentyna Ruban-Kravchenko, Doctor of Art History, Corresponding Member of
the Academy of Fine Arts of Ukraine. Dr. Kravchenko divides the artist’s
work represented in the show into “three thematic cycles”: paintings from
before World War I and from the years before the start of World War II
that project the natural beauty of Ukraine in compositions that embody joy
and appreciation for the majesty of nature; works the artist created
during his immigration period beginning with the final months of World War
II, during which Krychevsky’s longing for his homeland is expressed
poignantly in landscapes of Ukraine, which he painted from memory; and
works in which the artist evokes Venezuela’s natural beauty and the urban
environment of Caracas, where he lived the rest of his life and where he
died in 1952.

In the essay, Dr. Kravchenko best describes the essence of Krychevsky’s
paintings. “In both peaceful and difficult times, Krychevsky returned
again and again to the images dearest to his heart – tree-hugged peasant
homes above quiet-flowing Ukrainian rivers, the changing colors of the sky
above the open spaces of green fields, the powerful surge of Crimean
mountains, or the boundless blue of the sea. These small-scale harmonious
works are monumental in their imagery, perfect in their composition and
color scheme. In them, the artist’s soul sings like an Aeolian harp, open
to the expanses and colors of his native land.”

Krychevsky was a very prolific artist. According to his biographer Vadym
Pavlovsky, the artist “produced close to two hundred large paintings,
several hundred of medium format, and several thousand small works.”
Unfortunately, the bulk of his creative work was destroyed in a fire and
only a small portion of his paintings are preserved in galleries, museums,
and in private collections.

Krychevsky’s media was watercolor and oil. In describing the artist’s
work, V. Pavlovsky said, “His paintings, full of sunlight and air, express
the mood of the moment at which the artist captures nature and recreates
it with his brush. The harmony of light and transparent hues, a joyous,
rarely pensive mood, and a sense of intimacy are characteristic of almost
all his landscapes.” Pavlovsky identifies Krychevsky’s style as that close
to Impressionism, but says that the artist “followed his own path.”

Olha Hnateyko, President of the Board of Trustees of The Ukrainian Museum
said that the Museum “is delighted to collaborate with Zorya Fine Art in
displaying a selection of the vast artistic output of this distinguished
artist, whose pioneering work in the name of Modernism helped change the
face of Ukrainian culture in the early 20th century.”

The Ukrainian Museum’s purpose is to share the breadth and wealth of the
Ukrainian culture with the public. To that end the Museum organizes
exhibitions from its collections or from loans, offers educational
programming, and works in concert with other museums, institutions and
organizations to provide excellence in substance, visual enjoyment, and a
learning experience in all its endeavors. In 2005 the Museum relocated to
its newly built facility, funded in total by the generous donations from
the Ukrainian community in the United States.

Exhibitions currently showing at the Ukrainian Museum:

Crossroads: Modernism in Ukraine 1910-1930 (until April 29)

Ukrainian Sculpture and Icons: A History of Their Rescue (until May 27)

Pysanka: Vessel of Life (until July 1)

The Ukrainian Museum
222 East 6th Street
New York, NY 10003
212-229-0100
info@ukrainianmuseum.org
www.ukrainianmuseum.org

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