Unknown masterpieces

The exposition “Unknown masterpieces from Pavlo Tychyna’s collection” presents works by Ukrainian artists of the past century. Tychyna is mostly known in Ukraine as a poet and public figure, but people often forget that he was also an outstanding artist. He also collected books and was fond of music. The poet played the piano, clarinet, bandura, and oboe. The keepers of the museum say that if Tychyna had to choose a different path, he could have probably become a wonderful painter (he was taught by famous artist Mykhailo Zhuk and seriously prepared for entering the Petersburg Academy of Art). Ukrainian artists often presented the master of poetic word with their pictures and valued his artistic talent. Currently the funds of the museum are hiding real masterpieces.

“At first we thought for a long time, whether we should write ‘masterpieces’ in the title and wanted to call the exhibit just ‘Ukrainian classics of the 20th century. Painting and graphical works.’ But these pictures are indeed of high artistic level. We should be proud of this, so ‘Unknown masterpieces from Tychyna’s collection’ is a worthy title,” said the director of the museum Hryhorii DONETS at the opening. “We set the goal of boosting the prestige of Ukrainian art. Today, when there is war in our land, we must assert our culture and identity even more. Because what are we fighting for? Where will our servicemen return?”

The exposition displays works by Derehus, Kasian, Pashchenko, Shovkunenko, Hlushchenko, Trokhymenko, Bilokur, Harbuz, Kulchytska, and other masters. At the exhibit the visitors will see paintings and graphical works by well-known artists of the 20th century and find out when the pictures were presented to the poet and in what relations the well-known artists were. So, the first group of visitors had an opportunity to hear the information provided by the senior associate of the Tychyna Museum Alina Koval. Few people know that Tychyna supported artist Kateryna Bilokur back in the days when she was not famous, and she gave to him her work Peonies as a present. The story of Yaroslavna’s Lamentation by Yukhym Mykhailov, compared in Europe with the Lithuanian artist Ciurlionis, tortured to death in Stalin’s concentration camps in 1935. One can now take a good look on the picture, because previously it was out of reach in Tychyna’s study.

The exhibit displays three works by outstanding Mykola Hlushchenko, one of them, Autumn flowers, painted in impressionist manner, was given to the poet as a birthday present on his 75th anniversary. Incidentally, while Hlushchenko was studying in Paris, he was considered to be one of the leading artists of the time and was invited to the most prestigious exhibits together with Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Owing to this vernissage Kyivites and guests of the capital have a chance to see the priceless heritage of Ukrainian painting of the stormy 20th century.