joseph scissorhands: In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine 1900-1930s

Vadym Meller (1884-1962) Sketch of the Masks, 1919

A very relevant exhibition this given the current conflict occurring in eastern Europe between the Ukraine and Russia. Much of the art featured was created during the strife and upheavals of the First World War, two Russian revolutions and the Ukrainian War of Independence. The exhibition examines the artists and art scene at the turn of the last century in Ukraine and its attempt to distinguish itself from that of Russian and Russian artists. We are shown how well known artists such as Alexander Archipenko, Alexandra Exter and Kazymyr Malevych, as well as as lesser known Ukrainian artists were able to develop their own brand of modernism furthering the cause of Ukrainian art. Ironically though we see that many Ukrainian artists were forced to train in St Petersburg, Russia, and other European art institutions as there were no higher art education establishments in the Ukraine until the founding of the Ukrainian Academy of Art in Kyiv in 1917 when the country declared independence. It was a pivotal time in European art history with several important movements such as Futurism, Cubism, Constructivism and Dada emerging. Ukrainian modernist art distinguishes itself by marrying contemporaneous abstract modernism adopted from other modernist movements established across Europe, with traditional Ukrainian folk motifs. The resulting artworks are variable in quality but do appear to have a distinct eastern European identity. The walls of the exhibition spaces are colour coded, painted with rich, saturated hues complementing the various artworks on display and dividing the exhibition into six distinct sections. There is one by Jewish-Yiddish painters who formed the Kultur Lige which attempts to explain their culture through a marriage of tradition and modernism, another shows the effects of the Stalinst purges on the art which ended in the deaths of certain artists and the adoption of Socialist Realism as the only official style in painting. My favourite section though, was possibly that devoted to modernist Ukrainian theatre design. I really enjoyed the highly stylised watercolour and collaged costume designs and would have liked to see the addition to the show of an actual costume from the period so we could see how well the angular designs translated into actual costumes and garments. All in all this was an interesting show full of paintings with movement and colour which enlightened me not only about Ukrainian art and artists but also the fraught history of the region. One can only hope for a peaceful solution to the current Ukraine/Russia conflict, and be optimistic that it will be a catalyst for the artists of the region to produce artworks as fascinating as those on display here.