Bookvica

[WEST UKRAINIAN ART OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY] Retrospektyvna vystava ukrains’kogo mystetstva za ostanni XXX lit [i.e. Retrospective Exhibition of Ukrainian Art for Previous 30 Years]

Item #1698

Lviv: Nakladom Natsional’nogo Muzeiu: Z drukarni “Dila”, 1935. 24 pp. 20,5x14 cm. In original printed wrappers. Small stains on front cover, covers slightly chipped, otherwise very good and clean internally.

No title page, as published. 29 members of the Exhibition Committee are credited on verso of front cover. Most of them were artists displaying their works. The edition is a source of the first thirty years of the National Museum located in Lviv (now Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum of Lviv). The museum was founded by Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky in 1905. In 1930, its funds consisted of 80 thousand items. By the publication, the collection had already survived a couple of wars yet preserved a significant amount of national art. This exhibition displayed contemporary West Ukrainian art.

The edition includes an exhibition catalog, two articles on West Ukrainian art and music from the 1900s to the early 1930s, as well as a program to the concert “Ukrainian Song During 30 Years”. The catalog lists 319 exhibits that are divided into three sections. The first one includes paintings, graphic works, engravings, sculptures and carving works. Among them, 5 works of Oleksa Novakivsky were highlighted because the artist had passed away shortly before the publication. Also, the catalog indicates members of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists (ANUM), in particular Borachok, Butovych, Gavryliuk, Hordynsky, Dolnytska, R. Selsky, Osinchuk, et al. The second one contains scores of musical works, as well as photos of stage actors and other performers. The third section lists manuscripts of literary works.
The introductory article is written by art historian Volodymir Zalozetsky (1896-1959). He studied at the Vienna University and then worked for the diplomatic mission of the Ukrainian National Republic in Vienna. He wrote many articles and books, including a monograph on Oleksa Novakivsky – Zalozetsky was even named “lawyer and propagandist of Novakivsky”. According to the author, along with European art, Western Ukrainian art experienced emergence and influence of various art movements. In particular, this exhibition was prepared by representatives of Neo-Impressionism (D. Ivantsev), Surrealism (S. Hordynsky), New Objectivity (G. Mazepa), Neo-Classicism (O. Arkhypenko), Neo-Religious art (M. Fediuk).

The second article “Ukrainian Song During 30 Years” was written by modernist composer Antin Rudnytsky (1902-1975). Born in Galicia, he studied at the Lysenko Higher Institute of Music in Lviv, the Higher Musical School in Berlin and the Berlin University. He subsequently conducted at opera theaters in Kharkiv (1927–1930), Kyiv (1930–1932), Lviv, Warsaw and Kaunas. He emigrated to the United States in 1939, where he worked as a music teacher in various institutions and as a choir conductor. He was a leading organizer of Ukrainian-American musical activities and wrote the historical survey Ukraïns’ka muzyka ‘Ukrainian Music: A Historical Critical Survey’ (1963), as well as a collection of articles published posthumously. His musical works were initially modernistic but gradually became more impressionistic and romantic (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine). In this article, he writes that he had initiated the modernist direction with a cycle of songs to words by Balmont and made his music more complicated in ‘Anthems of the Industrial Age’ to words of V. Polishchuk. The program announced a concert held on September 27, 1935. Opera singer Maria Sokil performed 17 songs and her spouse Antin Rudnytsky accompanied her by a piano. Of them, 10 songs were performed in Lviv for the first time.

Paper copies are located in Princeton and Harvard Universities and Frick Art Reference Library.

Sold