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[UNREALIZED MONUMENTS TO SHEVCHENKO] Pamiatnyk T.G. Shevchenkovi. Istorychnyi narys pro budivnytstvo pamiatnyka T.G. Shevchenkovi [i.e. Monument to T.G. Shevchenko. A Historical Essay on the Construction of the Monument to T.G. Shevchenko]

Khvylia, A.

Item #2804

Kyiv: Mystetstvo, 1934. 66 pp.: ill., 23 ills. 30,5x23 cm. In original cloth with gilt silhouette of approved project; in modern protective case. Slightly rubbed, some soiling on covers, tear of front flyleaf restored, spine faded, small stains occasionally, private stamp “Iz zbirky S.M. Danylenka” on front endpaper, otherwise complete copy in very good condition.

First and only edition. One of 2500 copies. Very rare. Design by Ukrainian graphic artist Havrylo Pustoviit (1900–1947).

The compiler of the book, Andrii Khvylia (1898-1938, executed) was one of the members of the Commission for the Monument Construction. The competition jury included representatives from various ideological and cultural organizations, party officials, professors, as well as members of the Ukrainian avant-garde. Some of them were executed during the 1930s. The jury was chaired by G. Petrovsky. Other members initially included: M. Skrypnyk, People's Commissar of Education of the Ukrainian SSR; V. Furer, head of the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the Kharkiv District Party Committee; Y. Ozersky, a representative of the Shevchenko Committee; and V. Koryak, a professor at the Ukrainian Shevchenko Institute. Alongside them, there were Vadym Meller, Anatol Pertytsky, Mykola Khvylovy, Mykhail Semenko, Sergii Pylypenko. I. Chaikov, B. Iofan, V. Kasiian, V. Krichevsky, P. Kostyrko, M. Manizer, V. Meller, V. Mukhina, A. Petritsky, and other artists, sculptors and architects submitted their projects for the competition. The edition includes 22 projects (with alternations): for the city monument, grave monument and the memorial museum.

The book includes documents on the erection of the first monument to Shevchenko in Petrograd in 1918 as part of the campaign for monumental propaganda (it was demolished in 1923), as well as documents related to the competition for a monument in Kharkiv started in the late 1920s. The Taras Shevchenko Monument in Kharkiv, a city landmark, was created by sculptor Matvey Manizer and architect Iosif Langbard. Its ceremonial unveiling was held on March 24, 1935, just nine months after Kharkiv lost its status as the capital of Soviet Ukraine.
In earlier publications, such as the competition program (1930), Mykola Skrypnyk was listed among those responsible for the monument's construction. He served as Ukraine's People's Commissar of Education from 1927 to 1933. Since February 1933, an active campaign was waged against him; he was removed from his post, and the constant persecution pushed him to suicide later that year. In this 1934 book, he is mentioned in a negative context. More than two pages are devoted to his anti-party activities and footnotes citing his specific publications are included.

“Pravda” (March 1935) includes an article "The Victory of the Ukrainian Bolsheviks" that discusses the publication of the complete works of Shevchenko, the book by A. Khvylya with designs for monuments, and the construction of the monument itself. It specifically highlights numerous “wrecking actions of Ukrainian nationalists and their criticism of Shevchenko”. Among those mentioned is Mykola Khvylovy, who opposed the canonization of the poet and what he saw as Ukrainian culture's fixation on the past. Mykola Khvylovy was executed in 1933 and his name isn’t mentioned in this 1934 book at all. In contrast, the Soviet authorities canonized Taras Shevchenko, refashioning him from a national poet into a “revolutionary democrat” and “proletarian bard”.

Alongside the projects, the edition shows a group photograph of the Commission for the Monument Construction, self-portraits of Shevchenko, his death mask, photographs of the places in Kharkov where the monument was supposed to be erected.

Worldcat shows copies at Harvard and Princeton Universities.

Price: $1,500.00