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[ART OF BELARUS] Two catalogues of art exhibitions in Minsk

Item #464

1) Katalog 1-i Usebelaruskai mastatskai vystauki [i.e. Catalogue of the First All-Belarusian Art Exhibition]. Minsk, 1925. 44, [1] pp. 17,5x13 cm. One of 2000 copies.

2) Katalog 2-i Usebelaruskai mastatskai vystauki [i.e. Catalogue of the Second All-Belarusian Art Exhibition]. Minsk, 1927. 28, [1] pp. 17,5x13 cm. One of 500 copies. Both catalogues in original illustrated wrappers.

Very good. Signature on the front wrapper (the first), small mark in the top corner on p.1 (ink), both with light rubbing of the covers and mildly chipped tops and bottoms of spines.

Extremely rare catalogues. Both in Belarusian. Wrappers with national Belarusian motives designed by A.M. Tychina (1897-1986), headpieces and endings by Tychina (both) and M.U. Ende (only first). These are the catalogues for the two first exhibitions of Belarusian art. The first exhibition was a major event of historic proportions which still resonates today. Among participants were painters, graphic artists, sculptors, theatre set and costume designers, applied arts designers. In catalogues works are divided into sections and sorted by artists’ names. Each work is titled and for some a technique or material is captioned. All artists’ names in alphabetical order. Information on artists differs from only a name and city to a short biography. Small but special section dedicated to works of students. In the second catalogue instead of applied arts section is titled folk art with items provided by Belarusian National Museum Overall there were more than 1000 works at the first and more than 500 works at the second art exhibition.

The first exhibition was dedicated to the anniversary of the Revolution and 400 years of Belarusian book printing. Opened on December 6 in the building of the Communist University. Among artists were M. Ende, M. Filippovich, M. Stanyuta, V. Kudrevich, U. Pen, L. Alperovich, A. Tychina, G. Vier, P. Gutkovsky, A. Brazer, V. Volkov, M. Akselrod, A. Kastelyansky and many other. Some of the works from those shows were later included into the National Museum’s main exhibit.

Not only rare catalogues but a massive evidence of the main event in art life of the country in the 1920s and rising of Belarusian national identity and art - something that was stimulated in 1920s and stopped in 1930s during Stalinist Russification.

Worldcat locates the only copy of the second catalogue in NYPL.

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