ANDThyssen Museum It will host a total of 69 from Tuesday, November 29. artworks avant-garde ukrainian It allowed the release of paintings by authors such as Sonia Delauney, Aleksandra Ekster, Wladimir Baranoff-Rossiné or Víktor Palmov, as well as under the threat of conflict with Russia.
“It is important to have this kind of support because Russia has always tried to steal the Ukrainian identity, also culturally. It can be said that it is a cultural genocide, not killing, but stealing identity, so it is important to identify and own Ukrainian artists.“, said Serhii Pohoreltsev, Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain.
Thyssen’s artistic director, Guillermo Solana, explained that the idea for this exhibition emerged with the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February. The initiative came from Francesca Thyssen, president of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation for Contemporary Art (TBA21), who recalled her father Baron Thyssen’s idea of ”contributing to world peace through art”.
The departure from Ukraine last week of works in the National Museum of Art and the Museum of Theater, Music and Cinema of Ukraine had a few difficult moments, as it occurred during the impact of a missile in Poland. The convoy carrying the paintings from Kiev was detained in the Polish border region for at least twelve hours, amid “great tension”.
“Culture and art become targets in these situations.. “Putin wants to control not only the territory but also the narrative, and Russia’s past already had cultural destruction, and Stalin sent Ukrainian artists to the gulag to die,” said Francesca Thyssen.
One of the curators of the exhibition, Konstantin Akinsha, implied that precisely the works belonging to Ukrainian museums and institutions could be looted by Russia. “There is nothing comparable since World War II and we are faced with a severe violation of all international laws that institutions must address.‘ he complained.
During the presentation of this exhibition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “today, just like 100 years ago, culture must win“Today more than ever we must let the artistic language speak, and this exhibition will show more than ever how connected Ukraine is to Europe: Thank you Spain for your support,” he said.
The development of the avant-garde in Ukraine, after the collapse of empires, the outbreak of the First World War, and the 1917 revolutions, followed by the Ukrainian war of independence (1917-1921) and the subsequent creation of Soviet Ukraine.
Stalinist repression of Ukrainian intellectuals led to the execution of dozens of writers, theater directors and artists, while the man-made ‘Holodomor’ of 1932 and 1933 killed millions of Ukrainians.
Enemies of the People
Despite this historical context, Ukrainian art experienced a period of renaissance and artistic experimentation in those years.. ‘In the Eye of the Hurricane’ he saves this chapter by bringing together 69 works, including painting, drawing, collage or theater design.
“For a long time, the international community did not recognize these artists as Ukrainians because Russia claimed them. But this Ukrainian avant-garde was independent, and there are others who are considered anti-popular and nationalist and try to take away their artistic merits, “, said the National Art Museum of Ukraine chief curator Maryna Dobrotiuk.
The exhibition is organized chronologically and by theme, with a range of styles and identities ranging from Neo-Byzantine paintings by followers of Mykhailo Boichuk to works by Kazymyr Malevych and El Lissitzky, who worked in Ukraine.