UZHHOROD — Sometimes unique and little-known masterpieces turn up unexpectedly in the fonds and archives of Ukrainian museums. A sensational discovery was made late last year when a Rembrandt painting was found at the Dnipropetrovsk Art Museum. No less sensational, however, was the find at the Osyp Bokshai Transcarpathian Oblast Art Museum. According to scholars at Ivan Franko Lviv University, this museum has long been the repository of a unique painting of Ivan Franko, the outstanding Ukrainian writer, public and cultural figure, by the distinguished Ukrainian artist Ivan Trush.
“Of course, we knew about this painting of Franko,” says the museum’s curator Oleh Zaitsev, “but we did not know who the painter was.” The unsigned and undated work of art arrived at the Transcarpathian Art Museum 60 years ago. One of a number of paintings by various artists, the portrait of Franko was donated to the museum in 1948 by Kyiv’s Museum of Ukrainian Art. The gift was part of the assistance provided to Transcarpathia’s first picture gallery established immediately after World War II. The painting was stored in the museum’s fonds, and no one knew the identity of the painter or the date and place where it was painted until art specialists from Lviv University visited the museum,
“We had a visit from a research associate working at Lviv University, who had information that at one time Transcarpathia had obtained a painting of Ivan Franko. But he did not know whether it had survived. We showed him a few paintings by the celebrated Ukrainian artist and Franko’s contemporary Ivan Trush and let him examine them.”
Word has it that when the Lviv scholar saw the Franko picture and, especially after he became convinced that it was by Trush, his hands began to tremble with excitement. “After this, scholarly publications, analyses, and research appeared, which finally confirmed that the Franko portrait was indeed painted by Trush,” Zaitsev says.
Historians say that Trush’s authorship is indicated in Franko’s personal correspondence. “There is a letter in which Franko says approximately the following, ‘I have to pose for a well-known artist.’ This artist was none other than Trush,” says Liudmyla Biksei, a leading scholar at the Yosyp Bokshai Transcarpathian Oblast Art Museum.
“Out of the 10 portraits of Franko that Trush executed when the poet was still alive, this one has something special,” Biksei says. “In every portrait of Franko, Trush was executing specific artistic tasks. But it is precisely the Uzhhorod portrait that shows emotion and keen insight. This portrait was probably painted in Dovhopole approximately in 1908. In addition to the excellent drawing and composition, Trush emphasizes the overall emotional impression created by this work and the depicted individual.
“Psychological accents are clearly apparent. Franko is shown wearing an embroidered shirt and a dark suit. The somewhat theatrical background is an excellent device for revealing the subject’s tense psychological state. Two extreme colors of the spectrum, lilac and fiery red, surround Franko like sunrays. The entire tonal balance of the work makes the viewer apprehensive. The spectator can see a sophisticated man amid the passions and trivia of everyday life, the colleague and friend of the artist Trush, our Ukrainian prose writer, poet, critic, and philosopher Ivan Franko.”
The museum curator says that local residents and visitors will soon get a chance to view the portrait of Franko at an exhibit of Ukrainian art and culture. Meanwhile, the painting, which luckily is not in need of urgent restoration even after so many years, remains at the museum.
