At present this is Ukraine’s only museum preserving works of numerous representatives of various artistic schools and trends from all corners of Ukraine and encompassing the period from the 1930s till today. The impressive collection counts more than 5,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and items of decorative and applied art. Works by more than 700 authors are preserved in the museum’s storage facilities. A huge collection of art, amassed in the 11 years that the Museum of Modern Art of Ukraine exists, must live not only in the storerooms, but also in the exhibition halls and on the pages of catalogs. This is what the organizers of the opening day believe. The publication of the catalog White Album. Treasures of the Museum Collection (Icons, Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture) in a certain way sums up the museum’s meticulous work in all the years of its existence. The catalog presents best works by 251 outstanding Ukrainian artists from the artistic schools of Transcarpathia, Kyiv, Crimea, Lviv, and Kharkiv.
The art project “White Album” consists of three chapters. Each of them presents a string of renowned names representing several generations of artists from various styles and trends. The first chapter is opened by the works by 88 artists, among them such icons as Ivan Aivazovsky, Adalbert Erdeli, Yosyp Bokshai, Mykhailo Derehus, Fedir Manailo, Tetiana Yablonska, Volodymyr Zauze, Olena Kulchytska, and Leopold Levytsky. The opening day fell on mid-December 2016 (see “Treasures in white tones,” The Day’s No. 77, December 15)
The gem of the Museum of Modern Art of Ukraine is a collection of icons that belong to the Volhynian, Galician, Transcarpathian, Chernihiv, and other schools of icon painting and reflects Ukrainian painters’ stylistic peculiarities and originality.
The exhibit’s second chapter will be opened by the presentation of the catalog with admirable works of Ukrainian artists, each of whom has a unique style, mood, rhythm, and palette. Overall 85 incredibly talented masters (some of whom will be present at the opening) bare their souls and their innermost feelings before the viewers.
The exhibit “White Album. Treasures of the Museum Collection” will be open till March 19.
