A renowned Kyiv painter, Iryna Levytska, gained approval to open an exhibition from German Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine, Dietmar Studemann, before construction had finished on the embassy’s new headquarters. And when the transparent glass roof was finally put in place, providing daylight to the lobby, it became obvious that the walls would provide a fantastic showcase for her paintings.
The exhibition is dedicated to acclaimed artists of our two nations, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann and Nikolai Gogol. It took place during the Christmas vacation. The fairy tale quality that results from the spirit and wonders of the holidays, when Santa Clauses visit, and Catholic Christmas is soon followed by the Orthodox celebrations, provide many delights this time of year. Thus, at the exhibition opening, Iryna Levytska had every right to suggest to the adults and children to imagine that Gogol and Hoffman were soaring somewhere above their heads (pupils of Kyiv German language magnet schools were invited to the embassy). This would be quite natural for these two inventive souls whose writings belong to the fantastic realism style. Separated by time, their fates were similar in many ways: both died in their early forties, were poor clerks, had a big love for music and idolized Mozart, strove to see foreign countries (though Hoffman could not travel), and were attracted by the world of miraculous transformations. Both of them had an inimitable talent for laughing at the world and themselves. Phantasmagoria, grotesque, and the magic in their works are the reason why they have remained onstage in many theaters throughout the world for decades: Hoffman’s Nutcracker, Coppelia, Little Zaches, Gogol’s Night of the Christmas Eve, Sorochyntsi Fair, and May Night, to name a few.
What is explained above is what Iryna Heorhiyevna told the public (incidentally, in fluent German), and the rest she told through her paintings. They were full of vivid carnival colors. Faces were hidden by masks. Simple and obvious things took unusual shapes in search for their place in the virtual world. Such combination seemed quite natural at the exhibition of this renowned Kyiv artist’s works. Equally natural was the combination of the two writers, two nations, and two cultures, and of the feasts so dear to us all.
