Ukraine at the Turn of the Third Millennium. Contemporary Portraits. Such is the title of an exhibition featuring one hundred contemporary portraits displayed in Lviv for the first time as part of an exposition timed to coincide with Lviv’s 748 th anniversary. The local Palace of the Arts was packed, considering that several portraits on display belonged to Lviv artists and depicted people of Lviv. Also, project author Oleksandr Tymchenko, a native of Kyiv, believes that “the works of art on display are valuable in two respects. First, they belong to prominent Ukrainian artists and thus have considerable artistic value, adding to Ukraine’s creative treasure trove. Second, their characters are individuals embodying a certain social stratum of the Ukrainian nation at the turn of the millennium. This is precisely what makes the whole project so important. All persons portrayed here have reached certain high points in their lives. They represent the elite of the Ukrainian nation. There is no doubt that Ukrainian society has acknowledged their individual attainments in the national sociopolitical, economic, cultural, and sports realms, although one must also consider modern realities. Political battles never cease in Ukraine’s controversial sociopolitical environs. We believe, however, that this period will end, that our nation will consolidate, and then our project will acquire its true meaning.”
Among the participating artists are members of the Ukrainian Academy of the Arts, winners of the Taras Shevchenko State Prize, People’s Artists of Ukraine Tetiana Holembiyevska, Volodymyr Sydorenko, Ivan Marchuk, Mykola Bidniak, Mykola Storozhenko, Fedir Humeniuk, M. Huida, Liubomyr Medvid, Valentyna Vyrodova-Hotye, Vera Barynova-Kuleba, to mention but a few. Their portraits are dedicated to Vyacheslav Chornovil, Mykola Amosov, Lina Kostenko, Volodymyr Ivasiuk, Nazary Yaremchuk, Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus’, Borys Paton, Myroslav Skoryk, Sofiya Rotaru — people known by one and all in Ukraine, each personifying this epoch in his or her own way, whose life story is its mirror reflection.
Interestingly, Vera Barynova-Kuleba also submitted portraits of ordinary Ukrainian village women, representing mothers of millions of sons and daughters. They are remarkably attractive, wearing bright-colored shawls, and their portraits are perhaps the most attractive on display, probably because of the artist’s singular individuality. Also, because every such ordinary Ukrainian woman rates a portrait on display at the world’s most prestigious museums, considering her role in the modern world and the hardships she has had to endure.
Leonid Kuchma wrote in an introduction to the project’s brochure, “The twentieth century is the most dynamic of all experienced by humanity. Its beginning and end are so unlike one another, taking us from the wooden cart or coach driven by the landlord’s horses to the latest rockets, each propelled by thousands of virtual horses.
“However, the same problems continue to occupy people’s hearts and minds: life, love, freedom, dignity, and beauty.
“This creative project offers the attentive viewer a unique opportunity to look at this stormy period in Ukrainian history through the lens of destinies and creative images of noted personalities as well as ordinary people; to look, to remember, and to draw conclusions. My conclusion is this: We have people and things we can be proud of; there are achievements made by our fellow countrymen, creative attainments of our artists, the inspiring beauty of our women, and the future of Ukrainian children.”
The project also envisions the release of an album, The Twentieth Century Ukrainian Portrait, opening with Ivan Trush’s portrait of Lesia Ukrainka (1900), currently at the Art Gallery of Lviv. There is still the problem of premises. Under the circumstances, the exposition will travel across Ukraine, soon to appear in Ternopil, then in Kyiv.
