He was known and respected by museum workers across Ukraine and far beyond its borders. This art historian, academician, winner of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize, Meritorious Figure of Culture in Ukraine and Poland, president of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Council of Museums, dedicated more than 60 years to the preservation of national culture. Some tried to count the cultural relics [historic sites] he had saved and came up with the incredible number of some 40,000.
It was on his initiative that a number of museums were founded as branches of the Lviv National Gallery of Arts, among them “Lviv Religious Sculptures of the 18th Century. Pinzel’s Creativity,” “The Art of Old Ukrainian Books,” “Friday Tower,” and the Olesko, Zolochiv, and Pidhirtsi castles. He made the Lviv Gallery an important research, restoration, and education center that would win acclaim in Ukraine and abroad.
2012 marked Borys Voznytsky’s 50th anniversary as director of the Lviv Gallery of Arts. In his penultimate interview with The Day, he said “I work so much that I even do not go on vacation – I last vacationed in 1964. I work on all Saturdays and Sundays… What awfully depresses me is that I want but cannot do something… I always remember the dictum of Josyp Slipyj: ‘The people have not lost the past, it is land that can vanish off the face of Earth.’ I also always quote Hitler’s Mein Kampf: ‘To eliminate a nation, you must get it rid of culture.’”
Work was his life and he died driving his car to work at the Pomoriany Castle early on the morning of May 23, 2012. Shortly afterward, the gallery requested that the President of Ukraine approve its being named for Borys Voznytsky (1926-12), considering that the gallery had become one of Ukraine’s largest and richest museums (with over 63,000 works of national and world old and contemporary art) thanks to his dedicated effort.
More on what became known in the scholarly circles as the Voznytsky phenomenon in the following interview with Dr. Roman YATSIV, art historian, provost, Lviv Academy of Arts.
The Voznytsky epoch at the Lviv Gallery of Arts is said to have ended with his passing. What was that epoch like?
“The social and cultural phenomenon of Borys Voznytsky is rooted in a specific period in Ukrainian history. As a prominent cultural figure, he was a product of that period. His name was made for him by his dedicated activities and it was an evolutionary process. His efforts combined with a variety of situational, environmental, psychological, and subjective factors.
“The cultural situation in the western regions of Ukraine under the Soviet regime was quite specific, so that one could achieve something important for the Ukrainian cause only by taking determined, decisive steps. Risks were everywhere, with the party and secret police closely watching what they called the Banderaite land. As a young cultural administrator, Borys Voznytsky witnessed a number of dramatic events affecting the Ukrainian historical and cultural heritage. He could see that what was happening served the career interests of both local apparatchiks in charge of culture and the political leadership. What was supposed to be a national project was made part of a program of ‘socialist transformations’ in the west of Soviet Ukraine. But whenever Borys Voznytsky spoke on an artifact in his professionally convincing manner, the party nomenklatura’s atheistic doctrine seemed to back down. It was thus, step by step, that museums were opened across Lviv oblast, that a new philosophy of museum and cultural enlightenment grew contrary to mankurtism [from the noted Soviet Kyrgyz writer Chinghiz Aitmatov’s mankurt, a prisoner of war turned into slave by having his head wrapped into camel skin. – Ed.] and nihilism, then raised to the level of official ideology.
“As regards the notion of Voznytsky epoch, one has to bear in mind that the man made his appearance in the museum realm at a certain crucial period in Ukrainian culture as a whole. In the 1960s, during [Khrushchev’s] thaw, the party strengthened its control over the research centers, libraries, high schools, colleges, universities, creative associations, and publishing houses in Ukraine. Despite this, the dissident movement was growing stronger, producing young phenomenal cultural and artistic figures. Borys Voznytsky synchronized his administrative and intellectual endeavors with the process. He did his best to encourage young people to study Ukrainian history and phenomena in the arts of past epochs. While traveling this road, he met like-minded enthusiasts, among them Hryhorii Lohvyn, Yaroslav Isaievych, Pavlo Zholtovsky, Volodymyr Ovsiichuk, to mention but a few. Together they tried to upgrade Ukraine’s dynamic cultural interaction with the European creative process. He combined his interest in the epochs of Kyivan Rus’, Baroque, Rococo, Mannerism, and Classicism with his love of the arts in the 20th century – and it was not only competence, an ability to single significant phenomena out of the general context. He was keenly aware of the nature of any creative act and did his best to support any modern artist in the ongoing ideological struggle against ‘formalism.’ He took under his wing practically all most gifted artists (e.g., Yaroslav Muzyka, Margit and Roman Selsky, Roman Turyn, Omelian Lishchynsky, Karlo Zvirynsky, Danylo Dovboshynsky, Dmytro Krvavych…) who were products of the European school and thus having problems with the apparatchiks.
“One other thing. Even in conditions of ideologically canonized socialist realism, Borys Voznytsky invited such noted European artists as Pablo Picasso, Jean Carzou, Corneliu Baba, Yurii Novoselsky, Tadeusz Kantor, etc., to display their works at the Lviv Gallery. He wanted to show the Lviv public the context in which Ukrainian modern art was evolving and using what aesthetic experience. Looking back, this and countless other examples serve to justify the notion, however hyperbolized, of Voznytsky phenomenon.”
How do you see the Voznytsky phenomenon?
“I see this phenomenon primarily in the institutional format of his activities, in that unique combination of human qualities, his inner impassioned determination to change Ukrainian cultural realities for the better, contrary to decadent moods or conjuncture. He was never afraid of doing good deeds, reasoning with his most formidable opponents, speaking calmly, using facts, never losing dignity, even when facing imminent danger. All these were rare traits that singled him out from most people placed in charge of cultural institutions at the time. That is why Ukrainian society will always remember Borys Voznytsky while quickly forgetting the names of dozens of others with official kudos, but of weak spirit, who did little if anything to deserve grateful memories.”
Borys Voznytsky was doubtlessly one of those who’d work and study all their life, showing an example of how one ought to live one’s life the right way. What lessons have you learned from his life experience?
“I was fortunate enough to be frequently in contact with Borys Voznytsky in his twilight years. I learned from his composure, self-control and willpower in rather alarming situations, when some ranking bureaucrats wanted to curb his initiative, while showing themselves for the nincompoops they were in matters relating to museums and culture in general. First and foremost, I learned from his unwavering dedication to his lifelong mission as an intellectual enlightener, his resolve to make his cherished dreams come true.
“Borys Voznytsky called for a cultural dialog as a special mechanism designed to improve the life of [Ukrainian] society. His example will always inspire me to keep improving myself, adhering to the moral and ethical criteria in whatever endeavor. He signed a copy of his book about Mikolaj Potocki for me: ‘To Roman Yatsiv, with utmost gratitude!’ Only a person bestowed with true virtues, with a big heart would have written anything like this, addressing a humble colleague who had done absolutely nothing to help write the book. This was far more than a courteous or symbolic gesture… This is how I will always remember Borys Voznytsky.”
