Thread to the Past
Ukrainian Folk Art from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair
through May 4, 2008

Over the past few years, as The Ukrainian Museum marked a number of milestones, including moving into a newly built facility and celebrating its 30th anniversary, many references were made to the Museum's origins: a collection of folk art objects purchased by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America for display at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. These items formed the nucleus of the Museum's collection when it was founded by the UNWLA decades later, in 1976.

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Many of the items from that core collection, first shown in the U.S. some 75 years ago, are once again on display, this time as part of the exhibition Thread to the Past: Ukrainian Folk Art from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

Organized by Lubow Wolynetz, curator of the Museum's folk art collection, the exhibition revisits the Ukrainian pavilion at the Chicago World's Fair and traces the determination of the UNWLA's leadership to obtain and exhibit a representative collection of Ukrainian folk art. More than 100 of the 600 items purchased by the UNWLA for display in Chicago – and viewed by almost 2,000,000 visitors to the Ukrainian pavilion – are included in the exhibition.

Thread to the Past: Ukrainian Folk Art from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair is accompanied by a fully illustrated, bilingual catalogue. The exhibition is scheduled to be on view through May 4, 2008.

Top image:
Postcard: "A Busy Day," The Ukrainian Pavilion, "A Century of Progress" World's Fair, Chicago, 1933. © The Ukrainian Museum

Image (composite) top to bottom:
1. Kasetka (miniature dowry chest). Hutsul region, Ivano-Frankivs'k oblast', western Ukraine, first quarter of 20th century. 8 x 5 x 4 1/2 in.
2. Pleshanka (pilgrim's flask). Kosiv, Hutsul region, Ivano-Frankivs'k oblast', western Ukraine, 1920's-30's. 7 1/4 x 5 in.
3. Tkani poyasy (woven sashes). Various regions, Ukraine, 20th century
© The Ukrainian Museum

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