• E-news, December 2011 – January 2012

Ukrainian Kilims: Journey of a Heritage

Selected kilims from The Ukrainian Museum's permanent collection

New York City, January 30, 2012 — Ukrainian Kilims: Journey of a Heritage, an exhibition of selected kilims from The Ukrainian Museum's permanent collection, will open to the public on February 12, 2012. More than 30 prized examples from the collection, the oldest kilim dating back to the late 18th century and others from the early 20th century, reveal the range and richness of colors and motifs used in the weaving of kilims. The exhibition will remain on display until October 21.

"Kilim weaving has been practiced by Ukrainians for more than a thousand years," said Lubow Wolynetz, the Museum's curator of folk arts. "Some of the kilims that are on display had survived war and the destructive Soviet occupation of Ukraine. They were transported across borders by Ukrainian refugees determined to preserve their cultural legacy. Left in our care after the arduous journey from Ukraine to this country, we are proud to present them as part of our growing collection of traditional textiles."

The flat tapestry rugs, woven on vertical or horizontal looms to produce stylized floral ornamentation or geometric patterns respectively, are made with naturally dyed wool, which yields rich, soft hues and adds to the beauty and warmth of the traditional Ukrainian kilim.

Spinning and weaving tools dating back to the Trypillian age (ca. 5000-2000 BC) have been found on the territory of today's right-bank Ukraine. The earliest known account documenting Ukrainian kilim weaving is a 10th century chronicle by the Arabian traveler, Ahmed Ibn Faldan, who wrote about a funeral kilim and the woman responsible for its production. References in other chronicles describing both the ritualistic and everyday usage of kilims by the princes of Kyivan Rus continue into the 12th century. By the 15th century, the importance of the kilim was indisputable, as detailed descriptions of kilims identified among the property holdings of Ukrainian aristocrats often included color, ornamentation, quality, size, and values, as well as their uses – as wall decor, table or bench covers, floor covering, and as important components of brides' dowry chests.

Stimulated by Western European demand, kilim production in Ukraine boomed from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Weaving guilds were formed. Workshops staffed by serf labor supplied private estates and manufactured kilims for the trade. Even monasteries took part in kilim production. Once an object coveted by the nobility, by the 19th century the kilim became a universal ornamental item in the average home. Kilims were being routinely produced on looms in Ukrainian villages as adornment for home interiors, highly-prized dowry chest items, and essential funeral textiles. By the end of the 19th century, however, the abolition of serfdom and rise of industrialization led to a significant decline in Ukraine's kilim industry, the socioeconomic effects negatively impacting village kilim weaving as well.

Around the turn of the 20th century, Ukrainian scholars and art lovers started developing an interest in folk art. Workshops reappeared and folk art schools were established. Students of weaving learned the art by copying antique kilims in private collections and museums, many of which have been since destroyed, thus preserving the designs and techniques. Artists such as Mykola Butovych, Sviatoslav Hordynskyi, Robert Lisovsky, Petro Cholodny, Jr., and Olena Kulchytska built reputations as kilim designers in the 20th century, and created several of the designs for original pieces that are included in this exhibition.

Organized by The Ukrainian Museum, Ukrainian Kilims: Journey of a Heritage was curated by Lubow Wolynetz. The exhibition was funded in part by Andrei Harasymiak, Esq. with additional support provided by Iryna Kurowyckyj, Prof. Jaroslaw and Alla Leshko, Myron and Marjka Martiuk, Oleh and Christine Samilenko, and Orest Szul.

Borys Kosarev: Modernist Kharkiv, 1915-1931

First Ever Exhibition of Kosarev Works Presented at The Ukrainian Museum

New York City, October 31, 2011 – The first comprehensive exhibition of avant-garde artist Borys Kosarev will be presented in New York City at The Ukrainian Museum, opening December 4 and on display through May 2, 2012. Borys Kosarev: Modernist Kharkiv, 1915-1931 includes 82 works on paper by Kosarev, an important contributor to the Eastern European Modernist movement and a survivor of Stalin's intellectual purges in 1930s Ukraine.

Borys Kosarev (1897-1994), also known as Boris Kosariev, was a contemporary of prominent Kharkiv, Ukraine artists David Burliuk (1882-1967), Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953), and Ilya Repin (1844-1930), as well as other celebrated Ukrainian artists such as Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) and Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964). A master graphic artist, painter, designer, photographer, and book illustrator, Kosarev worked with luminaries such as theater director Les Kurbas (1887-1937), poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), and cinema pioneers Alexander Dovzhenko (1894-1956) and Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948). One of Kosarev's closest collaborators in the Kharkiv avant-garde was Volodymyr Bobrytskyi (1898-1986), who emigrated to New York and went on to become the recognized designer known as Bobri.

"Kosarev is barely known in his own country. This first ever exhibition brings to light Kosarev’s prodigious talent and exposes the fundamental relationship between the artist and the site of his creative stimulus, his beloved city, Kharkiv," said Maria Shust, director of The Ukrainian Museum. "Kosarev's extensive contribution to Ukrainian Modernism will finally be given its due when the collection is exhibited in Ukraine, where it will return in 2012."

Borys Kosarev's name will forever be associated with the city of Kharkiv – the place of his birth, death, and a long life devoted to the visual arts. A native son of the fiercely independent Kharkiv territory, which produced some of Ukraine’s most creative cultural personalities, Kosarev epitomizes the spirit of the area and its regional diversity. The contents of the exhibition coincide with the period of Kharkiv’s status as Ukraine’s capital city (1919-1934) and the rise of Constructivism as an ideological aesthetic. It was also the period of Ukrainianization—a government policy that encouraged the revitalization of national culture, only to be quashed through a series of orchestrated purges of its proponents, the Ukrainian intelligentsia, beginning in the 1930s. While it flourished, Ukrainianization brought with it a renaissance of art and culture, serving as an unprecedented gateway into global Modernism through the aesthetic of Constructivism.

Sheltered from excessive official scrutiny by working in theater design and as a teacher until his death in 1994, Kosarev survived the Stalin purges and later repressions by intentionally "flying under the radar." Sadly, his own reticence, coupled with the pressures exerted by the political landscape of the times, left Kosarev virtually unknown as a contributor to the Modernist movement. Not unlike Anatol Petrytsky (1895-1964), whose works were called a "serendipitous discovery" by the New York Times (Glueck, Grace. "Ukrainian Modernists, All Alone, Here at Last." The New York Times, November 4, 2006, B7), Kosarev and his art are yet to be revealed and considered among the important Modernists of the early 20th century. Borys Kosarev: Modernist Kharkiv, 1915-1931 is augmented with several works by Kosarev's colleagues Vasyl Yermilov (1894-1968) and Maria Syniakova (1890-1984). The exhibition, comprising 88 objects in total, is curated by Myroslava M. Mudrak, Professor of Art History, The Ohio State University.

Organized by The Ukrainian Museum (New York), the Kharkiv Art Museum (Ukraine), and Rodovid Gallery (Ukraine), the objects in this exhibition are drawn from the collections of Nadia Kosareva (Kharkiv), the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema Arts of Ukraine (Kyiv), the Kharkiv Art Museum, Borys and Tetiana Grynyov (Kharkiv), the VovaTania Gallery (Kharkiv), Dmytro Horbachov (Kyiv), and Oleksander Myzhin (Kharkiv). Borys Kosarev: Modernist Kharkiv, 1915-1931 is accompanied by a catalogue authored by Professor Mudrak with additional essays written by Tetiana Pavlova and Valentyna Chechyk, who co-authored the 2009 monograph Borys Kosarev 1920s: Vid Maliarstva do Tea-Kino-Photo (Borys Kosarev 1920s: From Painting to Thea-Cine-Photo). The exhibition is funded in part by the Stedley Art Foundation (Ukraine) and individual sponsors in the United States.

About the Museum

The Ukrainian Museum acquires, preserves, and exhibits articles of artistic or historic significance to the rich cultural heritage of Ukrainian Americans; its collections include thousands of items of folk art, fine art, and archival material. At its founding in 1976 by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, the Museum was hailed as one of the finest achievements of Americans of Ukrainian descent. Since then, and particularly since its move in 2005 to a new, state-of-the-art building in Manhattan’s vibrant East Village, it has become known as one of the most interesting and dynamic smaller museums in New York City. Each year, the Museum organizes several exhibitions, publishes bilingual (English/Ukrainian) catalogues, and presents a wide range of public and educational programs, including concerts, films, lectures, courses, workshops, and special events.

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