Kataloh Mystets'koi Vystavky 1943 [i.e. 1943 Art Exhibition Catalogue]

L'viv: Ukrains'kyi tsentral'nyi komitet Spilki pratsi ukrains'kykh obrazotvorchykh mysttsiv u L'vovi, 1943. 47, [1] pp. 16,5 cm x 13 cm. Bilingual catalogue in German and Ukrainian, title also in German. One of 2000 copies. Very good condition. Owner's inscription in pencil on the front cover. Some pencil underlinings on some pages. Publisher's cover features a simple drawing with the 1943 year underneath - signed "LB". No artist in the catalogue has such initials, thus the cover cannot be attributed.

Spilka Pratsi Ukrains'kykh Obrazotvorchykh Mysttsiv u L'vovi [Labor Union of Ukrainian Visual Artists in Lviv] or SUOM was a short-lived union that witnessed how art can thrive under the most unfavourable circumstances. As many international and multicultural cities, the diverse artistic scenery of interwar Lviv enjoyed thriving life. A dozen artistic circles existed up to the 1930's. It was essentially demolished by the Soviets but some freedom re-emerged with German occupation starting in 1941. Shortly on the
initiative of the civil people, a non-government agency Ukrainischer Hauptausschuss was formed. It was able to communicate with Nazi occupational government that was yet not as ideologically inclined as NKVD and allowed some freedom to the local art. Ukrainischer Hauptausschuss helped to fund and found SUOM as a reinvention of previous Asotsiatsiya nezalezhnykh ukrains'kykh mysttsiv. A number of already known local artists became the founders and union leaders: Mykhailo Osinchuk, Ivan Ivanets, Antin Maliutsa, Roman Turyn, Stepan Lutsyk, Volodymyr Balias, Mykhailo Dmytrenko. The group managed to attract sponsors, issued prizes and organised small manufactures for artists to earn at least some money through their profession.
The exhibitions were held at modern Mitskevich str. in a building that has not survived. This fifth one was attended by over 3 000 visitors and praised by the critics as an event that totally achieved its aim to show the Ukrainian character in art. The curators note that besides the artists already known to the visitors, they present new painters from Kyiv and Kharkiv. The artists that have to be noted- both Galician and newcomers - are prominent Olena Kul'chyts'ka (1877-1967) who managed to seamlessly combine classic Russian painting school with Ukrainian themes, master of realism and historical portrait Osyp Kurylas (1870-1951), "Ukrainian van Gogh'', noted paysage author Mykola Nedilko (1902-1979), talented Mykhailo Moroz (1904-1992). According to the introductory note of the Kataloh, 99 artists with 407 works were exhibited.

The catalogue features the name and city of origin of the artist followed by the artistic pieces provided for the exhibition. This catalogue shows the final episode of Spilka bloom, noting all its members. Also part of the exhibition formed art provided by people held in German Galician Ukrains'ka sluzhba bat'kivshchyni camps for the future Ostarbeiters.
Headed first by Prof. Mykhailo Osinchuk (1890-1969), since 1942 by Ivan Ivanets (1893 - 1946). Osinchuk was a civil painter not involved in and fearing the repressions he left Galicia for the US in 1944. Ivanets was a military officer and never left his homeland. As an avid painter and photographer, Ivanets pioneered hobbyist artistic life in Ukrains'ki sichovi stril'tsi military group during 1910'ies and left an unsurpassed heritage of Ukrainian rifleman everyday life and fights, akin to Russian classic M. Lermontov. Ivanets provided 9 works for this exhibition (listed on p. 21). Quite probably, he was the sole editor and author of the initial Ukrainian text in the brochure. 3 years prior to this exhibition, Ivanets was among few Galician artists who did an experimental exhibition of Ukrainian art in Moscow. In 1944 Ivanets was arrested by the Soviet army and died in a prison.
This fifth exhibition was a final one for SUOM. The 6th exhibition was planned to premiere in Krakow in September 1944, but it never happened.

Moreover, most of the artists mentioned in the catalogue had to leave the new Soviet state and any facts on the history of those exhibitions were banned. In 1952 over 2000 works of art were burnt in Soviet Lviv national museum at request of the federal centre: among those the museum lost many items listed in this catalogue and most of the works by Ivanets himself. As history has shown, not all artists were silenced and "erased" from art history by the Soviet censors. Some, like Mykhailyna Stefanovych-Ol'shans'ka (1895-1975), did not support the Soviet regime and chose semi-forced exile. Ol'shans'ka initially joined GermanFreie Künstler Union member and later moved to the US, where she contributed to iconography and mural restoration. Some, like Danylo Narbut (1916-1998), were repressed but ultimately managed to succeed artistically. In 1936 Narbut was imprisoned and forced to work at Belomorkanal, however, as a Soviet war hero he managed to get the prestigious position of art director at Ivano-Frankivsk theatre - despite being an open Ukrainian nationalist. And others, like Vasyl' Forostets'kyi (1913-1981), pursued on to lead a relatively quiet artistic life in the UkSSR, combining teaching and painting.

Rare. WorldCat fifinds 1 copy held at Harvard University Fine Arts Library. Not in KVK.