Ukrainian work of art was taken to Switzerland for storage
2023.02.23 03:48
Ukrainian work of art was taken to Switzerland for storage
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – The Kyiv National Art Gallery director only had one thought when Russia sent troops into Ukraine a year ago: the paintings’ security.
Yuri Vakulenko packed his bag and made his way to the gallery, where he would spend the next 66 days caring for the exhibits and living in the basement with a bulletproof vest and gas mask ready.
Vakulenko asked European museums if they would be interested in holding modified versions of two exhibitions that had already been held in Ukraine because he did not want the paintings to gather dust in storage somewhere else.
The Musee d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva and the Kunstmuseum Basel, both museums in Switzerland, concurred.
Vakulenko told Reuters from Kyiv, “This was an idea that would allow our paintings to be in a safe place while allowing our gallery to continue to fight on the cultural front.”
During the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, the Geneva museum received paintings from Madrid’s Prado Museum and sent packing materials to ensure safe transportation.
“From Dusk to Dawn,” a temporary exhibition by the Musee d’Art et d’Histoire, is currently on display at the Musee Rath. It features paintings by Ukrainian artists from the Kyiv gallery.
After the Kyiv gallery’s windows were shattered by a nearby shell several weeks earlier, the crates in which the paintings were transported from Ukraine are also on display.
According to Vakulenko, the shipment was accompanied by security personnel on its two-day journey to the Polish border because it was impossible to insure the paintings as they crossed Ukraine.
Vakulenko stated, “Keeping secrecy of the cargo’s movement on the territory of Ukraine was the most important thing.” Only a small group of people who were directly involved in the transportation and safety processes knew the specifics of the cargo’s movement.
From the 18th century to the 20th century, 49 works by Ukrainian-born artists like Volodymyr Borovykovsky and Ilya Repin are on display at the Basel exhibit. Many of the artists received their training in Russia, where they later became associated with the empire or the Soviet Union.
However, the exhibitions cast doubt on the idea that the works are part of a comprehensive understanding of Russian art.
Olga Osadtschy, assistant curator at the Kunstmuseum Basel, referred to the initiative undertaken by the Kyiv gallery as “an important project to understand the narrative of their collection, as well as to view (their) history more critically and consciously.”
We are all accustomed to the term “Russian art,” but there is so much more to it than meets the eye.
