Ukrainian art in RA, London
"Captivating" — The Telegraph
"Treasures of Ukrainian modern art" — The Times
In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900–1930s Now Opens in London’s Royal Academy of Arts.
‘In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900–1930s’ finally comes to London, after travelling from Madrid to Brussels and Vienna. The exhibition recreates the multiplicity of artistic approaches and identities that existed in Ukraine in the early 20th century.
Despite political turmoil, this became a period of true flourishing in the Ukrainian arts. The exhibition tells the story of modernist artists and the visual experiments through which they sought to renew Ukraine’s culture and autonomy.
London edition of the exhibition brings together 65 artworks, primarily from the collections of the National Art Museum of Ukraine and the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema of Ukraine. The display at the RA is segmented into 6 sections, each exploring the diverse artistic styles and cultural identities that emerged in early 20th-century Ukraine.
The first section showcases the Cubo-Futurist movement, when young artists from Ukraine combined elements of different radical trends that they had encountered in Western European capitals to create their own visual language. The next section will explore the role of theatre design as one of the most vigorous expressions of modernism in Ukraine, highlighting work by Alexandra Exter, Vadym Meller and Anatol Petrytskyi.
Another gallery will spotlight the Kultur Lige, which brought together young Jewish artists such as El Lissitzky, Issakhar Ber Ryback and Sarah Shor to foster a synthesis of the Jewish artistic tradition and the European avant-garde. This is followed by sections looking at Early Soviet Ukraine and the artistic hubs of Kharkiv and Kyiv Art Institute.
The exhibition includes a section dedicated to the Last Generation, whose artistic activities were cut short in 1932 with the soviet union’s abolition of all independent art groups and the imposition of socialist realism as the single official artistic style.
In the Eyes of the Storm is curated by Konstantin Akinsha, Kateryna Denysova, and Olena Kashuba-Volvach.
The exhibition at the RA is supported by Crankstart, The Risman Foundation, The Natalia Cola Foundation, as well as Christian Levett and Musée FAMM.
Special events in the RA within the framework of the exhibition:
Weekend course History of Art in Ukraine(27 July 2024 10am - 5pm and 28 July 2024 10am - 5pm)
Curator talk with Katia Denysova(Friday, 2 August 2024, 11am - 12pm)